Peter Krause getting a new 2026 TV series is hardly an unusual turn of events. I can’t think of a time when the man was off of the air for long, hopping from Sports Night to Six Feet Under to Parenthood to 9-1-1 and now new NBC drama Line of Fire, with a few short-lived stories in between. In general, Krause’s involvement usually means some level of quality to me, and so I hopped over to NBC to check out his latest. Thank goodness I did, because it has a really solid pilot.
Network TV doesn’t stray from the procedural element with dramas much, but Line of Fire has a little Matlock going for it, that is to say it’s peppering some procedural-y elements with a central pilot twist I honestly did not see coming. If you haven’t caught it yet, you’ve got most of the week before Episode 2 hits next Monday.
The Central Mystery Unveiled In Line Of Fire’s Pilot
Obviously, I’m about to get into Line of Fire spoilers for Episode 1, so if you haven’t caught the new show yet, I highly recommend checking it out. Still with me? Great.
So, during Episode 1, I really liked the way we were introduced to all the varying members of the Hollingsworth family and their various personalities. Patriarch Mike (Krause) is being forced into retirement and trying to maintain authority, both at work and with his family. He (seemingly) has two sons, one a newbie in Department of Justice National Security Division named Russ (Taylor Bloom) and the other a secret service agent conducting a relationship with the President’s daughter also named Mike “Micah” (Tommy O’Brien). Mike’s daughter Clare (Kat Cunning) is an FBI special agent with boyfriend troubles who is simultaneously conducting an investigation under the supervision of her mother Jane (Hope Davis), a Deputy U.S. Marshal.
Yeah, it’s a lot, and the new drama sets the narrative up really well, but the general introduction wasn’t what had me hooked. It was the last five minutes of the episode. During these minutes, we realized the kids’ half brother Jack (Chicago Fire alum Charlie Barnett) is actually still alive and wreaking havoc out in the universe. We also learn there’s more than probably meets the eye to Clare’s boyfriend Logan (Pico Alexander), just before he’s stabbed to death in the family home… by Jack.
OK Joshua Safran, I see you and I’m ready to tune in next week.
Still, I Have A Lot Of Questions
In its final moments, we learn a lot of things that are not uncovered until very late in the episode. I brought up Matlock earlier because the pilot for that show reminded me a lot of the pilot for this show, where you think you are watching one type of drama for 40 minutes and then you realize something else entirely is going on. Matlock did this very masterfully in a way that actually didn’t lead me to a slew of questions, but Line of Fire had my brain spinning a lot more. Here’s what’s still running around in my mind:
- How is Peter Krause’s character going to get out of his forced retirement and where is that storyline going?
- This sleeping with the President’s daughter thing can’t end well, right?
- Why does everyone think Jack is dead? And why do the parents seem to know he’s not?
- What the heck was going on with Claire’s shady boyfriend?
- Why are agents allegedly being targeted? It feels like there’s a much bigger conspiracy going on?
I also still have no idea how all of the cases for each of these characters will continue to interact over time. Clare and Jane cooperating this week made complete sense, but this feels like a really difficult puzzle to play out across multiple episodes. I do think the Blue Bloods family dinner component works perfectly here.
Line of Fire was created by Joshua Safran, whom you may know from ABC's Quantico. I also found that show to be really engaging early on before falling off of it, but Krause’s comments about how much he liked the script have me more bullish about this one. I also know I’ve made comparisons between this show and a couple of other popular network programs, but I do want to stress Line of Fire feels like its very own thing. I’m excited to see where it goes next.
