Designated Survivor S01 E05 -The Snark Lady soundtrack.

Previously: Tom fired, hired and arrested people.
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The Mission

Samantha: The episode begins with Tom lying awake in bed at 5 am. He receives a phone call that it’s time.

In the Oval, the Admiral is going over plans to bomb the compound where Nassar is. He assures Tom that they only hit what they target so a nearby village should be safe. Seth comes in because he was summoned, but only so that they don’t tell him anything so that he’s not lying to the press. Seth mentions that it would be weird if the President wasn’t at the medal ceremony for the first responders, especially as there’s no VP to fill in. Maybe appoint a Veep, guys? It’s been over a week. Maybe do this thing quicker.

Marines: This is becoming the song of the Snark Ladies. JUST JEFFING APPOINT PEOPLE.

Samantha: Emily, unfortunately (her new nickname), comes around the corner to tell Tom that things have calmed down in Michigan for now. He brushes off her foreign affairs questions and tells her to take point on assembling a Congress. She passively pouts.

Dani: Didn’t it sound like he called her Aaron, instead of Emily? I rewound it like four times, and I really think he did. I think she caught it, too, and that’s why she gives Aaron major stink-eye as the elevator doors close.

Samantha: HA my shitty ABC app did not allow me to catch this but I believe you.

Situation Room, I guess. All the fancy military people fill Tom in on the bombing plan, complete with contingency. Tom takes a few deep breaths before saying that it’s a go. Just before this can be relayed to the team, another man speaks up to say that they just received new intelligence and Nassar is no longer in the compound. (D: Convenient!)

JACKET STUFF.

There are A LOT of men in this room. Not one high ranking woman? Really? The West Wing had Nancy McNally.

Dani: The West Wing also had writers who knew how to create compelling, multi-dimensional characters.

Samantha: Anyway, the worst news is that Nassar was tipped off by the Algerian government after Tom tried to negotiate peacefully. He’s kicking himself but I hate to see trying all means of diplomacy as a bad call.

Mari: There’s no room for reasonableness, Samantha. KILL KILL KILL.

Samantha: FBI Headquarters. Atwood walks in on Hannah working the bombing. She tells him she drank on it and is staying on the case. She’s looking for Capitol Room 105, like the mystery caller told her. It’s, mysteriously, not where it’s supposed to be. Atwood heads out to the ceremony, which is apparently specifically for MacLeish and the first responder who found him. Maggie Q gets Speculative Eyes and decides to tag along.

Medal Ceremony. Tom gives speeches for both men, including giving us Peter’s backstory. He was a soldier and then a Congressman and now an inspiration. While Tom is shaking Peter’s hand, he gets pulled away. Kimble, the sacrifice of bad writing herself, gives her own Speculative Eyes. She stops Seth and demands to know when we’re going to attack Nassar. Seth plays dumb, like a good Press Secretary should in this situation, and she demands to speak to the President. Seth brushes her off and leaves. Atwood tells Hannah to talk to the architect of the building about Room 105. Based on later in the episode he means an architecture expert, but it’s said really weird here and sent me down a googling well over whether or not the Capitol was ever massively renovated.

Mari: Hey, okay, I had the same confusion and did my own Goggling. It turns out the Architect of the Capitol is an agency and they take care of the maintenance of capitol buildings. TMYK. (D: Damn, you guys are WAY more invested in this than me.)

Samantha: Oval. The Admiral tells Tom that Nassar has moved himself to the basement of a hospital and if they bomb it, a lot of civilians die. The only other option is to send in Navy SEALs. They also propose attempting to take Nassar alive, for the intelligence he could provide. Tom wants to talk to the head of the team. He also breaks protocol and says that he’ll go to him, in Virginia.

Annoying Aaron stops Emily Unfortunately in the hallway. He sorta apologizes for earlier and Emily says that she understands about clearance. He also asks her if she knows anything about a man named Jeffrey Meyers. She plays dumb but gets oh shit face once Aaron turns around.

Hannah finds her architecture expert. He tries to blow her off because he’s hella in demand but she manages to ask about room 105. He tells her that it’s not on any official layouts because it’s a hideaway office, one of several in the Capitol. He tells her the hard copy blueprints blew up with the building and then chastises her for not waiting her turn before heading on his busy in demand way. (D: Bet he would’ve skipped the lecture if she’d been a dude.) (S: Preach, girl.)

