“Designated Survivor:Pilot” (Season-1;episode-1;aired-

They look the same. You might say, “Duh, they’re both played by Kiefer”.  True they are both played by Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland, but there’s a minor, yet significant difference.

The way he goes about this is by hiding in plain sight. The primary example we’ll use is that of Clark Kent/Superman.

 

Glasses/Hair

Odd that no one could tell them apart, right. Clark had to adapt the mild-mannered reporter with nerdy glasses, while Superman only had the curly-q in his hairdo.

Had Jack decided to appear more like his role as Ace Merrill on “Stand by Me” he would draw more attention to himself with his bad hair dye (the switchblade would also raise eyebrows on Capitol Hill).

 

 

Those glasses and Cornell sweatshirt aren’t fooling anyone, Jack!

 

Cover Assignment

Jack has had to go deep undercover on several days to prevent destruction to the U.S., and economic meltdown. He’s also been very close to several presidents. Whereas Jack served as outside, covert support to the U.S. in his role at CTU, Thomas Adam Kirklman is going undercover inside the White House. As the name of the show indicates, the Designated Survivor is the person who shall succeed as POTUS in the event the President dies, and it’s a real role.

Jack, er, Tom’s role is the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or as a female White House staffer stated on the show “he wasn’t even elected. He’s a glorified real estate agent”.

Truth is, in his current position on the show, no one cares about this guy. Which is exactly why it suits Jack Bauer quite well. No one is expecting him to show up anywhere. He’s so far down on the list that even the Student Body President at a local D.C. high school would receive more attention than him.

But suddenly, Jack, er Tom, gets a bigger role than anticipated. Here he is to protect the president while having a paper-pushing job. He knows something is up, but nothing like this.

To avoid being in the limelight, he has to downplay his role. This is why is gets somewhat awkward when the President wants him to go to Montreal, Canada as an ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization. He needs to be undercover and local, not undercover and way up north.

This is why he asks Seth Wright, the speechwriter played by Kal Penn, if he believes everything he just said about the “new” president, not knowing to whom he was talking. It’s not because Tom is afraid of being president, he’s afraid of being discovered as Jack Bauer.

 

Backstory/Family

Okay, you might be on board, but you are now wondering “what about his family? Are they part of his cover too?” Duh, of course.

• Q: “Well, how is that set up?
• A: Chloe O’Brien, socially awkward CTU analyst, former FBI captive for helping Jack escape, and Open Cell hacker.

She’s a longtime friend an ally to Jack, perhaps the only person who truly knows him, and one of only to be alive, as James Heller told Jack “everything you touch dies.” This might be why he says to his daughter when she interrupts him kissing his wife in the morning that “Leave us alone. You are not loved.” Jack knows his daughter might be a target. If he can convince the evil powers that be that he doesn’t love his daughter, she’ll be more likely to survive down the line.

Besides, Chloe owes him big-time. In the last scene we saw, Jack turned himself over to the Russians in exchange for Chloe’s freedom. We haven’t seen her or Jack since then.

In the first episode, we are introduced to Jack’s, er Tom’s family.

 

Relationship	Designated Survivor	24
Wife	Alex Kirkman	Teri Bauer
Daughter	Penny Kirkman	Kim Bauer’s daughter Teri
Son	Leo Kirkman	Josh Bauer (Jack’s nephew in season 6)

Kim Bauer is not in this version because she probably got attacked for real this time by a mountain lion. Her daughter, Jack Bauer’s granddaughter, is now 9-year old Penny Kirkman. She’s been growing up under this new assumed identity so she has no idea how badass her “dad” really is or can be. Jack is the only living kin and he feels a secret life in the nation’s capital is the best way to protect her.

“Leo” was Josh Bauer. He’s a 17-year-old now much like his aunt Kim Bauer was. Tom’s/Jack’s no dummy but he fell for the “laying down a new dubstep track with my friend” excuse that all the kids are using nowadays. In reality, he’s at some seedy club or rave selling drugs. Oh, Kim would be proud of her nephew!

Alex, the wife, is an immigration attorney. She obviously knows how to work the system and get fake immigration papers/documents for Tom. His alibi is pretty solid as they’ve only been settling into D.C. for the past 3 years (obviously after he escaped from the Russians after trading himself for Chloe). Her assignment won’t be easy, especially now that Jack is closer to being found out. She has definitely NOT been told that she has a high likelihood of dying.

 

Anagram Fun Time

If you create anagrams out of “Designated Survivor” you’ll get the following:

• Riot dad revives guns
• Vigor advised unrest
• Vigor advises turned
• Vigor dad severs unit
• Dad reinvests vigour
• Advertised gun visor
• Gun sadist overdrive
• Gun raided vest visor
• Gun arrived dove sits
• Driving asses devour
• Dove Agent Rids Virus

Some of these could clearly apply to Jack!

 

Real Assignment: Protect the President

Being a President in real life has got to be tough, but not as tough as on “24”. The following is a list of presidents and their fate.

