Designated Survivor Review: Kirkman Agonistes (Season 2 Episode 18)

Thank you Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 18, “Kirkman Agonistes,” for delivering a decent hour of television. It feels like forever since this show has been captivating and exciting. Let’s hope the rest of the season is just as good.

The hack and the fallout of the tapes are the focus. There’s no other crisis that Kirkman has to deal with. Everything is connected, allowing for a much tighter story.

Thankfully, the senior staffers are cleared of suspicion almost immediately. While the reveal that one of them may be the hacker on Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 17 may have been laughably overdramatic, the clearing of their names is not.

Seth: You know what I feel like up there? Like Nero saying Rome isn’t burning while everything is on fire.

Emily: Enough with the metaphors.

Seth: It’s a simile. You want a metaphor? The ship is sinking.

Emily: Then we don’t have to worry about fire.

Aside from the phone confiscation, no one acts suspicious or throws serious accusations at anyone else. This would have been unnecessary drama, and it’s a relief that we do not have to endure it.

The twist that Andrea Frost is potentially the hacker is shocking, and it is beautifully timed.

It comes out during an hour where she is beyond likable. Andrea handles Kirkman mentioning her on the tapes amazingly. There’s no negativity from her; she is a supportive friend.

Before the hacker bombshell dropped, a good bit of this review was going to be about how much I’d grown to like her. This is what makes the hacker reveal work so well.

Andrea hasn’t done anything that warranted suspicion. Yes, there was a concern (that Lyor echoes) that she might be a love interest for Kirkman, and it’s too soon after Alex’s death for something like that to happen.

But that is the only concern or threat, for lack of a better word, that Andrea has posed on Designated Survivor so far.

Now that the idea is out there, it doesn’t seem too farfetched that she might be the hacker. She’s brilliant, so she could definitely have pulled it off. What do you think of this twist? Do you believe Andrea really is the hacker or is she a red herring?

Emily finally has to face the consequences of her actions. It’s about damn time.

There’s no sweeping it under the rug. Seth is honest when he tells her how badly she messed up, and it’s a relief that he doesn’t sugarcoat it.

Seth: You’ve made enough decisions as it is, and all of them have been bad.

Now that there’s going to be this inquisition, there’s a very real chance that Emily’s actions could hurt Kirkman’s presidency. I can’t see her actually quitting though, can you?

It’s amazing that Chuck found a way to follow Emily’s orders without doing anything illegal. I don’t think I could bear it if something bad happened to Chuck because of her.

What’s even better is that Emily isn’t off the hook simply because Chuck didn’t break the law. There’s no easy way out for Emily, as Kendra explains. Emily still asked Chuck to break the law, and she still leaked the story to the press.

As much as I like Emily, if she had gotten out of this mess easily, it would have cheapened the impact of what she did in order to ID Moss as the leak. Actions have consequences, and on a show like Designated Survivor, the consequences are what makes things exciting.

It’s not enough to have characters do something dangerous or illegal. The fallout delivers a lot of the shock and thrill.

The fallout from the leaking of the tapes is this inquisition, and it seems like it’s going to be thrilling. I’m very excited to see Ethan West begin his dig into Kirkman and everyone around him.

Seth: You know Tom Kirkman has given everything to his country, even his wife, and now he is being torn apart because he’s self-aware enough to seek professional help? Judge him if you want to. History will judge you.

There’s going to be a lot of secrets coming out, and it wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of the senior staffers and Kirkman’s other witnesses end up coming across negatively in their testimony.

Lyor’s comment about losing a war that you’ve won is an intriguing concept, and it definitely seems like that’s going to be the outcome here. There probably won’t be a clear-cut victory where all is well.

If Kirkman wins, it won’t be without losses (maybe losing a staffer or two), and his past and mental health will have been put on display for all of the cabinet to see. You know there’s no way the press doesn’t find out about this.

Lastly, we have to talk about Damian.

This is the perfect way for his character to go out. His loyalty and morality have constantly been a question mark, but there’s no doubt that he saved Hannah’s life.

Even though his former handler makes him an offer, I don’t believe he’d take it, as long as Aaron and Hannah kept their word about making him a free man. There isn’t a moment where Damian looks tempted by the offer

His death showcases what kind of man he truly is, and odds are it will change the way Hannah remembers him. It’s hard to say if Chuck will feel any differently about the guy. Those two were a strange pair. It’s sad that we’ll never see them team up again.

What did you think of this episode of Designated Survivor? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Designated Survivor airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.

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