White House. Kimble has managed to snag some time with Tom and she wants. answers. dammit. He’s acting erratically and a special Pentagon parking lot was full up with Generals in the middle of the night. She reminds him that this is not a dictatorship and that as presumptive Speaker, she should be notified of military action. He tells her that he will tell her as soon as there is something to tell. They passive aggressive at each other before Tom leaves to get in the helicopter. IDK Kimble, maybe if you hadn’t taken that How to Be A One Dimensional Republican class this could have gone differently.

Dani: Hasn’t she spent the last three episode berating Tom for *not* going after Nassar? Make up your mind, Kimble. Don’t make us send the architect over to lecture you.)

Mari: Track 2 on a Hamilton-style Snark Lady soundtrack about Designated Survivor would be “I Thought I Would Like This Character But I Don’t.”

Dani: Followed by “We Believe in You, Maggie Q,” and “That’s Not How Any of This Works.”

Samantha: Navy SEALs training facility. Tom watches the team run through simulation drills and gets a rundown from the commanding officer. They land at midnight, set up a perimeter, and storm the hospital before daybreak. Tom laments how new he is to all this and asks about the different men on the team. One has a child due in a few weeks and the other spent his honeymoon training here, so you know someone on this team is not making it out alive. (D: I literally laughed out loud and said, “well, that character’s a goner” at this point.) Tom asks for the odds of success and the Commander tells him 50/50 but they have to go for it. “May God have mercy on them, because the US Navy will have none,” the Commander says. (M: Military burn.)

Dani: Do you notice how obsessed Tom is with the odds on stuff? Like, every time they plan something, he wants to know the over/under of its success. I think a fun plot twist would be for Tom to have a major gambling problem.

Samantha: FBI Headquarters. Hannah asks a coworker if he’s pinpointed where Peter the Senator was found. Coworker does some computer stuff and we see that Peter was found right where Room 105 is located on the digital blueprints. Coworker also reveals that the building had been undergoing renovations, and no one knew because Capitol Renovations are classified. Hannah heads out to get her some answers.

On the tarmac the Commander introduces Tom to the two men who got identifying characteristics before. Tom wishes them luck and mentions their incoming baby and new wife. He thanks them and wishes them well. Tom asks the Commander how he’s feeling and the Commander says he’s feeling pretty confident, basically. Tom says that capturing Nassar alive is best case scenario but if it proves too risky, don’t. They salute and the music swells.

Kimble’s Office. Hannah arrives, presumably to ask about the Capitol renovations. Kimble says some things about how the attack wasn’t the FBIs fault that are maybe supposed to sound sincere? But just come off suck up-y and also like maybe she was also in on the attack? (D: I thought the same thing! Very suspicious.) Maggie Q asks for the plans and white lies about why she needs them. Kimble says she’ll do what she can.

White House. Tom sits awake in his bedroom, watching a computer monitor tracking the progress of the SEAL team. His wife wakes up and sits with him. Tom is very upset that he had to put 20 men in harm’s way but Alex reminds him that this isn’t ever going to be an easy job.

The next morning Aaron tells Tom he looks refreshed and Tom snarks about getting 2 hours of sleep. They head into the Oval and Peter MacLeish is waiting for them. Next, Kimble comes in and expresses surprise at seeing MacLeish. Tom fills them in on the military action and Peter offers his support of the decision. Kimble crankily says that Tom doesn’t need their approval but of course she’s supportive blah blah shitty character development. Kimble warns him that his Presidential legitimacy hinges on the success of this mission. Aaron calls her out on the wishy washy political bullshit. They leave and every time Kimble talks to Peter she sounds like an overbearing mother. It’s weird. Peter wishes Tom Godspeed. Aaron tells Tom that there is an alternative to Kimble as Speaker and Tom says that he doesn’t get to choose the Speaker. Aaron says that his support will carry a lot of weight though and maybe Peter is the right choice. Which means he probably isn’t. This is interrupted by news that one of the SEAL choppers went down.

In the Situation Room, the Commander is filling everyone in on the situation. One of the men sustained minor injuries during the landing but they have a suitable replacement (????) and can go on with the mission.