 

Day(s)	President	Fate
1	Harry Barnes	Exposed to Cat’s Claw virus
2 and 3	David Palmer	Incapacitating assassination attempt
4	David Palmer	Ex-president
5	David Palmer	Assassinated
4	John Keeler	Incapacitated during attack on Air Force One
4 and 5	Charles Logan	Unseated for responsibility for assassination attempt on David Palmer and selling nerve gas to terrorists
8	Charles Logan	Came on as advisor until his suicide attempt
6 prequel	Hal Gardner	Took over for Charles Logan
6	Wayne Palmer	Incapacitated during assassination attempt
6	Noah Daniels (VP)	Replaced Wayne Palmer due to 25th amendment
7 and 8	Allison Taylor	Resign due to her part in cover-up of assassination of IRK President Omar Hassan
8	Mitchell Hayworth	Took over for Allison Taylor
8	James Heller	Deteriorating mental faculties

 

“24” Feel

Admit it. The show even feels very “24-ish” or “24-esque”. The tagline could be “Jack is Back and his cover is Tom Kirkman.” When watching the hearings from afar and the TV transmission goes kaput, Tom walks to the window and opens it. When he does you see this:

And you think this:

The sound of the 24 clock can almost be heard. Even if you can’t actually hear it, you must admit to yourself that you could hear it in your mind.

Allies and Foes

Jack may have had few friends but he had several allies to help him combat his bigger enemies. Only time will tell where these people fall on the spectrum.

• Maggie Q as Hannah Wells, FBI agent, might very well be the Tony Almeida of this show
• Kal Penn as Seth Wright, presidential speechwriter, might very well a Chloe-type (with speech skills not computer skills)
• Emily Rhodes and Aaron Shore, both jockeying to become Presidential advisor
• Harris Cochrane as military man, might very well be the “mole” inside CTU, a force with whom Jack will come to blows with
• Senator Kimble Hookstraten seems to be in cahoots with him
• Others in the White House will also be “dirty”
• Some Russian will appear at some point. He will go between being dirty/clean, but will ultimately be dirty

Quotes and Mannerisms

During the pilot episode, conveniently titled “Pilot” here are some of the clues that Jack is Tom through character dialog and actions:

“The White House never respected you, that’s the real problem.” – Alex Kirkman

This quote reveals that Tom’s wife knows a little bit about how tough it was for Jack to go head-to-head with the White House in the past. Had they been willing to work with him, this current predicament likely wouldn’t be happening.

 

Just after everything goes to hell, Tom is in the bathroom stall confused and vomiting. Seth is in the adjoining stall.

Seth: Do you even know who’s in charge? Kirkland. He’s the lowest rung on the ladder. Do you know the president fired him? He should step aside. Kirkland is a follower not a leader.”

They both exits the stall and Seth is probably crapping his pants. Tom is holding back his inner-Jack Bauer who could tear him limb from limb.

Tom: Do you think I should step down? You may be right. For now, I’m all you’ve got.

Classic Jack-ism. He is all they’ve got. He’s now IN control and for now his anger is UNDER control. This looks good for all parties involved.

 

“There are different ways to show force.” – Jack to the General who has it out to get him removed.

Jack knows all about force. He’s definitely one to be reckoned with. But for now, his toughest assignment he needs to be mentally and politically tough, not Jack Bauer agent tough.

• Notice how Jack assesses the situation by noticing everyone and everything when he walks into the White House. He’s identified all threats, exits/entries, basic items that can be used for self-defense and probably a few places where extra guns are hidden.
• When meeting all people of importance in the War Room he takes a moment for “fallen friends, heroes one and all”. Jack is a patriot. He’s probably reflecting on his time at CTU.
• Jack shows up in a suit and his wife says “where’d you get a suit?” Jack Bauer was not about suits. He probably pick-pocketed someone’s key card and stole it. Because that’s how he rolls. Or there’s possibly some poor White House staff stuffed in a closet somewhere in his underwear until Jack can get his suit back to him.

The kids, Penny and Leo are having a sitdown.

Penny: Is dad scared?

Leo: You kidding? Dad’s not scared of anything.

In the background, Tom smirks. The kids laugh. Tom isn’t scared at all. Or, rather, he’s more scared of being identified as Jack then the presidency. He’s got to play his cards right. He’s also probably wondering (he then smirks and they both laugh). Part of him wonders if Leo knows that his real dad (Graem Bauer – Jack’s brother) tried to have Jack killed and was killed by Phillip Bauer, his grandpa! (Talk about family issues).

• Right before addressing the American public for the first time, Jack rubs his ring and clenches his fist. This might be a brief moment of weakness when he wants to show his Jack Bauer-ness but then restrains himself. He might also be worried about the glasses being removed for “not looking presidential”.

• Maggie, the FBI agent, wonders aloud that “you don’t take credit until you’re done, right? What if they’re just getting started?” Hmm. This could be said of Jack as well. He’ll maintain his ID as Tom Kirkman until all is said and done and then will either reveal himself as Jack Bauer and disappear forever or will disappear right before everyone realizes who he is. He will then be forgive and pardoned for everything he’s done as Jack Bauer.

 

Summary

I think it’s clear what’s going on in this new show and I intend to watch it and find out.

 

What are your thoughts so far?

Who appears to be “helpful” but is “harmful”?

How soon until Chloe O’Brien shows up?