'Designated Survivor' Season 2, Episode 9 'Three-Letter Day' Recap: Juggling Tasks and Uncovering Another Conspiracy [SPOILERS]

The stakes are high in tonight’s episode of “Designated Survivor,” titled “Three-Letter Day.” President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) faces the task of dealing with the allegations against his wife, Alex Kirkman (Natascha McElhone) and her mom, Eva Booker (Bonnie Bedelia). But it’s not the only thing that he has to deal with today. “Three-Letter Day” is a traditional custom where the President grants three requests from thousands of letters. Kirkman would have to deliver on these demands, lest the people see him as uncaring. There’s a lot to take in for this episode, but it ends with a shocker that would leave Kirkman and Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) shocked beyond measure.

Three-Letter Day = Christmas

The episode opens with a montage of letters being screened and sorted for Kirkman to read and choose. Chief of Staff Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci) brings him a bunch of notes, and the President decides. Kirkman then calls his entire staff—Press Secretary Seth Wright (Kal Penn), Political Advisor Lyor Boone (Paulo Constanzo), National Security Adviser Aaron Shore (Adan Canto), and White House Counsel Kendra Daynes (Zoe McLellan)—to assign them the three requests that he wishes to grant.

Kirkman assigns a veteran widow’s request to Aaron and Emily. The widow is asking Kirkman to grant his late husband the Medal of Honor since her husband was denied the award when he died. As for Lyor and Seth, Kirkman assigns Eddie Adamson (Phil Abrams), a beekeeper who wants to find a solution for the sudden death of his bees. Finally, Kirkman gives Kendra the task of looking into the case of Chandler Dern (Benjamin Blais), who’s up for a Presidential Pardon. Dern was a pharmacist with a murder conviction after he allegedly killed a DEA agent in 2001, and he is scheduled to die via lethal injection that weekend. Kendra then brought up a different matter concerning Kirkman and his wife.
A subpoena for Alex was issued by FBI Director John Forstell (Reed Diamond) regarding an account that was put up in her name by Eric Little. Forstell agreed to seal the proceedings, provided that Alex won’t file a motion to quash the subpoena. Alex doesn’t like it, but Kendra urges that it’s the best deal that they can take. Kirkman talks to Alex in private, where she insists on quashing the subpoena. Kirkman, however, thinks that they should face it head-on to finally put a stop to this conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Hannah tries her luck to find out the person who made the account in St. Lucia bank under Alex’s name. She goes undercover in the bank and pretends to do the same thing. The teller refuses, and Hannah sees a suspicious guy looking at her after Hannah failed to make the fraudulent transaction. She leaves, and the guy follows. Outside, she undermines the man and demands info on the name of the bank officer who helped Eric Little set up the bogus account.

Hannah teams up with Kendra

Back in their headquarters, Hannah checks in with Damian Rennett (Ben Lawson) and Chuck Russink (Jake Epstein) about the recent development at St. Lucia Bank. Chuck tells her that a man named Alfonso Lang meets with clients regularly to set-up tax scams. He could be the one responsible for Alex’s fake St. Lucia account. Damian one-ups Chuck by saying that he can get some info on it as St. Lucia is a British protectorate. Chuck fires back by saying that the country is a Sovereign nation. It’s a fun bicker between them, and Hannah leaves them to it as she proceeds to meet Kendra and help her with the Pardon case for Chandler Dern.
In prison, Kendra and Hannah interview Chandler about his case. They refresh themselves on his case, and Chandler insists that he is innocent. His pharmacy was allegedly involved in the distribution of ketamine, with the DEA agent found dead in his store. Chandler denied all this, saying the gun never came up and that he never touched ketamine even as a pharmacist. The events surrounding the agent’s death are highly circumstantial, and Kendra needs to prove this for Chandler’s pardon. Kendra and Hannah then bring in Chandler’s  son to get more information on his case.

