‘Designated Survivor’ Season 2, Episode 20 ‘Bad Reception’ Recap: Busted [SPOILERS]

Things are slowly making sense on tonight’s episode of ABC’s “Designated Survivor.” It’s been a grueling second half of the show so far, and as tensions rise, we also get a chance to see victories following the onslaught of attacks and conspiracies made against President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) and his administration. “Bad Reception,” shows Kirkman emerge victorious albeit the rise of new questions and desperate solutions.

Taken as leverage

“Bad Reception” opens with Kirkman and his staff leading him around the room during a gala night for a fundraiser. National Security Advisor Aaron Shore (Adan Canto) then alerts Kirkman that Ambassador Dewan of Bultan is in attendance, to which Kirkman wastes no time in confronting. As the Ambassador drops the usual pleasantries, Kirkman has none of it and demands the release of Matthew Jennings (Gage Munroe), a 17-year-old American student whom the Bultani government is sentencing behind bars due to a vandalism offense. However, it looks like Bultan is only using Matthew’s sentencing as leverage to get the US to sign the Bilateral approval allowing Bultan to mine oil from the Pulu Islands. But Kirkman’s isn’t inclined to give Bultan their demands—prompting the Ambassador to push through with Matthew’s speedy trial and conviction.

Meanwhile, White House Legal Counsel Kendra Daynes (Zoe McLellan) introduces her former boss and mentor Steve Flannery to Kirkman’s Chief of Staff Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci). Kirkman is looking for a new lawyer to join the DC circuit after one of the original members passed away. Flannery seems to be a good candidate, and Kendra and Emily will oversee the vetting process. At first, Flannery hesitates, but after Kendra reminds him of one of his favorite political quotes, he finally gives in.

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Benjamin Harrelson, a top environmental CEO, grabs Kirkman’s attention in the gala. They exchange pleasantries but cuts short when Attorney Ethan West (Michael J. Fox) gatecrashes the party to inform Kirkman that he’s working with Matthew’s mom to get him back.

Former FBI Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) heads to Dax Minter (Chris Butler) for his help in pinning down Dr. Andrea Frost (Kim Raver) as the person responsible for the hacks and leaks. Since Dax and Frost are in the same business field, Hannah asks Dax to invite Frost on a lunch appointment so she can break into her house and get the information she needs. Dax agrees, but only after Hannah insisted that he’s the only one who has the President’s best interest in mind.

Back at the gala, the Bultani Ambassador approaches Kirkman to thank him for agreeing to the off-shore exploration of the Pulu Island. Surprised, Kirkman asks who made that decision, and the Ambassador drops West’s name. Kirkman then confronts West, but the attorney is dead set on bringing Matthew home, even if it means going to jail himself for undermining the President. Kirkman sends Aaron and Emily to remove that notion of a compromise in the Ambassador but fails when the diplomat suddenly falls and dies.

Freeing Matthew

The Ambassador’s death complicates the issue with Matthew even more. Mike Ritter (LaMonica Garrett), Kirkman’s Had of Secret Service, informs his staff that the Ambassador died from poisoning. Now that the Ambassador is gone, the Prime Minister of Bultan just got more leverage. Kirkman assigns Mike to work on the case to catch the Ambassador’s killer and has Emily keep in touch with Matthew’s family.

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Mike then enlists the help of FBI Programmer Chuck Russink (Jake Epstein) as they talk to the new Bultani Ambassador. That’s when they find out that Dewan lived a lavish lifestyle, and had a horse farm. But despite the Ambassador’s love for money, he has that knack of getting into dire straits, losing what he invests. Mike and Chuck then head over to Dewan’s ranch and marvels at the massive tree in the yard. Then a man comes out of the stables and says that he’s getting his money back from Dewan. Apparently, Dewan borrowed two million dollars from him and invested it in horses. He’s been trying to collect payment from Dewan for a year now. Dewan also tried selling his property, but he couldn’t because of many years of debt.

