Previously: Someone was shot maybe!
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Warriors
Marines: We start where we left off, with Hannah making her way through the crowd, looking for the shooter. She pulls out her gun, someone yells “gun,” there is sudden, general chaos, Hanna fires at the window. Her bullet hits the window frame and the sniper is still able to fire his own bullet. Secret Service agents take Hannah down. Tom pushes Alex down to safety. He looks at her and notices that there is blood on her shirt. He tells her she’s been shot, but the blood isn’t hers. It’s his. Tom looks at his shoulder and he’s like, “oh shit.” (S: I was feeling some *actual* tension here. Neat.) He passes out and Alex starts yelling. It sounds like she’s yelling for help which is weird because I think she’s surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Mari: Cut to a hospital. They roll Tom in and check out the wound. It looks like the bullet went right through and missed the scapula. They still have to take x-rays and clean and irrigate the wound. Basically, very much owies for Tom. He’s sweating a lot. Alex is trying to stay strong, but she’s crying a lot.
Hannah is arrested.
Waiting Room. Seth is yelling at someone to stop with irresponsible news coverage because it won’t matter if they run a correction later. After he yells at them (and threatens them with GU-A-AM) he turns to Emily to comfort her. And by comfort, I mean point out that she’s got a little blood splatter on her jacket. Emily kind of loses her shit but she’s not a great actress so it’s a mid-level shit loss?
Samantha: It’s weird how these huge studios hire mediocre actors. You can definitely find better everything.
Dani: I think they blew their actor-budget on Keifer. They’re probably hoping we just focus on him.
Now it’s Aaron’s turn to exposit by yelling into a phone, telling whoever that he wants a full report every 15 minutes until the shooter is in custody. Emily looks at him suspiciously. He asks what’s wrong, and she says it’s nothing and they just need to get speaking points out to the congressional leaders. Aaron says that’s taken care of. Before things get more awk-ward, Alex comes out to give them the news that the bullet went in and out and didn’t hit anything major. Tom wants to see them all, but she asks them to try not to overwhelm him.
Interrogation Room. Kind of Skeevy FBI Guy comes in. I’m not sure if he’s done anything in this show to make me feel like he can’t be trusted or if I feel that way because he’s Laurence Dominic from Dollhouse. He brings Hannah a cup of coffee and uncuffs her but I trust both of those things 0%. Forstell (I’m proud I’m not calling him Kind of Skeevy FBI Guy or Laurence Dominic…) (S: More self-restraint than me) lists off her apparent crimes: hit and run (D: dafuq??), killing that one dude in the woods, and shooting near or around the president. Forstell says that he can help Hannah but only if she speaks up. Hannah says she’s already made her statement and has nothing else to say. Yeah, girl. Don’t trust that guy. He tells her that someone is going to waste away in federal prison for all this and her options are getting smaller.
Hannah’s quivering lip takes us to JACKET FLIP.
Hospital Room. Tom is alive but struggle busing. He wants to know who did this ASAP and he says they’ll need to stabilize the markets. Seth says he needs to make a statement to the press. Tom wants everyone to know that he’s fine and he’ll be back in the Oval Office as soon as the doctors clear him.
MacLeish gets a call letting him know that the President is okay. He pretends to be relieved but when he hangs up, he turns to his creepy wife. Peter is worried this will get back to them. He wants to wash his hands of this blood of this but his creepy wife is like BLOOD STAINS BWAHAHA. (S: I love you.) Point is that Lady MacCreepy says that they have to keep on with their plan and even though the President is disappointingly alive, Peter is now the Vice President woohoo.
Tom’s room. Mike the Everything Agent tells Tom that Hannah Wells is in custody. Tom tells him to get down there and talk to Hannah and figure out what’s going on. Mike gives him a look and I’m not sure if we can’t trust Mike or if this guy just gives everything this same look. HELP.
Samantha: Maybe the directing tip was for everyone to be medium level actors so that the audience has no idea who to trust or what’s going on or what good tv even is anymore. (D: LOL)
Mari: Some kind of see through room with a sink. IDK, guys. Emily is washing the blood splatter off her jacket. Alex sees her and also enters the room. They hug and Alex says all that matters is that Tom is fine. Emily says she knows this isn’t the right time but she has to say something. She tells Alex about the call she found from Aaron’s office killing the top secret report. Alex is shocked! Emily says she was trying to get to Tom to tell him, but she didn’t make it on time. Alex tells Emily to keep Aaron away from her husband. Emily is having a lot of emotions.
Samantha: See, either one of these women could be in on it. I cannot ever be sure due to their acting choices.
Mari: I feel like Alex’s cheek bones could never do evil.
After a break, a doctor tells Tom that they have to operate on him after all because there are bullet fragments in his chest that could dislodge and sever his aorta. The doctor leaves to prep the OR. Alex enters next and Tom tells her they need to talk.
We cut to Tom on a call with Emily and Aaron, who I suppose are back at the White House. Tom will be under general anesthesia for 3 hours. Aaron says that means he won’t be able to complete his duties as Presidents, so they have to invoke the 25th Amendment. Before they do all that and talk to MacLeish about passing on the power temporarily, Tom says he wants to talk to Speaker Hookstraten. Emily and Aaron don’t get why.
