Reflections during Hurricane Harvey: should “normal” return?

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We were dismissed from work around 12:00 p.m. on Friday August 25, 2017 in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey.

I left from work, met my wife for lunch, and then went shopping for last minute items.

Once I got home I was mostly there until Thursday August 31, 2017 when I went back to work. We went outside very few times, and only when there was a break in the rain.

I’m sure countless stories will be told during this time. Here are some of the random things I thought of during this “down time”, in no particular order.

  • The incarcerated and elderly. Cabin fever can set in pretty quickly when you have nowhere to go, or more accurately, when it’s strongly suggested that you “shelter in place” to protect your own life. We were fortunate to live on the 2nd floor of an apartment and had 1,000 square feet of space, 2 bathrooms, and plenty of windows to let in outside light (which varied at times depending on how much rain was falling). Although I got bored quickly, I still had room to move. At times it plain ol’ sucked. But then it hit me. This has to really suck for the incarcerated and elderly. What do they do all day? How awful it must be to be confined to a bed 24/7 and be at the mercy of an aide who stops in every now and again. How awful it must be to be stuck in a small cell, maybe with nothing to do and no windows. I think it would get pretty depressing pretty quickly. How long could that go on until you just wanted to end it? Horrible. I hope I never find myself in either situation. Far too much time to think. Even if you get to read, at some point that has to be very boring.
  • Electricity. When Hurricane Ike rolled through Houston back in 2008, I was at a friend’s house. We lost power the first night. The next day wasn’t too bad since winds kept things cool. But for the next days, it was horrible. No air conditioning. No TV. Humidity rising.

During Harvey, our power went off/on, then 10 seconds later it went off/on, and then 30 seconds later it went off. I froze. I hoped it would come back, especially since it was only Monday and the storm was forecast to be in Houston until Wednesday or Thursday. Then it came back and never went out again. PTL – Praise the Lord! It was miserable during Ike and I told myself I’d never put myself through that again. Had the electricity gone out and stayed out I would have strongly considered leaving when it was safe. My destination would have been the Dallas area, but since my friend no longer lives there (you know who you are: sell out!) it wouldn’t have been as fun. According to reports, it seemed like many people had power. Later, talking with people at work it seemed that no one lost it. The TV showed 96% of people had power at one point. I have no further context than that. I’m sure those who don’t have electricity have fared much worse than most.

  • Devastation and Survivor’s guilt. Watching the news was unreal. I recognized many areas they showed and was shocked at the devastation. I would then look outside and be surprised that our parking lot was in no danger of flooding. In fact, if one didn’t know there was a hurricane in the area, one might think “hmm, it’s been quite rainy for a few days”. So much devastation in some areas: homes flooded to the roofs, cars floating in the water, people carrying their valuables in garbage bags, furniture floating in homes, coastal homes smashed to pieces. Yet, here I was with no real long-lasting damage. How could people just a few miles, maybe even blocks away be living out their worst nightmare and I’m sitting pretty? Luck. Fate. Blessed.
  • Reaching out. It was nice to hear from family and friends in other states concerned for our welfare, whether it was a call, text, or Facebook post. It’s comforting to know you are worried about, and prayed for. But, it was also a little odd to realize that it took a natural disaster to both reach out and be reached out to. I found myself checking up on other Houstonians that I hadn’t talked to in a while. Why does it take something so potentially life altering to reach out and connect? It reminds me how after 9/11 a lot of people started going back to church and to find purpose. But, then months later, it was noted the numbers returned to “normal”. Are we so busy with the “things” of life that we can’t take time for the “people in our lives”?
  • Perception of time. I rarely kept track of the day/time. If I got hungry I ate. If I got tired, I napped. Well, actually I didn’t nap, which was odd. Usually when I get home after a full day of work I’m tired and feel like a nap would do me good, but decide not to so that it doesn’t jack up my sleep schedule. I did not nap! To those who know me, this might sound like a surprise. I did get up later than a normal working day, but I was always up by 10-ish.
  • News is frustrating and inspiring. It struck me how the field reporters (moreso) and on air (less so) reporters have to be able to operate on the fly. At times they’d repeat the same information over and over, but they really had to keep it going by guessing, postulating, and figuring out what was going on in a very fluid situation. I’m sure a lot of their “normal” stories are scripted or rehearsed and maybe done in multiple takes. A lot of this was done “LIVE!”. Impressive, especially since I think I do a good job making home/vacation videos but afterwards I’m always shocked at how many “umm, ahhh, errs” I have. They were able to get great shots and interviews and relay information quickly. But, sometimes it seemed too forced or too long. I understand they have a story to tell and that the people that are being rescued have stories, but sometimes this seemed to get in the way of others doing their job. For example, when a truck or boat would come out of a neighborhood and unload people, the reporters wouldn’t just let them go back in. Instead, they’d stop the driver and ask “so, why are you doing this? Were you asked to help or did you just volunteer?” The person would answer. At times it would put them on the spot and I’m sure they were thinking “stop talking to me and let me go save more people”. Even some of the victims of the flood seemed to be caught off-guard.