Seth is heading into a press briefing, where he has been condescendingly instructed by Aaron to deflect any questions about military action. Of course that’s all the press wants to talk about, and they’re pretty rude about it. Seth dodges like a pro.

Elsewhere, Aaron and Emily are running the Speaker idea by Peter. He’s not interested because he wants to actually serve the people and the President, and being Speaker is too much politics. He’s not interested in power, his father taught him different. That’s nice, Peter, but so far this show has been pulling the rug out from under me when someone seems halfway decent.

Mari: I mean, he wasn’t decently hanging out in a secret room while everyone else got bombed to death, so….

Samantha: A lovely DC park. Let’s go meet up with Diva there. (M: Snarky picnic!) Kimble has some news for Hannah: the renovations took place a couple of months ago and everything was usual except for a new contractor called Margrove. They worked specifically on room 105 and are now defunct. She hands over a classified file with the names of the men. She asks Hannah if these men could really be involved with the bombing. It’s the most genuine moment from her in awhile, somehow. She asks to be updated on wherever the investigation goes.

Dani: I still don’t trust her. She probably just wants updates so she’ll know if Hannah is close to uncovering her role in whatever happened.

Samantha: White House. Emily Unfortunately hugs Alex in a weirdly friendly way. I realized after thinking about it that they’ve probably known each other awhile and are close but damn, that felt disingenuous. They’ve barely had any scenes together and IDK I’m probably being so weirdly nitpicky right now.

Alex thinks it’s a nice social visit but Emily is actually there about Jeffrey Meyers, the man Aaron asked her about earlier. Alex is shocked that Aaron has even heard of him and Emily says that it came from opposition research. Turns out that Alex dated him a couple decades ago and now he is in prison. Alex says that Tom knows everything related to Jeffrey and so this couldn’t even touch him.

Tom sits anxiously in a chair while Aaron tells him that the SEALs are preparing to enter the hospital. He offers to just keep Tom informed of their progress, but Tom wants to see it through.

We move to Situation Room or Command Ops or whatever we’re calling this place. (M: I was calling it WAR! WAR! WAR! but General Grumble Grumble Grumble isn’t there anymore.) We’re watching live camera footage of the team when Congressman MacLeish comes in, at the President’s invitation. The team bombs the doors to the hospital and starts heading inside.

FBI Headquarters. Atwood comes into Hannah’s office and she tells him to lock the door. She says that she has proof about Peter MacLeish.

Situation Room. The SEAL Team enters the hospital and orders the civilians out. They start shooting hostiles and clearing floors. No sign of Nassar yet.

FBI. Atwood recaps about the recently renovated hidden room 105. Hannah tells him that she went to interview the team that handled the renovations. One of the men recently died of a heart attack. Atwood interrupts her to grump about how there’s 1000 people dead and he doesn’t have time for this. Damn dude, you’ve been pestering her to get hard proof for weeks and now she has, let her talk. Atwood is either a bad guy or terrible at his job. Or both. It’s like Rosewood: Washington Edition. Hannah continues with how another one of the men is dead, car accident.

SEAL Team enters the basement.

Hannah tells Atwood that the entire team who worked on room 105 is dead from “accidents and natural causes.” Atwood admits that can’t be a coincidence. (M: Gee, thanks bro. Thanks for finally showing up.)

The team starts clearing rooms in the basement. The Admiral informs Tom that the feed might go the way of a Skype video call while they’re underground. Tom wants to know if this ever gets easier and the Admiral says that you don’t want it to. Fair, then you probably turn into General McCray-Cray. An alarm starts sounding in the hospital and they realize that Nassar is on the move.

Hannah says that her coworker from earlier, Hector in case he becomes a thing, recreated what the room would look like. Somehow. It turns out that room 105, where Peter MacLeish disappeared to during the attack, was turned into a bomb shelter.

SEAL Team enters a room where the terrorist guys are using children as human shields/hostages. Nassar is in this room.

Hannah and Atwood conclude that Peter survived the attack on purpose.

Dani: Is anyone else getting whiplash from violently jumping back and forth between these scenes? I get that they’re trying to build tension, but wow. Awful directorial choice.

Samantha: It was bad and annoying to recap, yes.

