(Credits: Netflix)

What happens when the political becomes personal? What would you do if you were put in a position where you could save either your family or your country? Who would you choose? Quite hard to pick a side, isn’t it? That’s what Netflix thought while rolling out its latest political thriller, Hostage, starring Suranne Jones.

Things don’t really look good for British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton in Hostage. An acute shortage of supply in life-saving drugs, a sinking political image, and a personal comment leak that has put her international relationships with the French in a dire situation, the Netflix series is born out of mounting crisis.

But just when you thought the political nightmare couldn’t get any worse, Dalton’s husband, Alex, is abducted while serving medication and vaccinations in French Guiana. To worsen the stakes, Dalton is not the only victim of this blackmail, but so is the French president, Vivienne Toussaint.

With time ticking fast and their hands tied from every end possible, let’s untangle the twists and turns of Hostage, which currently has viewers glued to their screens. Watch out for spoilers because this one comes with plenty.

What does the blackmailers have on President Toussaint?

Alex, Dalton’s husband, who’s a doctor, is kidnapped from French Guiana alongside his teammates in the very first episode of Hostage, and the mystery surrounding the one behind the mask is at the heart of the show. While Dalton and Toussaint negotiate to work together and rescue them, the kidnappers demand the former’s resignation, threatening to kill the ones kidnapped, one by one, until they make a decision.

Toussaint, true to her political element, leverages the situation to enforce French patrols on the UK borders. And although Dalton reluctantly agrees, the French president withdraws soldiers approaching the kidnappers’ camp just in time for the rescue, thanks to a video message containing evidence of her past explicit relationship with her stepson, Matheo.

Threatened with losing her family and her public image, Toussaint calls off the mission. And Dalton? Well, she’s deep in the hot waters.

Who kidnapped Alex?

Every action has a consequence in Hostage. While it may take some episodes to unveil, the audience can rest assured that no crime is without its motivations. It’s not until the season finale that we discover the kidnapper’s real identity and the reasons behind their motivation to upend Dalton’s tenure. The kidnapper is revealed to be a man named Shagan, whose pregnant wife was killed when Dalton ordered the British troops to withdraw from Belize.

By the time we reach halfway through Hostage and the kidnapper kills Dalton’s bedridden father, it’s impossible for you not to ask whether she was ever in the wrong. Perhaps, you wouldn’t even take so long to question that, but at the death of her father, Dalton is haunted by retrospection.

Meanwhile, in a shocking curveball, the seemingly harmless and innocent girlfriend of Matheo, Saskia, also appears to be involved in the kidnapping scheme, and Matheo, unfortunately, ends up being the hapless scapegoat, who brings a disguised bomb right into the centre of the British government. Toussaint manages to steal a march on the abductors, revealing her indiscretion, knowing well what it would mean for her political career.

But there’s a sudden dawn of conscience for Toussaint, who promises to release the medicine to the UK with no negotiations whatsoever. She laments her political failure on the steps of Downing Street. However, when the laptop explodes, she wins over with another gesture as she pushes Matheo and sacrifices herself. And her pledge of political sincerity becomes the blueprint for Dalton here forward.

Who is the mole at 10 Downing Street?

It would have been impossible to pierce through such severe layers of authority in order to carry out such a big kidnapping scheme in Hostage, if it were not for the holes in the boat. And you probably guessed it right that it did not all go down without a mole at 10 Downing Street. Dalton had her eyes on her chief of staff, Kofi, but it is Kofi who identifies the real double agent, Toussaint’s aide, Adrienne.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. As the emergency unfolds, it becomes starkly apparent that Dalton had unknowingly fallen prey to a ruthless military coup orchestrated by General Livingston, Shagan’s commanding officer. He seizes control during the state of emergency declared in response to Alex’s kidnapping.

Hostage pulls a real smokescreen over here because he’s one of the only ones whom Dalton turns to for help, but, as it turns out, Livingston’s actions were a reaction to Dalton cutting down on the defence budget.

But how does Hostage end?

Matheo is one of the characters you really feel bad for. He rushes Dalton’s family to a safe house, only to find Saskia and Shagan waiting for them. While Dalton races against time to save her family, held hostage again, Sylvie picks up a dropped gun, killing Shagan with a fatal shot. Saskia spares Matheo, perhaps, for the sake of their relationship, and leaves them in the safe house as they wait for the authorities to arrive for the rescue.

Soon, there’s a time jump showing Dalton reinstated at the renovated 10 Downing Street, ready to address the nation. Alex and Sylvie are right there, backing Dalton, and Kofi, too, is back to work. As she walks down the steps, preparing for a speech to call a new general election, Hostage draws a full circle right before, with Toussaint’s portrait hung in the prime minister’s office.