Later in Kendra’s office, Chandler’s son Frank (Benjamin Blais) comes in. Kendra and Hannah then ask him about his sister, Tracy, who never bothered to go and see her father in prison. It turns out that Tracy was a drug user, and Frank only wanted to protect her. Back in the day, Tracy hung out with shady people, and Chandler was afraid that the investigation on him might somehow implicate Tracy. That information failed showing up as a defense in his trial, and it would’ve significantly helped win his case. They then ask Frank about his sister’s whereabouts. At first, he refuses, but after much prodding from Hannah, he tells them where she is. They find Tracy and proceeds to ask her for information. However, Tracy refuses. Kendra noticed that she wasn’t looking them in the eye, suggesting that she knows something and that she is hiding it. They try to play it out, saying that maybe Tracy was a strung-out teenager back in the day, and somehow gets mixed up with the Ketamine trade. Her dad takes the fall for her, and now that he’s facing a death sentence, Tracy feels the guilt and sends Kirkman an anonymous letter asking for his pardon.
They then split up to gather more info, but for Hannah, she has another task to finish—finding out about the person who made Alex’s fake bank account. Hannah meets Damian in a coffee shop. Apparently, Alfonso Lang has a dual citizenship both in the UK and in St. Lucia. He’s exploiting multiple identities so no one can catch him in real time. Hannah then gets a call from Chuck informing her about a condo that Lang is currently staying in. They prepare to leave, but Damian briefly excuses himself. Hannah steps out to wait for him but almost gets run over by a car.

Later, Hannah and Damian arrive at Lang’s condo. He asks Hannah if she got the car’s plates, to which she says Chuck’s running it. As they come in the apartment, they find the place habituated but with Lang gone. Somebody tipped him off, and now they’re back to square one.
Back in prison, Kendra urges Chandler to tell the truth because it’s the only way for them to help grant him his pardon. Still, he sticks with his previous statement, and Kendra brings out the guns. Chandler’s son’s arrest record back in the day where it showed that it was Frank who tried to buy ketamine. Things got heated up, and he killed the DEA agent. Chandler stepped in to take the fall and made his daughter Tracy keep it as a secret. But upon learning that her father’s about to die, she sends the note for the three-letter day. Chandler says that he regrets everything, but refused to come clean about it. He’d much rather die so that Frank could live his life.

Kendra goes to Kirkman and spills him the details. It’s a dilemma for Kirkman because Chandler was only protecting his son. But a crime was committed, and it could not go unpunished. He then decides to commute Chandler’s sentence to life imprisonment instead of dying via lethal injection. Meanwhile, Chuck gives Hannah a list of the possible cars that almost hit her. Apparently, Lang isn’t involved. It was Chandler’s son Frank who wanted to prevent Hannah from knowing about what he did. Hannah arrests him later that night.

Aaron and Emily grant an honorable request

Elsewhere in the episode, Aaron, Emily, Lyor and Seth all work on their designated tasks for the Three-Letter Day. Emily and Aaron meet with Allison Goff, the late veteran’s wife who sent the letter to Kirkman requesting for her husband’s Medal of Honor. Allison proceeds to tell them more about her husband Daniel and how he was sent to Kandahar in 2013 to be part of the International Peace Keeping Force to battle terrorist group ISIL. During Daniel’s funeral, one of his co-veterans told Allison that Daniel was responsible for keeping the enemies at bay during their mission until they were all rescued. It’s a visible display of courage and bravery, but Colonel Baines (Thomas Mitchell), his superior refused to award him the honor, despite Allison’s repeated inquiry.
Aaron and Emily then meet Colonel Baines to ask about the matter. Baines then gave them a glimpse at a GPS map that documented where Sergeant Goff was during ISIL’s siege. It turns out that he was far from the action where Allison claims Daniel was. Baines tried to explain it to Daniel’s wife, but she kept writing. The only witness that could corroborate the info is dead, and there’s no way for Aaron and Emily to find out how to confirm Allison’s side of the story. They show it to Kirkman, who feels disappointed too. However, Mike Ritter (LaMonica Garrett), Kirkman’s Secret Service Detail thinks it’s rather odd for that to happen. It wouldn’t make sense for Goff to be a few kilometers away from his unit the day of the siege. Mike thinks Colonel Baines’ info is flawed. Something is apparently not adding up.