I can definitely appreciate her response: Rescued woman goes off on reporter

Others will stoop low and loot. It was said looters will face harsh prosecution, and they should (if it was for non-essential items like TVs, cell phones, and so on):

  • So much Stuff. Many people who got out with just the clothes on their back were obviously affected. Others were just glad to be alive and realize that their stuff was just that: stuff. That’s not to diminish their loss or feelings. For a while now, I’ve been trying to simplify my life. I look around me and realize that I probably use 10% of my things 90% of the time. So, why do I have the other 90%? Most of it is probably for sentimental reasons. Some because I will use it. Some just because I can keep it, so I do. I have visited some countries and met people who have so little “stuff” but seem to have so much more in many other ways. I’d like to get there.
  • Humanity not Politics – the silver lining. It was so nice to get away from all the toxic political mud-slinging that has been going on. For a few days, I heard next to nothing about politics. So refreshing. It was stories about ‘people helping people’. It’s a silver lining that in the middle of so much chaos and destruction that people can set all their differences aside and just see people who need help. I’m sure most news stations do this, but it seems like a lot of them focused on “this is how Houstonians/Texans are”. Even during in-person interviews, people would mention “this is how Texans are”. That’s good, but also frustrating. I’d like to think that ALL people are that way (or should be) and that it’s not just limited to Texans. I’ve been helped by people in different situations in different states or countries where I’ve been. I know the intent isn’t to say that ONLY Houstonians/Texans are this way, but we all should. That should be the default. The rule. Not the exception.
  • Aftermath. During one of our ventures outside, we noticed a car parked in the middle of the road. We drove by and it appeared to be empty. So we circled back to get another view. The windows were heavily tinted, but still appeared empty. My wife turned around again and parked behind. I got out and slowly approached the passenger side. It was hard to see inside. I knocked on the window. Nothing. It sounded like there was music coming from inside so I put my ear to the window. There was. I checked the door. Locked. I slowly peered in, hoping I wouldn’t see a dead body. Empty. I walked around to the driver’s side and opened the door. No one inside. The driver’s side was dry so I sat down. No key in the ignition, but the NAV system was popped up and on. The keyless ignition was lit. The passenger side had a pair of shoes and an umbrella. There were a few receipts in the car and on the floor in the back was the windshield cover. The glove compartment was empty of any important documents. I felt the floor of the passenger side. It was soaked, though I couldn’t see any visible water. I’m not sure what happened, but my guess is somewhere they hit high water and by the time they got to our street the car stopped running, so they got out and ditched it and carried what they could (which was everything except what I mentioned and two packs of water in the trunk). I hope the person is alright and that they return and are able to get their car working again.

But…I also feel for the rescue workers and law enforcement officers that will come across many once-submerged vehicles in the coming days. Who knows what they’ll find. Already one story has been told of a family where 6 members drowned in a van.

Harvey tragedy: van swept away family

Extremely, heart-breakingly sad!

  • Return to “Normal”. It’s Thursday 8/31 and my life feels like it’s pretty back to “normal”. For many people, “normal” will take months. They say Houston will still feel the effects of this in 10 years. Should we look for “normal”? If “normal” means we go back to forgetting our neighbors or friends unless they are in danger, then I don’t want “normal”. If “normal” means we start seeing ‘us vs. them’ and ‘black and white’ and our differences, then “normal” should stay far away.

