Susan Granger’s review of “First Shot” (TBS Superstation TV movie – Aug. 11th premiere)
Mariel Hemingway is back with another story about intrepid Secret Service agent Alex McGregor, a role she created in “First Daughter,” a show that garnered the largest original movie audience in cable history. In “First Shot,” an extremist American rebel group resurfaces to assassinate the President (Gregory Harrison) as vengeance for the death of their brothers. While this story is a continuation, it’s all explained so you know what happened previously. The stakes grow higher when the rebels take Alex’s husband (Doug Savant) hostage, and Alex realizes that she too has become a target. What elevates the cat-and-mouse game tension is Chad and Carey Hayes’s writing and fast-paced directing by Armand Mastroianni. Each character has a solid backstory; the little nuances and subplots are carefully developed. It’s intriguing to go behind the scenes into the daily private lives of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect the President. Plus there’s the quirky, original role-reversal in Alex’s relationship with her husband. She’s the driven action hero, putting her life on the line each day, while he’s an expert tracker yet far more passive, playing the kind of supportive part that’s usually written for a woman. A member of the famed Hemingway clan (grandfather Ernest died just before she was born), Mariel Hemingway is strong and athletic enough to be convincing as the head of the President’s protection detail and she conveys the aura of a woman who’s interesting and powerful yet emotionally conflicted. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “First Shot” is an intense, suspenseful 7. It premieres on Sunday, Aug. 11, at 8 PM with encores on Aug. 18 at 6 PM, Aug. 20 at 8 PM, Aug. 22 at 11 PM and Aug. 24 at 4:30 PM.
