Designated Survivor Season 2 Episode 21: Target Review

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

Synopsis: White House Counsel Kendra Daynes ends up in a dangerous situation putting another staffer’s life at risk, while Hannah Wells unexpectedly takes a trip to find answers. (IMDB)

Writers: Bill Chais and Ashley Gable

Director: Timothy Busfield

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 45mins

Airs: Wednesdays at 10pm on CTV (Canada)/ABC (United States)

The episode started with Wells on the hunt for Poreskova but instead, she found a man who called the police on her. The problem here was that she no longer had the White House to fall back on. Kendra and Trey slept together. Tom is trying to pass a defense budget and a few senators were complicating things. On TV, Moss and West were criticizing Tom for different reasons. Tom then had a bright idea to appoint West as a special prosecutor to go after Moss.

One of the stalling senators was more concerned about the future and the next election, trying to get Tom, an independent, on their side. When Trey went back to Kendra’s to get his wallet, something bad had clearly happened. Tom was taking the attack seriously and did not want Trey to have a relationship with someone in his administration. Kendra was not going to let the attack dissuade her.

West was on board with being special prosecutor. Aaron bailed Wells out of prison. West talked to Wells about Moss. The other stalling senator wanted Tom on their side. Thinking that Trey was calling, Kendra answered the phone to the man who broke into her house. He wanted her to look into an unsolved murder, threatening more if she didn’t. The suspect in the murder was someone she put into witness protection for another case. Wells snuck up on Chuck for help. Tom called out the stalling senators in the media when pressed about re-election which was a bad choice. The perception of not running for re-election could make it difficult for him to properly govern.

West spoke with Aaron about Wells’ investigation of Moss. Wells and Rennett’s apartments were ransacked while searching for something. Moss denied wrongdoing to West and had a mini showdown with Tom. Mike and a detective found the man threatening Kendra and Mike shot and killed him to save the detective. Lyor advised Tom to pick a party. He urged the stalling senators to fall in line or he would expose their partisanship. Trey admitted to Tom his love for Kendra.

Feeling down, Emily let Kendra stay at her house. Wells asked Aaron for permission to go through Rennett’s belongings. In them, she found evidence that led her to a hidden flash drive with a video message from Rennett. He wanted her to protect his teenage daughter. Kendra was going to revoke the suspect’s witness protection. She and Trey agreed to go on another date.

It was revealed that Moss was going to run for President again. West talked to Tom about Wells. He had no evidence of Moss’ leaks and questioned Tom’s use of Wells in investigating Moss. He couldn’t go just one what Tom said he did. West believed there was a conspiracy in play. Tom wanted his staff to get some sleep so they can get back to work the next day.

Finally, the goal all along was to get Kendra to flush the murder suspect out of witness protection. With that done, she became the target. Thinking that she was at Emily’s, a sniper shot her instead.

Overall, this was a good episode despite a few contrived plot points that were tied around Tom’s stubborn independent-ness like West accusing Tom of being part of a conspiracy and Moss’ surprise re-election bid (I don’t remember how many terms he served originally). Had it focused on this, it may have been better, but instead gave Kendra a subplot of her own that mostly felt like filler until the cliffhanger ending that mostly felt gratuitous, being this season’s penultimate episode. The mini showdown between Tom and Moss was great and does not look to end anytime soon with then inevitably running against each other (Tom didn’t say he was running but he surely will). Though Tom may not win, it will be exciting to watch. Because this point is so obvious, West’s conspiracy theory will probably lead to very little, however, it may make for an interesting season finale.

Score: 8.5/10

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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.