‘Designated Survivor’ Season 2, Episode 18 ‘Kirkman Agonistes’ Recap: An Administration Hanging in the Balance [SPOILERS]

President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) continues to take in punches this week on ABC’s “Designated Survivor.” Following last week’s reveal of Kirkman’s leaked therapy tapes, “Kirkman Agonistes” shows the President on the brink of losing his job due to public concern and his entire cabinet’s doubts. It’s a compelling show of Kirkman’s vulnerability, and this is where we also see his entire staff’s career future hanging in the balance.

Who leaked it?

“Kirkman Agonistes” opens with National Security Advisor Aaron Shore (Adan Canto) and FBI Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) telling Kirkman’s staff about the possible person (or entity) responsible for the leaked tapes. A hacker named Gamein seems to have been the one who orchestrated the hacks to the Space Station, the power grid, and the various White House files. As a precautionary measure, Aaron also orders the staff’s phones to be surrendered to Chuck Russink for analysis—in case one of them might have been a part of the leak in some way. Political Advisor Lyor Boone (Paulo Constanzo) protests, but White House Legal Counsel Kendra Daynes (Zoe McLellan) deems the order a legal and necessary procedure.

Kirkman has breakfast with his brother Trey (Breckin Meyer). Trey tells Kirkman about his day, but the President is evidently bothered by the news headlines about his therapy tapes. Seeing this, Trey encourages his brother that this will all blow over. However, back in the White House, things aren’t as good as Trey believes. The media is in a whirlwind, debating about whether or not Kirkman is capable of leading the American people. Kirkman arrives, and Chief of Staff Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci) asks Kirkman to issue a public statement in defense of the issue. However, Kirkman refuses. Just because he’s self-aware enough to go through therapy doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing for his capacity to act as the President. What Kirkman wants is for his staff to make sure that this won’t happen again.

Ben Mark Holzberg/ABC

Emily then briefs Kirkman about the agenda for the day. There’s a meeting with Senator Cowling about the energy bill. Kendra will be vetting a DC circuit nominee. Aaron is meeting with an Ambassador about the anti-terrorism task force. Kirkman, on the other hand, is supposed to be one of the judges of the National Science Fair with Dr. Andrea Frost (Kim Raver). But due to the Press time that the leaked tapes are getting, Press Secretary Seth Wright (Kal Penn) and Lyor think it’s not a good idea to show up. A montage of the staff’s respective meetings follows, all of which end up badly because they doubt the President’s mental capacity.

Dr. Adam Louden (Timothy Busfield), Kirkman’s therapist, arrives at the White House for a meeting with the President. Lyor, however, sits him down and tries to urge Dr. Louden to write a statement clarifying what he said about the President in the tapes. Later, Kirkman then meets with Louden and is furious at how the reports are affecting him personally. Aaron interrupts their meeting to show Kirkman that another therapy tape was released, this time focusing on Kirkman’s “possible PTSD tendencies.”

Intense scrutiny

Seth takes flak in the Press Briefing room and shuts down every question about the recent leak. After the onslaught of questions, Emily gets the news about another tape is about to hit the internet in a couple of minutes, and this one puts Dr. Frost in the center, as Kirkman’s “special friend.” If this hits, there’s more fire for them to put out. Emily, Seth, and Lyor try to figure out a way to neutralize this news, but there’s no other way to spin it.  Kirkman meets Dr. Frost in the Oval Office to tell her that he won’t be able to judge the National Science Fair. Kirkman also tells her about the next tape leak, but Dr. Frost takes no offense in it.

Back in Lyor’s office, he’s having a hard time reaching out to the members of the cabinet for support. Even Tricia Sims (Chelsea Harris) is struggling. But according to her friend who works for one of the Cabinet members. They’re all unavailable and are in a meeting with Vice President Eleanor Darby (Aunjanue Ellis)—indicating that they’re invoking the 25th Amendment. In a panic, Lyor runs to get the rest of Kirkman’s staff and inform the President about the secret meeting.

Ben Mark Holzberg/ABC

Kirkman calls Darby to the Oval Office and is furious at what the Cabinet is doing. However, Darby hasn’t signed the letter of the 25th Amendment yet. She wants to give Kirkman a fighting chance to be heard by the Cabinet. Enter Ethan West (guest star Michael J. Fox), a former Attorney General assigned to mediate the litigation against Kirkman’s ousting. Darby endorses his reputation for impartiality in every case, which led her to have West be brought in as the prosecutor. Kirkman’s staff is doubtful about the entire thing, but since it’s the only option left for Kirkman to take, he decides to go for it.

Ben Mark Holzberg/ABC

Later, Lyor and Kendra are ordered by West to build up a witness list. However, this doesn’t check out for them both, and Lyor even threatens to expose West for his “rigged hearing.” Meanwhile, Seth and Emily think of ways to spin the perfect story for the media. Emily also admits to Seth that she may have brought additional damage to the case even before the tapes leaked. She tells Seth about how she asked Chuck to illegally hack the phone of Simon Day, a reporter close to former Secretary of State Cornelius Moss. The hack led to Emily confirming that Moss is the leaker of confidential White House files. Emily wants to resign before the Cabinet hearing, but Seth urges her to seek Kendra’s counsel.

