Fans at Comic-Con got an early sneak peek.
Kiefer Sutherland is heading back to your television screens, this time as the President of the United States. He stars as the titular Designated Survivor in the upcoming ABC drama, which had an early screening at San Diego Comic-Con in anticipation of its Sept. 21st premiere.
The series follows Sutherland as Tom Kirkman, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who finds himself fired unceremoniously the day the President is set to deliver the State of the Union. He is slated to be the day's designated survivor -- meaning, a member of the Cabinet in the presidential line of succession held in a safe location -- and unwittingly becomes the only cabinet member left alive when a terrorist attack targets the Capitol Building and kills everyone inside.
Kirkman's rise to power is rocky; the pilot establishes that he's not someone who is well-known or highly regarded in Washington, though the audience gets a glimpse of the steel behind his un-presidential glasses. Sutherland primarily spends his scenes with Natascha McElhone, who plays his wife Alex, and Kal Penn, whose character Seth quickly becomes Kirkman's speech writer.
The opening sequence in Designated Survivor is immediately compelling. The pilot episode builds upon the promise in the trailer. If that hooked you, then the pilot will do the same. If it had you on the fence, the episode doesn't necessarily add much more than is already there, though there's plenty of promise for growth going forward.
The bulk of the pilot is spent with Kirkman, appropriately, and Sutherland holds the camera's attention every time he's in front of it. He captures his character's uncertainty with ease; multiple times Kirkman wants to quit throughout the pilot, and Sutherland sells his evolution toward confidence in the presidential role within the 42 minutes of screentime. Designated Survivor is an interesting premise from the start, but adding Sutherland's talent to the mix elevates it even further.
But there's much more to the plot of Designated Survivor's pilot than just Kirkman's unexpected rise to power. He has rival members of his staff to deal with who are trying to undermine him and don't respect him; a troublemaker son Leo (Tanner Buchanan), and young daughter Penny (Mckenna Grace) confused by their relocation to the White House; and a Chief of Staff from his secretary days (Italia Ricci) who is also struggling to find a foothold in his new position's workplace. Most of this works, if the plot follows some familiar patterns to similar stories, with only the storylines following Kirkman's children feeling out of place.
There's also the big unanswered question of who set off the bombs, which falls into the lap of FBI agent Hannah Watts (Maggie Q). Her storyline runs parallel to Kirkman's in the first episode of Designated Survivor, but it's clear by the end of the pilot how and why they'll collide looking forward. For all that she doesn't come in contact with Kirkman throughout the episode, Designated Survivor is smart to hold back on Watts' role. While other series might have been inclined to explain too far what her personal drama is in addition to her part of the bombing investigation, the pilot leaves you anticipating what more you'll find out farther down the road.
The Verdict
Designated Survivor is a strong debut for a show that will fit well alongside Quantico and Scandal in ABC's government-set political drama lineup. It has plenty of promise, largely hinged upon an interesting concept and Kiefer Sutherland's performance. The pilot shows the proper amount of restraint by not delving too deeply into several storylines, instead letting the first episode rest on Kirkman's conflict. The promise of a bigger conspiracy might escalate the season too quickly, but for now provides a good hook for an already good premise.
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