In the White House, Kirkman assures Matthew’s mother (with West in attendance) that they will do everything to get her son back home. West, on the other hand, asks for more than their efforts. In the Press Room, Press Secretary Seth Wright (Kal Penn) fends off a slew of questions from the journalists about Matthew’s imprisonment. But as he deflects each question, one of the journalists gets a tip that Matthew has just been sentenced to 20 years of hard labor in prison back in Bultan.

Kirkman then talks to Bultani Prime Minister Kalu to agree on a deal to free Matthew. But Kalu sticks to his previous offer—sign the agreement allowing them to take control of the Pulu Islands, or Matthew stays and renders his 20-year hard labor sentence. Seeing no way out, Kirkman decides to agree to what the Prime Minister demands, albeit Emily and Aaron’s reluctance.

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Later, Kirkman talks to Matthew via video stream while the boy is in prison. Matthew thanks Kirkman for what he’s doing, but is also ashamed of the fiasco that Matthew is causing to everyone. He then urges Kirkman to not give in to the demands of Bultani as they’re only using the boy for blackmail. But before Kirkman could ask about it, the guard cuts off the feed. Furious, Kirkman has Prime Minister Kalu back on the line. This time, though, there are no exceptions. If he wants to play hardball, then Kirkman will use it against him.

Meanwhile, Chuck and Mike uncover something that solves Dewan’s murder. The Ambassador’s farm was enough to cover up his debt, but he was in litigation with a company called Royal Oak LLC, preventing Dewan from selling it. Mike then tells Chuck that Dewan died of ricin poisoning, which means Dewan took it a few hours before the gala. They then brought in Benjamin Harrelson, the CEO who Kirkman briefly met in the fundraiser. It turns out that he was the one who poisoned Dewan. When the Ambassador was in a cafe, Benjamin quietly swapped his drink with the one with poison. They were able to trace Benjamin’s using his ring. Since Benjamin is an active environmental CEO, he despised Dewan decision to sell his property because that would mean cutting off the huge oak tree in the yard (which is also straddling the border of Dewan and Benjamin’s property). Benjamin filed for court injunctions, but Dewan was more successful in obtaining a court order to take the tree down, angering Benjamin.

Now that the murder is solved, Prime Minister Kalu is in a receptive mood for negotiation with Kirkman. Although Kirkman was able to allow them to explore the Pulu Islands within six months, Kalu still wouldn’t release Matthew. This time, it’s West’s fault. He went on live TV to publicly mock the Prime Minister. That night, Kirkman had West in his office to tell him to stand down. However, Kirkman also found out that West was involved with Matthew’s aunt in the past. She was shot in a bar while waiting for West to arrive during their date. West never did though, because he stood her up. Now, West wants to make amends by bringing home Matthew. Kirkman then tells West to stop undermining his negotiations and work with him to free Matthew.

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Kirkman then calls up Prime Minister Kalu and brings West into the negotiation. Kirkman withdrew his previous offer to explore the Pulu Islands. In fact, he also prohibits Bultani to mine oil from the area because according to West’s research, they have destroyed most of the Island’s resources and habitat. If Kalu continues to do so, West will sue Bultani in every international tribunal. Now backed into a corner, Prime Minister Kalu finally agrees to free Matthew in exchange for nothing. West then thanks Kirkman, who then tells him that he deserved a second chance.

The search for a new Washington Justice

As Emily and Seth proceed with their vetting process, they inform Kendra of a former complaint by a female associate against Flannery. Everything checks out, except for the suit. Technically, it’s not that big of a deal, but then the GOP might have issues with it when it comes to their scrutiny. As Seth examines the document, he discovers that the complainant was Katelyn Kordei, a former colleague of his when he worked for the paper a few years ago.

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Seth reached out to Katelyn to ask about the complaint she made. It turns out that Flannery overlooked her for a promotion, prompting her to file a sexual discrimination complaint. Flannery hit on her and made it seem that Katelyn had a shot at becoming a partner in his old firm. But that was the only thing she hated about it, and nothing else. When Kirkman’s staff deliberated on it, Kendra couldn’t see anything wrong since it was settled out of court. But Political Advisor Lyor Boone (Paulo Constanzo) thinks that it signifies bad judgment on Flannery’s part. Kendra insists that Flannery is the perfect candidate, so Lyor has a trial balloon to check if there are any red flags against Flannery.

