'Designated Survivor' Season 2, Episode 11 'Grief' Recap: Kirkman Deals with Guilt, Trauma, and a Hostage Crisis [SPOILERS]

Ten weeks have passed, and now we’re back with a fresh episode of ABC’s “Designated Survivor.” Within that period, President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) reels from the death of his wife, First Lady Alex Kirkman (Natascha McElhone). Of course, it’s not easy to recuperate from such a tragic loss, so Kirkman’s staff recommends him to see a therapist, Dr. Adam Louden (played by Timothy Busfield, who also happens to direct the episode). Along the way, a new conflict arises as Kirkman has to put his feelings aside to solve a crisis in Cuba involving National Security Advisor Aaron Shore (Adan Canto) and FBI Special Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q).
Season 2, episode 11 is aptly titled “Grief,” and here we see how Kirkman rises from his lowest point. The episode opens with Kirkman’s therapy session with Dr. Louden. They discuss his feelings about Alex’s death, and it’s clear how Kirkman feels overly uncomfortable with it. Subconsciously, he blames himself. Kirkman’s receptionist calls him for the trade mission briefing, prompting him to reschedule the session. However, Dr. Louden wants to help Kirkman deal with his grief, and so he waits.
Kirkman’s entire staff assembles for the meeting. Press Secretary Seth Wright (Kal Penn) and Chief of Staff Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci) discuss the First Lady’s memorial—well, the lack of it, at least. Political Advisor Lyor Boone (Paulo Constanzo) catches up with the pair to tell them about Kirkman’s problematic move of working right after Alex’s death. For them, it’s a little bit too drastic. Policies are piling up, and Kirkman doesn’t seem that fit to work on them just yet. Aaron then gives them about Kirkman’s numerous canceled meetings with foreign leaders, which only add to the frustration and worry that the President’s team feels.
Aaron then meets Hannah to tell her about her probation. In the Fall Finale, Hannah shot her co-agent and British Intelligence asset slash lover Damian Rennett (Ben Lawson) after finding out about his ties to Russia. This move made Aaron doubt her capabilities, hence the probation. But still, Hannah’s on the job, and she is about to accompany Aaron and some Congressmen and people in business for a trade mission in Cuba. Later, Kirkman meets President Ortega of Cuba to seal the deal on the upcoming trade mission. After the meeting, Seth receives Emily’s corrections for his press release about the trip to Cuba. He then asks about their planned weekend getaway, which is in a matter of days, and Emily considers it.
Kirkman returns to Dr. Louden for their Oval Office therapy session. As Louden examines each of Kirkman’s feelings over the accident, Kirkman sheds his tough exterior. It’s evident that apart from the crash being Evan Beeman’s (Joey Coleman) fault, Kirkman sees Alex’s death as mostly his doing. Meanwhile, Aaron and Hannah arrive in Cuba with the trade delegation. On the way to the meeting place, a group of militants flank their convoy and declare them as hostages of the Army for the Liberation of the People. The militants hole up the group in a hut and take their documents and identification. One soldier demands Aaron and Hannah’s papers, but he doesn’t want to hand it over because they’d know that Aaron is from the White House. It could be the militant group’s leverage. However, the general already took Aaron’s ID, prompting the soldiers to beam in triumph.

Hostage crisis

The rebels have Aaron record a ransom video and sent it over to Kirkman in the White House. After the message played, Kirkman had President Ortega on the line and asked about the situation. Ortega claims to not know of the plan to kidnap the delegates, let alone Aaron. Before things get to a heated argument between the two leaders, Kirkman has Senator Sanchez (Lisa Marcos) the congressional leadership stay on top of the situation and asks his general for possible options.

Back in Cuba, Hannah tries to ask the Rebel General if he can release the women and the elderly in the delegation. The General is pissed at Hannah’s attitude and got even more agitated when Aaron chimed in to diffuse the situation. To calm things down, businessman Philip Cross attempts to ease the tension by offering his help in coming up with a negotiation with Kirkman. However, Cross also got the wrong end of the stick when they beat him up for standing up for Aaron and Hannah.
In the White House, Senator Sanchez and Kirkman’s staff lay out all possible options for them to bring their citizens home from Cuba. All options seem viable, including deploying US Troops for a rescue mission. However, Kirkman seems to lean towards a counterproductive solution—sending a recon team to scope out the area. This decision bothers Lyor and Emily greatly. Later, Tricia Sims (Chelsea Harris), an applicant for the Political Advisor Assistant position runs up to Lyor and insists on showing him what she can do. Lyor humors her and tells Tricia to do whatever it takes to obtain the blueprints of the Capitol before the bombing. Enthusiastically, she agrees.

In the situation room, Kirkman observes the recon team that he sent to Cuba. However, the mission abruptly fails when the militants attack the Black Hawk Chopper. They lose all contact, prompting a press storm. Seth then answers the journalists’ questions somewhat defensively, which Emily didn’t like. She then commands Seth to be a bit friendly to the media by not biting back defensively. This action by Emily causes a small rift to come between her and Seth.

Kirkman denies his grief

Meanwhile, back in the oval office, Kirkman listens to Alex’s last voicemail repeatedly. He resumes the therapy session with Dr. Louden, and they proceed to talk about the Kirkman’s children, Leo (Tanner Buchanan) and Penny (Mckenna Grace). Both kids didn’t take it well, which adds to the guilt that Kirkman feels.

