Designated Survivor (Netflix) must have been easy to pitch: “It’s Homeland meets House of Cards.”
“Sounds good.”
“Plus we add Jack Bauer from 24.”
“Ooo!”
“And get this … Jack’s the president.”
“I love it! But is Kiefer Sutherland happy to be hated by everyone?”
It’s the most cynical bit of rehashing since Police Academy 12: Retire Already – and yet it’s an absolute joy. Someone’s blown up Congress and killed almost everyone in it. Cabinet member Tom Kirkman (24’s Kiefer Sutherland) is the designated survivor who has to step up to the plate and take over. Moral lesson of every week: it’s tough at the top. He has to choose who to believe, who to have shot and who to have as his vice president – the final award going to the only man to walk out of the Capitol Building alive with his good looks suspiciously intact.
It’s not giving anything away to say that the new Veep is up to something. A shadowy conspiracy of rich, powerful white people is poised to strike. But why didn’t they just run for election?
One thing I love about Designated Survivor is that its villains clearly couldn’t be bothered to run for office and thought it easier to blow up Washington instead. They should have considered their options more carefully: Donald Trump has proved that crazy people can win elections if they try.
The production is cheap. In some shots the Capitol Building appears razed to the ground; other times it looks as if it’s only missing part of the roof. The action is limited to one or two rooms: a critical siege is conducted off camera because they probably couldn’t afford to film it.
I’m not complaining. This is the Sharknado of conspiracy dramas and it’s just as much fun. All the more for the fact that the cast is 100 per cent committed. Maggie Q deserves some award for playing an FBI agent whose mind and body are falling apart yet who won’t let it show. She limps towards the season finale, as Tom Kirkman swears in his new Veep and an assassin sets his sights. Maggie sees him. She shoots. Boy, it’s thrilling stuff.
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