Designated Survivor (TV Series) The Oath (2016) User Reviews

Great Mid-Series Ending

[shane-stuart · 9/10 · 18 January 2017]

I thought this episode really brought the first part of the season to a close on a strong, tension filled climatic cliffhanger.

I have to disagree with the other review in so much as being part of a show there needs to be some elements that are open to artistic license and showing things which seem to co-incidental (Catalan entering the floor shortly after the officer passes giving the all clear) I do agree the earlier scene with him trying to strangle Hannah instead of just reaching over and taking the documents whilst she was out of it was odd but given she would have carried on investigating anyway and had access to information it was sensible to try get rid of her there and then when the opportunity presented.

I'd also hasten to add that the end sequence of the time taken for Catalan to take out Tom was obviously firstly added to build and create tension but I also thought (perhaps wrongly as I don't know enough about the political procedure of the US) that until such time as Peter is officially sworn in fully as the AVP surely killing Tom would not have led to Peter becoming President if this had happened / happens prior to the end of the swearing in ceremony. Which I thought presumably was why Catalan had to wait before taking the shot - and was ultimately rushed in the end by Hannah firing at the window.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the season and this episode was certainly among the best since the pilot and will eagerly wait the season re-starting and continuing.

Why the shooter waited

[christydcarter · 9/10 · 25 March 2017]

To gjenevieve, I think the shooter was waiting until he was fully sworn in as VP before taking the shot. Then there would be no questions about him stepping up to become President. I have been binge watching to try and get caught up on the season. I am really loving the show! I think Kiefer Sutherland is doing an excellent job, and it's nice to see him back on TV.

Very Exciting but Flawed at Times

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 16 July 2019]

I know it's TV but the things people get away with in such tight security are pushing the envelope. McLeish has an agenda and is in the hands of terrorists. It turns out his wife is in on the game and he is a bit of a wimp. Our FBI agent has information but is cut off at every turn. She is forced to go rogue until she finally knows her facts are correct. Apparently, this was the middle of the season. Can't wait.

A bit of a problem

[gjenevieve · 7/10 · 21 December 2016]

This is a continuation of the story line that is surrounding MacLeish potentially being named as the Vice President. The previous episode ended with Hannah Mills getting into an automobile accident. So, this one starts with her in the car and a bit out of it. A guy comes up to the car and starts talking to her. At first it looks like he is genuinely wanting to help her, but soon he has his hands around her throat and he is trying to strangle her. She comes to and fights him off and ends up pressing the accelerator and he falls. She crashes into another car and then gets out of the car. Well, when the guy was at first talking to her, it shows that he notices that she has a classified file on her seat next to her. Since she is a trained FBI agent, she should instinctively be trained to be aware of things like that, so I have a real problem with them having her get out of the car and just leave that file sitting there on the seat. Especially after she has had her life being threatened by a guy trying to strangle her. Because of that first goof on her part, I had some problems with parts of the rest of the episode. If they were wanting him to steal that file, they should have had him just do that before she had fully come to. While she was still laying against the airbag on the steering wheel. To have him take it because she forgot to grab it after he tried to kill her just doesn't make sense to me.

There were a couple of other spots that bothered me as far as the incredibly lucky timing and the ridiculously slow timing. One was where the hit-man exits the stairwell just as the security guy says that floor 8 is clear. I don't think that there was really enough time for the security guy to have exited that floor before the hit-man appeared. In fact, the way the scene was shot, it really looked like he got onto the 8th floor just as the security guy passed the door he came from which would have had him basically running into the security guy. OK, let's say that more time had elapsed than they actually showed in that scene. The next part was even worse. He is supposed to be killing the president. He goes into the room that he has set up ahead of time, gets the gun, puts it together and walks over to the window. He takes forever to decide to actually shoot the president. The president was standing at the podium for quite a while talking and during that entire time, the hit-man does nothing. He waits for the president to finish talking and then they start the whole swearing in process for MacLeish. In the meantime, FBI agent Mills is driving like crazy trying to get there. Then she gets out of the car, pushes her way through the crowd trying to get to a point where she can try to locate where the hit-man might be. Now, the fact that the hit-man took so much time before actually attempting to shoot the president allows Mills to get there, see him and then she takes a shot at him. This whole timing is ridiculous. I do not believe that the hit-man would have waited until the president was done speaking. He had a perfect line of sight while the president was at the podium. In my opinion, he would have taken the shot then and made his getaway which would have made FBI agent Mills too late to do anything. If they were wanting her to stop the attack, then they should have written to where she got there much sooner than she did and had her stopping the whole thing while the president was at the podium. Because of these errors on the writers' part, I am giving this episode a 7/10.

S01E10 - Inept people defending the country

[alphonse68-33-64179 · 2/10 · 18 May 2022]

What kind of FBI agent is Hannah Wells? She has classified damming evidence against Peter MacLeish and which could get her boss out of jail on the seat next to her which she totally forgot about at the time of the accident. She basically allows her attacker to choke her and instead of reaching for her gun she drives. Even after she got out of the car, leaving such important papers behind, she still didn't think of her gun and instead thought about running to hide? What good was all the training that she received and alleged experience that she has accrued? Her actions do not match the relentless and absolutely great agent that her boss, the FBI's Deputy Director, praises her to be. This series has some good plots, but also some seriously stupid ones, not to mention that the first lady can just barge into the Oval Office, interrupting important discussion about critical issues, to discuss some family melodrama of no urgency at all. They all talk about telling the truth, yet they all keep everything a secret such that the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing and vice-versa. BUAGH.

It was all OK until it started to feel like an exhortation to assassinate a president

[flowirin · 6/10 · 10 July 2019]

Maybe its just me, but this series morphed from an interesting crime/thriller/spy kinda deal into a creepy "killing the president is a good thing" vibe.

1 Season was enough for me