In my opinion, it was a good concept, but the beginning premise really limited how far it could go. The ending was alright but what really confused me is what the hell happened between season 2 and 3??? They killed off some of imo the best characters, like Lyor, Chuck, that White House counsel lady, and Mike? I liked the plot of it, pivoting to something a bit more serious as a political drama with the elections, but this sudden and unexplained change was really just, weird? They didn’t even explain why they were no longer included either. And the first two seasons were double the length of this one. AND they have Hannah wells the most anti climatic death I have seen. She was one of the best characters in the show and they just finished her off randomly to kill the entire FBI/CIA subplot for some reason. Just weird. And to make up for this, it seems like they nailed on several other plots, like Dontae being incredibly manipulative with a secret service partner over his HIV diagnosis and PAINTING DONTAE the victim, this random replacement for Lyor, this Mars guy and his wife’s subplot, and then Isabel coming in and being a substitute for a lot of random things seemingly just replacing the role of Aaron’s cousin as well in the story. Just a really random change, which is unexplained for the most part. All in all, I did like the show though. Sometimes it was better to put it on in the background tho lol. Thanks for reading my incohesive rant

So this is kind of just a personal problem, I have a tendency to get caught up on things like this with a lot of shows. 😂 I know it's a fictional show and those typically have some not-totally-realistic things. But does anyone ever find themselves getting slightly annoyed by unrealistic things happening in the show?

For example, just the episode I'm watching right now... (Spoilers, S1 E21)

This Lozano guy has been known, even if not publicly, to be as huge of a threat as he is for a while now. Yet he just roams about so freely. Some guy hops into the White House's network and makes him a fake ID or whatever, and suddenly he's able to waltz on into the Pentagon, no disguise or anything ever anywhere he goes. He gets into the room he needs to, hacks into the Pentagon's system easy peasy, and when the Pentagon's security cameras are down, they just kinda sit in one of the control rooms trying to get it to work. The guy Hannah Wells talked to on the phone didn't seem that alarmed, none of the workers did.

The guy's believed to be behind wiping out a huge part of the U.S. government. Yet he's been flying around, going to cult meetings in Nebraska, walking around everywhere, and when he's believed to be in the Pentagon it's just treated as a slight inconvenience. "The Pentagon's 583 acres..." Yeah, so why isn't Hannah or Kirkland or one of the people who know how serious it is having someone deployed to be searching every bit of the place, finding him the second they know he's going there? And then he just waltzes on back out of the place, when they're aware he's there??

I won't claim to have much of an idea exactly how this stuff works in reality, how it would go down, but damn. 😂 Even just Wells, Kirkland, and others being so calm... No one in this show ever seems quite panicked enough to me.

It's a good show, I've liked it more than I thought I would. But sometimes this type of thing makes me enjoy it a bit less. Especially when it's something like this, where you're rooting for them to catch Lozano and then he just gets away so easily. The show doesn't even try to be half realistic about it, give some type of explanation for how he got out of that situation or anything. It's just, "aw damn look, there goes Lozano entering the Pentagon, doing his business and escaping with little resistance."

Designated Survivor. First two seasons were pretty good. But season 3, omg, they must have gotten new writers and directors, it went off the rails woke. Also, first two seasons no profanity, season 3 constant usage of f¥ck, sh:t, even the “c” word, just so not necessary. I don’t know why they thought that would improve the show. And the constant Woke agenda being shoved in your face, just boring and brought the quality of the show down. I had to stop watching.

Just started watching Designated Survivor and I regret giving it a chance. It's currently playing in the background, can't get myself to watch such kind of propaganda.

Of course, we must be stuffed some Iran and Osama Bin Laden nonsense down our throats just to drive a point - in this case, how the FBI is so powerful, and so is the U.S, they think.

The U.S is fvcking every bit of what they force theirselves into.

I give it a one for lack of a worser option.

OK, so I know this is a show that takes a lot of license with reality to make the plots work, but there were two that were just "wait, say what...?"

