‘Line of Fire’ Review: Peter Krause Is the Best Reason to Watch NBC’s New Procedural

NBC knows its way around a procedural, but Line of Fire immediately separates itself from the pack by making the casework only part of the story. Creator Joshua Safran builds the series around the Hollingsworth family, a group of people spread across some of the country's biggest federal agencies, and the result is a pilot that moves quickly, introduces a lot of moving pieces and still finds time to make the family drama feel like the real hook.

Peter Krause is exactly the kind of actor a show like this needs at its center. As Mike Hollingsworth, a Secret Service agent with decades of experience and a complicated personal life, Krause brings an easy authority to the role. He doesn't have to oversell Mike's experience or importance because it comes through naturally in the performance.

Following 9-1-1, it is also nice seeing Krause back in a network drama that gives him something different to play even though we are missing Bobby Nash. Mike may be skilled at his job, but his family life is far less controlled, and that contrast gives the character an immediate vulnerability.

Hope Davis stars as Jane Hollingsworth, Mike's estranged wife and a U.S. Marshal, while their adult children have followed the family tradition by building careers across the FBI, Secret Service and Department of Justice. On paper, that sounds like a lot for one family, but Line of Fire leans into it rather than slowly holding characters back for later episodes.

And that works. The pilot does not waste much time easing viewers into the Hollingsworth family. It introduces the relationships, careers, tensions, cases and secrets quickly, which gives the series a sense that these people already had full lives before we dropped into them. Instead of waiting several episodes to understand how everyone connects, the premiere gives us enough information to start seeing where the cracks are almost immediately.

Kat Cunning's Clare stands out early as an investigator who refuses to settle for the easiest explanation. She has the kind of instincts that make you understand why she is good at her job without the show needing to constantly tell us, and she feels like more than simply another member of the Hollingsworth family.

What makes Line of Fire most interesting, though, is how those professional lives collide with the personal ones. This is a family where everyone is trained to investigate, question and keep secrets, yet they are not always particularly good at communicating with each other. That contradiction gives the series something more compelling than simply watching another group of agents solve cases every week. The procedural element works, but the Hollingsworth family is what gives the show personality.

The premiere also does a good job balancing its larger mystery with enough smaller character moments to make you curious about where these relationships are headed. Mike and Jane clearly have years of history between them, and even though their marriage is fractured, there is still something worth exploring there beyond simply asking whether they will get back together.

Then there is Jack. Without spoiling exactly where the premiere goes, the final stretch reframes parts of the episode and opens the door to a much bigger story than the initial investigation suggests. It is the kind of reveal that immediately makes you rethink some of what you just watched, and more importantly, it gives the series momentum heading into Episode 2.

That is ultimately what a good pilot needs to do.

Line of Fire introduces a lot because it has a lot of story to tell. Rather than feeling overwhelming, the fast introduction to the Hollingsworth family made me more interested in seeing how all of these careers, relationships and secrets eventually collide.

Peter Krause gives the series a strong center, the family dynamic already has plenty of room for drama, and the closing reveal proves that Line of Fire has bigger ambitions than being just another NBC procedural. There is plenty left to uncover, and after the premiere, I am more than willing to stick around and find out what happens next.

Grade: B+