‘Designated Survivor’ Recap: ‘#undecided’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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I have to admit, that binging is something I don’t normally do. Because I like to take a moment after every episode, of whatever series I’m watching, to ponder upon and properly process everything I’ve just seen. But, when a story is truly knocking it out of the park, and drawing me in, that’s when I tend to break my little viewing rule and hit ‘play’ without giving it a second thought, and that’s precisely what happened when it comes to the next episode of Designated Survivor. Because I simply had to know what was going to come out of the discovery that someone within Moss’ campaign was tied to this horrendous attempt to hurt people and well, ‘#undecided’ certainly didn’t disappoint when it comes to resolving that matter.
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But at first, it certainly didn’t seem like that was going to be the case. Because Phil was placed under 24/7 surveillance by the FBI, meaning that well, nothing was happening. Which was something that didn’t sit well with the President and he asked Mars to maybe nudge things along, just a little bit in order to bring Brunton to justice and thankfully, the FBI listened, and his arrest actually led to more surprises along the way. For Detwiler was also implicated in the scheme, making Moss look like a complete and utter fool, and of course, at election time, this kind of stuff matters. Which meant that Moss was suddenly sinking in the polls, opening up all kinds of new opportunities for Kirkman, the kind that Lorraine was happy to take full advantage of, since she altered the president’s speaking tour for the final days of the campaign in order to give him a chance to try and gain some ground in states that he had zero chances of winning before the story broke.

Which, at first glance, made it seem as though the series was taking the easy way out and wrapping up this crisis and the election with a neat little bow, which would have been quite disappointing. But this little twist was apparently all part of the plan. Because by giving Kirkman a grand opportunity to seize this momentum, the story was able to ask a powerful question; can a good man stay true to his moral code when given the chance to seize the day with zero consequences? And the answer to that conundrum, ended up being a resounding…maybe. For when Kirkman was faced with the possibility that having Sasha introduce him on the main stage in Texas could hurt him in the polls, he caved, knowing damn well it was wrong thing to do, a fact that was reinforced by Moss himself when he called Tom to the carpet on playing the game for a change.

Granted, Kirkman eventually apologized and relented on that matter, but this felt super important, as though it’s going to come up again in the days to come, and that ominous feeling was only compounded further by Lorraine’s actions in this tale. For she leaked footage of Moss speaking poorly of people of color in order to kick a man when he’s down and make it seem as though, he’s a co-conspirator in this mess after all, and unfortunately for her, Donate figured out what she was up to and that she worked this out with Moss’ mole and well, that prompted him to call Emily for help in her darkest hour. For she said farewell to her mother in this tale, and was at her lowest because of it, and initially, she really didn’t care about what Donate had to say because she needed time to grieve. But, her sense of duty took hold and she followed Donate’s instructions on how to check Lorraine’s computer for clues and what she found was stunning, since there was a file hiding on that machine, one that may exonerate Moss from any wrongdoing.

If anything, that sets the stage for one epic season finale. Because you know that Emily is going to take this right to Kirkman and really, how he handles the discovery of this data is what matters because it will relate back to the question this episode posed and well, it should be fascinating to see whether or not the nature of Washington consumes the president in the final days of the campaign, or if he can rise above and do the right thing. Either way, this was a magnificent story through and through, and we absolutely need to take a moment and recognize the powerhouse performance that Italia Ricci provided us with in this tale, because the pain she portrayed definitely put tears into my eyes and remembering the power of that scene, is making me mist up right now. So, that means, it’s best I not dwell any further on this episode, simply because, this is it, election day draws near, and the president has quite the decision to make and I need to know how this ends. So, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to settle in and watch the season three finale of this incredible show. Until next time. 

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