I will make a confession. Instead of the usual pastimes I indulge in over the course of a winter weekend; skiing, reading, planning next year's garden or cooking, I spent a large part of my awake time binge watching a TV show. That is something I never thought I would have to admit.
Looking for a show to pass an hour or so before bedtime, I stumbled upon a program called "Designated Survivor". The premise is a typical fish out of water conceit. The lowliest member of the president's cabinet is sequestered in an unknown, secure location during the state of the union address and would become president in the vanishingly unlikely event the entire government is wiped out by an attack. In the show, of course, the event comes to pass and the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who had also been canned by the president that morning becomes the leader of the free world as the entire administration and congress perishes. From there, the show caroms from one doomsday scenario to the next as Keifer Sutherland undergoes on the job training, helped by a loyal cadre of idealists and protected by a plucky FBI agent with seemingly relentless drive to track down the perpetrators of the horrific attack.
I freely admit it is a cliché ridden mess of a show, by each successive episode hooks you further. After watching the first and a good part of the second season, I look forward to president Kirkman's adventures. It is a lot easier and in some ways more believable and heartening than the ugly reality we endure each day with our current president*. Kirkman firmly believes in the ultimate goodness of America, unlike tRump, who caters to the dark side of human nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment