S02.E22: Run

[thewhiteowl]

The President continues to deal with the hacker and the investigation. A natural disaster threatens two staffers. Kirkman makes an announcement no one was coming.

[paigow]

From Zap2it:

A natural disaster threatens the lives of two White House staffers; Kirkman's closest allies are surprised when the president makes an announcement no one saw coming.

[shapeshifter]

I'm glad I didn't know the episode title until I came here after the episode aired.

So the writers didn't believe it could get cancelled? Or…?

At least the Hannah Show got a nice send off.

[The Wild Sow]

Awwww, it's over!  I still wish Tom Kirkman were the real  President (not to get all political 'n'at, but  really!)

I still think this would have made a great limited series, like Fargo or other 10-parters.    "Decent, principled, kind of schlubby everyman is suddenly thrust into Great Power with Great Responsibility"  (LOL, like Spider-Man!)  Saves the day, solves the mystery, and learns how to be a great leader, etc......and fade out.

But once they DID solve the original conspiracy, what was left to do?  Watch Tom/Kiefer learn to govern?  Yawn.  Keep throwing ever more soap-opera situations at him?  Maybe-crooked Mother-in-Law?  Maybe crooked WIFE?!  Exonerated DEAD Wife!  Best Friend's the hacker?  And now, let's throw in a Tsunami!  Eh, it needed to end.

Yes, Hannah Wells, Swiss Army Knife Extraordinaire, will go on to bigger and better adventures with her new Robin!

[Bobbin]

"I have diplomatic immunity!" "Not from me." Bang! Bang! Who didn't see that coming?  At last, Hannah Wells can fold up her multi-tools and move on to the next adventure, motherhood.

So Tom Kirkman is going the Conrad Dalton route and running as an independent. Lotsa luck. Too bad we won't get to see Michael J. Fox as the new Attorney General.

[AnimeMania]

I thought the UK had tons of cameras everywhere, nobody saw Hannah running down the street with a gun chasing somebody who died of gun shot wounds shortly thereafter. How would anybody believe when Hannah says what a great guy the President is and she was not following his orders.

 

Goodbye Show.

[marinw]

2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Goodbye Show.

Goodbye show indeed. I am so over political dramas. Except for Madam Secretary, which I still watch for some reason.

I just want to say that I enjoyed suffering through the highs and mostly lows of this show with the folks here on this forum. Hope to chat with you on any other PTV forums you may be active on. 

*GROUP HUG*

[paigow]

The fanciest hotels always have back-up generators to turn on every light and are the highest priority for cell tower repair....Seth was not wearing a winter jacket when he went to the coffee shop...did he loot one???

6 hours ago, Bobbin said:

"I have diplomatic immunity!" "Not from me." Bang! Bang! Who didn't see that coming?  

[LGGirl]

11 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

Awwww, it's over!  I still wish Tom Kirkman were the real  President (not to get all political 'n'at, but  really!)

I still think this would have made a great limited series, like Fargo or other 10-parters.    "Decent, principled, kind of schlubby everyman is suddenly thrust into Great Power with Great Responsibility"  (LOL, like Spider-Man!)  Saves the day, solves the mystery, and learns how to be a great leader, etc......and fade out.

But once they DID solve the original conspiracy, what was left to do?  Watch Tom/Kiefer learn to govern?  Yawn.  Keep throwing ever more soap-opera situations at him?  Maybe-crooked Mother-in-Law?  Maybe crooked WIFE?!  Exonerated DEAD Wife!  Best Friend's the hacker?  And now, let's throw in a Tsunami!  Eh, it needed to end.

Yes, Hannah Wells, Swiss Army Knife Extraordinaire, will go on to bigger and better adventures with her new Robin!

I agree with you there.  The premise of the show was interesting.  But once you solved the conspiracy, the show was over.  Sutherland did a good job as portraying the President but I felt his staff and family dynamic was boring.  

Honestly, if a bomb went off in the Capitol and all of Congress and the President were killed, I think the country would be behind the new President and would be more united than depicted in the show.  

Edited May 17, 2018 by LGGirl

[sonyab]

So Emily got shot, and both Seth and Aaron weren't worried and wondered how she is?!!?!?!?! I guess Seth and Emily are not together anymore?  Yes goodbye show. :(

[Orillia]

Well I guess that's it. For one last time we get to see the awesomeness that is Hannah Welles. She got a knife in the leg and less than 10 seconds later was practically running on it. Who am I kidding , it was less than 5 seconds. I did like seeing her new daughter giving her a rough time. I will miss all the snarking on Hannah , the next mother of the year. Because of the cancellation, I think they should have taken out the scene of Emily handing over the papers to the spy.  Let them end on a note of loyalty. Hopefully Keifer will get another show. It's been fun.