Press conference. Seth tells everyone about the 25th Amendment, saying this isn’t the first time it’s happened. He tells everyone that Tom is in reasonable spirits and is probably going to be talking to MacLeish any minute now.
Hospital room. Kimble arrives. She asks Tom how he feels, and he tells her “like I’ve been shot.” Then he laughs at his own joke that isn’t really a joke. Anyway, the point is that Tom is going to invoke the 25th Amendment, and MacLeish is going to be President for an indefinite about of time. Tom says that he hasn’t always agreed with Kimble, but he believes her heart has always been in the right place. He asks her to keep an eye on MacLeish and make sure he’s acting in the country’s best interest and not in his own. Kimble understands and promises not to let the President down.
Samantha: What could she do if he was doing reprehensible stuff, though? Current events have led me to believe that the President does as he wants with little to no Congressional repercussions.
Mari: FBI interrogation room. Mike the Everything Agent wants to question Hannah himself. Forstell says given the circumstances, he’ll allow it. But then he tells Mike to share anything Hannah says and adds an untrustworthy smile.
Mike steps into the room and introduces himself as the Everything Agent, or whatnot. He says that Hookstraten told the President about the super secret info on MacLeish. Mike wants to know what that info is. Hannah says she doesn’t know Mike. She’ll only talk to the President.
Tom goes to surgery.
Alex cries.
Tom counts down as they administer the anesthetic.
In the White House, they have the surgery room on speaker phone. (D: Eieww, who wants to *hear* surgery? Gross!) The doctor lets them know when the President is unconscious and then Aaron tells everyone that Peter is now the acting President of the United States. Kimble stares him down. Peter looks like he swallowed a rock.
Surgery. I’m not recapping any of this. (D: Good call.)
White House. Lady MacCreepy tells Peter that if Tom dies during surgery, everything is back on track! Peter’s like yeah but the shooter is still out there. Lady MacCreepy reminds him that he’s President now, so he can just block Federal investigations and keep repeating that he had nothing to do with Russia and… wait, what was I saying again?
Samantha:
Dani: You know you’re in trouble when your country makes even less sense than poorly written network tv.
Mari: Aaron interrupts this little plot-sesh because they need Peter inside for some quick-fire president-ing. First up, a woman tells him that the global markets are all falling. She suggests closing the US market the next day. Peter says no because the market will fix itself and they need to look like they aren’t panicked. Three different people disagree with him, but he doesn’t budge. Next he asks where they are with the shooter. Some guy says they’ve found an abandoned vehicle and an image from a security camera. Peter says that’s all cool but he also wants the investigation coordinated and run out of the White House. He pretends it’s because he cares a lot about Tom. Kimble looks at him with I DON’T BELIEVE YOU eyes.
Interrogation Room. Mike comes back to tell Hannah that the President can’t come because he’s in surgery and he had to invoke the 25th. Hannah freaks.
Oval Office. Peter looks around for a bit. Kimble barges in and asks if he’s crazy for opening the markets the next day, because he knows that’s a bad idea. Peter says he actually doesn’t and also he’s President now so neener, neener. Kimble gives a really long speech about how when Peter first arrived on the Hill, Kimble thought he was ordinary. She underestimated him, but she won’t again. She’ll be watching him and if he steps out of line, she’ll take her suspicions to the press. Peter asks if she’s threatening him and she replies, “absolutely…sir”
Aaron barges in next because they’ve found the shooter.
Back with Hannah, Mike is still begging her to tell him what she has on MacLeish. He shows her pictures of the dead guy in the forest and the shooter. Hannah looks up at the camera and back at him. Mike gets it. He stands up to block Forstell’s view and turns one of the pictures over. Mike’s written, “let me help you.” Hanna gives a subtle little nod. Mike is all, “okay I guess. Bye now.” But on his way out, Hannah jumps up and leaps on Mike’s back. There is a bit of a struggle, but I’m pretty sure that during that time, Hannah whispers something in Mike’s ear. Agents pull Hannah off Mike and get her out of the room.
War! War! War! room, where we are monitoring the takedown of Catalan. He has barricaded himself in a storage unit. We just made a tag for sketchy storage units! Great! (S: Thanks for playing along, show!) The FBI has the shooter surrounded and they have their orders to apprehend him. MacLeish tells them to definitely kill the guy instead. Aaron objects and says that Tom would want the guy to be taken alive. MacLeish disagrees and gives the order to execute. Aaron keeps advising him against this, but Peter doesn’t budge. We watch the agents go in and start shooting. They report back that the target is neutralized. Everyone in the room looks very uncomfortable.
Dani: Probably because they’ve read the Constitution, and there’s this little thing called the 14th Amendment which talks about Due Process and the right to a trial. The president does not have the right to murder American citizens without the benefit of those things. Surely someone in the room could have done *something* to stop this?
Mari: Nope.
