Designated Survivor (TV Series) One Year In (2017) User Reviews

Bring back Season 1

[LoveIsAStateOfMind · 7/10 · 22 October 2017]

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely adore Maggie Q and she is the reason I started watching Designated Survivor in the first place but I can honestly say I did not expect Agent Hannah to make it to a second season. The fact that she has her own subplot going on makes it feel like you're watching a show which is one half Nikita and one half The West Wing and I expected the writers to want to make the show more cohesive and continue in the vein of the latter.

As it is, Agent Hannah is still going strong and on the hunt for Patrick Lloyd and now joined by an British Intelligence Agent, who may or may not turn out to be a love interest. I lap up any screen time they give us with Maggie Q but can't help but feel that plotwise whatever they come up simply has to fail to match the great impact of the Capitol being blown up.

Back in The White House and Seth is having a bad day and the team is joined by an eccentric political director by the name of Lyor. I personally thought that the team was doing just fine without the addition of another character but oh well. My main gripe is that there has been absolutely no acknowledgement of the feelings between Aaron and Emily now that they are working together again. True, their jobs are hardly conducive to thinking of anything except running the country but TV-wise, this viewer wants more UST dammit!

Finally, there's the fact that Natascha McElhone is leaving the show hanging over the season. How are they going to write out President Kirkman's wife? Death seems highly likely.

watching this in the summer of 2022

[sectiunea2 · 8/10 · 25 June 2022]

Hello, I am watching this in the summer of 2022 and all about the Russian - Ukrainian conflict in this episode seems so underwhelming. Anyway this is the way people where thinking back in 2017, I advise everyone to watch this as an alternative to recent history.

***

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 29 September 2017]

Who is the apparent nerd-genius who has been hired as Kirkman's political director? He seems to mumble to himself and his talking seems to be an enigma. Even Kirkman was hesitant in hiring the guy but has succumbed to his supposed brilliant understanding of the political process.

I never saw a crisis to be defused so quickly. Great to figure out that the Soviets were really behind the hijacking of that plane by Ukrainians to force a provocation with the United States.

We get a lecture of the significance of the capitol building as the Kirkman Administration has plans to reconstruct it following the terrorist act of last year.

Our female agent is still in hot pursuit of the conspirators involving that awful plot that brought Kirkman to the presidency.

Pretty Pedestrian

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 18 July 2019]

I'm hoping this was a bit weak because of transitioning from Season 1. There is nothing wrong with the events, but it's pretty formula and it's been done before. Kirkman continues to make too many heart-felt speeches. The one at the end is another one of those. I'm not positive why the country continues to be so opposed to him. He seem to be doing a decent job and is a solid figure. Of course the worst of the worst is still out there and people are scared, so I suppose that would explain it.

A mediocre start to season 2

[adamsosnowski · 5/10 · 1 February 2019]

Season 1 started with an awesome episode which kept me tied to the chair until the middle of the season. Since then the show has become worse, the acting artificial and the writing lazy.

I hoped for a new start with season 2, but unfortunately it was more of the same. POTUS keeps making speeches for no reason, Agent Wells still is fighting all alone against the biggest group of terrorists ever and most dialogues with Emily are just painful to watch and hear. Instead of a strong women the character seems arrogant, boring and unlikeable.

The plot involving the terrorists on the airplane was poorly written and both ambasadors are portrayed as dumb and goofy idiots. And all of a sudden there is an old friend of POTUS on the plane to make it all more personal, but that didn't work either as there is no real connection between POTUS and his "friend".

One Year In

[bobcobb301 · 5/10 · 7 October 2017]

Designated Survivor got a new showrunner in the offseason and a rebooted feel, including a West Wing rip-off character added to the mix as a new consultant, but the program's main problems didn't suddenly go away, in fact they probably got accentuated. We saw that this is just an accurate political drama and the action sequences are subplots are way too goofy for 2017. Not a strong start at all to the new season.

What a fizzer

[fupputz · 3/10 · 20 September 2020]

The finale of season 1 built and built only for an "and they caught the baddies the end" in the last few minutes, which left me wondering what I'd just watched. So I rolled onto 2.1 hoping to pick up the intrigue and closure I felt 1.21 was lacking, and all I got was hand-wringing and chest-beating American patriotism. Ugh! I was hooked into this show because of its unique approach and human portrayal of a person in an unimaginable situation. That it has fallen back to the "America is wonderful and we must tell the world how wonderful we are" crap has left me wondering whether I should invest in season 2, or just cut my losses now.

Not really Dutch

[pfstellinga · 5/10 · 18 April 2019]

The people is this episode don't speak real Dutch and the setting is not the Netherlands. I think they filmed in Germany with German actors.

Russophobia

[avp2004 · 1/10 · 17 March 2018]

One star for Russophobia and "Russia invaded the Ukraine." And it's funny to hear about how the Americans call the Ukrainians "to solve the problem."

s2e1 history is fake

[ggoldfactory · 1/10 · 21 September 2023]

This is an excellent episode that shows how they distort reality and how they lead people. ( .. Ukrainian - Russian conflict..) I really liked the series up to this point, but otherwise I find the USA's tactics of dumbing down the people outrageous. It is true that this is very common in the states and there are many stupid Americans who believe this nonsense, just like in Korea.. However, people in Europe are more enlightened. I'm glad. I hope most Americans will finally open their eyes and realize how much nonsense and lies their government is shoving down their throats.. I wish you a fruitful future and more fun!