Last night on Designated Survivor, Kirkman’s younger brother shows up as the hacking investigation from last week’s episode continues. Meanwhile, a peaceful protest takes place both inside and outside the White House, which personally involves Kirkman.
Full Recap
First, a video involving Tom goes viral. In it, he visits the drunk driver the inadvertently killed his wife in prison. But people think Tom’s being too harsh on him because he’s already been convicted. At first, Tom decides to let the issue go but then he realizes he has to say something. In the end, he does damage control by humanizing himself. He’s not just the president of the United States, he’s a man who’s grieving his wife’s death. But he does apologize and promises to work harder to be a better person and president.
In the hacking investigation, we find out that the hacker also leaked Kirkman’s viral prison video. To keep a close eye on him, Hannah and Aaron keep Damian in a safe house. There, they try to get more information out of him as well as his past handler. Unfortunately, she ends up not cooperating with them. Then, someone breaks in and tries to kill Damian. Luckily for him, the FBI’s watching him so not only do they save him, they obtain a laptop. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get anything off of it because a few minutes later, the laptop catches on fire.
Trey Comes to Visit
Meanwhile, Tom’s younger brother, Trey visits. They’re somewhat estranged from each other but he’s there as a trustee for Alex’s charity. Apparently, Tom holds a grudge against him for leaving their mother when she got sick. But Trey defends himself by saying he thought it was his way of helping. Later, he apologizes and says he just wants them to be a family again. Then, Tom realizes it’s time to let go of his grudge. Which turns out to be great for them as they move forward. Plus, they spend some time reminiscing a little about Alex. God, I miss her.
A Peaceful Protest
On the more political side of things, a peaceful protest takes place inside the White House. But that’s only after they’re invited in for a tour of the building. Apparently, the Ocheole people, a small indigenous tribe, are being forced to relocate for the second time. All because an architecture firm wants to use their land for commercial use. And the firm just so happens to be Tom’s first architecture firm and they already caused the tribe’s first relocation. But it’s a surprise to him because he never even knew about the first relocation, let alone the protest against it.
Then, Kirkman contacts Billy and Alton, his old business partners. He tries to persuade them not to renovate so the Ocheole people can stay. But because it made the firm (and Tom) a lot of money and gave thousands of people jobs, they refuse. Eventually, Tom, with the help of his staff, finds a solution. They find an old treaty that’s still applicable, therefore meaning the firm can’t legally develop the land or force the tribe to leave after all.
Kirkman then contacts Billy and Alton, his old business partners, to try to persuade him not to renovate so that the Ocheole can stay. But because it made him, and Tom’s firm, a lot of money and gave jobs to thousands of people, they refuse to stop the renovation. Eventually, the issue is resolved by bringing up an old treaty that is still applicable, therefore meaning that Alton legally can’t develop the land or force the tribe to leave.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was nice to see how important Tom’s integrity is to him. He feels responsible for what happened to the Ocheole people, even if he’s not at fault. But he worked hard to resolve it because he believes it never should’ve happened. However, I found it hard to believe that Billy and Alton did all of this without Tom’s knowledge. But this issue was especially important because it involved indigenous peoples. And as we all know, they have a long history of being treated harshly by the American people. So the fact that Tom cared and did everything he could to fix it matters.
As for the hacking investigation, the hacker definitely doesn’t want Damian to be alive. That can only mean that Damian knows more about all of this than he’s letting on. But if he really does know something, why not give it up? Yes, he works for the Russians but this hack affects both Russia and U.S. Plus, the hacker just tried to kill him. So what exactly does he look to gain from all of this?
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