“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.