‘Designated Survivor’ Season 1 Episode 2 Recap and Review: The First Day

Designated Survivor Season 1 Episode 2
LaMonica Garrett and Kiefer Sutherland in ‘Designated Survivor’ (ABC/John Medland)

“Are you ready for this?” asks Alex Kirkman (Natascha McElhone). “How could anybody be ready for this?” replies Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) on his way to see the devastation at the Nation’s Capital and to pay his respects to those the country lost in the second episode of ABC’s new political thriller series, Designated Survivor.

Following the attack on the Capital, being sworn into office as the new President of the United States, and delivering his first speech to the Nation, Kirkman now sets out to try to rebuild the Cabinet while also trying to find out who is behind the despicable attack on the United States. After attending his first meeting in the Oval Office, which was nothing more than a yelling, chaotic mess, Kirkman leaves and finds a nice quiet place to collect his thoughts. He tells his Assistant Chief of Staff Aaron Shore (Adan Canto) and his other assistant, Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci), that he needs them to go through the list of who is left politically, help him find a Chief of Staff, and help work on building a new Cabinet.

Kirkman’s told he needs to meet the other designated survivor (the Republicans selected one also, just in case) and that she’s already in the building. She’s Congresswoman Kimble Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen), and it seems he has a new ally. During their first meeting, Kimble tells the new President that the first two things she did this morning were cry and pray, and she asks him if he knows when was the last time she did that. He answers, “9/11.” The two bottom-rung politicians admit to each other being worried about letting the American people and their government down. Kimble tells Kirkman that party affiliation just doesn’t matter anymore, and she says to him, “We’re all Americans now.”

Meanwhile, the FBI is getting some intelligence on the bomb they found. Despite Agent Hannah Wells’ (Maggie Q) suspicions that they’re being given the wrong information by the bombers who are trying to falsely implicate an organization to keep themselves out of the spotlight, the FBI sends the info on to the military. This is when General Harris Cochrane (Kevin R McNally) bursts into the Oval Office saying, “We know who blew up the Capital!” There’s a terrorist organization called Al-Saqar (once part of Al-Qaeda), and the General tells Kirkman that the way the bomb was put together is similar to that organization’s work in the past. Kirkman wants to know how sure the General is, and he answers 75%. The President replies, “75% is a C on a test.” The General tells the President that this is not a test and he needs to name the enemy publicly and strike. Kirkman walks up to the General and gets in his face, telling him that he wants to strike back at the people who did this, from the ones who planned it to the bomb makers and everyone involved, but the percentage needs to be higher. “Come back to me with more than 75%, and I’ll launch the damn missiles myself,” says Kirkman.

Kirkman is also dealing with a problem in Michigan, the home to America’s biggest Muslim population. They are being targeted and racially profiled by the police, and curfews and unlawful arrests are taking place. Kirkman reaches out to the Governor of the state, John Royce (Michael Gaston), to rein in his police. Royce responds by telling the new President that he will govern the way he sees fit and the police are doing what he wants to protect HIS people. He also manages to let Kirkman know that as far as he is concerned, he’s not HIS President.

Tom meets with both Aaron’s and Emily’s choices for Attorney General – they constantly disagree – and both men disagree on how Kirkman should handle it, with one of them suggesting putting martial law into effect. This does not fly with Kirkman, and so he has the legal team look to see what he is allowed to do to fix the problem in Michigan.

Now it’s time for Kirkman and his small staff to visit Ground Zero in Washington…the Capital. Just as Tom and Alex are getting ready, their young daughter Penny (Mckenna Grace) comes in all smiles but soon becomes wide-eyed and concerned when she sees her father wearing the Kevlar vest. “What’s that, daddy?” she asks. Tom replies, “This is to keep me from falling down, but the cool part is that you can hit it, and I won’t feel anything. Go ahead, try.” Penny hits her father who playfully falls back and lets out a gasp, and Penny laughs. Alex tells their son Tanner (Leo Buchanan) that he needs to watch Penny and keep her away from the television while she and Tom make the visit to the Capital.

The visit to the destroyed Capital at first seems to be the perfect photo op, and Kirkman borrows a fireman’s speaking horn to talk to the workers and the press. It’s an inspiring few moments that are destroyed when the crowd and press get video alerts on their phones about a Muslim teen in Michigan being beaten by the local police. The press start shouting questions at the President about the incident, but he hasn’t even seen it yet. Then a man quickly moves to the front reaching inside his jacket and the Secret Service spring into immediate action and rush Kirkman and the First Lady out of the area and back to the presidential convoy while the other agents tackle the man. Basically, it’s a complete disaster, and, oh yes, Leo left little Penny alone to take a phone call so she saw the whole thing on television.

Alex tells Leo when she finds out that he needs to rise to the occasion and grow up fast. She’s going to need to know she can depend on him to protect Penny, and he doesn’t seem to want to be counted on to do anything. She says they’ll find out if he’s up for it. Kirkman has another video meeting with the Governor of Michigan and this time tells him that he’s ordering him to release any and all Muslims who have not already been charged with a crime. At first, the Governor isn’t going to do it, but Kirkman adds that three of the Muslim men are FBI undercover operatives and that the Governor doesn’t have the clearance to know who they are. If he doesn’t release the Muslims, he will be up on federal charges. Governor Royce yields and says he will order the releases. Afterward Kirkman reveals to Aaron, Emily, and Kimble it was a bluff.

Congresswoman Kimble Hookstraten is back at her office and on her computer and brings up different sites about Tom Kirkman. It’s clear she’s looking up more about the new President because she wants to know more about him. But is it to be his ally or enemy? Time will tell.

Kirkman heads back out to the remains of the Capital but this time incognito, accompanied only by Secret Service Agent Mike Ritter (LaMonica Garrett) at night. No press, no cameras, just to shake the hands and thank the first responders, rescuers, engineers, police, and others doing their jobs. This time Kirkman gets it right. Right after the new President leaves, some first responders yell, “Hey, over here! We’ve found someone alive!” Screen to black.

Review of Designated Survivor episode 2 – The First Day:

Fast-paced, intense, and emotional, episode two of the political thriller begins to reveal what kind of leader Tom Kirkman is going to be and that he doesn’t have many people around him he can trust or count on. Sutherland is the perfect choice to play Kirkman as he captures the man’s insecurities, devotion, determination, and, when called for, toughness. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Kirkman evolves, especially when he begins to realize just how alone he is in the Oval Office.

The series, in its fast pacing, still finds time to slow the show down to have a few sweet and touching scenes with Kirkman and his family. The quieter scenes are effective and never feel forced. The best and most powerful scene in the episode by far, though, was the return to the bombing site with Kirkman slowly going among the first responders, shaking their hands and thanking them for their efforts.

With the real bombers still unknown, Kirkman still needs a Cabinet and a Chief of Staff he can trust (seriously, doesn’t he have a best friend he can promote to this position?!) and a survivor of the bombing just found, episode three should be extremely fascinating.

GRADE: A-