'Designated Survivor' Recap: 'Original Sin'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Loss is unfortunately, a part of life, and it is in fact, never an easy thing to deal with. It breaks our hearts, it sinks us to our lowest points emotionally and in the midst of our grieving process, a crossroads often presents itself to us where we are forced to make a tough decision. Do we continue to let grief and the pain it produces wash over us, or do we take a moment and pick ourselves up and push forward because we need to get our lives back on track? It’s a pair of questions that only the individual can answer, and it is a conundrum that President Tom Kirkman was finally forced to face on Designated Survivor.
 
I say finally, simply because, Tom has embraced his pain and let it consume his soul for weeks now and whether or not that’s right or wrong will always be up for debate. But last night’s episode, ‘Original Sin’ brought Tom’s grieving process to its logical conclusion for the moment and well, how this story brought the president to a point where he can make peace with the loss of his wife was simply magnificent to say the least. Because it didn’t drop some horrific crisis into his lap with lives at stake, nor did it push him to the edge or break him to pull him out of his funk. Instead, this episode made Tom face reality, and his past in order to properly start the healing process.
 
Oddly enough, a pair of events at the White House allowed for all of this to happen, and really, this personal journey for the president kicked off with an impromptu protest from a group on a White House tour. It turns out that this group was composed of Native Americans from Florida who were about to be relocated for the second time in many years and well, they wanted an audience with Kirkman simply due to the fact that he was involved in a land deal that saw them moved in the first place and while Tom was able to broker a deal, he learned during the negotiations that an old friend and former coworker kept a few facts from him about the tribe in the first place, and well, that centered the president and quickly reminded him of his own personal moral standing when it comes to honesty and integrity.
 
But what truly gave Tom genuine pause and forced him to rethink this path of anger and angst that he’s currently been on, was his family. Because his estranged brother Trey, who was on the board of directors for Alex’s charity, dropped by the White House at the same time to finalize her final wishes, and Tom was sadly, not happy to see his brother in the slightest and wanted him out of there as quickly as possible, which led to a gentle moment between father and son. Because, Leo reminded Tom that he often preaches the importance of family and forgiveness and for him to not follow that advice would be a drastic change in character and that…opened Tom’s eyes and he quickly made peace with Alex’s passing and pushed ahead because so many need him to be more and this epiphany allowed for him to reconcile with his brother, and he took the time to apologize to the American people for his actions as well, and it was just wonderful to see Tom find his way back from the darkness.
 
Of course, since this show prefers to show us issues such as this in realistic fashion, I’m fairly certain that Tom is not ‘cured’ in the slightest and may struggle in the weeks to come. But now is a good time for him to find balance since the Russian hack investigation is heating up, and it’s only a matter of time before whomever is behind it raises the stakes. But in the end, this was simply a magnificent episode through and through and it reinforces the fact that the characters are what make this series so fun to watch, because they are so supremely relatable and realistic and it’s also just rare to see a political drama add this level of humanity to its storytelling, but I’m so glad this series does just that on a regular basis because it truly draws us in and it will make the trouble waiting on the horizon, all the more powerful. Until next time. 

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