Standoff
There's no crisis situation they can't handle... unless it involves each other. Matt Flannery and Emily Lehman are the top-ranked negotiators in the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU). They're trained to talk their way through volatile situations. They're experts at knowing what makes other people tick. They're also sleeping together... a secret that they agreed to keep to themselves, until Matt revealed it to the entire world during a tense hostage standoff. The public revelation causes friction between Matt, who doesn't take much seriously and relies on gut instinct, and Emily, an academic who analyzes every move. Their relationship also gets them into major trouble with their boss, Cheryl Carrera, head of the Los Angeles CNU, and raises eyebrows among their CNU colleagues, including intelligence officer Lia Mathers. While Matt and Emily should be split up for being romantically involved, they're too valuable as a team. Together, they're among the best in their field; Cheryl knows it, and they know it. Week to week, Matt and Emily tackle much more than hostage crises. The CNU is called in to resolve everything from kidnappings and high-risk suicides to bomb threats, stalking cases and gang violence.
- Metascore37
- 2006-2007
- 1 season
- Fox Network
- Suspense, Drama
- TV-14
There's no crisis situation they can't handle... unless it involves each other. Matt Flannery and Emily Lehman are the top-ranked negotiators in the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU). They're trained to talk their way through volatile situations. They're experts at knowing what makes other people tick. They're also sleeping together... a secret that they agreed to keep to themselves, until Matt revealed it to the entire world during a tense hostage standoff. The public revelation causes friction between Matt, who doesn't take much seriously and relies on gut instinct, and Emily, an academic who analyzes every move. Their relationship also gets them into major trouble with their boss, Cheryl Carrera, head of the Los Angeles CNU, and raises eyebrows among their CNU colleagues, including intelligence officer Lia Mathers. While Matt and Emily should be split up for being romantically involved, they're too valuable as a team. Together, they're among the best in their field; Cheryl knows it, and they know it. Week to week, Matt and Emily tackle much more than hostage crises. The CNU is called in to resolve everything from kidnappings and high-risk suicides to bomb threats, stalking cases and gang violence.
Season 1 Episode Guide
18 Episodes 2006 - 2007
Episode 1
Pilot
Tue, Sep 5, 2006 45 mins
An FBI hostage negotiation team with a personal relationship try to work with a suicide bomber to release hostages and get him to stand down.
Episode 2
Circling
Tue, Sep 12, 2006 50 mins
Air traffic controller, John Barnes, a respectable family father with an immaculate record, is suspected of causing a mid-air plane crash. He suddenly takes his colleagues in the tower hostage, demanding tapes which should help clear him. Matt negotiates with the remarkably lucid and reasonable man. Gradually becomes clear the key is in John's personal life: neighbor friend Mark aboard the crashed plane, but with a crucial twist. Matt chooses an unorthodox approach.
Episode 3
Shanghai'd
Tue, Sep 19, 2006 50 mins
An Asian criminal is under Federal surveillance and when his daughter is kidnapped, they have to go in to work it which doesn't make the agent in charge happy cause it means, they have to reveal that the man is under surveillance. The team goes in to work it. When the kidnappers call with their demands, the father says he can't give them what they ask.
Episode 4
Partners in Crime
Tue, Sep 26, 2006 48 mins
Matt's ability to separate his feelings from the job are called into question when Emily is taken hostage.
Episode 5
Life Support
Tue, Oct 31, 2006 49 mins
Juvie street-boy M.J. Martinez wheels his sister into OR with terminal cancer demanding free surgery at gunpoint, threatening staff and patients, including judge Skylar. Specialist surgeon Ephraim Khoury, an Israeli army vet, is hard to find, and even harder to convince that operating wouldn't be giving in to a 'terrorist'. The SWAT team worries about the risks to patients and hazardous access through a narrow vent.
Episode 6
One Shot Stop
Tue, Nov 7, 2006
After 7 years, the serial killer GSA strikes again, shooting three construction workers, but this time sends a letter in to the police. This piece of evidence allows the police to trace him. Captain Tim Bayless announces to the press psychiatric patient Donald Leeson is out of order- only to be shot himself, Matt had just found out he's just a copy-cat. It turns out the key to the real sharpshooter is their common past, while he's targeting the FBI itself.
Episode 7
Man of Steele
Tue, Nov 14, 2006 50 mins
Doug Frohmer shoots an official who refused him and his wife an adoption and races -reported on TV- to the home of the woman whose baby they hoped to adopt, taking it and the baby-sitter hostage. He calls provocative radio talk show host Avery Steele, who mobilizes his audience to swarm and protest in unconditional support for 'society's victim' Doug. Matt finds out how he was cheated. Emily goes co-host the radio show, as the only way to counter/control the manipulator and contact Doug.
