Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 14 Review: In The Dark
Jasmine Blu
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That pesky little problem that has been looming over the season for quite some time was finally addressed on Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 14.
You might be asking which one because let's face it, there are a few. I'm talking about the vice presidency, of course!
Kirkman has been ruling for quite some time, but the show and this fictional White House has been long overdue for a Vice President, and now there's someone in the running.
Let's start by laughing at the fact that Kirkman, for some daft reason, didn't think he needed a vice president. Oh, dearest Kirkman, you most certainly do, especially when you've been making some dodgy choices as of late.
Kudos to Mayor Darby for at one point suggesting that Kirkman was at the risk of coming across as a dictator. It was a valid point to make. Kirkman is our protagonist, and he generally has the best intentions for the country at heart, but he does come across as a dictator at times.
He's not maniacal and power hungry, but he bucks too much when he's challenged. He's been obstinate, particularly more recently, and Alex's death brought out a different side to him. There is a reason why there is a system of checks and balances and also why a vice president is needed.
Our nation's capital is dark. The world is watching, and Lady Liberty's light has gone out. Mayor, I'm sorry, you've run out of time.
Tom
I did agree with him regarding the choices Lyor and Emily initially presented him. There was no way in hell any of those candidates would have worked in a Kirkman White House. The White House staff is like a family, and those individuals probably got a checkmark next to "Doesn't play well with others" on their report cards as youths.
By the end of the hour, we could predict that someone would be a candidate for Vice President, and it was a matter of who that person would be. The show presented us with a couple of options that seemed feasible.
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One of them was Trey. It was unlikely that a man with no political background would be considered, but we are talking about a fictional universe where all of Congress was wiped out, and the terminated Secretary of Housing and Urban Planning instantly became president.
Much like real life politics, it seems anything could be possible in this universe. Although, Trey being Tom's brother worked against him more than his lack of political experience would have.
Fortunately, he's proven useful in other areas. Trey is a breath of fresh air in the series, and I'm enjoying his tenure on the series.
Then, there was one of the many conversations that Lyor and Emily had during the time spent trapped in the elevator. A rare compliment came from Lyor when he mentioned and further elaborated on how Emily would make a decent president.
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Wouldn't it have been interesting if Emily became Vice President? Hell, she does most of the work half of the time anyway. It was something to think about.
The honor went to Quantico and NCIS: Los Angeles alum, Aunjanue Ellis who plays Major Darby.
Personally, I like Darby. She's fiery, spunky, and passionate about her job and her community.
It is with great pleasure and pride that I introduce to you, my nominee for Vice President of the United States of America, Mayor Ellenor Darby.
Tom
I liked that she was willing to call Tom out when she saw it fit, and to be frank, her points were valid. Tom was too quick to call in the National Guard on the DC metropolitan area at the first sight of looting during the blackout.
I get that he didn't want it to become a catastrophic event, but he jumped the gun too fast and didn't give the city's authority the chance to jump in and calm things before he wanted federal interference. The man was ready to invoke Martial Law, and that was absurd.
With a community that already was uneasy about government and militarized police, Kirkman would have lost the people with that maneuver, and Darby knew that. I liked that she was invested in the Bellevue community because she was a part of it.
Darby is in it for all the right reasons, and she thinks about optics and relates to the people in a different way than Kirkman. She seems authentic, and they could potentially make a great team.
Hannah: Who turned the lights out?
Damian: I don't know.
The blackout was a result of this hacker that's wreaking havoc on everything during the second half of the season. Did it remind anyone of the Northeast Blackout of 2003? I remember how crazy that was, and it's scary just how reliant we are on our power infrastructures. You never think about it until moments like this.
The resolution for the blackout was uneventful. Chuck figured out the cipher and resolved the issue offscreen. It was back to business as usual in no time.
Somewhere along the way, Lyor was an ass to the prime minister of Japan, and he and Emily were stuck in an elevator together. For some reason, the show's idea of developing Lyor's character is having him take trips down memory lane at random.
He reminisced about his childhood and explained why he's particular and precise. It boiled down to daddy issues. Doesn't it always?
I know Seth and Emily are back on or whatever. Admittedly, Seth's appearance in this hour was pointless as he spent most of it trying to find the perfect anniversary gift for Emily despite assuming that they were broken up.
Yeah, funny thing though, did Emily and Lyor have a "vibe" to you? It felt like they were having one of those potential 'ship vibes, and I can't even consider it. Please, tell me I read too much into it, and "Eyor" won't be anything close to a thing.
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Speaking of "things," Damian continues to keep Hannah in the dark. His entire role in this plot with Hannah is like some twisted form of foreplay.
He tries to convince Hannah that he's lowkey in love with her by killing assassins coming after her and barely cooperating, and she pretends like she's pissed at his very existence, but they'll likely end up having hate-sex one good time before he sacrifices himself for her by the end of the season.
Meanwhile, his handler is jealous of Damian's obsession with Hannah, but all of this relationship angst is shrouded in conspiracy theories, threats against the nation, and spy intrigue or whatever. I don't know, man.
What I do know is, if I were Hannah, I wouldn't give that woman a free pass for trying to kill me.
Hannah threatening her made me laugh out loud. "If you try to kill me again, I'll kill you" is what it boiled down to, and I'm just wondering why you wouldn't, I don't know, end her now because she tried to kill you once.
Shouldn't one attempt on your life be enough? But kill her now, though, Hannah. Second chances are for chumps.
We need an Aaron update. In a laughable moment, once it was revealed that Emily was MIA, that meant Aaron would be Interim Chief of Staff.
You guys, Aaron held not one, but two whole positions in this hour acting as interim Chief of Staff and the head of the NSA, but he still managed to have less screentime than Emily and Lyor hanging out in an elevator and Seth talking to Kendra about anniversary gifts.
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The only person who had less time than Aaron was Lyor's new assistant who popped out to spend time with her father for his birthday. Oh, this show. Inquiring minds want to know, did the actor piss someone off or have other projects? What gives?
Over to you guys, are you relieved the show addressed that pesky vice president situation? Hit the comments!
As always, you watch Designated Survivor online right here at TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
