It is sort of ironic that
Designated Survivor is becoming so popular running during the Trump
administration. In many ways, President Tom Kirkman (played by Kiefer
Sutherland) is many things that Trump promised he would be on the campaign
trail (and then he promptly broke all those promises when he was voted in):
A non-partisan political outsider who is willing to learn on the job, work
with both sides to make deals which will benefit the American people. He
believes in “draining the swamp” and does not put special interests over the
will of his constituents. And his First Lady (played by Natascha McElhone)
is even more model-hot than Melania.
Of course, in many other
ways Kirkman is the antithesis of Trump: smart, thoughtful, stable,
principled, disciplined, wonkish, selfless, a dreamer, strongly left-leaning
(though not a registered Democrat) and really putting the needs of
the American people ahead of his own. He respects the role of the press. And
he actually gets things done. Hell, in this first season the guy pushed
through a gun-safety background check bill and a NEA-sponsored arts bill for
schools with a majority Republican senate.
It may not be fair to say
that Designated Survivor is a reaction to the Presidency of Donald J.
Trump, after all it was created in the tail end of the Obama administration
and started to air when everyone, Trump included, assumed that Hillary
Clinton would be the next President. (Oh, if only.) However, for a
shell-shocked nation living through the Trump era, President Kirkman
is something comforting and attractive: an ethical, fundamentally good man
doing the country’s business.
Which is not to say that
the political atmosphere of Designated Survivor is an ideal liberal
utopia. If anything, the political landscape of the series is much more
toxic and devastated than even the Trump administration. It is populated
with subterfuge, black-ops, terrorists, traitors, militias, and vicious
attacks on the American way.
Even though star Kiefer
Sutherland plays President Kirkman as shy, thoughtful, worried and sometimes
overwhelmed – the polar opposite of his last long-running television
character, hard-assed federal agent Jack Bauer in 24 – the series’
political viewpoint, cynicism, and apocalyptic tenor is very much in pace
with the world of 24. Politics is a dirty world, filled with
despicable people, and they must be dealt with swiftly and definitively.
Designated Survivor
starts with one
hell of a political conundrum. The US Capitol Building is attacked by
terrorists on the night of the President’s State of the Union address,
killing not only the sitting President and Vice President, but also the
entire bodies of Congress, the Senate, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court.
At the time, Kirkman was a
former college professor working as the Chairman of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development. (Hey, he’s not the most unqualified HUD chief
ever, look who is there now!) However, just that morning the President had
told Kirkman he was probably going to be moved to an ambassadorship,
certainly a political demotion. And yet, somehow, this fired, inexperienced,
Independent non-politician was named the Democratic Party’s “designated
survivor.” (This puzzling turn of events is explained as the season goes
on.)
The designated survivor is
just what it sounds like: by tradition, whenever all of the major members of
the government are all in the same place, one person of each party is kept
away to take over the government in case of catastrophe. Of course, that has
always been theoretical busy work. However, in this series the designated
survivor is finally needed. Surviving along with Kirkman is the Republicans’
designated survivor, Congresswoman Kimble Hookstraten (played Virginia
Madsen). Also, during the rescue, one congressman is found alive in the
rubble, Sen. Peter McLeish (played by Ashley Zukerman), propelling him to
the center of power. The question is, though, is he a hero or is he a
Manchurian candidate?
In the meantime, the
ass-kicking is done by the FBI, which doggedly works to unravel the
conspiracy. The main agent here is Hannah Wells (played by Maggie Q), who is
essentially the Jack Bauer character in this political thriller. Hannah is
brilliant, tough, and principled, and a bit of a loose cannon. She is
assisted by Jason Atwood (Malik Yoba), who is her boss until his son is
kidnapped as part of the nefarious plot. Also on her side are Chuck Russink
(Jake Epstein), a computer nerd who hacks her way into classified and
criminal information, and John Forstell (Reed Diamond) a former Internal
Affairs agent turned government liaison.
The series comes by its
political smarts honestly, actor Kal Penn (who plays the White House Press
Secretary) spent several years on the communications staff of the Obama
White House, and he also acts as a technical advisor for the series.
In the long run,
Designated Survivor’s view of Beltway politics is both idealistic and at
the same time wildly fantastical – no White House, even the Trump one, has
this kind of crazy action. However, for those of you out there who think
that House of Cards is just a bit too restrained – and you know who
you are – Designated Survivor is a fun and fresh mix of West Wing
idealism and 24 conspiracy porn.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2017
PopEntertainment.com.
All rights reserved. Posted: September 5,
2017.
