Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 3: Outbreak Review

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

Synopsis: President Kirkman is faced with a viral pandemic that threatens to kill countless Americans; Hannah and Damian discover evidence that could change the lives of members of the first family forever. (TV Guide)

Writer: Ashley Gable

Director: Chris Grismer

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 45mins

The episode starts off with a viral outbreak spreading in a parish in Louisiana. The community has been infected with a case of influenza with the potential of spreading throughout the country within 72 hours. The White House sent Dr. Tammy Bruner (Alicia Coppola) to Louisiana and she told them that the virus was worse than they thought and that they had no vaccine for it but she also told them about an experimental drug she heard of that could potentially help.

At the end of the last episode, Tom offered the White House counsel job to Kendra Danes (Zoe McLellan) so today was her first day. Her first job wasn’t the easiest, however, as she had to mediate an argument about whether or not to keep a confederate statue on federal property in Tennessee (how topical). Boone reminded Danes of the importance of this case as it would send the wrong message if the statue were to stay along with the predominantly African-American people dying in Louisiana. The next compromise didn’t go well. Boone stepped in and made it worse by insulting all the parties involved. They finally agreed on moving it to a less trafficked area.

The White House brought in the head of of the pharmaceutical company to help but he still had reservations. Tom appealed to his need to think of the greater good and he offered to help which was all for naught once he reneged. Tom tasked Danes to court to get the doses and she won. For now the drug was working but they did not have nearly enough of it. It was moving faster than they had anticipated. The White House thought they had all of it, however, Brunner believed they must have had more stashed away somewhere.

Tom brought the pharmaceutical head back to explain himself so he was more concerned about his company’s bottom line than helping people. Tom made a speech attacking the drug company and all drug companies but it wasn’t enough. Tom’s plan was to attack him in the media to hurt his reputation and it worked. Boone and Aaron were impressed.

When Tom checked back in with Brunner, she was sick because she tested the experimental drug on herself and gave herself an incorrect dose. Her kidneys were failing. Tom wanted to take her out of there but she wanted to stay until they were done. Tom got the military to drag her back to the hospital.

Eva is still around and is staying at the White House while her home is still technically a crime scene. Wells and Rennett were still investigating what seemed like nothing but Wells thought there was something more going on. Chuck didn’t like Rennett and he was set to be there until the United States no longer deemed Lloyd a threat. They both went back to Eva’s house to find out what Lloyd was after and they found an old medical document relating to Alex’s father’s heart transplant.

Alex confirmed the document. She revealed that her father was near the bottom of the transplant list when his name miraculously moved up at the last minute. Chuck was able to decode the top of the document Lloyd sent to the cloud from the previous episode and it was a document with a date similar to the medical document they found earlier. Since the records were old, Wells and Rennett set out to a records facility to find the hard copy record. Because the facility was unguarded and lacked the security, they just went in and when Wells opened a door, she triggered an explosion.

Aaron was not happy with what happened with Rennett, being a foreign agent, breaking into a federal facility. If he were to do anything like that again then he’d have to leave. Wells also did not want to share anything right away since it involved Tom’s family. It appeared that Eva may have used her former position at the Department of Defense to move Alex’s father up on the heart transplant donor list.

Tom was also set to have an animal named after him but to Boone’s dismay, it was a frog. Boone thought frogs were not majestic enough for a man of Tom’s stature. He thought Tom wouldn’t care about the frog, however, Tom thought it was incredible.

The episode ended with Wells and Chuck visiting the man who signed off on Alex’s father’s heart transplant but when they got there, he was dead.

Overall, this was a good episode with a few topical themes with confederate statues and drug companies. It would have been nice to reveal the cause for the outbreak though. The controversy at the end of the episode was interesting as it feels like something that may stick around for a little while and may keep things interesting for the next few episodes.

Score: 8/10

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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.