I hope we can all learn something, whether we were directly impacted by rising waters in our home, by knowing someone in the city, or by having seen it on the news.

We must become better. We must rise above our problems. If we do, then maybe in some weird way Hurricane Harvey was “worth it”. If not, then maybe we’ve lost more in the hurricane than we can possibly know.

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 21 recap “Brace for Impact”

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“Brace for Impact” (Season-1;Episode-21-finale;aired-05/17/17)

Hannah’s the Bomb

We start with Hannah in a van full of explosives with a 3-minute countdown. As feds surround her and tell her to get down, she knows time is of the essence. So, she says she’ll blow up the van, retreats inside, and drives off barreling down the streets of D.C. and ditches the van in the Tidal Basin in front of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

She then gets what every “hero” deserves. She’s arrested!

But, not to fear a quick phone call sets her free to go see POTUS.

Turns out, evidence was planted on Hannah to make it look like she was complicit in the capitol bombing. But that’s quickly fixed and forgotten. It’s now clear that Patrick Lloyd is a huge target and needs to be brought in.

TV Time

Aaron appears on the telly to backup POTUS that there is no conspiracy and that Kirkman is one of the most honest men he’s known. He does this because he really believes in the POTUS, but also to put Sen. Bowman in his place.

HAND-OFF

While walking down the street, a quick briefcase exchange happens between some unknown and Lozano. This is followed by an email indicating “Lozano has package” followed by a text from Whitaker to “Execute”.

A SWAT team then barges into Lloyd’s place, but he’s nowhere to be found as he escaped through an underground tunnel.

With desperation sinking in, Hannah orders all files on Browning Reed and for people to track down Lloyd using any records (boats, cars, trucks, etc). Luckily, a hit comes in. He’s been spotted at a traffic light. But wait! No, he’s at a bank. Suddenly, he’s popping up all over the place. They’ve been foiled again!

WILY WHITAKER

Whitaker plugs his laptop into a secure connection at the White House and sets up a fake ID for “Lt. Mark Farrell” and then sends off a message for Lozano to “deliver the package”. This sets off a ‘ping’ to Chuck (Hannah’s nerdy computer co-worker) who calls in Ritter and the hunt is on.

PESKY PRESS

Abe is itching to run his story. He wants it out yesterday and he won’t back down. POTUS asks Seth to set up a meeting and when Abe and POTUS meet, POTUS kindly asks him to hold off on the “incomplete” story and offers up an FDR story how during troubling times, the press focused on the strength of the U.S. and not the president’s weaknesses. Abe won’t be intimidated and later after thingking about it he tells Seth that he’ll hold off. For now! But not indefinitely.

Aaaron & Gen. Angryman

Upon Kirkman’s request, Aaron goes back over his old files to see if he missed anything on who the traitor might be. This takes him to General Angryman, who is currently on retirement or house arrest (same thing, right?). He seems upset at his current condition, but surprisingly isn’t mad at the president.

Aaron leaves with some information and provides it to POTUS.

Lozano’s Last Battle

Inside the Pentagon, Lozano is either downloading or uploading files. He puts the security cameras on the fritz, while Hannah is on the phone with the pentagon. For some reason, no one says “go check the server room and see what’s up”.

So, Lozano escapes. Again. But while he’s leaving in a car, Hannah spots him. The chase is on. After playing crash-up derby on the streets of D.C., Lozano ends up in an apartment complex that is either abandoned or under construction. Thinking he has escaped, he’s then t-boned by Hannah’s SUV.

She gets out to arrest him, but he’s gone. Of course! But wait, she sees him in the mirror running. A footchase ensues and they end up in an apartment where a full-on fist-fight breaks out. Bodies are thrown around much like a WWE cage match. After being thrown into the wall, Hannah gets up and in a last ditch attempt does a drop-kick on Lozano and sends him through a wall and onto some spikes (maybe re-bar).

As he lays dying and coughing up blood, Lozano says “it’s not over” and then spits out the Pax Americana motto of “No Victory Without Sacrifice” before dying. This time we can be sure that Lozano is dead.

Atwood’s Email

A bruised and tired Hannah arrives home to find her nerdy friend Chuck packing up things. She mentions she has no idea why Lozano was at the Pentagon. It seems again, another secret will die with the enemy. Chuck mentions she has tons of unread emails, even one from Atwood.