1. Just to go to where I'm guessing those who've seen the episode think I will: the First Lady's death. Juuuuust going to say that I don't see a world where the First Lady's caravan didn't have traffic blocked at every intersection while driving, even unofficially/unmarked. But maybe it was a quick trip, so...
2. The Hannah Wells shooting = made ABSOLUTELY no sense. There's an MI6 double agent working on American soil who's in an intimate relationship with a senior White House intelligence operative, and they let the compromised operative bring him in...alone? No backup? And she's not wearing a wire/camera? And she gets within arms reach of him before pulling her gun?

That one was VERY VERY hard to believe. Kinda ruined the episode even before the First Lady got t=boned...

Does this get explained somehow, or will I need to buy this scenario for the rest of the run of the series on Netflix?

That Texas immigration law....it just feels so similar that I'm halfway waiting for the announcement that Joe Biden is going to federalize the Texas national guard any day now haha. Would love to see Greg Abbott arrested, personally, but I doubt life is going to go that far in imitating art this time.

just finished watching the series. the first half of the first season was so good, i watched it between two days. the second half was ok. second season started off slow, but i grew to really like the characters. was a bit sad that conspiracy drama kind of faded and it became more political. and third season, even though i'm more likely to support all the causes they brought up, i HATED the dialogue. as a poc gay man, i also hated the HIV storyline. some episodes, i put it as background noise just to get through the series.

overall, i do like the series, but wish they would have just left it after season 2. this series made me realize i do like political/spy/conspiracy drama.

I see alot of love for her on this subreddit but I cannot stand her. She is overly emotional and acts on it. She kills with impunity, and the whole cowboy, take no names, get to the bottom of everything attitude would be cool if she wasn't so pompous about it. She knows she is doing wrong but she believes she is the only one that can do these things. She is the action of the show but it makes no sense that she is still alive or not a wanted person.

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Very different show when you binge! I'm going to try to lay out some points, but I feel like it may be a long post, so apologies in advance. I grew up on 24, it's one of my all-time favorite shows. I only watched this for Kiefer initially but it turned into such a great show. I thought I'd have trouble separating him from Jack Bauer but he's a fantastic actor.

• Season 1 was my personal favorite. Dealing with the fallout of the pilot was so fascinating and so much fun. I'm so used to watching streaming shows that all have 8-10 episodes a season that a show with 20+ episodes in a season was absolutely bonkers. When they were wrapping up the MacLeish thing halfway through the season it blew my mind, it felt like 4 seasons worth of story in 1.

• I kind of get the annoyance I see everywhere with Hannah Wells, but I really enjoyed the character. I think they were going for a Jack Bauer-lite with her, and they mostly pulled it off. She was a bit dumb sometimes, but you can't have interesting plots if everyone is being smart.

• Did the writers really hate Jason Atwood or what? Dude got the rawest deal in the series. His son goes missing, seemingly forgot about for a few episodes, and then shows up dead. His wife then leaves him, and he's dismissed from his position. Then he's unceremoniously gunned down in the woods while trying to help Hannah. What a thankless role!

• I understand why Alex died, and it was probably a fun challenge for the writers, but she was definitely missed. It must have been rough for her to be committed to a show that didn't utilize her often though.

• What was up with the Vice President spot? The first one was a traitor, then he was too scared to fill it for over a year, then he filled it with someone who 'respected' him but almost immediately betrayed him, then he didn't fill it again for the rest of his term. That's nuts.

• I have quite a few problems with season 3. It's easily the weakest:

  • Getting rid of Kendra, Chuck, Lyor, Mike, Leo, Trey, etc. was such a bizarre decision. They didn't even "write them out", they just straight-up disappeared and were never mentioned again. I'm assuming the actors booked other things between the cancellation and pickup but that was just disappointing writing.
  • The characters they threw in to replace them were mostly awful. Every single one of them was smug, self-righteous, and often just wrong. Dontae with the HIV plot (which enraged me), Isabel with (mostly) everything, Mars with the wife plot, Sasha with her attitude toward Kirkman and Seth; it was all just too much and made me miss the old characters even more.
  • I loved Lorraine, she was great. Eli too.
  • Killing off Hannah like that was baffling. Did Maggie get in a fight with the writers or something? I'm not saying she should be invincible, but she was so unceremoniously and anticlimactically killed that I was sure it had to be a fake-out. WTAF? The character deserved way better than that.
  • The swearing was fine, I'm sure it's more realistic. But the way the characters were written was almost like they were different people. Kirkman was loud, angry, quick to blame, and not the logical thinker and cool-headed leader he had always been. He also started embracing the dirty politics he was always against with almost no thought. It was very disorienting. Not to mention the politics went from Independent to far left VERY fast.

