Designated Survivor - The Blueprint - Review

Designated Survivor “The Blueprint” was written by the team of Dana Dedoux Miller and Michael Russell Gunn and was directed by Richard J Lewis, whose other credits include Westworld, Person of Interest, CSI, and North of 60 (familiar to many Canadians!). This episode felt like we made some progress in unraveling the mystery – or at least Tom (Kiefer Sutherland) seems finally to be getting more pieces of the puzzle. I’m very much enjoying the story-telling techniques being used in the series – such as walk and talks and scenes that cut back and forth between different but parallel action. I worry a little that a 22 episode series will have a hard time maintaining tension over that long of an arc, however. 24 did a good job of managing it by having 3 distinct arcs within each season and that could work here too.

The episode really centers on whistle-blower Gabriel Thompson (Brent Sexton). He manages to steal a huge amount of data from the National Security Agency. I loved the use of the fake coin to smuggle the sim card around! He leaks bits and pieces of information to get the President’s attention. He starts by releasing information that paints Richmond’s former Cabinet as corrupt – all except Tom. This prompts Aaron to ask if Tom has anything to hide, and Tom says he has nothing to hide – and I really hope that’s true, but I’m betting it isn’t. And then Thompson goes after Tom’s most trusted advisor Emily (Italia Ricci).

Of course, the attack on Emily let’s Aaron (Adan Canto) step up as her white knight and their budding romance really starts to take off in this episode. Emily is impressed when Aaron remembers how she likes her coffee – and a little bit of me liked her character less for having such a ridiculous coffee order.

Thompson leaks comments Emily made in a memo about Senator Hazelton’s (John Bourgeois) being more interested in groping female staff than promoting them. Hazelton had retired but is now back and is the Chair of the Senate’s Appropriation Committee – he holds the purse strings. Tom tries to intervene and arranges for Emily to apologize to Hazelton – in the Oval office. Hazelton doesn’t want an apology, he wants revenge and Emily’s resignation.

Tom doesn’t want to accept Emily’s resignation, so she goes to Aaron and reminds him that it’s his job to protect the President. He doesn’t want to accept it either. He tells her that Tom needs her, and he’s not the only one. Seth (Kal Penn) walks in on them at that moment and the look on Penn’s face is priceless. I’m SO enjoying him on this! I’m sure he did wonderful things in the actual White House, but I’d missed him on my television screen! Seth interrupts to let Aaron know that news outlets are lining up for interviews with the President and questions about Nassar’s death. Emily remarks, “who doesn’t want five minutes with the President?” and that’s when the penny falls for Aaron.

He goes to the Venezuelan consulate where Thompson is seeking asylum because they don’t have an extradition agreement with the US. Sure enough Thompson just wants five minutes with the President and Aaron sets it up. Thompson also provides the proof that what Emily said in the memo was the truth. Tom goes back to Hazelton with the proof. Hazelton accuses him of extortion, but Tom points out that extortion would be holding the government up to get Emily fired. He also suggests that Hazelton should re-retire…

Emily agrees to stay and goes to thank Aaron. He’s clearly pleased and asks her out for dinner. While I’m happy to see these two as allies, I can’t help but be disappointed that we had to head down the romance road so quickly – or really at all. I feel that the show is occasionally a bit unfocused as to what it’s supposed to be. Political thriller, political commentary, or soap opera?

Tom seeks Alex’s (Natascha McElhone) advice about whether to talk to Thompson. I do like the relationship between these two – and McElhone’s portrayal of Alex as smart and competent – a good advisor to the President. She asks what Tom’s gut says about Thompson, and Tom admits he doesn’t seem crazy. Alex points out that it must be important for him to trade his life for five minutes with Tom. Thompson will be taken into custody and spent the rest of his life in jail – assuming he isn’t executed for treason.

