'Designated Survivor' Season 2, Episode 10 'Line of Fire' Fall Finale Recap: Kirkman Deals with Forest Fires, a Cult and a Terrible Loss [SPOILERS]

Just when things are supposed to end on a light note, “Designated Survivor” ups its game with the fall finale episode, titled “Line of Fire.” It’s an excellent pre-holiday episode, but what came after everything that happened made things hard for President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) moving forward. Meanwhile, the conspiracy surrounding First Lady Alex Kirkman’s (Natascha McElhone) digs deeper than expected. Tonight’s finale had a mixture of anger, loss, and victory all bottled up into one explosive ending.

Forest fire threatens to engulf a cult

“Line of Fire” opens with a vast forest fire taking over the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It’s been burning for weeks, but now it has finally reached its maximum scope and threatens to obliterate all life in the park. Much like the real-life forest fires in California happening today, “Designated Survivor” echoes it in the episode. Kirkman has Aaron Shore (Adan Canto) his National Security Advisor, oversee the evacuation of the park. However, there’s one slight problem—a religious gathering by the Church of the Witnesses of the Covenant takes place in one of the cabins, and their leader doesn’t want to leave. They board up the windows and prepare to sacrifice themselves to the fire. It’s a lousy situation for Kirkman and his team, especially since it’s the Christmas season.

Kirkman gets an update on the situation. There’s an hour left before the fire ravages the majority of the park, so the Church members need to haul ass right away. The rescuers try to coax the Church to leave the cabin, but their Deacon, David Sheridan only wants to speak to the White House. Aaron comes in to talk to David, and he tells them that they will leave if six-month-old Grace Morgan the Federal Government’s will release her from their custody. Grace is lined up for a medical operation at Walter Reed Hospital for her congenital heart condition, but the Church believes that the procedure goes against what scripture tells them. Aaron is surprised, and David insists that he is doing this to honor God’s word.

Kirkman’s Chief of Staff, Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci) visits Grace and her mom Claire Morgan (Emma Bell) in the hospital. There she finds out that if the operation isn’t carried out, Grace could die. But the only catch here is that Claire also believes that an open heart surgery isn’t an option. To her, it’s against God’s law for them to abstain from blood, and that transfusion is a sin. Kirkman learns about this from Press Secretary Seth Wright (Kal Penn), Political Advisor Lyor Boone (Paulo Constanzo), and White House Counsel Kendra Daynes (Zoe McLellan). Kirkman also knew about the operation’s risk to Grace. An open heart surgery and blood transfusion on an infant is a tricky procedure, one that can endanger Grace too if all goes haywire. There’s no way to spin this around for David according to Lyor, while Kendra believes that the Church’s rescue can still happen without the need for Grace’s release from the hospital. If they can challenge their competency, it could force them to evacuate. Kirkman then asks Aaron to talk to David personally through the video call. He tries to convince David to leave, seeing how there’s no way for him to prevent hospital care for Grace. David is adamant, and Kendra recognizes that they can’t challenge their competence since David is well aware of the situation. The fire can kill them all, but he doesn’t care as long as Grace is released.

Later, Kirkman meets Dr. Ruth, an expert on artificial blood for pediatric surgery to ask him if he could step in to do the operation on Grace. Ruth’s license got revoked due to his unorthodox (but useful) methods, and Kirkman is happy to reinstate him. Ruth knows that it’s a tricky operation, but he agrees. Kirkman then speaks to Claire and assures her that Grace will live and that they will proceed with the surgery. In the hospital, Emily waits with Claire to hear about the operation’s developments. Dr. Ruth comes out to tell them that synthetic blood is not working and that Grace would need a blood transfusion. Claire has the same blood type, but this is where it gets complicated for her. Emily convinces Claire to save her daughter by giving her blood to Grace. It might go against her religion, but who cares anyway when the life of your daughter is on the line. Dr. Ruth again comes out soon after and tells Claire that Grace is now recovering. Back in Virginia, the Church members finally agree to evacuate the park.

