Designated Survivor – Capacity

By: Patience Kapfer

This week on “Designated Survivor” we pick back up with the hearing to determine if President Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) is fit to continue in the Presidency. Ethan West (Michael J. Fox) has chosen to call only four witnesses: Dr. Louden (Timothy Busfield), Aaron (Adan Canto), Emily (Italia Ricci), and the president himself. According to Kendra (Zoe McLellan), depending on how his case is going they may be in for a few surprises, including more witnesses. Unfortunately, West is not obligated to follow typical notification procedures since the 25^th Amendment proceeding is not a typical hearing. As the cabinet has already voted to remove President Kirkman, they’ve tabled that vote in favor of this hearing, but the burden of proof is the President’s. This means that Kirkman starts at an extreme disadvantage and West will inquire into anything since Kirkman’s swearing in that touches his fitness to hold office. However, even at such a disadvantage, Kendra assures the president that he isn’t merely going to sit there and watch West tear him apart, he is going to “sit there and watch us win.”

Hannah (Maggie Q) barges into the White House without taking a break to even change her clothes following Damian’s death. Aaron tells her that she can’t see the president still covered in Damian’s blood, but Hannah is insistent that Kirkman needs to know that Andrea Frost (Kim Raver) is the hacker. Clearly upset, Hannah also is convinced that Frost isn’t only a hacker but a murderer; however, Aaron says they need more than a circumstantial case about Frost being behind Damian’s murder. Aaron stops her and says that she has one shot at persuading the president that his friend is behind the hackings and even Damian’s murder, so Hannah needs to get cleaned up, gather her thoughts and continue working the case. Still full of emotion, Hannah says she has been working this case for months and they may never get the “smoking gun” that Aaron wants them to find to prove Frost is without a doubt behind everything. Begrudgingly, Hannah finally turns around and leaves the White House after Aaron tells her that as her boss he is telling her to go home.

Even with a hearing looming to decide if the President is fit for office, other daily governmental business doesn’t slow down. The press has been pestering Seth (Kal Penn) about whether or not they have a deal on the budget since the deadline is at midnight. Without a deal they will endure a government shutdown. Emily assures him that they go through this every year and they’re close to a deal. Lyor (Paulo Costanzo) seconds the assurance saying they are very close to a deal since the Senate just agreed to fund the Medicaid cost-of-living increases and all they want in return are a few minor compromises. But when the Senate majority leaders come to discuss the deal, they’ve decreased the Medicaid funding in order to increase spending on medical research. Even during this difficult time for the President, he doesn’t cave in on the budget and his morals, but instead tells the leaders that he will not compromise by cutting funding for healthcare in exchange for research, there will be both.

As Kendra finishes up her preparations for the hearing, Kirkman appears to be finishing up on some final business. When Kendra says that it’s time for them to go, he asks for just another moment and we see him finish up what he was working on and put a letter in the desk. Only then do we see the letter is addressed to “President Daley,” which shows that Kirkman is anticipating the worst from this hearing while also still being the best human he can be. He then gathers his belongings and stands in the center of the Oval Office taking what he thinks might be his last look around as President of the United States.

The beginning of the hearing already appears to not be going in the President’s favor as Dr. Louden is called to the stand and West questions him on the content of the tapes. Dr. Louden insists that West is taking what he said out of context as he never said at any time that Kirkman was not fit to be president. West pulls apart the fact that Louden’s notes say that Kirkman doubted he could do the job, but Louden tells him that self-doubt is common when someone loses a loved one. When asked if he thinks Kirkman’s symptoms disqualify him from the presidency, Dr. Louden says he doesn’t know the exact qualifications to be president, but that Kirkman has improved vastly in the past few months and is of a healthy mind. Then, bringing Aaron to the stand, West pulls apart Kirkman’s handling of Kunami and his decision to plunge the United States into war. West’s questioning clearly makes the president look more unstable and irrational for not taking the advice of others and sending the country into war, but Kendra’s counter questioning helps to bring Kirkman back into focus as acting in the same way as other president’s that were seen as stable, strong leaders.

While the president is put on trial, Hannah and Chuck (Jake Epstein) continue their work to trace the sedan that was responsible for Damian’s death back to Andrea Frost. Chuck isn’t quite convinced that Hannah has enough concrete evidence, but she gathers everything she has and goes to see the president whether she’s ready or not. As Hannah explains everything that they’ve found so far to Kirkman and ends by telling him how they’ve traced it all back to Andrea, he clearly doesn’t believe that Andrea could be responsible for any of it. Kirkman says that if he is expected to believe any of this, Hannah needs to come back with a lot more.

It doesn’t take long for West to pull one of his surprises, bringing Andrea Frost to the stand directly following the court’s recess. When asked if the president confessed doubts about being able to do the job, Frost admits fully that he did express those doubts. Since it seems clear that Frost is cooperating with Ethan West, Kendra asks the president if she can use the dossier on Frost that was given to her by Hannah. Of course, Kirkman won’t allow Kendra to suggest that Andrea is the hacker, especially not during this hearing even if she is volunteering private information to the cabinet about his fitness to be president. Kendra calls Hannah and tells her they need to find an ironclad way to incriminate her so that Kirkman will allow them to question her.  In response to this, Hannah questions Ethan West and finds Andrea Frost in a restaurant and accuses her of being responsible for all of the hacks in a very public manner. It doesn’t take long for word to get back to Aaron who removes her from the hacking investigation because she accosted a private citizen in a public venue while working for the very man who is on trial.

In another surprise move, West brings in Cornelius Moss (Geoff Pierson) who definitely has unfinished business with President Kirkman. When asked when his doubts about the President’s ability to govern began, he says months ago, at least since the death of his wife. He says he personally observed Kirkman’s growing and dangerous paranoia and that his decision-making became erratic and at times dangerously impetuous. Then, without hesitation, Moss tells the members of the cabinet that he thinks Kirkman is in no way fit to continue as president. Following the Moss questioning, West attempts to make a deal with President Kirkman for him to step down on his own and take his job as HUD Secretary. Kirkman refuses and says to continue with the hearing and that the cabinet will need to remove him the hard way. The next person West calls to the stand is Trey Kirkman (Breckin Meyer), who had confronted him earlier of his own accord. During Trey’s questioning West brings up their family history of mental illness with his bipolar disorder and their mother’s history of depression.

Finally, President Kirkman himself is brought to the stand to testify. When asked if anything heard there today was untrue he confirmed that it all was true. And, as usual, Kirkman takes it upon himself to explain that he is a flawed man, but everything he has done he believed in and he has made mistakes because he is human. He then says he finds himself wondering why he is fighting for a job he never asked for (one that has cost him dearly), but he believes the Presidency is more important than any single person which is why he is there. He’s fighting for what he believes is the integrity of the presidency because he has heard nothing there today that would warrant or justify the removal of someone from this great office.

Following the conclusion of the hearing the president waits in his office to hear what the verdict is. When Vice President Darby (Aunjanue Ellis) comes in to tell him what the cabinet has decided, the audience can just feel the stress of the situation and of the president. She says that the majority of the cabinet wishes for Kirkman to continue in his capacity of president. It is very obvious that’s not the verdict that President Kirkman (and maybe even a lot of the audience) was expecting. It was everything about President Kirkman, who he is as a person that hasn’t changed since taking office, and the loyalty of his staff that convinced his cabinet to support him.

To conclude the episode the president invites Hannah to the Oval Office. Unlike other invitations; however, this is one with negative consequences. President Kirkman tells Hannah that her insubordination by accosting Andrea Frost has given him no choice but to remove her from serving in this administration. Agent Wells has been terminated, effective immediately.