Designated Survivor “One Hundred Days” was written by Dana Ledoux Miller and was directed by Kenneth Fink, whose other credits include
Person of Interest,
Revenge, and
Nikita. Once again, I found myself far more interested in what was happening in the White House than the increasingly implausible investigation storyline. Maybe that’s just me, but it’s getting harder and harder to simply hand wave away all the problems with it.
In the White House, Tom (Kiefer Sutherland) re-sets the clock on his administration to really get down to the business of governing. He begins the episode with a press conference to announce that they’ll be laying out their policy and that he’ll be holding a Town Hall meeting at William and Mary to begin the discussion.
Emily (Italia Ricci) is in charge of getting everyone to help decide what those policy issues are going to be. They don’t want to get bogged down in “hot button issues” – like gun control – which of course they do. Seth (Kal Penn) notes that the really need momentum and they can’t waste it on divisive issues. People are excited to contribute to the agenda.
While Leo (Tanner Buchanan) and Alex (Natascha McElhone) watch the press conference, he asks her if it’s ever weird for her that she is now First Lady and Tom is President. She says yes, and it’s a nice way to remind us that they never signed up for this – and never got the requisite training for it. At a luncheon addressing the AWLC, Alex is surprised by a question on gun control and unthinkingly simply answers from her heart. And naturally, the answer is picked up as White House policy.
I was a little surprised that Alex was so willing to do whatever was asked of her – to go on television and essentially take back what she said – “to walk it back.” She’s a good wife, but I hope we’ll start to see her push back more on having a real role to play here too. I’d like to see some Michelle O’Bama level commitment to issues!
Senator Jack Bowman (Mark Deklin) also jumps on the bandwagon to make a name for himself and try to blow up Tom’s 100 days. I loved Tom asking where he stands on the gun issue and the obvious answer being – he’s from Montana!
I loved the scene with Emily and Seth coaching Tom for the Town Hall. She stops him when he goes into “professor-mode,” and he’s pretty good at dealing with the criticism. She tells him to focus on relating and on listening – both of which he does to great effect in the actual Town Hall. Tom is fine with personalizing his answers, but he also insists that he won’t lie to them. I loved that he answered real problems by providing actual, concrete solutions – unlike a lot of the hand waving that’s been going on in “real” life politics lately – with vague promises to do “something.”
And of course, the gun issue comes back when Sandra (Christina Collins) asks what Tom is going to do to prevent further tragedies like her ex-boyfriend murdering her daughter, and Seth and Emily look really worried – no doubt in part because they know that Tom has strong feeling. His answer is great. He identifies it as a hot button issue, but then says that shouldn’t prevent them from addressing it. He points out that gun control isn’t about taking away your second amendment rights – something that should be obvious, but often gets lost in the rhetoric – again, hot button issue! Tom says that they need to use common sense. He tells Sandra that he can’t ease her pain, but he will do everything in his power to make sure no one else has to feel the same kind of pain.
Tom holds a meeting in the Oval office, including Bowman and Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen). He tells them that he disagrees that being an Independent puts him at a disadvantage. Instead, it opens the possibility of truly being bi-partisan and working to move to a true partnership. Tom tells Bowman he wants to work tirelessly to come to a consensus over gun control and Bowman appears to be onboard… before going to the press and hijacking the issue. Bowman proposes his own Bill – it’s a bad one, but if Tom doesn’t support it, he will now look like a hypocrite.
Meanwhile, Aaron (Adan Canto) is trying to adjust to civilian life. He’s out jogging when he gets a suspicious call and runs back to his apartment where he has a suspicious conversation in Spanish with… his cousin – Nadia (Mercedes de la Zerda)! She’s following in Aaron’s footsteps – inspired by his career and dedication to public service. He’s gotten her an interview with Congresswoman Mae Yoshida (Grace Lynn Kung) and he runs into Hookstraten in the hallway.
Nadia inspires Aaron not to return to Texas, and instead, he takes up Hookstraten’s offer of help. He goes to her for help in getting a job with a lobbyist, only to have her offer him a job with her! I’m glad that he’ll be more in the forefront of the story – and not a traitor – and still able to possibly pursue Emily, but it’s still disappointing not to have him on Tom’s team. Good story-telling though! Aaron also tells Emily that even though Hookstraten is Republican and he’s a Democrat, he’s hopeful that party lines really don’t mean as much on this new playing field.
Meanwhile, the bad story-telling continues on the investigative storyline. It’s great to have Malik Yoba backs as Atwood, but Atwood truly is a loose cannon and a bad choice for a partner! We do get a cute scene with Chuck (Jake Epstein) who would like to read more into Hannah (Maggie Q) staying with him. However, we’re also really getting Chuck relegated to the backburner again too. Also? Getting a fingerprint off of a wine glass in a photo – taken with a PHONE!!! – is pretty ridiculous.
It’s a pretty rookie move for Hannah to get caught on camera – and really ridiculous for her to go into where she thinks an International assassin and spy might be hiding – with no backup at all. And poor Chuck has now lost everything in the explosion of his apartment!
And of course, even with Atwood as backup, Brooke Matheson/Poyet (Mariana Klaveno) ends up getting the drop on Hannah. Atwood ends up killing her as well, even after Hannah convinces him not to, when she pulls a hidden gun. Have they had no training to pat down a captive?? The episode ends with them finding evidence of attacks planned for other major landmarks.
I’m still enjoying the White House storyline, but my patience is wearing thin on the investigation storyline, and I’m not a big fan of how the storylines now feel like two different shows. What do you think? Would you like to see more plot integration or are you ok with how the show is handling it? What did you think of this episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
