The BEST episodes of Standoff

Every episode of Standoff ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Standoff!

Standoff stars Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt. Flannery and Lehman are partners (in more ways than one) and work for the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU). The pair are based in Los Angeles and report to Cheryl Carrera, the head of the Los Angeles CNU. While trying to deal with their just revealed relationship, Flannery and DeWitt try to continue to work as top-rated negotiators, trying to find a peaceful solution to a crisis. They are backed up by and sometimes rivals with the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) , lead in Los Angeles by Frank Rogers (Michael Cudlitz). Rogers is always ready to try to end a hostage crisis with some will planned and implemented acts of controlled violence.

Last Updated: 2/3/2024Network: FOXStatus: Ended
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Severance
star
9.79
38 votes

#1 - Severance

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 7/20/2007

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 standoff.

Backfire
star
9.66
38 votes

#2 - Backfire

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 6/15/2007

Emily is left alone to negotiate a hostage crisis on a commuter train while Matt deals with a schizophrenic patient who has taken his therapist and her husband hostage.

Watch Now:Amazon
Peer Group
star
9.59
37 votes

#3 - Peer Group

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/28/2006

Believing his sons have been tormented by school bullies and are planning a counterattack, a distraught father contacts the CNU after he finds notebooks and blueprints of his sons' school. Matt and Emily arrive too late to stop the boys, who have already kidnapped the bullies, and are torturing them and broadcasting it on the internet.

Writer: Daniel Knauf
Watch Now:Amazon
One Shot Stop
star
8.83
71 votes

#4 - One Shot Stop

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/7/2006

The Greater Los Angeles Sniper (GLA) begins killing again after nearly eight years of inactivity, which causes unprecedented multi-agency co-operation. As motive changes come to light, Matt and Emily begin to suspect this is the work of a copycat, which begins a race against time to catch the real sniper before he kills again.

Directors: Terrence O'Hara
Watch Now:Amazon
Shanghai'd
star
8.67
39 votes

#5 - Shanghai'd

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/19/2006

When the daughter of an Asian crime lord is kidnapped, Matt and Emily begin negotiating with the kidnapper for her safe return, thus compromising the investigation of the Organized Crime Division in the process. However, they quickly run into trouble when the Chief of the Organized Crime Division steps in and arrests the girl's father. Matt and Emily must find a way to save the girl without Bureau heads finding out.

Directors: David Straiton
The Accidental Negotiator
star
8.05
37 votes

#6 - The Accidental Negotiator

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/5/2006

The CNU is called in to deal with a crisis situation at the headquarters of a credit union after an armed man takes a recently fired worker hostage. Meanwhile, the relationship between Matt and Emily is strained after she leaves his apartment early in the morning without waking him.

Directors: Craig Ross Jr.
Writer: Daniel Knauf
Borderline
star
8.05
37 votes

#7 - Borderline

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/12/2006

When capturing a drug lord takes them to Mexico, Matt and Emily become stranded without an escape plan. The two then must extricate themselves from a bad situation by using their negotiation skills after the predicament becomes violent.

Directors: Helen Shaver
Watch Now:Amazon
No Strings
star
8.05
38 votes

#8 - No Strings

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/8/2007

When a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent tries to bring a foreign container into the Los Angeles port without an inspection, the FBI and police step in when the agent takes three of his own colleagues hostage. Meanwhile, Emily contemplates accepting a one-year assignment on a Special Task Force in Quantico that would mean being separated from Matt and is disturbed by his response.

Watch Now:Amazon
Kids in the Hall
star
8.05
39 votes

#9 - Kids in the Hall

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 7/13/2007

When the teenaged inmates at a juvenile detention center overtake the jail and take guards hostage, Matt and Emily learn their goal is not to break out, but to keep the facility open after it was scheduled to be torn down.

Watch Now:Amazon
Lie to Me
star
8.03
37 votes

#10 - Lie to Me

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/29/2007

When a young boy is abducted from the Santa Monica Pier, Emily is thrown into the middle of the crisis. The situation becomes volatile when her personal life is brought into the public eye and she must confront her demons in order to save the child.

Watch Now:Amazon
Road Trip
star
8.00
35 votes

#11 - Road Trip

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 6/22/2007

As Darah, daughter of polygamous cult leader Warren Keegan, attempts to escape from her father and reunite with her sister, she is abducted by Warren and his three wives.

Directors: John Badham
Watch Now:Amazon
Partners in Crime
star
7.96
72 votes

#12 - Partners in Crime

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/26/2006

During a confrontation at a bank robbery, Emily is taken hostage by the two bank robbers. Matt uses his people skills to catch the robbers after he determines they are a couple in love.

Directors: David Straiton
Writer: Joy Kecken
Watch Now:Amazon
Ex-Factor
star
7.95
37 votes

#13 - Ex-Factor

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 7/6/2007

Cheryl becomes personally involved in the case after the key witness in a federal money-laundering case and his wife are kidnapped and held hostage.

Pilot
star
7.79
76 votes

#14 - Pilot

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/5/2006

The pilot introduces Matt and Emily, a man and a woman who deal with their personal relationship while focusing on their jobs as hostage negotiators. In this episode, the CNU deals with two separate crises: one regarding an estranged father about to lose custody of his sons and another revolving a young man who takes control of a coffee shop.

Directors: Tim Story
Watch Now:Amazon
Man of Steele
star
7.76
97 votes

#15 - Man of Steele

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/14/2006

A man becomes enraged when he learns a surrogate mother for his child in an illegal adoption was a fraud. After he shoots the social worker who arranged the adoption, he takes the baby and the babysitter hostage at the surrogate mother's home. Matt and Emily are called to negotiate when the man calls radio personality, Avery Steele, to defend himself, and the standoff goes live on the air in Los Angeles.

Directors: Steve Gomer
Writer: Adam Targum
Watch Now:Amazon
Life Support
star
7.72
101 votes

#16 - Life Support

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/31/2006

A young boy takes hostages in a hospital because the doctor is needs to operate on his terminally ill sister is on vacation and the other surgeons refuse to perform the procedure without him. Matt and Emily are called to save the hostages and help the boy.

Watch Now:Amazon
Heroine
star
7.57
68 votes

#17 - Heroine

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/21/2006

After Matt and Emily save a young woman from a hostage situation, they learn the woman could be the victim of a stalker. Although Emily learns the woman has feelings for Matt and could be making false claims, Matt is determined to save her again.

Watch Now:Amazon
Circling
star
7.23
43 votes

#18 - Circling

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/12/2006

An air traffic controller hijacks the control tower to protest his innocence after he is blamed for a plane crash that killed 180 people. Matt and Emily discover the hijacker might be dealing with more than the accusation when they learn his wife is having an affair.

Directors: Brad Turner