Adding to that is the fact that initially, Kirkman didn’t want his kids to be a part of the discussion, but Dr. Louden thinks that Kirkman is doing this to delay dealing with his pain. Kirkman denies this, but Louden has none of it. According to Louden, “grief is a ritual.” Kirkman has to deal with it for him to be fit enough to lead the country.

A foiled escape and a shocking partnership

Back in the hostage hut, Hannah asks for the restroom. As soon as she’s inside, she attempts to escape. The militant guard, noticing Hannah’s extended use of the bathroom, bangs on the door. To distract him, Aaron tries to start a fight with one of the Congressmen hostages who’s also anti-Kirkman—prompting the guards to restrain them. Meanwhile, Hannah escapes through a gap in the flooring and makes her way through the thick forest. On her way out, she overhears Cross happily negotiating with the militant general. It shocks Hannah, so she runs. However, Hannah still ends up captured and brought back to the hostage hut. She then alerts Aaron about Cross.

In the White House, Emily, Lyor, and White House Legal Counsel Kendra Daynes (Zoe McLellan) explore the possibility of giving the ransom. It would need congressional support, and Senator Sanchez must swing the votes for it. Sanchez returns to Kirkman to tell him the bad news–that Congress doesn’t agree with paying the ransom. Despite this, Kirkman remains solid in funding the payment because he doesn’t want casualties, especially from his troops. Lyor and Emily thinks that it’s not about the possible losses of the mission, they both believe that Kirkman’s decision is due his—

Trauma

The therapy session continues with Dr. Louden as he concludes what Kirkman is going through—trauma. Louden asks him if he’s aware of this, which brings Kirkman back to the day after Alex’s death when his staff was organizing her funeral. Here we see a distraught and unfocused Kirkman, unable to process things and overtaken with despair.
Kirkman tries to deflect Louden’s questions. To break through Kirkman’s tough exterior, Louden then gave him his observation—if Kirkman brings unresolved emotions to his decision-making unintentionally, it could turn out horrifically.

Kirkman is back

Kirkman is then called to the situation room as Emily tells him about the ransom that’s ready for wire transfer. Although Kirkman is prepared to do this, there’s no assurance from the militants of the hostages’ freedom. They’d have to rely on good faith once the payment gets to the militant group. Kirkman then considers Dr. Louden’s words to him earlier and scratches the ransom payment off the table. Instead, Kirkman orders the rescue troops to prepare themselves. This action by the President gives Emily and Lyor a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Lyor sees Tricia combing through moldy boxes of files as she tries to hunt for the blueprints. He warns her against possible contamination and urges her to wear a hazmat suit, Emily passes by, and Lyor introduces her to Tricia. Upon seeing the messy files and moldy papers, Emily also tells Tricia to wear a hazmat suit.
Back in Cuba, Hannah tells Aaron about Cross’s apparent ties with the militant group. He appears to be nursing an injured hand, but Hannah knew it was all an act to convince everyone that Cross is on their side. When one of the rebels throw oranges for them to eat, Aaron tosses one to Cross–who catches it quickly with his “injured” hand. The general comes back in and grabs Hannah in front of the video transmitter. Since the money hasn’t arrived, the general wants to show his dominance by killing Hannah in front of them. Kirkman is unfazed because he knows that he can wipe out the militants in a single command.
As he was about to shoot Hannah, Cross prevents him, offering to pay the ransom himself. While Cross has the general distracted, Hannah gives Kirkman a signal by doing the sign of the cross, referring to the businessman. Lyor and Emily take this to Chuck, who does a background check on Cross. It turns out that the businessman is funding the Cuban militants in exchange for land for his business. And since the real estate in Cuba is sketchy, Cross decided to turn to the militants’ control as an easy way out.

Senator Sanchez then meets with Kirkman and his staff as they brief her about Cross’s ties to President Ortega. Apparently, Ortega was using Cross and the Militant General to have the rebels at fault for the hostage. The general wants to establish a legacy, so he wants to wipe out the Rebels by working with Ortega. The President pays him, and he has Cross deliver the delegates to Cuba in exchange for development rights for his business. 
Later, in the situation room, Kirkman confronts Ortega about his conspiracy plan and ultimately severs ties with Cuba as he orders the trade mission delegation be sent home.

Crisis averted

“Grief” ends with Seth asking Emily about the strong rift between them. It turns out that Emily feels that Seth is taking their relationship too fast, to the point where she’s not sure about them both anymore. Lyor is impressed with Tricia’s perseverance as she finally gave him the blueprints of the Capitol, leading him to hire her permanently.Meanwhile, Dr. Louden encourages Kirkman to deal with the main reason for his grief accordingly. Kirkman visits Beeman in prison to tell him that he will do everything he can to make Beeman suffer emotionally and remember the pain that Beeman caused when he accidentally took Alex’s life.
Meanwhile, Damian Rennett is back, after he suddenly appears in Hannah’s apartment, pointing a gun at her, and asking for the two of them to have a chat.

‘Designated Survivor: Grief’ Overall Verdict

Two months of waiting are a bit underwhelming with tonight’s “Designated Survivor” premiere. I was expecting a more emotional and panic-stricken Kirkman, but due to the story fast forwarding ten weeks, it might be a bit distasteful to some fans. However, the way Kirkman was shown dealing with his grief was portrayed somewhat sporadic, with a few untouched issues regarding Alex’s passing. It wasn’t exactly a compelling episode, but well-directed and written nonetheless.
“Designated Survivor” continues next Wednesday with “The Final Frontier” at 10/9c on ABC.