Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 2: Sting of the Tail Review

If you would like to read my review of last week’s episode, click here.

Synopsis: FBI Agent Hannah Wells finally closes in on Patrick Lloyd, but when the president decides to take action during the White House Correspondents Dinner, members of the Homeland Security Council threaten to derail their plans.  (IMDB)

Writer: Keith Eisner

Director: Fred Toye

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 45mins

Last week’s episode ended with the return of Lloyd to Washington D.C. so it was clear that something was going to happen here. The only question was what. First, the White House had to figure out what it wanted to do about this but they were definitely not going to inform the public. Aaron and Emily later met with the Homeland Security Council who did not appreciate not being consulted beforehand, prompting a disgruntled Missouri Senator to leak information to the press and get a stern talk from Tom.

It was also the same day as the White House Correspondents Dinner which proved to be a major distraction from everything else going on. Alex’s mother Eva (Bonnie Bedelia) was there as well. It was fun to see here, however, she served little purpose here. Seth was also set to tell some jokes that he thought were funny but Emily thought otherwise. Fortunately for him, he never got the chance to tell them.

For some unknown reason, Lloyd’s first target was Eva’s house. She went back to pick up a dress and he decided to ransack her house. Luckily for her, she hid in the bathroom the whole time and was spared by Lloyd.

Chuck tracked Lloyd to a former Browning Reed dumping site where he, Wells, and Rennett exchanged gunfire. He then issued a threat to the White House from his bunker, threatening to release sarin gas upon the Washington D.C. area if Tom didn’t pardon him during the Correspondents Dinner. This was obviously not going to happen so they started to think of other options.

Their best option appeared to be to drop some sort of bomb in order to neutralize Lloyd and the gas, however, that option may not exactly be legal. Also, Tom wanted to make sure they knew what was in the bunker before they did anything. Wells and Rennett found Lloyd’s escape hatch but this proved to be a dead end as well.

Lyor’s presence was thankfully kept at a minimum here. He recommended that Tom participate in the dinner festivities to keep up appearances which would prove to be easier said than done. The White House’s plan for a drone strike was challenged in court by one of the HSC Senators. The White House believed that time was of the essence, however, they wanted to keep them in check but the White House had no evidence to support their claims.

After reading his file, Tom wanted to speak to Lloyd as father to father (Lloyd had an estranged son). Lloyd was cornered but he didn’t appear concerned as he believed he had already won. According to him, the government stole everything from him so the people who supported them had to pay. Thanks to some legal maneuvering, the White House got permission for a drone strike and Tom ordered it, destroying the bunker and everything around it, including Lloyd (but who knows for sure?).

Maybe Lloyd’s master plan was not about the sarin gas since when they searched the remains of the bunker, they didn’t find any evidence of sarin gas. Tom shared this to the people by addressing the nation. Later, Tom offered the lawyer who represented the Senate against him a job as his White House counsel which she accepted. He also gave Penny a goodnight kiss.

Despite Lloyd being gone, we might not be done with him after all as before he was blown up, he sent a file to the cloud that the FBI are having trouble accessing.

Overall, this was an improvement over the premiere with a more focused and compelling story that gave us some resolution with Lloyd while creating a potential future crisis for Tom in ordering an unnecessary drone strike on American soil. Also, what was in the file? The series is at its best when Tom is constantly being challenged so it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Score: 7.5/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.