Designated Survivor Review: Outbreak (Season 2 Episode 3)
On Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 3, “Outbreak,” we experience an unexpected downside to focusing more on the day to day lives of the people who work at the White House. It’s minimizing the amount of time we are spending with characters we fell in love with last season.
Emily, Seth, and Aaron seem to be threads to connect all the storylines together. This means we are just seeing them move between things, not really getting a chance to shine on their own.
Aside from the scene where Seth thanks Emily for the muffin, it’s all business with these three. We fell in love with the relationship they forged last season, and now those friendships are gone. It’s hard to believe there was ever anything to ship with Aaron and Emily because they are all business all the time.
As much as Lyor is a great source of comic relief and Kendra (new White House counsel) seems nice enough, focusing on them means less time on characters we actually care about. Yeah…that sounds a little harsh.
Lyor and Kendra can’t completely carry a storyline yet, and Kendra, especially, is very prominent in the hour. It’s hard to care about scenes where it’s just Kendra fighting whatever battle the White House needs fought.
I would rather ease them into the fold, giving Seth, Emily, and Aaron a bit more time to shine. Does anyone else feel the same way?
Then, there’s our introduction into this whole world — President Tom Kirkman. He’s sprinkled throughout, jumping into every crisis, but he’s still on the back burner.
It’s impossible not to make comparisons to The West Wing, especially given the new direction of the show, so go with me here.
President Bartlet isn’t the focus of The West Wing. We only see him in the tail end of the pilot, cluing everyone in on the fact that the show is mainly about the people who make up the west wing.
That’s not the case for Designated Survivor, so seeing Kirkman treated more like President Bartlet — brought in to connect all the storylines and handle a crisis or situation in each one — doesn’t really work.
Kirkman cannot be relegated to the background. A lot of Designated Survivor Season 1 featured Kirkman in the know about the conspiracy and slowly bringing other characters onboard, or purposely holding things back from them.
He needs to be leading some kind of storyline that’s his own, not jumping from crisis to crisis.
How is it that he always seems to have a personal connection to at least one event in the hour? Seriously, he apparently knows everyone.
Tammy does not really work; she does more harm than good to the episode.
She takes us out of the White House, which is already packed with storylines, to deal with the outbreak. Those scenes and her friendship with Kirkman should have been cut short, so the time could be better spent somewhere else.
Hannah’s investigation has taken us outside of the White House sinceDesignated Survivor Season 1, so we’re used to that. We’re also invested in her, Chuck, and their mission.
It’s exciting to see where their investigation leads them, and Damien assisted Hannah, allowing us to get to know him and grow to like him. He isn’t off on his own, briefing Hannah about his developments later.
Damien’s introduction into the team is handled nicely. We care about him, so it’s sad when he gets sent home. I don’t know about you, but I was really looking forward to seeing more of him and Chuck. Do you think Damien’s gone for good?
What did you think of this episode of Designated Survivor? Did anyone else catch the mini Nikita reunion? It’s making me want to do a rewatch. Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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Designated Survivor airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.
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Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a show to binge-watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).
One thought on “Designated Survivor Review: Outbreak (Season 2 Episode 3)”
How timely that this episode coincides with the time of year when all manner of scare tactics fomenting the false alarms of disease epidemics and pandemics. I personally was disgusted and appalled by the use of this form of propaganda on the show this week. Shameful BS.
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