I love how they are making Mike (LaMonica Garrett) an important character and ally to Tom. He meets Thompson and brings him to Tom. Tom knows that Thompson’s step-daughter was killed in the bombing and tells him that he’s sorry for his loss. Thompson says he wants to make sure that something like this never happens again. He also tells Tom that he checked all of his correspondence and Tom’s ethics are above reproach. So maybe he doesn’t have anything to hide? Thompson was also impressed that every 4th text that Tom sent was to his kids – so he obviously cares about family – Thompson’s reason for whistle-blowing. He gives Tom the chip out of the coin and tells him to look at file 12-80c – but to be very careful who he shows the file to.

Mike proves that he’s valuable as more than just muscle – in case his counselling Leo (Tanner Buchanan) last week didn’t help prove that. Mike has skills! He rotated through several departments before ending up on Tom’s security detail, so he knows how to use an air-gapped computer and how to extract the information. It’s proof also of how much Tom has faith in him. The file turns out to be a blueprint of the capital bombing. It was war-gamed on November 17, 2013. Tom thinks that somebody gave the file to Nassar. He’s likely wrong there as it seems most likely it was someone closer to home who really did the bombing, but he’s right when he says there’s a traitor among them!

Meanwhile John Forstell (Reed Diamond) arrives to begin the investigation into Atwood (Malik Yoba). Forstell seems like a pretty smart guy. He goes to Hannah (Maggie Q) to get her take on the confession. He tells her that they can’t ignore the confession. She wants to know why he’s investigating if it’s a slam dunk, but he wants to know who else could have done it.

Forstell was in the same class as Atwood at Quantico, so we can hope he realizes this is completely out of character. Yoba is excellent in the interrogations scene as he sticks to his story, but his depression over jettisoning his career is clear. Atwood gets all the forensic evidence right, however. Tom who watches the interview still has doubts and wants to know if Atwood is really capable of the murder.

Hannah takes her investigation off the grid and gets Chuck (Jake Epstein) to bring all of the files on McLeish (Ashley Zukerman) and bring them to her place. Together they unravel the 11:14pm clue as a date, not a time, specifically of November 14, 2005 – the date that McLeish got the Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan. To her credit, Hannah does offer Chuck the option of leaving if he doesn’t want to endanger himself, but he maintains that she’s smart and usually right. She then presses him into field work!

Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen) is busy casting dispersions on both Tom and McLeish in the media – survival isn’t a qualification for leading the country! She’s also highly suspicious of McLeish now and tells him that it’s not the government’s job to give the President what he wants – McLeish as VP – but to do what’s right for the country. She also tells him that she doesn’t trust anyone who has anything handed to them, especially power.

Emily and Aaron are impressed with how McLeish is handling himself at his confirmation hearing – channeling Kennedy. I really liked how the episode cut back and forth between McLeish telling his story and Hannah and Chuck interviewing the other surviving members of his troop. While McLeish denies that he’s a hero, all the members of his troop declare he is.

The last soldier Hannah goes to interview ends up being dead, and she talks to his widow (Joanne Boland). She has a footlocker of mementos, and Hannah finds a picture of the entire troop – with Catalan in the background.

Chuck calls Hannah and tells her that his computer has been shut down – Forstell is on to them, and he warns her not to come in. Hannah calls Hookstraten for help to stall the McLeish hearing. Hannah also calls on her CIA friend Tim (Matthew MacFadzean) again. He tells a different story: the Ranger unit massacred a series of villages after several of their men were killed by a Taliban sniper. They took out 3 villages in 24 hours – they are war criminals, not heroes.

Aaron tells Tom that Hookstraten is delaying McLeish’s hearing, so Tom calls him in. Tom asks him if there’s something he’s not telling him. McLeish cleverly shifts scrutiny onto Hannah, telling Tom that she’s been hounding him. He attributes it to her having lost someone in the bombing – casting her as the hysterical female – I’m really hoping that with Alex in his corner, that is never going to fly for Tom!

Hannah calls Hookstraten to tell her that she has the proof they need. Hookstraten informs the hearing that her witness will arrive in five minutes – and the episode ends with Hannah in an horrific car crash. And I was right there with the entire episode until the super clichéd car crash…

What did you think of the episode? Are you enjoying the romance elements? Was the car crash just one twist too many – or just too obvious? It definitely looks like McLeish is a bad guy – will Tom figure it out? Can Hookstraten keep McLeish from being confirmed? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!