[Diana Berry]

Also hoping Kiefer gets another show.  Would love to see him in a cop or spy show -action oriented.  Ok just give us another 24.

[The Wild Sow]

6 hours ago, sonyab said:

So Emily got shot, and both Seth and Aaron weren't worried and wondered how she is?!!?!?!?!

If the shooting happened when they were already in MadeUpiTory, they may not have even known about it.  

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, LGGirl said:

I agree with you there.  The premise of the show was interesting.  But once you solved the conspiracy, the show was over.  Sutherland did a good job as portraying the President but I felt his staff and family dynamic was boring.  

Honestly, if a bomb went off in the Capitol and all of Congress and the President were killed, I think the country would be behind the new President and would be more united than depicted in the show.  

 

Finally. I had resigned myself to the idea that I was the only one who remembered 9/11 that way. 
The show may be cancelled, but at least there are a couple of us with a vision for what a post-apocalyptic world/show might really look like.
Well, three of us if we count fictional Tom Kirkman when he was in his nice guy mode, heh (not when he was all Jack Bauer-ish).

 

 

1 hour ago, The Wild Sow said:

7 hours ago, sonyab said:

So Emily got shot, and both Seth and Aaron weren't worried and wondered how she is?!!?!?!?! I guess Seth and Emily are not together anymore? Yes goodbye show. :(

If the shooting happened when they were already in MadeUpiTory, they may not have even known about it. 

Good point, @The Wild Sow, many thanks to the writers for sparing us pining Seth. 
And now we know for sure that Aaron and Emily only ever happened in an alternate universe.

And, if the show gets Netflixed, the new Emily will have been eeevil.

 

ETA:

Any chance that this post will go into the Oxford English Dictionary Online as the first time Netflix was used as a verb meaning, "to pick up for renewal on Netflix a show that was canceled on another platform or network"? 

Edited May 18, 2018 by shapeshifter

[Bridget]

3 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

Also hoping Kiefer gets another show.  Would love to see him in a cop or spy show -action oriented.  Ok just give us another 24.

From your lips to every single TV executive on the planet’s ears! 

I can’t decide if the editors who didn’t scrap the Evil Emily Ending know something that we don’t know (maybe Hulu will pick it up?) OR if I need to start sending some “WTF were you thinking with that cliffhanger scene? The show is cancelled, you assholes!” letters to anyone whose name pops up on the production credits on IMDb.

Hmmmm......

Edited May 18, 2018 by Bridget

[nutty1]

Am I the only who needs to know what Emily was doing??!!

[marinw]

9 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

 Ok just give us another 24.

That SUV has left the perimeter. I would like to see Kiefer in a leadership role. Starship captain, maybe.

The frustrating thing is that a POTUS who had POTUSing thrust open him was a great concept, it was the execution that suffered. I won’t speculate how much of this was due to Kiefer himself, who was an executive producer. I do hope he gets another show, or a good movie or two.

Edited May 18, 2018 by marinw

[Guest]

3 hours ago, marinw said:

The frustrating thing is that a POTUS who had POTUSing thrust open him was a great concept,

Yes!

I had no idea what the show would be about when I turned it on for the first time. Just saw it was going to be “must see.” 

Two seasons later, I still don’t know what it’s about. 

[AnimeMania]

9 hours ago, nutty1 said:

Am I the only who needs to know what Emily was doing??!!

I know what Emily will be doing.

Ten minutes after Hannah lands, Emily will be tied up in Hannah's basement. 

[sonyab]

21 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

If the shooting happened when they were already in MadeUpiTory, they may not have even known about it.  

But Aaron was at the white house talking to that lawyer. Forgot her name. They didn't even talk about Emily.. And Seth was video chatting with the president and Emily was there.. I guess he didn't see her arm being bandaged up? Why didn't anybody tell him that Amy was shot?

12 hours ago, nutty1 said:

Am I the only who needs to know what Emily was doing??!!

I need to know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duke2801]

On 5/18/2018 at 7:38 AM, nutty1 said:

Am I the only who needs to know what Emily was doing??!!

No! There was finally a storyline that I was interested in since the middle of season one. And of course it’s the next to last scene of the series finale. Thanks Obama...errr Kirkman. 