She pulls it up and finally sees who the traitor is: Whitaker.

She takes it to POTUS, who finally reveals it to Seth, Emily, and Aaron and apologizes for having kept them in the dark for so long.

Whitaker, is then confronted by Ritter, with Hannah and her boss preventing his escape route. Too bad we didn’t get to see Whitaker get his comeuppance by force or a beat-down.

The information he has leads to over 200 people in various cells across the country being arrested.

All is Well that ends Well…

  • POTUS wants Aaron to stay on at the White House in some capacity even if they have to create a job for him. Aaron accepts.
  • POTUS tasks former Pres. Moss as the designated survivor when POTUS goes to give a speech to the Joint Session of Congress.
  • POTUS delivers a bold and courageous speech to the applause of all. He credits Abe Leonard with a correct article and says confirms to the whole country that it wasn’t Al-Sakar but domestic terrorists.
  • Gen. Angryman Cochran is release from house arrest
  • POTUS’ kids come back to the White House.

…Or Is It?

Ritter interferes POTUS meeting with his kids and they go to the command center. Turns out that the information that Lozano was stealing was all of the information from the Defense Department server. He’s given it to Lloyd, who they theorize will most likely sell it to the highest bidder. As for Lloyd? He’s somewhere in the wind as he has the resources to do so.

Questions/Comments

I’m not sure when the last episode was filmed or whether or not they knew the show had been renwed for a second season, but I felt the last episode pulled everything together very hurriedly, almost like it might be a “goodbye”.

Had the show not been renewed, it could still be a satisfactory ending in that they caught everyone in the capitol bombing, but unsatisfactory as there’d be a huge cliff-hanger that might not be resolved.

But, it looks like we’ll get that chance.

  • What will Lloyd do with all the information?
  • Will he sell it to a foreign terrorist organization or keep it himself and try to do damage?
  • Is the White House truly free of any rogue agents or moles?
  • What about Hookstraten? Will she pop-up again?

Stay tuned for next season.

Some fun links:

https://www.bustle.com/p/when-does-designated-survivor-season-2-premiere-the-drama-returns-soon-with-some-behind-the-scenes-changes-57746

https://www.romper.com/p/when-does-designated-survivor-return-for-season-2-the-political-drama-is-just-getting-started-58254

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/designated-survivor-cancelled-renewed-season-two-abc/

http://ew.com/recap/designated-survivor-season-1-finale/

 

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 20 recap “Bombshell”

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“Bombshell” (Season-1;episode-20;aired-05/10/17)

POTUS

On their way to the NATO summit, former Pres. Moss and current POTUS go over the details. As this is Kirkman’s first visit, Pres. Moss gives him the low-down on the main players there whose support they’ll need: England, France, and Germany.

Once there, he goes over his initiative to reduce the nuclear arsenal. Seems like everyone is on-board. That is, until the next morning when a huge news story hits that “Al-Sakar Not Behind Capitol Bombing”.

POTUS’ previous supporters are now worried. Is it true? If so, what does he know and when did he know it? If not, where’s the story coming from?

They all take a break to think about it. POTUS meets with Pres. Moss and tells him the story is true, which kind of ties their hands: if they confirm it, they lose trust in the international community which has been hard for the new presidency to build, but if they deny it, it’s a lie and could come back to hurt them even more. Moss gets pissed, but maybe too pissed. It seems he’s more mad at how the story will put his credibility at risk moreso than POTUS. (This behavior is why I don’t fully trust him and think he might be in on something).

Things are suddenly looking bleak as POTUS is aware that (1) Hannah is still missing, (2) Lozano is still alive, and (3) there’s a mole in the White House. Add to this list the failed initiative as France seems to be particularly worried and their PM wants to hold off on supporting the initiative. Reluctantly it’s put on hold, and ultimately tabled for the next summit.

Press

Abe Leonard jumps into the fray and is interviewed on TV. Back in his office, he still refuses to name sources even as his boss and a lawyer let him know the FBI wants to interview him. Reluctantly, he agrees to go.

Patrick Lloyd upon seeing the interview calls up Jay Whitaker and advises him that “Abe has served his purpose.”

