'Designated Survivor' Recap: 'One Year In'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

When we last left President Tom Kirkman and his administration on Designated Survivor, it seemed as though things were certainly looking up. Tom had established himself as a fine leader of the American people, one that appeared to excite and inspire something new in our nation and the monster that is Patrick Lloyd, the man responsible for the destruction of the U.S. Captiol Building was exposed to the world for his actions and on the run, despite having important intel on the nation's defensive capabilities and well, having such a happy ending to a show about a country fighting to keep itself together left me wondering...where would the series go from here? 

Would season two of this refreshing series spend all of its time on the hunt for Patrick Lloyd? Would it show us a United States moving toward a utopian type of environment with such a bright and inspiring leader at its helm? Well the answer to both of those questions is a resounding no. While the hunt for Lloyd is clearly going to be a focus for this season, it's obvious now it won't be at the forefront and if anything, it would seem that season two will be a fine example of how not only does time heal all wounds, it also allows for old habits to die hard since 'One Year In' presented us with a Kirkman administration that is now facing backlash for the things that Americans hate the most, excessive government spending, and inaction on bringing bad guys to justice. 

That backlash, made for a fascinating White House portion of the episode, where the people that stood by Tom from day one found themselves facing exhaustion and excessive amounts of stress from having to constantly defend their President. In fact, Seth was so worn down he was even considering leaving the press gig for another job and well...this was a wonderful way to re-introduce us to the characters and what they stand for and I truly appreciate the fact that the series injected a sense of complacency to their plight and that they all needed a proverbial kick in the tail to be reminded why they serve and why they took this job and the necessary moment everyone needed for that to happen, came by way of a crisis when a group of Ukrainian nationals took a Russian flight hostage on American soil, one filled to the brim with American and Russian citizens.

It allowed for his team to do their thing and eventually uncover the fact that the Russians paid the Ukrainian nationals to commit this act to force a conflict that would be mutually beneficial to both of those nations. After all, the Russian Federation would be able to finally deliver a show of power and strength and the Ukraine would have the world's eyes turned toward their plight. But alas, this little plot was never given the chance to grow, because unfortunately for the ambassadors of these two nations, they were subject to the patented Tom Kirkman smackdown and let's be honest, it was an utter delight to see Tom unleash his fury this early in the season, and despite the positive resolution to the whole mess, lives were lost in accidental fashion, including an old friend of Kirkman's and it would seem the whole ordeal and that loss has refocused the president and his staff.

As for the hunt for Patrick Lloyd, well that was a far more subtle affair, since Hannah spent most of the hour chasing his ghost around Amsterdam and clearly that's what Lloyd wanted. Because in the closing moments of the episode it was revealed that Patrick has returned to the United States and who knows what trouble he has planned for the American people and it's a great thing that Kirkman and his team are unified once again, because clearly they're going to need one another in the coming days, and when all is said and done, I really enjoyed this season premiere. It was a truly unique idea to allow for a hopeful and inspirational character such as Tom, to lose himself in the daily ether of day to day politics and have him find focus and direction before his nemesis returns to the story and it should be interesting to see what evil Lloyd is going to bring about next all in the name of patriotism, and how Kirkman will respond because I have no doubt that Lloyd is going to test Tom in ways he never imagined. Until next time. 

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