Had ‘Hostages’ been a ratings hit, the show would probably move much more slowly than it has the last couple of weeks. However, one of the advantages of knowing that you’re going to get canceled is that it frees up the writers to be as crazy as they want to be. So, here comes Episode 10 with even more twists and turns.

In the prior episode, both the White House Chief of Staff and the head of the Secret Service were murdered in separate incidents. Now, if this had occurred in real life, you’d better believe that things would look extremely suspicious. But on ‘Hostages’ the coincidence is merely an afterthought – mentioned early in last week’s episode and soon forgotten.

Previously, Ellen discovered that Nina was the Presdient’s daughter. Duncan told her that if the President ever found out, he’d kill Nina. Now, we learn why. It turns out that President Kincaid raped Nina’s mother when he was a young Congressman. Burton arranged for her to leave the country, but she died giving birth to Nina. At least, that’s what Duncan believes….

Morgan’s boyfriend was shot and killed a few episodes back, but that doesn’t stop the writers from getting a little more out of his storyline, as his cell phone (still at the Sanders’ home) starts getting messages from his father. Sandrine and Morgan decide to text back pretending to be his son, and the father comes to pay a visit to the Sanders – surprising Brian, who isn’t in on the deception. The father has just come to apologize to Morgan, since he believes that his son has gone on an extended trip to avoid being with her. When the father leaves, Brian relays his dissatisfaction with Morgan plotting with one of the people holding their family hostage, but Morgan insists that her boyfriend’s shooting was defensive in nature.

Even knowing what she now does about the President, Ellen wants to check over Nina’s records to see if another donor might be out there. Duncan insists that he’s had all the options explored already by experts. Yet Ellen hasn’t dived into Nina’s medical history for more than a few minutes when she finds someone who’s a 28% match for Nina. Ellen tells Duncan that’s not enough to help his wife, but it might lead to someone else who’s a better match.

Ellen goes to the home of the match, but the woman isn’t there. Her husband is, however. As they talk, Nina notices that they have a photo of Duncan’s wedding. She asks how they know him, and the husband says that they’re friends of his wife. Ellen distracts the husband and then steals his cell phone. When she’s a safe distance away from the house, she calls the wife and tells her that she found the cell phone out on the street and wants to drop it off to her. When she arrives, the woman pulls a shotgun on Ellen and asks what she wants. Ellen then reveals that she knows about Nina, and knows that the woman is actually Nina’s mother.

When Ellen tells Duncan that Nina’s mother is still alive, he heads off to see Burton, who admits that he lied to Duncan all these years so that Duncan wouldn’t have to lie to Nina. Duncan demands to know any other secrets that Burton might be hiding, but Burton insists that there aren’t any (which, of course, means that there are).

The two men also learn that Logan – Duncan’s co-conspirator at the Secret Service – has hired a sniper to kill Duncan. Duncan decides that he better kill the sniper first, so he sneaks into his apartment one night. Duncan sees a figure sleeping in bed, but it turns out to be the sniper’s girlfriend. Fortunately, Duncan is quiet enough that he doesn’t have to shoot yet another innocent. Before he leaves, Duncan checks the sniper’s laptop (which is conveniently left right next to the bed and doesn’t need a password) and sees (also conveniently) a copy of an airplane reservation to New York City.

Back at the Sanders’ home, Sandrine gets a text from a mysterious person asking for a meeting and claiming that her son’s safety depends on it. When she goes to the meeting, it turns out to be Logan, who wants to hire Sandrine to spy on Duncan’s activities.

Duncan takes the information about the sniper back to Burton, who realizes that the President is also scheduled to be in New York City. The two men conclude that Duncan was never the target of the sniper. The sniper has been hired to kill the President.

Now, Duncan needs to race to New York City to stop someone from assassinating the President, so that he will still have the chance to assassinate the President later on. Yes, ‘Hostages’ is that kind of show.