Ritter and Computer Nerd

Ritter brings Hannah’s computer nerd to the White House to install a tracker program to find the mole. So far, all but five files on Browning Reed have been deleted. The deletion has been done in small increments to avoid detection, but the program will be able to track who is doing it as soon as they start.

With the program in place, some time passes before Nerd Guy gets an alert: deletion is happening. He gets Ritter on the phone and starts guiding him through the halls of the White House to catch the mole. As he’s getting close, suddenly the “red” indicator showing the mole’s movement turns green. And then it starts duplicating itself just as Mike stops in the hall and the mole, Jay Whitaker, walks by him undetected. Turns out his fingerprint cloned itself on everyone’s devices in the White House.

Hannah’s Cruise

Meanwhile, Hannah is still on the cruise ship to nowhere. She’s out an about trying to figure a way to get off, while the evil henchmen are looking for her. She makes her way into the radio room, knocks out a guy, and sends out a mayday, and then is captured and thrown back into her cell. Lozano comes in and drops a ring in front of her and says “You kill my family, I kill yours.” She picks up the ring and realizes it’s Jason Atwood’s. Sadly, he was killed while spying on Lloyd and Whitaker.

The U.S. Coast Guard picks up her transmission and after a delay due to confusing “Hannah Wells” for a ship name and not a person, they find it in port in Baltimore. FBI agents come aboard in force and start opening up all containers looking for her. It looks like they find her as one container is welded shut. They place explosive on the door to blast it open, while showing a cross-cut of Hannah in a container full of explosives.

Will this be the end of Hannah? Turns out the container they open is empty and Hannah’s “container” is actually inside a van. But it’s not on the ship. It’s in the parking garage of the FBI building. She gets out and a 3:00 minute countdown starts before all the Russian explosives (the same kind that were used in the capitol bombing) will explode.

She exists to find herself surrounded by FBI agents with their weapons aimed at her.

Quick Aside

While at a restaurant, Emily asks Aaron what his plans are now that Hookstraten is out as potential V.P. He says he doesn’t see himself working for her as it’s a “step down”. To be fair, he never asked to work for Hookstraten, it was her doing to help herself. But why is he so quick to jump ship? What, if anything, is he up to?

Questions:

Things are looking bleak.

Q: What is POTUS’ next move in regards to the story? He, Pres. Moss, and Seth can only spin it for so long before answers are demanded or the truth is revealed by someone else?

Q: What will become of Hannah? In most cases situations like this are resolved, but she’s also up against a 3-minute window to talk herself out of an explosive situation.

Q: Hookstraten seems to be riding the bench, which doesn’t suit her. How will she get herself back in the game? I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her.

Q: What did Atwood’s email say? Who was it sent to? This seems to be the most promising, unexplored storyline at this point, especially since Whitaker escaped without incident.

 

 

 

‘Designated Survivor’ – ep. 19 recap “Misalliance”

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“Misalliance” (Season-1;Episode-19;aired-05/03/17)

Emily

Finishes meeting with sketchy guy Jay Whitaker (US Homeland Security Advisor) who is complicit/in charge of Hannah’s abduction. Turns out he’s another mole inside the organization. As he leave he texts someone that the “package is out for delivery”. What package? Does he have Amazon Prime?

FLOTUS

Talking about Geo. Wash running first spy ring to class of students (student orchestra) that will be playing later for president, who shows up just in time for a photo-op with the students.

Leo/Penny still up at Camp David still, which is why President is helping Tyler, the son of former President Richardson (how many presidents has this show seen?). Turns out orchestra is there as a ploy to get Pres. to sign off on funding. Pres. will look into the grant as he found playing trumpet in youth to be beneficial.

Browning Reed Files

Ritter meets with Hannah’s boss. She has suddenly gone “radio silent”. Atwood doesn’t know anything either, since he was sidelined after the ND trip. They head to her apartment/hotel. Her car is there, which is odd since she isn’t responding. A knock at the door turns up nothing. They get housekeeping to open door. Hotel room seems fine. Clean. Untouched. Nothing is there. Hannah is gone, so they’ll check cameras.

Looking for files with “Browning Reed” on them. Only 5 files. After the attacks, any files with those names have been deleted. Find the files, find the traitor.

