Designated Survivor is a political drama series that spanned 3 seasons, with only 10 episodes in the final season rather than the 20 or so episodes in the first two. It was written by David Guggenheim (younger brother of Marc (Arrow) and Eric (Hawaii 5-0) and starred Keifer Sutherland as the new POTUS and Maggie Q as the FBI agent and Kal Penn as his Press Secretary.
A bomb explodes on the night of the State of the Union where all the President's Men and indeed women are residing, including the President himself. They are all killed. This leaves only the designated survivor, Thomas (Tom) Kirkman, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He is quickly sworn in and assumes the role of President without having the faintest idea how to be one. During the first season, he makes many decisions, not all comfortable ones and perhaps not all good ones, but with a dedicated team behind him, he soon finds his feet and settles comfortably behind the desk of the Oval Office.
By the second series, Tom seeks council with the 44th President Cornelius Moss, who at first seems to be helping Tom in his position. So much so, that Tom gives him an active role in his administration. But when it begins to turn sour, a huge wedge is driven between the two men, and Moss is fired from his role. It also ignites Cornelius' decision to stand again in the coming elections, for a 'better President'. However, after a dirty tricks campaign, administered by campaign manager Lorraine Zimmer played by Julie White, left a foul taste in the mouth, when it seemed that Kirkman didn't respond in the way that the team felt he should have, close friend and colleague, Emily Rhodes took matters into her own hands.
Maggie Q plays Hannah Wells (one of my favourite characters in the series) who we may all remember from the series Nikita, is now an FBI agent, dedicated to her job, perhaps a little too dedicated, and enacting her own levels of justice on those who wrong her, but her heart has always been in the right place - to protect and serve her President. Right up to the end.
Kal Penn plays Seth Wright, the White House Communications Director. He doubted Kirkman's role as President, saying as much to the man himself, unaware of who he was in the other cubicle (at the time) but soon became one of his strongest supporters. He was promoted to Press Secretary and in Series 3 promoted further to Communications Director.
An interesting factoid that I've only just discovered, is that Kal Penn is not just an actor but was also a former White House staff member during the Obama administration. Or to give him his full title, White House Office of Public Liaison. In 2009 he was offered and took the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. He has been a strong supporter of the Obama Administration and full supporter of the Democrats, even supporting Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic nomination and campaigning for Hillary Clinton. After remarks by Chump, Penn and other members of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigned in 2017 after the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
But what has all of this got to with Doctor Who and Torchwood, I hear you scream. Well I'm coming to that. Patience!
I was searching for a boxset to watch over the next couple of months, to break up the general 'sod all to watch on freeview' of an evening, and 'remind me why I'm paying for a TV licence, again?' when a suggestion came up after watching 'Homeland' for the past 7 seasons over the course of about 2 months!!!
Designated Survivor had been saved in My List for some time before I decided to give it a go. A family member told me that it was worth a watch, so one bored evening, with 'sod all on the telly' I tried out an episode. Three episodes later, I was hooked. It felt very much like The West Wing, and had a group of likeable characters. Kal Penn I felt I'd seen before, and had, from 'House'. Keifer obviously from all those 80s classics such as 'Lost Boys' and 'Stand by Me' and not forgetting 'Young Guns'.
There were several people during the season to get excited about, especially for the Torchwood fans and most especially because we've now reached the month (Issue 88) where we're covering The Blood Line, and not only hear the voice of The Cousin but actually see him too. Yes, Chris Butler plays a devious role in DS, but actually, I quite liked him in this. He came over far more charismatic than the Cousin. He drew people in, but his deceit came at the end, when his ruse was discovered.
From Doctor Who we had Kevin McNally who played Hugo Lang in The Twin Dilemma. During the first season of DS he played General Harris Cochrane, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was like all these old Generals you see at the first sign of enemy attack, or enemy threat, is to strike first and to hell with the casualties. He hated Kirkman's responses to attack and was determined to take matters into his own hands. He was eventually removed from office and was tagged by the Police, not to leave his home after curfew. Eventually, the real perpetrator was uncovered, but the damage had already been done.
Dillon Casey also made an appearance in Series 2, when Hannah Wells began to work closely with a British double agent. It was great to see Casey back on the telly again, and he was in more than just a few episodes.
There are many interesting faces and I'm still working through it all for an article in the coming months.
I thoroughly enjoyed Designated Survivor, and it showed the level of work a President has to face on their first day, let alone their first week in office. I doubt Chump ever did anything as worthwhile short of throwing his toys out of the pram when he didn't get his own way.
One of the things that I am most happy about these days is that there is a definite shift in the way trans people are portrayed on the television, and more so because, often they are played by transgender people, and not just an actor pretending to be trans. You can only really understand the suffering of a trans person, when you’re actually really in those shoes, and not just slipping them on for a few days filming. Jamie Clayton played Sasha Booker in the third season of Designated Survivor. Sasha was Kirkman’s sister in law. Kirkman used the correct pronoun and treated her like the woman she really was, and admitted that there were still some things he still couldn’t get his head around but said it in such a way that she was relaxed around him, and to be fair, he came across as a very loyal man who deserved to be a President. Very Obama!
Just in the fight for the Presidential seat, when he had initially brought Sasha in as a voice for the people, he changed his mind, and felt that the trans issue would damage his chances of becoming President during the final campaign. Perhaps that’s true – perhaps it’s easier to set that president aside and fight for trans and gay rights once you’ve got your foot firmly inside that door. One thing throughout the series that did change though for Kirkman. Instead of making all his speeches personal – at the final stage, when dirty dealings had been brought to his attention, and ideally those people should have been brought to task and fired, he put it all aside and became a politician.
All in all, it was still a great series and well worth the binge watching! Now, what else can match that?
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