When the state gets personal

Film serves sex, scandal, sabotage with side of popcorn.

- Hein Kaiser

You kind of know what to expect when you watch the trailer. And then, as the infomercials used to say, there's more.

The Netflix political drama Hostage is a pumpkin patch of plots, subplots, and marriages of convenience. And it's television drama at its gripping best, despite Rotten Tomato audience ratings averaging it out as a yawn.

Take one female British prime minister, add a husband who's a do-gooding doctor, a steely female French president, and a measure of sex-scandal.

Then, fold it gently into a mixing bowl of political intrigue, a touch of humanness between two world leaders, a national health crisis in Britain and a bit of extortion. Now, bake it in a hostage drama for five hours and, voila!

Add popcorn and other snacks to season.

Hostage is that entertaining. Abigail Dalton is the British Prime Minister whose husband, Dr Alex Anderson, works for Doctors Without Borders. She's freshly elected and about eight months into her tenure at 10 Downing street, facing a crisis on home soil.