What I’m Watching: Designated Survivor

Designated Survivor: Season 1, Episode 10 “The Oath” (C)

This show has firmly decided what it wants to be, and there were multiple times during this episode that I heard music that I could have sworn was originally featured on “24” (or just very similar to it). This isn’t a show about a man who assumed the presidency without qualifications; instead, it’s the kind of thriller that has the first person coming to the scene of a vicious car crash there to try to suffocate the survivor to make sure that she can’t get away and talk. Fortunately, Hannah is just the kind of Jack Bauer-type agent that she, even in her bloody, concussion-created delirium was alert enough to put her food on the gas and escape her would-be killer. Unfortunately, she didn’t think to grab the evidence while she was at it. That said, we now know that it wasn’t actually MacLeish at the helm of everything but his wife. As the episode came to a close, we got to the point where it became clear what was happening, that Tom was going to be assassinated by a conveniently-placed gunman just after MacLeish was officially sworn in as his number-two and eligible to ascend to the presidency. Hannah was at least smart enough to figure out how to divert attention to her and hopefully make the gunman miss, since Kiefer Sutherland not being on this show is an impossibility given its marketing. Top advisors kissing and journalists lying doesn’t cut it as subplots for me, so I’m hoping for a more resilient and believable direction when this show returns in March.