By: Mwenya Lumbwe
I’m a big fan political dramas and was looking for something new to watch and I stumbled across ABC’s Designated Survivor when browsing through my Netflix. I decided to give it chance and was pleasantly surprised, it was suspenseful and intriguing but also predictable at times. The show is centred around a low level cabinet member Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) who is assigned to be a designated survivor during the state of the union address, but when a catastrophic attack occurs on the night of the state of the union address killing almost every member of congress and the president.
Tom and his wife Alex (Natascha McElhone) are swept away by the secret service and taken to the white house where he takes the oath of office and becomes the president while the country is in utter chaos.
Tom never expected to become the president nor did he ever have ambition to run for office either, with that said he was trying to come to grips with the events that just occurred while having to come back to reality and realize that he is the president and everyone is looking to him for guidance and leadership. However, Tom is still very insecure and unsure of himself and many of his colleagues including Harris Cochrane (Kevin McNally), the head of the joints chief of staff and Seth wheeler (Kal Penn) have little faith in him as well.
Soon after the attack, Tom has to address the nation with speech written by Seth as it was of great importance that he shows strength and reassures the American people, but Tom is going to need the support of his family and staff to manage this interesting journey.
While Tom is trying to settle into his new role as president, Hannah wells (Maggie Q) is an FBI agent is working at the scene of attack hoping to find her boyfriend who was at the state of the union address is alive, she’s looking for clues to that will lead her to the masterminds who organized the devastating attack at the Capitol Hill.
Although the show is interesting, the storyline is sometimes very predictable and can also very unbelievable. In addition, the show doesn’t have enough political drama and excitement to make to keep you captivated but hopefully as the story unfolds, the plot will have a clear sense of direction and keep us guessing what will happen next, but the one thing the show has is a great cast with good chemistry.
I think Designated Survivor is still a promising show and is one that everyone should watch out for.
