Action drama: First sure thing of season is ‘Designated’
Forget all the talk about whether there will ever be another “24” project with Kiefer Sutherland playing Jack Bauer. With the premiere of “Designated Survivor” on Wednesday, Sept. 21, the only thing anyone will care about is having to wait a week for the next episode of Sutherland’s new show.
There may be brainier series coming along this season, but it’s
hard to imagine anything as gripping and flat-out fun to watch as this drama about a man whose life is suddenly and radically changed by events beyond his control.
Sutherland plays Tom Kirkman, a middle-aged academic who serves as the nearly invisible secretary of Housing and Urban Development, but not for long: The president doesn’t plan on reappointing him if he is re-elected.
As the least significant member of the Cabinet, Kirkman is chosen as the “designated survivor” when the president, vice president and the rest of the Cabinet repair to Capitol Hill for the State of the Union address. It’s standard practice to have someone way down in the chain of succession hang out at the White House in the completely unlikely event that everyone higher up gets wiped out during the address to Congress. Guess what? The unlikely happens, and the lame-duck HUD secretary becomes the leader of the free world.
There is no time for Kirkman to process what is happening to him as the Secret Service rushes him to a protected bunker, then rounds up his wife, Alex (Natascha McElhone, “Californication”), an EEOC attorney, and their kids, teenager Leo (Tanner Buchanan, “The Fosters”) and his younger sister, Penny (Mckenna Grace, “Independence Day: Resurgence”).
One minute Kirkman is hanging around waiting to go home, the next he’s borrowing a suit to be sworn in as the president.
Every element of the pilot succeeds in keeping you on the edge of your seat while giving Sutherland an even better role than Jack Bauer. We always knew who and what Jack was, and there’s no question that Sutherland was great in “24.”
This time, though, even Kirkman doesn’t entirely know who he is, what he’s capable of. He’s not a politician, he’s not much of a takecharge guy. If he didn’t have his Cabinet job, he could easily be a house husband while his more outgoing and accomplished wife became the family breadwinner.
We watch as Kirkman is forced to find strength and determination that he never really knew he had, much less seemed to need. From moment to moment, we see Kirkman essentially in conflict with himself. He doesn’t want this new role, knows he’s not prepared for it in any way, but there’s no getting out of it.
He’s where he is because of circumstances beyond his control, but now he has to find and activate that control.
Creator David Guggenheim (“Safe House”) has strategically packed the pilot with additional story lines and compelling secondary characters, including speechwriter Seth Wright (Kal Penn), who is also suddenly thrust into a new job; FBI agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q), who gets the job of investigating the attack on the Capitol and protecting the new president; and Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci), who, as Kirkman’s chief of staff at HUD, is one of the people Kirkman trusts most.
As equal parts action and drama, and giving Kiefer Sutherland one of the best roles of his career, “Designated Survivor” is the season’s first sure thing. Make that “Designated” sure thing.