'Designated Survivor' Recap: 'Kirkman Agonistes'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

At some point or another during our lives, we are going to find ourselves going through some kind of crisis that tests our mental health and our quality of life. This is the kind of dilemma that leaves us struggling on a day to day basis or forces us to seek out professional help to maintain any semblance of sanity, yet despite the fact that all of us will go through this rough patch in our lives, few of us will ever discuss it publicly because to acknowledge that we were anything but 100% strong, or that we needed care for our mental health, is something that is downright taboo.
 
Yes, even in 2018, such subjects are avoided in public conversation and that’s unfortunate because caring for one’s mental health is no different than seeking care for a sprained ankle and oddly enough, the stigma that hangs over mental health and receiving treatment for it, became the focus of last night’s episode of Designated Survivor. Because ‘Kirkman Agonistes’ picked up immediately after last week’s episode, wherein the fallout from the latest leak began to grow and while President Tom Kirkman has survived a great many other attacks on his administration when it comes to leaks, this one was downright devastating.
 
Because the knowledge that the president has been seeking psychiatric care becoming public record, more or less crippled the administration. To the point where any policy or agenda, or allied support came to a screeching halt over concerns about his mental health and to make matters worse, the cabinet met as well, over those same concerns and nearly invoked the Twenty Fifth Amendment. But thanks to Vice President Darby, she offered Tom a way out; a hearing to determine his competency in the office and if he is able to defend why he can sit at the Resolute Desk, he can keep the most important job in the world.  

---

​Of course Tom was resistant of this at first, and his staff went to work on finding a way to beat Ethan West, the brilliant lawyer that would be holding this hearing, and while this made for some compelling television, I won’t lie, I was more impressed with how the show outright hammered home the point that our disdain toward mental health and anyone receiving care for it is wrong and that was punctuated in a magnificent scene where Seth scolded the White House Press Corps over the matter.
 
But while it was nice to see the series show a different kind of message, there is hacker and a leaker to deal with and everything that came forth from the hunt for said hacker, was stunning to say the least. Because Damian lost his life during this search, and we came to learn that Andrea Frost, the woman that’s been at Tom’s side since Alex’s passing is apparently the person responsible for all the trouble the administration has been dealing with and well, all of these twists and turns made for one powerful episode to say the least.
 
I mean come on, the person who has been helping Tom all this time is also the one trying to bring him down? That’s just wild and it should be interesting to learn what is motivating her to do this in the weeks to come. But, outside of that, I really loved this episode for so many reasons outside of its commentary on mental health. Because this one was compelling and filled with incredible performances from everyone on the show and I won’t lie, I’m a huge Michael J. Fox fan and it was just a joy to see him join the cast last night. But all of those fanboy moments aside, there’s real trouble brewing behind the scenes and it would seem that this time around, no policy or political gambit is going to get Tom Kirkman out of this mess. It’s up to him to convince the cabinet that he is fit for duty and that’s going to make for some incredible moments in the weeks to come as Tom bares his soul to save his job. Until next time.

---