Kirkman then takes Emily aside and shows her a clip of the media picking up the Icarus incident, one where Eric Little falsely implicates Alex. Emily tells Kirkman that Forstell wants to meet with her about the “Cincinnati area police abuse investigation.” The timing is odd, and Kirkman knows that Forstell wants to talk about Alex’s subpoena off the record. He tells Emily to meet him. Later, Forstell sees Emily in the park. Forstell tells her that there’s a show of wrongdoing in the St. Lucia account, but based on Kirkman’s team’s investigation, the facts surrounding it don’t support Forstell’s conclusion. He proceeds to tell Emily that the case is moving forward.
Emily returns to Kirkman, and this time with the help of Lyor and Kendra. Lyor tells him that Forstell wants this to move forward because he’s planning to run for a New York Senate seat soon. Kendra recommends that Kirkman appoint a special prosecutor to take on the Icarus issue, a subtle way of removing Forstell from the investigation. Kirkman sees nothing wrong with what Forstell wants to do, and he thinks that it’s too risky for them to appoint a special prosecutor.
Later, Aaron and Emily meet Colonel Baines and tells him about the info that they found out. It turns out that Daniel had an affair with Baines’ wife. Out of sheer anger, Baines falsified the information surrounding Daniel’s death so he wouldn’t receive the Medal of Honor. The two bring it up to Kirkman, which is another dilemma for him to solve. Kirkman doesn’t want Allison to see Daniel’s death in a wrong way, and he certainly doesn’t want Colonel Baines imprisoned for falsifying. Instead, he meets Allison and her son in the Oval Office and gives her a framed flag honoring the death of her husband. Kirkman then tells her son how Daniel was a brave soldier and that his memory as a bold and honorable soldier will always be remembered.

Seth and Lyor’s bee problem

The unlikely team of Seth and Lyor apparently worked well for their Three-Letter Day task. After careful investigation on why Eddie Adamson’s bees keep dying, Lyor ultimately finds out that it was his wife who orchestrated the entire thing. She was jealous of the bees since Eddie always had time for them. Lyor wanted to tell it to Eddie personally, but Seth didn’t want it to be the reason for their fight. Instead, Seth tells Eddie that the FAA, which has a plant near Eddie’s bee farm, agreed to redirect it’s radio waves so that his bee colony will no longer be affected. Seth gives all the credit to Eddie’s wife, but Eddie confesses something that made his wife angry. He deliberately killed her roses because it was drawing the bees away from better food sources. Seth wanted t leave, but Lyor makes him stay put since Eddie wanted them to be present during his confession. Eddie’s wife then tells him that she was the one who killed his bees one by one. Just as the argument heats up, Lyor finally decides to leave, thankful for the little piece of drama that they witnessed.

A crazy conspiracy uncovered

The episode ends with Emily trying to tell Kirkman about Seth’s arrest in “Home.” It turns out that Kirkman already knew about it through his friend in the DA’s office. He then asks Emily to be more transparent next time, and what he should do about Seth. Later, Seth comes to Emily to tell her about submitting his resignation. Seth doesn’t want the cumbersome aura from Emily and Kirkman that he’s been feeling ever since his arrest. Emily tells him that there’s no need for it because Kirkman won’t accept it, even if Emily did advise the President to fire Seth.
Meanwhile, Alex storms angrily into the Oval Office and demand Kirkman to fire Forstell from the FBI. It’s a dick move for the first lady because even Kirkman doesn’t see anything wrong with what Forstell is doing. It results in a spat, with Alex turning out on the wrong side because of her unexpected and illogical demand.
Later, Hannah enjoys an intimate moment with Damian. She then gets a call from Chuck, telling her that someone tipped Lang off through a burner phone. He gave her the location of the call, which was precisely in the same coffee shop where she met Damian.
Now the question remains: is Damian a part of the Icarus conspiracy?
“Designated Survivor” continues with the fall finale, titled “Line of Fire,” next Wednesday at 10/9c on ABC.