In the basement of the hospital, everyone points guns at everyone, including children, and it’s tense and upsetting. A bang goes off and the feed cuts. Tom demands to know what happened and Peter reassures him that it could have just been a flash bang to disorient the enemy.

Hannah tells Atwood that Peter had to have been in on it.

In the Situation Room everyone waits tensely for contact to be re-established. Tom says that he should have listened to General McShouty and bombed them a few episodes ago and no, Tom, literally you shouldn’t have. Peter looks shifty. The Admiral tells Tom that they have Nassar and the mission was a success. Everyone hugs and smiles and then the Admiral gets news that the Commander is dead, one casualty.

Tom fills Alex in on what happened: Nassar’s men opened fire and the Commander shielded two of the children with his own body. The rest of the team got Nassar. No civilians were hurt. Tom is distressed at a man dying because of his orders but Alex tells him that he made the best decision he could.

Annoying Aaron, Emily Unfortunately, and Seth are sharing drinks somewhere in the White House. Emily can’t believe that Peter turned down the job. They’re all baffled by someone moving to DC without big power aspirations but Tom walks in saying that’s what he wanted. They fill him in on Peter turning down the job and Tom gets and respects it. But he thinks that maybe they offered him the wrong job. Maybe Peter should be VP instead of Speaker.

Aaron walks into a room to find Alex waiting for him. She cuts right to the chase and brings up Jeffrey Meyers. She tells him that Tom knows every detail of her relationship with him and so it shouldn’t be a political issue. Aaron says that it only is because Jeffrey has been telling everyone in prison that he’s Leo’s real father. Oh good grief. Alex looks shocked and Aaron asks if Leo knows that Tom might not be his biological father. Alex shakes her head. (D: He didn’t just ask; he more or less demanded the info, and I wish she’d just told him to fuck off. I don’t care if he’s doing oppo; this seems like a terrible breach of protocol and propriety.) I’m not sure if this Alex/Jeffrey business was an affair or if she and Tom were just dating at the time. Either way I’m not really looking forward to more awful Leo angst.

Mari: Track 5, I Honestly Forgot About This Character?

Samantha: Track 11, Please Stop Thinking I Care About Emily/Aaron Flirting.

Atwood and Hannah are outside somewhere. Atwood is freaking out about this level of conspiracy. He asks her who else she’s told which is a major fictional world red flag question. He says that they don’t know who to trust so they can’t tell ANYONE. Okay but this is seriously infuriating, you have to tell the President, right? I mean. I get that they don’t know if they can trust him but… ugh. Peter is going to become the VP and it’s going to be the network TV version of House of Cards, isn’t it?

Tom stands before the Commander’s casket and removes his baseball cap. One of the SEAL Team men approach him. Tom thanks him for his bravery and the soldier tells him that Clarkson was supposed to be coordinating the mission offsite. When the other team member got injured, he stepped in. Well, at least they explained the “suitable replacement” thing. The soldier says that it’s because of Commander Clarkson that he gets to see the birth of his first child. Tom laments not waiting for a better opportunity and the soldier tells him not to question his orders. Just feel honor and respect because Clarkson never questioned the mission. Tom looks sad and thoughtful and heads out.

IDK. This is a show that is fun enough to just watch with my boyfriend but does not hold up well to recap scrutiny. I’m not really pleased about any of the developments in this episode, they just feel like forced conflict in the making.

Mari: I’m quickly approaching dreading watching every week, so that’s where I’m at. I’m still not invested in any character. Literally everyone could die in the next episode and I wouldn’t care one little bit. Honestly. Maggie Q, Emily, Aaron, Tom– don’t care. It makes it hard to really buy into all these moments of tension when I don’t even buy into these characters. 

Dani: Same. Everything about this show feels incredibly forced and ridiculously melodramatic. I legit cried when Clarkson died, and then I got annoyed because of course they killed the first character I actually liked. And killing a SEAL just feels like a cheap, exploitative way to wring emotions from the viewers. I’m sure the writers thought they were terribly clever with their misdirection (“haha, you thought the father-to-be soldier would die, but we killed the commander instead, we totally got you!”), but if that’s what passes as a “twist” on this show, I’ll pass. 

 

Next time on Designated Survivor: Shockingly, there’s a shooting at the White House in S01 E06 – The Interrogation.