But there’s a silver lining in what Emily did. Chuck met with her and revealed that he didn’t illegally obtain the information linking Moss as the leaker. It turns out that Chuck used his charm to sort through hotel bookings and meeting schedules to figure out that the reporters of the leak all met with Moss before they published their stories. Chuck then affirmed his loyalty to Kirkman’s White House.

No way out

Back in Kirkman’s office, his staff presents a strategy—Kirkman has to fire two members of the Cabinet so he can gain the majority vote from his loyalists. This act, however, would brand Kirkman as a dictator, so he refuses to do it. Desperate for the upper hand, Lyor meets West at a restaurant and threatens to expose his shady dealings in the past. But West also has a counter—he also dug up Lyor’s previous shady dealings too.

Later that day, Kirkman goes live for an interview with TV Host Carson Kramer (John Ralston). It goes smoothly, but not the way Emily and Lyor wanted. The President defended and explained himself well, but it wasn’t enough to convince the majority of the public. Kirkman, who seems to accept his fate slowly, asks Lyor for advice. Lyor tells him to be the teacher that he is to all of them.

Back in the Oval Office, Dr. Frost checks up on Kirkman and updates him on the status of the Science Fair. Dr. Forst notices Kirkman’s forlorn expression, so she encouraged him to unload his emotions on her. Meanwhile, Seth updates the Press on the other agenda on Kirkman’s plate, but the reporters have none of it. Irritated, Seth asks them why they’re slaughtering Kirkman’s administration just because he wanted to ask help for his mental health, despite the President going great lengths to see the country through. “Judge him if you want to. History will judge you,” Seth says as he walks out.

Ben Mark Holzberg/ABC

Emily then gets a call about Kirkman pushing through with judging the final rounds of the Science Fair. Despite their pleadings and warnings, Kirkman goes for it because he doesn’t want to hide anymore. A pair of reporters asks Dr. Frost about her alleged romantic ties with Kirkman, to which she expertly denies. Kirkman suddenly appears and affirms Dr. Forst’s great work for the Science Fair. As they return to the Fair, Kirkman admits to Dr. Forst that he thinks of her as more than a friend, although he can’t act on it since he is still grieving for his wife. They then go through the different projects that the kids made for the Science Fair.

The Investigation

Elsewhere in the episode, Aaron, Hannah, Damian Rennet (Ben Lawson), and Chuck are busy with finding at least a clue of who and where the hacker Gamein is. Aaron then notices that Damian is gone, but Hannah assures him that he’s working on finding the hacker too.

Damian meets with Valeria Poreskova (Nora Zehetner), his former handler, to ask for what they know about Gamein. Valeria then encourages Damian to work for them after this is all over because she believes that the US will make him disappear what with the things Damian did when working as a double agent for them and the Russians.

Back in the FBI, Hannah and Chuck examine the intel that Damian got. A series of numbers catch Hannah’s attention, and she has Chuck run a search. Nothing comes up until Damian suggests running it as a bank routing number. It turns out that it was used to buy Turing memorabilia and other valuable auctions registered to Mia Eng—an anagram for Enigma or Gamein. Damian and Hannah then head to Baltimore, the latest place that “Mia Eng” used the numbers to buy more artifacts. Going undercover as Art enthusiasts, they obtain the buyer information from the Auction house.

Damian analyzes the purchases and tracks the deliveries of the articles to a club which is, luckily, close to where they are. Damian is happy that they’re working together again, but Hannah tells him that she knows that Damian met with Valeria as she had him followed. After they obtain the information from the club, Hannah sent the member’s names to Chuck. As he cross-references the list, Dr. Andrea Frost’s name appears. Hannah and Damian rush to inform the Aaron. But as they’re on the way, a car stops near them and fires. Damian shields Hannah from the bullets and is knocked out.

Back in the White House, Emily tells Kendra about what Chuck told her, but Kendra merely hopes that West won’t find out about what Emily tried to do. She may not have committed something illegal, but the intention could still come as a form of conspiracy.

Kirkman prepares for the worst

That night, Kirkman talks to his daughter, Penny about what’s happening around them. But despite the bad press that her father faces, Penny doesn’t think Kirkman is crazy.

Back in the White House, Kendra hands out the procedures for the inquiry with West. Kirkman then surprises them with a late-night visit and thanks them all for being a dependable and loyal part of his administration. Kirkman then proceeds to Vice President Darby’s office to apologize for his outburst. Finally, he has West called in the Oval Office to tell him that he won’t be having any set of terms. If Kirkman couldn’t convince the people, based on all that he’s done for the country, then Kirkman is willing to let go of the job. West, however, assures him that he won’t pull punches.

The episode ends with a tearful Hannah getting the news from a surgeon that Damian died from the gunshots.

‘Designated Survivor: Kirkman Agonistes’ Overall Verdict

You’ve got to hand it to Kirkman for not losing his focus despite everything thrown at him. “Kirkman Agonistes” firmly gives us a view of how vulnerable he can be, but still manage to come out strong and determined. As for his implied romance with Dr. Frost, things might even be harder for him as it turns out that she might just be the one who’s responsible for the hacks and leaks. It’s not a hazy theory since Frost is highly involved in technology. Nonetheless, it’s going to be another long wait before we find out how Kirkman and his stellar teams fight their way through.

“Designated Survivor” continues next Wednesday, April 25th, with “Capacity” at 10/9c on ABC.