• I'm very bummed the show was cancelled because it had a lot of promise, even with season 3 tripping over its own feet. Definitely one of my favorite political shows (besides Veep of course).

Holllly shit. I did not see that coming. Most shocked I’ve been about a death in a show in a minute.

No spoilers please, and yes, I’m shit at making memes.

So, I’m at the start of season two, no spoilers please.

The FBI scenes are so deliciously silly. Hannah never has backup, never has any sort of tracking device or bullet proof vest.

It’s so fun and giggle inducing.

Also that “British” agent has the worst accent, I was like “oh is he meant to be Australian?” No, he’s just from Australia 😂😂 And the wife of the arms dealer’s accent is so bad too!

Anyway. This is a non-post. I just wanted to communicate to people who would understand.

so she went back to the US with hannah bc she has no family left in england, but she just disappears after that episode. anyone know where she went?

Just started the show, enjoying it so far! A nice pallet cleanser after years of slow-burn dramas. Halfway through season 1, assuming I'm nearing the finale because major arcs seem to be wrapping up...

...sweet summer child I was. 😅

Anyone else annoyed by her character in this? I don't care that she's trans but she's sitting in the president's office asking him if he'd like her to speak with his daughter about getting her period because she (trans sister) "looks" female and therefore is somehow a better person to talk to than her own father about private bodily functions. Seriously wtf? Equating womanhood to a costume is insulting as fuck. She also admits to not ever having had a period but having gone through something that's "like" having a period; how the fuck does she know what having a period is LIKE? She's not a FEMALE. That's like me saying I can relate to child birth because someone threw a snowball at my nutts once and it really hurt. This whole line of dialogue is insulting as fuck and I can't believe the writers thought this was well written. I don't know any trans individual that would be so out of touch as to assume they can relate to what a natural born female goes through when they hit puberty.

The balls on this chick are insane.

Rant concluded, enjoy your stay.

Done watching the series. All I can say is that the last season is kinda shitty. How Kirkman finally behaved like a traditional politician. Also, I am sad because my favorite character — Hannah Wells, died. Anyway, please recommend some series that also flows like Designated Survivor. I am also done watching The Blacklist, The Night Agent, and Treason. Thanks!

when i was scrolling here, i saw a post regarding adan canto’s death, i thought he died in the series (as i haven’t finished it) but later on when i searched in the internet :((( i really loved his character and will forever be team emily and aaron

It makes sense that the show would be partly based on real things that happened, given attempts for realism. I've noticed parallels to the Obama presidency, for example in 2x2 dealing with the Lloyd strike and the correspondents dinner at the same time.

Any other parallels you've seen?

This show would've been a lot better if it was from the perspective of the villains. Would've been a lot darker and grittier instead of wishy-washy nonsense.

Now i am definitely rewatching Designated Survivor! But this seems like a dejavu happening in real life!

I began to rewatch DS and was wondering, Isnt there a episode following the death of the First Lady which shows her dead on a newspaper or computer screen? I can’t remember if it exists or if I’m going crazy If anyone knows the episode please comment!

In the wake of Adan Canto’s tragic passing, I decided to rewatch Designated Survivor bc I loved him as an actor and hadn’t seen him in anything else up to this point, sadly. I watched this show from day 1. It was a nice show to watch weekly on ABC, and I know this will be controversial, but season 3 was gold. It took a serious turn and showed a side of Kirkman I personally had been yearning to see since day 1: President Kirkman with his morals compromised. He was too squeaky clean in seasons 1-2. It sucks it was panned and ultimately cancelled. But it’s certainly worth a watch every now and then.

I just finished Season 3 (late to the party, I know!) but was just wondering if anyone had clear theories on what happens next?

I’m feeling a bit underwhelmed over how it was all wrapped up and would love some theories to quench my dissatisfaction!

Season 1 was REALLY captivating.... Season 2 kind of seemed like it had no where interesting to go.... and Season 3 was pretty much disgusting. What happened!?