Later, Kendra reveals to Emily that she had a brief fling with Flannery 10 years ago and that she is sorry that she seemed a bit forceful and defensive. Kendra assures Emily that she isn’t biased and what they did before was purely consensual. That night, another complaint against Flannery came up. But Lyor and Emily believe that it’s unlikely to come to light since it has also been settled before. Emily thinks that it will sail through confirmation, but it’s still Kendra’s call. Kendra, however, now has doubts about Flannery. Her hesitation is fueled even more when she sees Flannery being friendly with the female staff of the White House.

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She then meets with Flannery in a restaurant, and he offers her a drink. It oddly brings Kendra back to the night they fooled around with drinks taken beforehand. Later, Kendra returns to her office as Emily checks in on her. Kendra reveals that she told Flannery that the GOP didn’t approve his vetting. But in truth, Kendra lost her faith in Flannery because of how he is with women. Even though nothing bad happened, Flannery had a tendency to manipulate them using their admiration of him.

The hacker now captured

Elsewhere in the episode, Dax goes on the pretend lunch appointment with Dr. Frost. Hannah then proceeds to break into the house with Chuck guiding her through comms. That’s when they both discover a hidden room filled with servers and control panels, confirming that this is indeed the hacker’s hideout. Everything from the NASA hacks to the leaked therapy tapes were done in this room.

Hannah proceeds to copy the data in the master computer, but Chuck alerts her that Frost is arriving. Hannah didn’t have to copy everything, but it was important for them to know all the details behind the hacking, including who the hacker was working for and paying her. Just as Frost gets into the house, Hannah leaves with a drive full of data.

That night, Kirkman calls up Dax in the Oval Office. He then tells him about his 25th Amendment hearing, and how Hannah mistakenly thought that Frost leaked info of their private conversation to West. Because of this, Kirkman had his Secret Service staff examine the room for possible bugs. That’s when they discovered that Dax’s model car gift to Kirkman had a bug hidden inside of it. Dax is the mastermind and hacker after all.

Dax tried to defend himself, saying that he’s tired of the government trying to impose sanctions and limitations for business to flourish. Kirkman has none of it because no defense could ever save Dax from what he did to Kirkman. He then revealed that he only pretended to fire Hannah, so Dax would believe it when she came to him for help. And the house that Hannah broke into was Dax’s. Kirkman staged the entire drama with Hannah and Frost too.

Another victory, another challenge

Kirkman then had Dr. Frost meet him in his office. Now that the hacker is behind bars, it’s time for Kirkman to breathe. But Frost drops the bomb—she will be moving to San Francisco for a business deal that she has to oversee, which means she won’t be in Washington for long. She then admits to Kirkman that they have a special bond, and wishes that Kirkman finds someone to fill his heart once again. Kirkman hopes the same thing for her, and they hug.

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Meanwhile, Hannah and Chuck discover that Dax was working with Valeria Porseskova (Nora Zehetner), Damian Rennett’s former handler. This means that Minter knew that Hannah was involved in the hacking investigation. To close the loop, he tried to get rid of Hannah to make it look like Frost did it. Valeria is the perfect person to hire because she’s been clashing with Hannah ever since they met. However, instead of Hannah, it’s Damian who had to take the fall. Hannah walks out, calls Aaron to a bar and surrenders her badge, seemingly quitting the FBI to pursue Valeria.

‘Designated Survivor: Bad Reception’ Overall Verdict

“Bad Reception” is the entry next to “Designated Survivor’s” penultimate episode. Now that the hacks are finally solved, a new question comes in—will Hannah be able to intercept Valeria? and what does the future hold for Kirkman’s administration? It’s disappointing to see Kim Raver depart the show, after teasing a new romantic aspect to the show, but who knows, maybe this will only last for a while since all roads are leading up to a possible relationship with Dr. Frost and President Kirkman. Nonetheless, this is a great prelude to the Season Finale, and it’s a proper episode that ushers in a possible cliffhanger finale as well.

“Designated Survivor” continues next Wednesday, May 9th, with “Target” at 10/9c on ABC.