NBC’s new series “Line of Fire” has made its debut, and it brings family drama and mystery. The show immediately sets the tone for the rest of the season, but it doesn’t break away from the challenges of many pilot episodes.
It’s important to give a show at least two episodes. The pilot episode isn’t written for viewers. It’s for the network execs to get them to greenlight the series. So, the second episode is the one created for the viewers, pushing the main season plot forward while continuing the introduction of the main characters.
‘Line of Fire’ Introduces Us to the Hollingsworth Family
There are plenty of reveals packed within the first hour that make it clear this was written for execs. Immediately, there’s a sense that there’s something more to this family. The parents are sleeping in different houses, and soon, it’s revealed that they are separated. However, there’s still something going on.
The two of them jumped to “we’re not divorced” far too quickly, and it’s later noted that they are both still together in some way. This is where I start to dislike them even more. Jane has a boyfriend who is supposedly moving into the family home — a home that Mike owned before their marriage — and yet, she’s still with Mike in some capacity. And he has no qualms about her having another boyfriend, who clearly knows nothing about the two still being romantically connected to each other. I just can’t get behind that.
Then there’s the way they treat their children. These adult children are smart and caring, but they’ve been minimized by their parents because of failures. Mike isn’t allowing his son off his leash, bringing up just the smallest of problems. Now, sure, there is something going on between Micah and the President’s daughter that is setting them up for disaster, but why isn’t someone else bringing it up instead of his own father?
Meanwhile, Mike is pressuring Russell to give him information that could lead to Russell being fired just as he’s started a job with the DOJ. Then there’s Jane, who pulls her daughter off one case to work on another, and then won’t even back her up on that investigation. Now, sure, Jane is doing this to “protect” the family, as she clearly knows what is going on based on the gum wrapper, but it doesn’t look like this is the first time this has happened.
Do these parents even love their children? In fact, do they like them? That’s the problem I have with the introduction of the family in the pilot episode. They don’t even want to talk about Mike’s son from a previous marriage. Everyone is just moving forward except for Russell, and as the three siblings hang out in the park and drink, there’s a hint of the stress and trauma that this lifestyle has put on them.
How Much Does Everyone Know About Jack on ‘Line of Fire’?
NBCOne of the biggest questions I had after watching the “Line of Fire” premiere was how much people know. Jane and Mike clearly know exactly who attacked Clare’s boyfriend in the house. Jane knew it from the minute she found the gum wrapper in the shape of a bird at her investigation. Jack is back.
So, they know that Jack isn’t dead? That’s the way it seems, but what about the other siblings? They believe that their older half-brother is dead, or do they? It seems plausible that Clare could know the truth. She hasn’t met her boyfriend’s roommate, “Joel,” but that doesn’t mean she won’t have seen glimpses or signs that he’s there. She’s the elder of the three siblings, and that hints that she may know more than she lets on to protect her younger siblings.
Micah seems to like to make people think he isn’t observant, but he is a member of the Secret Service. There isn’t a chance that he would let a lie slip by him too easily. The problem is that throughout the pilot episode, he was too preoccupied with his own mistake, and it’s a flaw that needs to be rectified, as it didn’t allow us to see just how he interacts with his siblings normally. Unless that is normal. It also didn’t give him a chance to really focus on some of the other nuances in the conversations.
I can fully believe that Russell knows nothing. He was away in the Marines, and he’s now focused on getting a job that he has earned. The look on his face when his dad said that he pulled strings was heartbreaking, and there was genuine shock, so I can believe that he takes a lot at face value and that is soon going to change.
However, “Line of Fire” did ruin the reveal a little for us as the viewers. In the lead-up to the series, Charlie Bennett’s character had been called “Jack,” so when he was introduced as “Joel” at first, I wondered what was going on. Was this just a case of a character changing names in production? That’s happened, but then Mike mentioned “Jack,” and suddenly it all fell into place long before the reveal at the end, ruining the shock factor.
Part of me has to wonder what Clare’s boyfriend is really up to. He just happily walked into the house and started looking at photos, even taking one out to see what was being hidden. That didn’t make a lot of sense, unless it was for a reveal a little like “The Blacklist” when we learned Tom wasn’t really the doting husband.
With all the flaws, there’s enough intrigue to give “Line of Fire” another episode. Plus, I firmly believe that all new shows need two episodes to really get into things. It’s just a shame that it’s another procedural that couldn’t break the pilot problem.
“Line of Fire” airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock.