Have access to only one camera and Hannah is abducted. They go to POTUS to tell him that Hannah was kidnapped by a van that has turned up stolen. She was investigating Patrick Lloyd, former CEO of Browning Reed.

POTUS authorizes every resource to find Hannah. Tip called in with burned out van. She’s not there, no sign of her.

Hookstraten

No connection between trip to Turkey and military aid but the “coincidence” that everyone on trip voted for the same measure isn’t enough. She shoots back 279 other supported it and suggests that this charge mocks her.

She tells about taking oath to uphold the Constitution. She says her life of public service is at stake, which is her best defense: her record and reputation.She hopes they’ll vote on that.

Atwood

Back in business despite a gun shot wound to the arm, Atwood visits a pawn shop buying a receiver with a nano tracker with range of 1,000 yards. Mr. Mole aka Jay Whitaker’s lapel pin sets off the scanner when he goes through security. Security runs it through again and voila, it passes. Turns out Mr. Scanner stole the lapel pen and gives it to Atwood. Smooth wood Atwood!

WEIRD GUY WHITAKER

Patrick Lloyd is talking to group in front of “We will take America Back” backdrop and says the current president is “illegitimate” and that he won’t get in their way. The group cheers, while unsuspectingly being listened to by a guy in a van.

PEOPLE IN VAN

Waiting for Jay Whitaker to leave in his motorcade they make the rookie mistake of immediately following him. But a much wiser Atwood then starts following the 2nd car, which appears actually has the weird guy in it.

CABIN IN THE WOODS

Atwood is in deep cover checking out coffee drinking, working out guy Patrick Lloyd. Suddenly he appears with Jay Whitaker. Atwood is already prepped and listening to the conversation. The two creepos are talking about what two feds were doing on there property, referring to Hannah and Atwood from the other night.

Brings up stuff from Abe Leonard and the government is too busy investigating the next 3 bomb targets. The guys might not have the presidency (meaning Kirkman survived and MacLeish is dead), but before long “we will have the country”.

Atwood hears noise, sends an email and goes to investigate with gun in hand. A branch snaps. He hides behind a tree. It’s a deer. He breathes a sigh of relief, then turns around to find a guy training a gun on him. Two shots are fired, and Jason falls to the ground.

Yikes! Not what I was expecting and if he dies (which seems highly likely), a very sad end to him. Luckily though, he got the email sent off. But what’s in the email? To whom? Just a message? A voice file?

Pres. Moss

Came from talking with French ambassador who wanted to talk with nukes. French “hinted” that US should reduce their weapon stockpile in order for them to reduce theirs.

Pres. Moss wants back-door permission to open commission/conversation with French before the NATO summit begins (the following day)

Hannah

Hannah is kidnapped and transported by van to a shipping container for holding. The truck is send on its way and Hannah struggles in chains.  Man comes with “school lunch” tray.  Hannah wants to talk with Lozano. Guy comes back with food tray. She says she can’t reach it. He moves it closer. (She’s planning something). He uncuffs her so she can eat, takes tray and leaves. She replies “thank you” (even abductees can have manners). Still in cuffs, but trying to use her bra (?) to escape. Appears to pull out the underwire and uses it to unlock the cuffs.

Is “groggy” inside thing. Guy approaches with “that’s not food” but a syringe. Hannah, being freed, turns the syrings on him. He’s out like a light and she heads in to the light with his keys. She’s running aimlessly around crates. Turns out, she’s not on land, but on a huge freighter ship in the middle of the ocean. Zoinks!!!

Where is she going? Ship to nowhere.

POTUS & Hookstraten

Talking with wheelchair bound guy, then meets with Hookstraten about the hearing. She thinks she represented herself well, but is afraid that if ethics committee finds nothing, the accusation will still be there. Pres offers continued support.

Brings up music funding to her. Wants her to look at Congress to re-authorize it, but it’s being headed by person who is ‘attacking’ her on Ethics committee. She suggested president goes to him to discuss.

POTUS visiting with Congressman who is investigating Hookstraten. Brings up the music program for high school students. Says kids can’t wait until next budget and wants it to be “tacked on” to something else. Congressman doesn’t like these “you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” strategy. He believe money should be in STEM instead of arts. Says he will “debate it” when next budget put together.

