‘Designated Survivor’ Recap: ‘#slipperyslope’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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While the season three premiere of Designated Survivor was dynamic and different in its own right, allowing for the series to grow and move in new and exciting directions, I have to admit that I was quite curious as to whether or not the story was going to make a grand effort to return to its roots, so as to not alienate its baseline audience. After all, this is a series that loves to deliver complex moral conflicts onto president Tom Kirkman’s desk as often as possible, allowing for him and his staff to solve as it as a cohesive unit for a change and it just so happens that ‘#slipperyslope’ definitely worked to bring the show back to the basic ideas that helped us fall in love with it, but it also made sure to throw an intriguing twist into the mix while assembling that familiar framework.
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Now what made this episode feel so familiar, was a visit from a Saudi national, one tied to Tom’s executive order revolving around infrastructure, and his arrival led to a difficult day for the president. For this man brought with him his fourteen-year old bride, and just so happened to take a picture with his young wife alongside the president in the Oval Office, and that photo and Tom’s negative (and correct) comments on child marriage, brought forth all kinds of hubris in Washington, including the unsettling fact that child marriage is alive and well in America, and that gave Tom pause. Because it didn’t seem right to condemn such a thing without taking action and after much discussion, Tom felt it right to take executive action on the matter and planned to announce his plan to end child marriage in the U.S. during the groundbreaking ceremony of the new bridge in North Carolina.

But something happened when the big moment arrived, in that, Kirkman didn’t say a single word about the matter. He simply went about the ceremony like this cause was no big deal and that, was quite frankly, stunning. For it is the first time we’ve seen Tom fold on any issue, and it’s also the first time he’s played the political game and picked his respective battles and honestly, I don’t know how to feel about this. Because this was either a moment of fear related to the upcoming election, or a paradigm shift in the character’s design, and I hope it’s the former because this just isn’t Kirkman, and knowing this series, my guess is the story will come back to this misstep at some point or another as a teaching moment for Kirkman, and I suppose the only real solace in seeing such a surprise move on his part, was the fact that he had to explain himself to Penny face to face and that did seem to hammer home the gravity of his mistake.

However, while I could go on about this for longer, let’s break from that for a moment to discuss Hannah’s journey in this tale because that was actually quite the big deal. For this episode features the first time we see her in her new role as a CIA analyst and it doesn’t take long for her to impress in her new role and get back out into the field to try and recruit a Dr. Eli Mays to the good guys’ cause of stopping a bio-terror plot before it starts, and while she is successful in creating an ally, it would seem she’s already a step too late when it comes to her grander goal. Because someone is murdering other brilliant minds in order to get their hands on biological goods and data, and they’re removing any evidence that anyone was ever there and well, clearly something big and scary is brewing on the horizon and it’s only a matter of time before the person or persons behind this unleash this new customized virus.

If anything, while this episode felt more traditional in its own right, my mind is still stuck on what Kirkman did, and how off the wall that is for him, but I really am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. For I get the funny feeling that the move to Netflix allowed for every last decision and moment to be properly plotted out, and that his decision is part of something larger for the character. So for now, I’ll let it go and see where the ride takes us because thus far, I’m quite intrigued with what season three is setting up, and I’m loving the dynamic characters present here and it’s going to be interesting to see how this off kilter decision and everything else brewing comes together, so on that note, rather than ponder and postulate on what may come next, it’s best I just return to the White House, and see it first-hand. Until next time. 

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