Designated Survivor Review: Bad Reception (Season 2 Episode 20)
On Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 20, “Bad Reception,” Ethan West is back, but it’s not a good thing. He is a nuisance throughout the entire hour.
He was a fierce adversary during the investigation. He’s brilliant. He was able to go toe to toe with Kendra. He proved that he is not someone to be trifled with.
During the quest to free Matthew Jennings, Ethan is a loose cannon who isn’t acting logically.
The backstory helps explain things somewhat, but that doesn’t make it necessary. It’s a sob story that doesn’t change our perspectives on Ethan long-term. All it does is excuse his current behavior.
Yes, he’s Michael J. Fox, but Ethan West isn’t towards the top of the list of Designated Survivor that we want to learn more about. Do you agree?
Thankfully, we also get to know more about Kendra during “Bad Reception.”
We slowly watch Kendra realize that maybe her former boss, Stephen, isn’t as great of a guy as she thought he was and maybe that one night wasn’t as consensual as she thought.
Both sides of Stephen’s behavior are fully explored. Emily, Seth, and Lyor talk about how it won’t be an issue, but that doesn’t stop Kendra from digging deeper and reflecting on Stephen’s current and past actions.
This storyline is handled nicely.
It’s so much better that we see Kendra starting to have second thoughts about Stephen, not Emily or anyone else.
It highlights that someone’s actions could appear perfectly normal or harmless to outsiders, but to someone who has experienced it first-hand, there’s a darker motive there.
Shoutout to some of y’all who caught what I missed during Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 19!
You guys leave such insightful comments. I must have been paying attention to all the wrong things during that hour. Please never stop sharing your theories with me.
Dax: You make it sound like I’m some kind of Bond villain. I’m not!
As soon as Hannah goes to Dax for help, all the red flags went up, and it is clear that Dax is really behind it all. Hannah would not have gone to a private citizen and involved them in her case. She’s not that stupid.
This is a decent twist, but I wish there was a more nefarious motive behind the hacks. I’m clearly still too hyped up on the grand conspiracies that Season 1 gifted us.
Andrea: I think we share a connection. I lost my wife. I lost my husband, and they will always hold a place in our hearts. But I think part of getting through this is making room in your heart for someone else, and I wish that for you someday.
Andrea, on the other hand, is innocent, and she’s leaving DC.
While there certainly was a fear that she would be a love interest for Kirkman, she actually helps him start to heal and move on after Alex’s death, as a friend.
She’s someone who understands what Kirkman is going through, and their friendship ends up being beneficial to both of them.
It will be sad to lose those personal moments with Kirkman. His scenes with Andrea were the only ones that allowed us to see how he’s doing. Hopefully, he will continue to open up to someone else.
Stray Thoughts:
- Mike looking out for Chuck is everything I didn’t know I wanted.
- Hannah give up this revenge mission! It’s not good for you, and we really don’t care about it.
- Matthew Jennings is a great human being for not wanting Kirkman to give into blackmail, even though it would free him.
- But also, a smiley face? Dude, what were you thinking?! It’s so lame.
What did you think of this episode of Designated Survivor? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Reviewer Rating:
User Rating:
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).
2 comments
Overall a pretty solid episode, not the greatest, but did have some really good moments. I like Michael J. Fox, but I just don’t care much for his character at the moment as Ethan West. If they could somehow use him to join the president’s team and be really beneficial then I might could be okay with that. Actually I was surprised he was brought back because I thought after the trial that would be all he appeared in. So I guess we will see if his character keeps popping up. I personally liked Kirkman and Frost together and they seemed they could make a cute couple if they actually got together. At the same time I can understand why the show runners decided not to do that (for now) and I think I like her because she is a bit similar in ways to Kirkman’s late wife. I just hope they don’t pair him up with someone completely polar opposite where the relationship makes no sense and the feeling is not shown on screen like the AMC’s Walking Dead (Rick & Michonne). Their plan to catch the hacker was a bit genius and I’m good at noticing things and such, but I was surprised. I really did believe it wasn’t Frost, but I didn’t have any guesses who it could be other than possibly the brother’s hidden agenda even though that itself didn’t make much sense either. Even if you had in their estranged relationship for a long while. I think the point of the episode where I was most annoyed and made me think “Oh God, Really?” was with Agent Wells willing to give up her career just to get justice/revenge for her ex-lover, Damien. I wouldn’t forget her entirely and occasionally check on things she might do, but not drop everything to go after her. Either this will kill Hannah or Hannah will get her revenge, but loose so much more because of it. Just my prediction on this. Chuck definitely needs to stop helping her now especially after that conversation with Mike which was in a way like Chuck’s warning. I doubt he would get another one. Hannah honestly needs some kind of CBT therapy herself because of all the grieving she is holding on to from loosing those close to her back to back. If something happens to Chuck I think that would push her over the edge. Other than getting through that I think she herself could potentially make a solid candidate for the FBI Director in future. I guess we will see. Overall, the episode was good and I do like this show and hope to see many more episodes later on. Just wish we had our own president that shared Kirkman’s views and passion. This country probably would be better off. Ok enough out of me for now.
Michael J Fox is really milking what’s left. I do not believe he would have this role without his name. He’s distracting and ineffective like a guitar player who only knows one chord or an a modern painter who never studied the masters. Yes he was great now he’s just damaged. I thought at first it was another actor getting work because studios are so afraid of being sued by untalented actors from a minority. When I realised it was that cute kid from Back to the Future well it was just sad!
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