[queenanne]

Eh, I'm not interested in Emily anymore.  It wasn't even good anticlimax by the time they got around to the revelation, because I spent so much of the prior remaining hour wondering if other TV shows set in the White House spend so much time studiously avoiding having its staffers form any sort of romantic relationships, to the point where it actually looks weird and odd?  We certainly don't care what happens, when they can't spare three seconds for anyone to show any of Emily's supposedly friendly, relatively cuddly coworkers - including the person who was responsible for her getting shot in the first place! - giving a single eye-blink about her welfare (I mean, srsly?  I can understand Kirkman, and I guess where he goes Mike has to go; but who thinks that Kendra's reaction should be "Oh well!  Guess I'll see her when I see her"?)

I feel like somebody somewhere along the line in the production suite, either received or assumed massive amounts of vitriol on the part of fans whenever anyone attempted to show any personal lives, telling them that this was the problem - we couldn't even see Aaron and/or his cousin together with the rest of his family?  The only way you might have got me interested, would be if that were prelude to all of Seth, Aaron, and maybe even Kendra and Lyor, turning out to have been involved in the conspiracy along with Emily from the start as Russian or whatever plants. 

Because if a showrunner's idea of good writing, is that a cliffhanger involving a staffer and original cast member no less, should be preceded by 51 minutes of nobody on the show outside of the President having an acorn-sized nugget of reaction to that staffer having been shot and attacked - with her most "meaningful" interaction of the episode to date, being a heretofore wholly un-hinted relationship with the President's son which had to take up 45 seconds of precious screentime for no good reason, that could've been devoted to other relationships or loose ends - this show was canceled about 18 months too late.  They literally have zero idea how to write cliffhangers.  They basically did a repeat of the first season's ending cliffhanger, where we discovered that guy nobody had mentioned in about eleven episodes was in charge of Fictionalized Blackwater Group, or - whatever he was said to have been.  I can't even remember the vague plot points they did throw us!  I'm getting overall incoherent at how bad this was.  Emily and Aaron have to explain why they never got involved to each other, so that in future putative S3 we can have - an exciting 12 seconds of Aaron patting himself on the back, congratulating himself for having had "the intelligence" not to get involved with Emily, and condoling with Seth for not being so lucky???

This is not the way to write TV!  By now we should be on the veritable edge of our seats worrying about all the tight, close-knit relationships we've grown to love over the past 2 seasons imploding!  The way to make us care about the events of a show, is NOT to provide so little anchoring each character to the remaining individual web of characters that you could pluck any one character out of the framework, and have that character's removal disturb the overall story framework so little that said character might as well have been a single kernel of corn rattling around an otherwise entirely empty farm silo for all the difficulty it took to distract them. 

And to think, at the end of 2.21 I was sitting there thinking that maybe the showrunner was going to present us with this week's "plotline never seen before" in the guise of Emily turning out to be Kirkman's new love interest... not that I wanted this, but I certainly did wonder, why Emily was having conversations with so many people like she was preparing to quit her job!  (Which is exactly the wrong way to go about it, IMO.  If Hannah is going to discover that Emily might be the mole, then Emily has to be sitting in the White House at her desk on the verge of being arrested/slinking down the hall to the Residence holding a gun, with a feeling of impending dragnet-tightening.  Having her sitting at home on her couch in a sweatshirt, adds nothing to the proceedings and is just dopey.  At least close on Seth, Aaron, hell, even Lyor, showing up at her house, kissing her passionately, and having some sort of conversation indicating that they're "in on it" together with Emily!)

Ugh, I can't even think about it any more.  It makes me stabby! (Clearly!)

Edited May 20, 2018 by queenanne

[marinw]

Great analysis  @queenanne. One of the things I don’t get is the introduction and exit of Dr. Frost. A female Elon Musk is actually an awesome idea, and Kim Raver was most probably cast because of her past work and chemistry with Kiefer. The implications of a PTOUS getting involved (Romantically or platonically) with a engineering company mogul could have been a fascinating thing to explore. Like so much else on this show, great idea, poor execution. 

The show was less than the sum of its parts. Although I do have a soft spot for this show as I now regard it as a Nobel Failure, which seems to be Kiefer’s specialty. (See also: Touch.)

