“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:
http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/designated-survivor-cancelled-renewed-season-two-abc/
http://ew.com/recap/designated-survivor-season-1-finale/