'Hostage's Trend of World Leader Thrillers Should Be Impeached Immediately

In Netflix’s Hostage, Abigail Dalton (Suranne Jones) is eight months into her first term as Prime Minister, and there’s a severe shortage of cancer drugs all across the United Kingdom. As the leader of the opposition tells us in a House of Commons address, she bolstered the flagging National Health Service by diverting funds from defense spending, and her opposition alleges that the British military has been noticeably shrunk by this transfer of wealth.

This is our first sign that Hostage has no sense of political realism or nuance, even before the miniseries jumps into a ludicrous and mostly tension-free kidnapping plot that cuts to the heart of the British leadership; if a British government suddenly and miraculously increased public funding and cut military spending, surely it would not mean there would be less soldiers – it would just result in less defence contractors and weapons manufacturers receiving lucrative government contracts?

Please, do not fret over the illogical world-building of thriller television and action movies starring elected heads of state. These are not political in any intelligent sense, only in a scandal-brained, ripped-from-the-headlines that suggests intelligence but is about as out of touch with our governments – US and UK alike – as an action movie where we cut away from our brash, grizzled heroes to see the President nodding solemnly to authorize a nuclear launch.