Episode 8
Heroine
Tue, Nov 21, 2006 51 mins
Anja Reed is kept hostage in her apartment for hours by ex-con gang member Eddie Vargas, encouraged by Matt over the phone. Suddenly Eddie commits suicide, just before SWAT enters. Two weeks later, Anja shows the many fan letters she receives, suggesting there may be a stalker. Matt soon realizes she has a crush on him, Emily wonders if she fakes death treats, indeed using her own lipstick brand. Matt looks for Eddie's brother and gang mate Tio. She also has an adulterous past in small town Minburn, Iowa. The fan letters are examined, some authors are questioned, including computer expert Graham Brewster; he proves 'too protective' of Anja, but so does Matt. Both men are in for a nasty surprise.
Episode 9
Peer Group
Tue, Nov 28, 2006 50 mins
17 year old Cary Steckler masterminds a plot to humiliate his high school tormentors (Andre, Chuck and Tina) by kidnapping them and "putting them on trial" live on the web, and Emily and Matt have to revert to younger versions of themselves (she the picked-on, he the bully) to get through the teens and prevent tragedy...
Episode 10
Accidental Negotiator
Tue, Dec 5, 2006 50 mins
Emily and Matt end up sidelined in a negotiation when the HT will only talk to the first woman he spoke with, but her actions and demands put the operation at risk.
Episode 11
Borderline
Tue, Dec 12, 2006
Under DEA siege while holding his wife and preteen son Tucker hostage, Mexican drug cartel suspect Felix Aguila fakes a surrender to escape to the border, where his cousin Ramon has cartel men waiting. Matt and Emily follow, with the DEA agents, who wouldn't mind to see Felix killed. The negotiators see more action then they care for, and not just from Aguila, but also discover and play on family secrets.
Episode 12
No Strings
Fri, Jun 8, 2007 50 mins
A Homeland Security customs agent (Fisk) tries to allow a container into the port of Los Angeles without inspection. Fisk takes three people hostage when the container is about to be searched, and the FBI steps in to negotiate. Meanwhile, Emily contemplates accepting a one-year assignment on a Special Task Force in Quantico that would mean being separated from Matt, who does not respond as she had hoped.
Episode 13
Backfire
Fri, Jun 15, 2007 51 mins
Twenty five underground train passengers are taken hostage by clever, unidentified bank-robbers. While the team negotiates, Matt gets a call from a 'regular' - a schizophrenic. Matt is confident he can, using a three-step ritual, make them give up the hostages.
Episode 14
Road Trip
Fri, Jun 22, 2007 50 mins
Attempting to rescue DARAH KEEGAN, who has been kidnapped by her husband WARREN KEEGAN, the leader of a polygamist religious cult, Matt, Emily, Cheryl and Lia try to stop Warren's Winnebago, containing both his four wives and a deadly cargo of explosives.
Episode 15
Lie to Me
Fri, Jun 29, 2007 52 mins
Oliver Marsh (8) is kidnapped from Santa Monica pier, just to have him shown live on TV, with a notice it's Emily's fault. One suspect of revenge is found murdered, manipulated elaborately just to keep hurting Emily. The only chance to identify the perpetrator is her sister Ali, who serves a long jail sentence and hates Emily.
Episode 16
Ex-Factor
Fri, Jul 6, 2007 48 mins
Dennis Ryker, key witness in a top level money laundering trial against Norris Burke, is kidnapped with his partner Lorraine, who is soon freed. The kidnapper's MO and knowledgeability indicate a security forces professional with torture experience. He demands millions 'for the dirty money to be recovered', or will kill Ryker. The FBI agent in charge of the money investigation is Cheryl Carrera's ex, Sam Weaver. Several players prove dirty, but who is in league with who?
Episode 17
The Kids in the Hall
Fri, Jul 13, 2007 51 mins
Californian juvenile prison riots are prevented by closing the institute and replacing it by an 'inhumane' state-of-the-art security facility. Murder-convicted lifer Jerome 'Rome' Kaden is violent towards the rookie guard Tony, but the leader of the inmate gang prevents the attack. Matt sympathizes with the sole demand - a televised hearing from senator Espinosa, and even digs into his past when he demands SWAT-type action. This may cost him his job and Emily. An unequal inmate bond also proves crucial.
Episode 18
Severance
Fri, Jul 20, 2007 52 mins
The CNU resolves a hostage situation when a corporate executive takes 16 hostages in the company's boardroom. A second crisis involves a domestic situation that results in Matt and Emily questioning a decision they had made during the earlier standoff.