Edited May 20, 2018 by marinw

[queenanne]

I agree with @marinw on the introduction of Kim Raver, which was clearly meant to be a ratings boost and energizer, and you don't cast someone with chemistry and a proven offscreen experiential bond in order to shuffle her offsides after a handful of scenes for basically no reason - you bring her in to be a long-term relationship.  Hell, Michael J. Fox was so clearly being set up to be a new character next year; and the way to show his essentiality to the series is not to write his entire plotline where clearly HE thinks next to nothing of Emily's frankly odd behavior as he's running an investigation(!), behaviors at this point so odd that I in fact think it's a bit ludicrous that anyone would expect it's still part of her "youth and inexperience for the role" shtick.  I can't even recall if Emily bothered to give any remotely valid justification for her unfortunate decisions along the way (frankly, in this situation they needed something as lamppost-clear as "sorry, but I'm no lawyer, Kendra"), outside of goggling like Bambi in the hunter's scope whenever she was called out by any of them; and if she doesn't have any strong current bonds with any character in the series (I guess Kendra was their current shot at it, with their three scenes of relationship talk), really, who cares that she quit or will soon be exposed?  (especially, who cares if she quit??)

Lastly, successfully buried plot movements are successfully buried plot movements, specifically because they make you go "a-ha!" when they reappear, with a feeling or shock of pleased recognition.  Not because they were so low-stakes or infrequently-written characters and relationships that you forgot they happened by the time they rolled around!  Hell, I've suspected that Moss is evil and said I don't understand why anyone in the WH unquestionably thinks he's a great guy since the time he joked (meanly, I thought, and for no good reason in a very sore-thumb manner) at Seth's expense in Season 1 (?) as they were getting off Air Force One, so that was no surprise to me either.   

Gah, I just keep imagining this throng of wet-behind-the-ears newbies around a conference table in the writer's room sitting around, episode after episode (the fourth showrunner, believe it or not, runs a future showrunner-training program at the WGA, so at least TPTB attempted to use their brains here), saying to each other weakly:

"Hey, that's what they call a "long-term slow-boil plot arc", isn't it?  Mentioning it once in Episode Eleven, and then we draw it back out of the magician's hat again in Episode Twenty-Two?"

(Newbie Writer #2 looks blank.  "*Shrug*")

Edited May 20, 2018 by queenanne

[healthnut]

They are still in talks with Netflix but I think they’d be better with a spin-off following Hannah’s character, the rest is a snooze fest. 

A tsunami, really? Emily gets grazed? Why have her get shot at all? She resigns out of the blue, they don’t even bother to show her talking to the judge. Terrible, lazy writing. Having him run for office could’ve been interesting but I’m sure the writers would’ve royally screwed it up anyway. Bye, bye show. 

[Biggie B]

I thought I read somewhere that the show would be back in the fall for its last season. I guess I read and/or understood incorrectly.

Quote

One of the things I don’t get is the introduction and exit of Dr. Frost.

Kim Raver has returned to "Grey's Anatomy" as a regular character again. I wonder if she knew that this show was finished and thus took the regular gig on Grey's or if that was just good timing (not that she'd have had the ability to steer her character's story line).

Spoiler

And seeing as her Grey's character is now suddenly pregnant by Owen, she's likely to be there for a while.

I'm dismayed that Emily has been revealed to be a bad guy. I liked her well enough. Oh well!

The whole Leo thing was stupid - as if his dad would have really been mad at him for applying to Stanford. Goodbye and good luck.

I agree with those who've said this would've been a great limited run show. I didn't really care so much about the conspiracy as I did about the logistics and mind-blowing scenario of having the entire government wiped out in one fell swoop, and the aftermath of such an insane situation. But that wasn't the focus of the show, so instead we were left with a poor man's version of West Wing, and there's no way this show even came close. I enjoyed Keifer Sutherland very much and there were definitely some decent moments, but it just didn't hold up well over the long run. No regrets, though, it kept me modestly entertained, but I likely won't miss it much now that it's done.

Edited May 22, 2018 by Biggie B

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Biggie B said:

I'm dismayed that Emily has been revealed to be a bad guy. I liked her well enough. Oh well!

No doubt she was blackmailed into it to save the life of her institutionalized ex-fiance (who we never heard of).

[jhlipton]

On 5/18/2018 at 1:47 PM, AnimeMania said:

I know what Emily will be doing.

Ten minutes after Hannah lands, Emily will be tied up in Hannah's basement. 

Get your mind out of the gutter!  Oh, wait, that's me!!!

[transitfan]

On 5/22/2018 at 12:05 PM, Biggie B said:

 

 

The whole Leo thing was stupid - as if his dad would have really been mad at him for applying to Stanford. Goodbye and good luck.

 

I'm probably wrong, but to me that seemed like a shoutout to Chelsea Clinton, who attended Stanford, and Bill Clinton of course was a Georgetown graduate (though I don't know if Chelsea even applied to Georgetown).