AARON & HOOKSTRATEN

Aaron meets with cousin about support on issue. It appears the committee will rule 9-3 against her, which means she will lose her case and be stripped of her “Speakership”. Aaron suggests they fight it in the House to drag it out as long as they can until public opinion swings in her favor. She gets an idea.

Meets with Owen, the guy who wants her out. She brings up procedures of how she can stall for 6 months. “A threat?” he asks. No, she offers to resign her speakership and her seat. He’s shocked, but of course she wants something. She wants the public arts funding re-authorized before she goes.

Seems simple but she’s a smart cookie

She met unofficially with the committee. She has decided to resign the speakership and her seat. He says “it doesn’t make any sense”. She knows she will be removed due to lack of votes as part of “old politics”. She wants to fight and came to Washington to “serve” but she can’t do anything…BUT….she has some good news: the house will fund the arts. Pres questions how. Hookstraten asked for her “last meal” for this.  (She’s obviously setting herself up for a better role, VP perhaps).

Pres. declines her decision and has something else in mind. Later, right before the choir will perform, Pres. gets up and introduces student choir/orchestra of New Orleans. Mentions “Tyler Richmond’ is with them and reminded him that art is lifeblood of society. Introduces his nominee of Sec. of Education as Hookstraten. She mentions her honor to stand by and fight with the president for “the kids”. She welcomes the orchestra.  (Odd that she seems to be “settling”).

POTUS/FLOTUS

Meet for a minute and share a hug. They’re getting ready. She’s worried about the toll the job is taking on him. She knows he can’t share everything, but can’t he share SOMETHING? If not, why is she here/what’s her purpose.  (IF she’s in on it, what kind of specific information is she angling for? Her mother is Russian after all).

He confides he authorized someone to do something that might cost them their life (is he referring to Hannah? TBD since I didn’t see last episode).

Ritter, FBI Boss, & POTUS

They meet and talk about finding traitor through a trail. Mike suggests he not go to the NATO summit. Mike requests more help. Pres says yes. Mike wants to choose presidential detail and POTUS says he wants Mike at White House and not at NATO summit

Driving to Air Force 1 creepy guy Jay Whitaker gets out and heads toward plane with Moss and Seth (who takes awkward selfie). Offers a photo with POTUS and Seth entering AF1.

Questions

So much going on.

Is Atwood dead? I’m hoping he isn’t and we know Lozano is former military so it would seem likely he would leave him alive.

Hookstraten. Not sure what to think of her. Initially she seemed anti-president unless it suited her. Then she was pro-president and it got her his pick for V.P. and when that blew up she had to settle for Secretary of Education. This is far below what she wants. But, where exactly does she stand?

Aaron. He was in and then on his way out until Hookstraten brought him back in. Now that she’s “out”, he’ll need to keep himself “in” somehow. At this point he seems back on the good guy side. But where is he really?

 

 

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 10 recap “The Oath”

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“The Oath” (Season-01;Episode-10;aired-12/14/16)

We return to find Hannah post car-wreck and the man who hits her tries to help her out, by trying to choke her to death. As she escapes, he steals her classified files that would have exposed MacLeish and most likely prevented his confirmation as V.P. of the U.S.A. She flees to her co-worker Chuck’s house and passes out.

The president has a copy of the blueprints to the capitol building which were used post 9/11 to conduct threat assessments on the U.S. capitol building. The same blueprints have now been used in a conspiracy of unparalleled proportions as they were used by an insider to help in the destruction of the now demolished U.S. capitol building.

These files have been seen by only a small group of people, which should help in determining who the mole is. Turns out the file had been given to General Harris Cochran, the once powerful military guy who seemed to have an itchy trigger finger, until, Jack, er, Pres. Kirkland fired him. Great! Now, he needs his help.

They meet in the War Room, and it turns out Mr. Itchy Trigger never got a chance to see the file as his rights were revoked by the Secretary of Defense, who is also on the list of “For Your Eyes Only” along with dun, dun, dun Aaron.

The new president puts Emily on the hunt to find out who all had access and when.

Which is awkward for her since she just kissed Aaron and now the President is having her do some secret work without telling Aaron. The President knows something’s up but the exact details always seem to be just out of reach.

