Line of Fire Review: Family Drama Outranks Political Intrigue in NBC’s New Series

What a strange time to make a show about the dramatic lives of federal government employees. Ah yes, just what everyone wants to hear more about at the moment. It’s not exactly the most enticing of offers. When you look at the premise of NBC’s new drama Line of Fire, premiering Sept. 21, it begins to feel even more absurd. What do you mean this show focuses on a family of five that includes two Secret Service agents, one U.S. Marshal, an FBI agent, and a lawyer for the DOJ? That is objectively silly. In the first two episodes provided for review, though, what looks silly on paper is much less so in practice. 

As steeped in the federal government as Line of Fire is, it aims to be apolitical, at least in its first few episodes. For better or worse (and surprisingly), political policy isn’t discussed — even when audiences meet President Kayana (Chris Chalk) in the second episode, the story is solely focused on his strained relationship with his college-aged daughter, Sydney (Savannah Lee Smith) — which almost gives the series the feeling of a fantasy, or at least a broadcast drama from the early aughts. This show is not grounded in our current reality. That would be bad news if Line of Fire were trying to be a political thriller first, but it’s not; in the first two episodes, creator and showrunner Joshua Safran makes clear that while the show does feature action and mystery, it is first and foremost a family drama. It’s Brothers & Sisters about federal agents. Once you realize that, the premise makes much more sense. 

6.8

Line of Fire

Like

• The chemistry among the five main characters
• Kat Cunning’s performance

Dislike

• Dialogue often veers into cheesy and clichéd territory
• The episodic crime storylines are forgettable

It’s actually quite efficient for the show to assign its characters jobs that immediately raise the stakes. This is life or death. This is about matters of national security. People are stressed. But what’s also innate to this premise — and this something Line of Fire really takes advantage of — is that these are jobs that force family members to lie to and keep secrets from one another. And that’s a setup that’s ripe for juicy drama. Line of Fire is also a thriller; alongside episodic cases, the show is slowly doling out clues to an overarching mystery. The cases-of-the-week are forgettable but function well as ways to bring family members together — especially FBI agent Clare Hollingsworth (Kat Cunning) and her mother, Jane (Hope Davis), a U.S. Marshal. The overarching mystery is intriguing, and while some things about this plotline are heavily telegraphed, its initial few twists really hit. I did, in fact, gasp at the end of the pilot episode. I do, however, wonder what kind of legs this mystery has and how quickly its forward momentum could begin to drag. This is why the choice to lean into family drama feels particularly wise: Not only does it give Line of Fire so many more places to go, but it’s also the aspect of the show that works best in its early episodes.

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The best scenes in the pilot are easily the ones in which the Hollingsworth family convenes for family dinner at Jane’s house. Jane and her husband, Mike (Peter Krause), a Secret Service agent on the verge of retirement, have been living apart for years but are keeping several important pieces of information secret from their children, which creates immediate tension. Alongside Clare, who is both handling a complicated case that involves her mother and finally introducing everyone to the boyfriend she’d been trying to protect from her dysfunctional family, there are her younger brothers: Micah (Tommy O’Brien), a Secret Service agent living in his father’s shadow and making terrible life decisions, and Russ (Taylor Bloom), the most sensitive of the bunch, who is trying to prove himself not in field work, but as a lawyer at the DOJ. 

The five Hollingsworths have an easy, immediate, and believable chemistry. Cunning easily steals the show at the top — they’re extremely compelling even when the dialogue goes cheesy — but what I found myself most looking forward to were the scenes between all three siblings. Cunning, O’Brien, and Bloom are exciting to watch as a trio; they ping off of one another so well in the show’s comedic moments and have an authentic chemistry during the more emotional beats. Surprisingly, Krause is given little to do in these episodes. It will be nice when the show really lets him rip, which, since his character seems obsessed with the truth behind an assassination attempt on the previous president, should eventually happen. Davis’ Jane is the most nuanced of the bunch so far, but she’s also saddled with some of the most clichéd dialogue. The storylines that venture outside the family’s dynamics don’t fare as well, and one about O’Brien’s Micah, who is having a secret affair with the president’s daughter, whom he’s supposed to be protecting, is especially groan-inducing. Perhaps this plotline will prove necessary down the road, though; it’s not a reason to walk away just yet. 

Line of Fire arrives with a splashy, attention-getting concept, but it seems to work best at its most basic level. Maybe people will tune in for the mystery thriller of it all, but it’s the five Hollingsworths working as a unit, and their complicated family baggage, that should keep people coming back. 

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 21 at 10/9c on NBC
Who’s in it: Peter Krause, Hope Davis, Kat Cunning, Tommy O’Brien, Taylor Bloom, Charlie Barnett
Who’s behind it: Joshua Safran (creator)
For fans of: Brothers & Sisters if you wish it had been a thriller, complicated but warm-hearted family dynamics
Episodes watched: 2