[greyhorse]

Welp...that was anticlimactic.  Even more so now that we know the series is cancelled.

I guess I just don't care anymore.  Don't really care to see how Kirkman running as an independent and presumably winning a second term would play out.  

The Emily thing came out of nowhere, but I suppose they have to keep the intrigue and conspiracy going.

The series teaser tagline is "natural disaster threatens two staffers".  Maybe I was half asleep or just half paying attention, but was there some footage of a tsunami about to hit somewhere?  I see one of the comments up above mentions it.  Who are the two staffers threatened by this tsunami?  I've already deleted my episode so I can't rewatch.

Couldn't give two flying effs whether or not Leo was attending Stanford or not.  The kid is a terrible actor.

[Sake614]

Lior and Seth were in made-up ville when a tsunami hit. Apparently they were there to renegotiate some agreement keeping the country under the thumb of the US. Why the press secretary was there is beyond me.

emily being the bad guy might have finally caught my attention and would make all of her stupid mistakes clear. Rather than Just being too stupid for words, it was an active plot to bring down the president. To what end, I’m not entirely sure. Was Moss part of the plot too or was he just poser- hungry and saw an opportunity to once again become president?

someone upthread mentioned the czmeras all around London. I had the same thought as Hannah was running around town with a gun and then fighting with what’s her face along the Thames, finally shooting her. With s stab wound to the leg no less. And then of course she becomes a mother to Damien’s kid.

I’m almost glad it was canceled so I don’t have to watch that story play out next season. Honestly, I liked Hannah in the beginning but she just became ridiculous as the show went on. And I grew tired of watching her make stupid, rookie mistakes all the time. She’s supposed to be some bad-ass jack Bauer type but was too-trusting and frequently outsmarted by the bad guys.

aaron was the best character next to kirkman, but even he let his guard down more often than he should. Especially with Hannah. 

If Netflix does pick this up next year, I hope the show finds a better showrunner and writers. It doesn’t need to be west wing but it should have been so much more than a nighttime soap opera. 

[TimWil]

I think the chances of Netflix picking this up are pretty slim. They’re really not a repository for failed network shows. I doubt they’d even pick up Timeless, which has a far more active fanbase.

It would be nice if somewhere down the line Kiefer or someone involved in production admits they totally wussed out by not going with the “Alex is EVIL!” twist. Yes, I still do believe that was the original plan and I even suspect Natascha McElhone may have quit because they weren’t following through on it. I seriously doubt McElhone signed on for this show to just play “the wife.”

[Driad]

Yes, Alex and Emily as evil masterminds might have been interesting.  Only if well written, though, so probably not on this show.

[queenanne]

On 5/28/2018 at 12:48 AM, TimWil said:

I think the chances of Netflix picking this up are pretty slim. They’re really not a repository for failed network shows. I doubt they’d even pick up Timeless, which has a far more active fanbase.

It would be nice if somewhere down the line Kiefer or someone involved in production admits they totally wussed out by not going with the “Alex is EVIL!” twist. Yes, I still do believe that was the original plan and I even suspect Natascha McElhone may have quit because they weren’t following through on it. I seriously doubt McElhone signed on for this show to just play “the wife.”

Let's be frank, she wasn't even a good iteration of "the wife" by regular generic show standards.  Alex was more like wallpaper who occasionally spoke.  She had no real purpose.  Though I do suspect you're right about the individual original plan, it's the height of laziness that what they gave us, is "their backup plan for Alex".  

On 5/28/2018 at 9:45 AM, Driad said:

Yes, Alex and Emily as evil masterminds might have been interesting.  Only if well written, though, so probably not on this show.

LOL

[Jordan Schmitt]

I can't believe the show is over, especially after that ending. They better be making a season 3.

[Happy Harpy]

4 hours ago, Jordan Schmitt said:

I can't believe the show is over, especially after that ending. They better be making a season 3.

Netflix picked up Lucifer as well as a rejected FOX pilot, and not Designated Survivor although they had a worldwide distribution deal for it. The show has been canceled for three months now. I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[Jordan Schmitt]

23 hours ago, Happy Harpy said:

Netflix picked up Lucifer as well as a rejected FOX pilot, and not Designated Survivor although they had a worldwide distribution deal for it. The show has been canceled for three months now. I wouldn't get my hopes up.

I know. I don't have too high hopes but I just really wanted the show to continue

[Jordan Schmitt]

The plot twists in the second half of season two were awesome. I love this show!

[Nash]

I know what Emily will be doing - she’s thinking “I hope no one finds out my real name is Jennings”.