In the meantime, Hannah has been patched up by her only ally Chuck, (sounds a lot like Chloe, no?) from watching internet videos. They do some super-sleuthing to find out that the “female” who has been feeding her secret intel via phone conversations is not really a lady but Charles Langdon, former White House Chief of Staff, who is supposed to be dead.

Apparently Chuck’s bandaging powers also include super-healing powers, because Hannah is now super pumper and leaves to track him down as some house in the woods in nearby Virginia but not before she takes sniper fire and kills the would-be sniper only to be caught by Scooby Doo and those meddling kids, which, is actually just some old lady taking her dog for a walk.

She calls it in to the police and it matches Hannah’s description perfectly, because, well it is Hannah. She figures out the whole riddle is an attempt to kill Kirkman upon MacLeish being sworn in as V.P. so that he will become the next POTUS.

Hannah is then on a race back to D.C. to stop the snipes, while a BOLO (be on lookout) is on her as a rogue-FBI agent who is out for MacLeish.

During her race back, MacLeish is finishing getting ready. It appears he has some doubts. His wife says he was chosen to survive and that it’s a great responsibility to restore the “empire” and that now is not the time for weakness.

MacWeasel being sworn in as V.P.

Hmmm? So she’s in on it too it appears. Or maybe we’re supposed to take her words to mean she’s in on it considering all we know. Is she innocent? Is she a mastermind?

When she arrives, she’s spotted and it becomes a race to see if she can catch the sniper before the sniper takes out Kirkman.

The last scene is her shooting at the sniper, which throws him off guard and fades to black with a shot heard.

  1. He’ll obviously miss Kirkman, but the question is, who will he hit and how will that affect the plans to get MacLeish to the presidency?
  2. Will it hit MacLeish? Well, that would be deserving, but highly unlikely.
  3. Will it hit the First Lady? If so, how will that affect Kirkman’s “high-road/straight as an arrow” approach to dealing with situations? Will he turn more Jack Bauer?
  4. Will it be MacLeish’s wife? If so, how will this play into him wanting to continue the plot to take over the presidency? Will it show he’s been a pawn all along and cause him to turn on his “people” now that his wife is dead?

I think whoever dies will have a big impact going further.

Too bad we have to wait until March 2017 to resume the series.

 

 

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 18 recap “Lazarus”

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“Lazarus” (Season-1;Episode-18;aired-04/26/17) POTUS & Hookstraten Finally, the gun control bill is signed, and in part due to Hookstraten’s help. As promised, the president “remembers” this and wants to bring her on as V.P. She’s for it and the vetting process begins. As seems to always be the case in government,… Continue reading →

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 17 recap “The Ninth Seat”

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“The Ninth Seat” (Season-1;Episode-17;aired-04/19/17) POTUS POTUS kicks us off trying to fill all nine seats for the Supreme Court Justices. His ally on this front is a woman named Julia he knew back in college. It appears she has done a lot of legwork and has a list of nine… Continue reading →

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 16 recap “Party Lines”

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“Party Lines” (Season-1;Episode-16;aired-04/12/17) POTUS POTUS wastes no time having an emergency evacuation plan set up for the three newly discovered areas identified as possible targets: Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, and Hoover Dam. The race is then on for SB-8180, which is the weak-bill for gun control put forth… Continue reading →

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 15 recap “One Hundred Days”

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“One Hundred Days” (Season-1;Episode-15;aired-04/05/17) POTUS POTUS give a speech to the American people and asks that since he didn’t have a traditional ‘100 days’, that his 100 days start now. People are excited at the progress. While giving a speech to a woman’s group, FLOTUS takes on the subject of… Continue reading →

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 14 recap “Commander in Chief”

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“Commander in Chief” (Season-1;Episode-14;aired-03/29/17) POTUS Former Pres. Moss shows up and POTUS is willing to listen to him and is opened to his advice. Pres. Moss gives him a “passing grade” and then trashed him for the bad move with the US coach and Russian mess, the bad move on… Continue reading →

‘Designated Survivor’ ep. 13 recap “Backfire”

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“Backfire” (Season-1;Episode-13;aired-03/22/17) POTUS POTUS is furious that the plan to get MacLeish ended in a murder-suicide combo. So much crap has hit the fan since the capitol blew up and now this, the VP was dirty. In addition, word is getting out about it. How much bad stuff can this… Continue reading →