Surgery still happening. Alex is alone in the waiting room. Remember when they had kids? Me either. (S: I…..seriously forgot.) (D: Yay – more mediocre actors!)
Flashback. Alex gets home from work with good news about a possible new position. Tom calls her a warrior. Close, Tom, but no star. Tom has news of his own. The President has asked him to serve on the cabinet as HUD Secretary. Alex is super excited about this, even though Tom is hesitant. She says they have to take this opportunity because they are warriors.
Dani: Wait… so Alex’s super amazing job is just completely abandoned in favor of moving the family to D.C. for Tom’s job? Do. Not. Like.
Mari: Present. Seth joins Alex in the waiting room. She tells him to go home, but he jokes about wanting free coffee, but also he has to baby-sit the reporters posted outside. Alex invites Seth to sit with her and talk about anything. She asks Seth if he has a girlfriend (no) and if he wants one (not right now). Seth says this isn’t a good time for a girlfriend and Alex says that’s a poor excuse. We make time for the things that are important. Seth counters that what he’s doing is important. Alex breaks down in tears and she says not if you are doing it alone. She blames herself because Tom didn’t even want the HUD position. She made him do it. She was the ambitious one. Seth gives her a basic pep talk: don’t blame yourself. Everything will be okay. (S: Trust us Alex, you are not the Lady Macbeth of this show.)
Mike bangs on Chuck’s door. Chuck is nervous and jumpy and won’t let Mike in until he mentions Catalan. Hannah told Mike to ask Chuck about Catalan.
White House. Aaron mutes the news about the nosedive the markets are predicted to take. He answers a call and is shocked! We cut to a hallway where Emily is ordering some people around. Aaron finds her and asks to speak with her for a second. In an empty room, Aaron asks Emily about the phone logs she pulled. Emily tells him she isn’t at liberty to talk about this. It’s between Emily and the President. Even when Aaron keeps pushing, Emily won’t say anything.
More surgery. Still not recapping it.
Chuck’s apartment. Chuck tells Mike that Catalan and MacLeish were in the same unit. Hannah had proof but it was stolen from her car. (D: Ehhhh …) There’s more evidence out there, but in very classified files. Chuck hopes Mike really does work for the President or else they are wasting their time.
Surgery. I guess I’ll tell you that lots of machines are beeping but then Tom stabilizes. (S: FAKE TENSION! AH!) (D: I think we need a fake-tension tag for this show!) (M: I went with: tension- JUST KIDDING.)
White House. Peter is brooding outside and Lady MacCreepy finds him. Peter shares the news that after a complication, it looks like Tom will pull through. Lady MacCreepy thinks it’s fine because Catalan is dead and all the evidence linking Peter to him is gone. Peter asks what about Kimble? What if she figures out why Peter kept the markets open? Lady MacCreepy is like NOTHING CAN TOUCH US.
Hospital. Alex checks up on her kid! The older one because let’s not get crazy and actually see the little one. Leo says he put Penny to sleep, and Alex is so proud. Leo says they are all doing jobs they weren’t doing before and that makes Alex think. She has to go, though, because the doctor is coming.
Alex gets to go see Tom. She puts his wedding ring back on. Tom wakes up and smiles.
Stocks are still plummeting and people are holding vigil outside of Tom’s hospital.
Later, Tom wakes up again to Alex eating some Jell-o. She tells him that all the bullet fragments were removed and there is no permanent damage. He wants to know what’s going on with the country, and Alex reluctantly tells him about the stock market. Tom wants to help restore hope even though he can’t move much. He says they are warriors, and Alex smiles because that’s the flashback she was just having! Wild!
Outside, Seth is fielding questions as best he can, saying that the 25th Amendment has been revoked and that Tom is resting comfortably. Just then, Tom appears at the window and waves to the crowd.
At the White House, they watch the moment on TV and Emily gives Aaron a look.
Samantha: I mean. Seriously wasn’t Aaron bad for a hot second earlier this season?
Dani: I think almost everyone was bad at some point: Aaron, Kimble, General Angry Eyebrows… it’s almost like the writers aren’t very good.
Mari: Peter watches the news from his room. He has many emotions. (D: See also: mediocre acting talent.)
Seth tells Tom that stocks are on the rise so his wave to the crowd paid off. Tom asks where Aaron is, and Emily says he’s still at the office finishing up some work. Mike arrives, and Tom kicks everyone out so he can talk to him. Mike also clears the floor because he’s brought Hannah to the President.
I’m not sure how that worked out, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. And also hope that these two are finally able to share information.
Samantha: I double dog dare them to share information.
Next time on Designated Survivor: Agent Wells gets another new lead in S01 E12 – The End of the Beginning.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I’m a serial procrastinator and a genuinely terrible singer, and if anyone knows how to monetize either of these skills please hit me up. In my spare time, I like to study Dutch painters, Italian architecture, and Canadian bacon.
I'm a 28 year old graduated English major and almost librarian. I can often be found singing too loudly (poorly) in the car or spending some time (hours) on Tumblr. I am a lover of Harry Potter, the Spice Girls, and too many other things.