Hannah confronts Damian

The previous “Designated Survivor” episode ended with FBI Agent Hannah Wells suspecting her MI-6 partner (and romantic interest) Damian Rennett (Ben Lawson) of being an undercover informant for the entire Eric Little conspiracy against the First Lady. Hannah wakes up the next day and proceeds to copy Damian’s phone data on her computer. Hannah brings the files to Chuck Russink (Jake Epstein), and she tells him that Damian might have a connection to Patrick Lloyd himself. Chuck confirms that Damian’s sim card proves the call to tip off their suspect came from him and that his phone is a clone. It could mean that someone could’ve used his phone number in an attempt to make him look guilty, or that Damian cloned it himself so he could throw them off his tracks in case he came under suspicion.
Meanwhile, FBI Detective Blakey hands over a file to Aaron Shore that contains security footage of Damian the night the warehouse exploded in the previous episodes. Hannah then goes to Aaron’s office to tell him they found out about Damian. Aaron shows her the footage that Detective Blakey gave him, and it shows that Damian was in the warehouse two hours before he got there with Hannah. Aaron then tries to tell Hannah that he’s benching her for this case—given their romantic involvement—but Hannah is determined to clean up her mess.
Later, she meets Damian in a cafe. He gives her a present, and it’s a plane ticket to Maui, Hawaii. Hannah gives him a watch as a gift too, but it also has a tracker embedded in it. Hannah then mentions that she has a lead on the banker who made the account in St. Lucia Bank, and she’s leaving to follow it. However, the information is a ploy to catch Damian, and it’s working. She goes back to Chuck to track where Damian is going with the “lead” that Hannah mentioned. Together they find Damian in Hannah’s place, in an attempt to find out what she has on her computer. Later, Hannah stalks him and sees Damian informing a Russian agent about what he found. She now knows that Damian is no longer an MI-6 agent, but a defector who probably has ties to Eric Little and this whole hoo-ha with the First Lady.
That night, Hannah again meets Damian on a bridge to tell him that she knows about him. As he tries to explain, Hannah shoots him, causing Damian to fall off the bridge. He later turns up washed up in the river bed, alive and with a bulletproof vest on him.

A tragic exit

Elsewhere in the episode, we see First Lady Alex Kirkman her statements for the hearing with FBI Director John Forstell (Reed Diamond) regarding her alleged ties to Eric Little and Patrick Lloyd. Kirkman comes in to check in on her, but there’s an aura of awkwardness. In the previous episode, Kirkman got mad at Alex for her wanting him to fire Forstell just because he is investigating her.
Later, Kendra meets Forstell to offer him a deal—drop the hearing but continue with the investigation. Alex will participate in it, too. The truth is enough to work for Alex’s defense. However, Forstell has none of it and gives her a counteroffer—for Alex to plead obstruction of Justice. Kendra takes this up to the President and Alex. Kirkman doesn’t like it because it’s an easy way out, but Alex thinks it could finally get her out of this mess. By taking up this offer, it shows that Alex isn’t guilty of the allegations. Legally speaking. However, it’s equal to a conviction. Kendra further explains the proposal by saying that Forstell has already contacted the US Attorney General to suspend any sentence and grant immunity to the First Lady. If the FBI questioning doesn’t go well, Alex could have an indictment against the bribery charge against her. Still, Kirkman wouldn’t budge, and he wants them to fight for truth and not take the offer. But Kirkman softens up later and goes to Alex, telling her that she should do what she has to do for her to get out of this mess finally.

On the day of the interview, a handful of reporters gathered in front of the FBI building and bombard Alex with a barrage of questions about the investigation. She’s surprised because it was supposed to be a closed-door proceeding. She wants to plead the fifth, but Kendra doesn’t see this as an option. Kendra then formulates a new strategy—to open up the proceeding to the public. They’re planning to hit Forstell with his Senate ambition, but he doesn’t know this yet. During the interview, Kendra asks forstell to allow Alex to make the opening statement herself. Any form of refusal from Forstell would seem like a hostile attempt to silence her on the record, and so he has his hands tied. Alex was then able to use her statement to point out the fact that Forstell is handling this investigation to gain leverage for his future campaign as a New York senator. Forstell orders a halt to the recording of the interview and finally lets Alex go with no further questions and ties to the allegations. After the proceeding, Alex leaves a voicemail to Kirkman telling him about how she won the case against her.

On her way home from the interview, her convoy is attacked by an oncoming truck, ramming Alex’s side in the vehicle. As her security detail race to get her out of the wreck, they find that her injuries are fatal and is assumed dead. Kirkman receives the call, and he falls to his knees, screaming.

‘Designated Survivor: Line of Fire’ Fall Finale Overall Verdict

What a way to end the first half of season 2. It was announced last September (via Deadline) that Natascha McElhone will depart “Designated Survivor” for “House of Cards” creator Beau Willimon’s upcoming Hulu series, titled “The First.” I was wondering how they would write off McElhone’s character in the show, seeing how she is one of the main characters. But nothing could ever prepare me for how she made her exit in tonight’s episode. It’s not exactly a good way to leave the show, but it does set up more hurdles for Tom Kirkman to handle. He was able to defeat the allegations against his family, but only time will tell how Alex Kirkman’s death affects Kirkman in the long run. Nonetheless, “Line of Fire” is surely a tasteful fall finale episode, and I have to give kudos to writer Keith Eisner and director Chris Grismer for crafting such a profound entry in “Designated Survivor’s” overall narrative.
“Designated Survivor” returns Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 10/9c on ABC.