'Designated Survivor' Season 1 Recap: Plot Explained; Timeline to Kirkman's Presidency

"Designated Survivor" only showed four episodes until now but it has became a much talked about drama series already. In fact, viewers started referring to lead actor Kiefer Sutherland as the next president of the United States.

With the hot response of viewers to ABC's "Designated Survivor," there is no doubt that it is one of the highest ranking shows today. It is about the U.S. government and it mainly revolves around the story of Tom Kirkman, a character played by Kiefer, who is one of Washington's low-level cabinet member.

He was just a regular cabinet member at first when his fate suddenly changed after being appointed as the "designated survivor." From then on, this twist made the story very interesting and viewers went from bored to thrilled.

In the previous episode of "Designated Survivor," one member of the cabinet was brought to an undisclosed place. He was taken at the time when the State of the Union Address was being delivered and it was revealed that purpose of hiding and whisking him away to safety is to protect the country.

In case the government is attacked and received great damage, the chosen cabinet member will automatically be instated as President of the U.S. With the system, the chosen person is called the "Designated Survivor."

Now, the show started with a bomb attack on U.S. Capitol while the State of the Union Address was ongoing. The incident left thousands dead or injured, no one in the scene survived, and as this happened, Kirkman was sworn to be the President.

The new leader of America struggles to hold the country together and was pressured to rebuild the Congress from scratch. In episode 4 of "Designated Survivor," Kirkman's work was made more difficult with the intervention of his political rivals who want to bring him down.

His detractors are encouraging people to hate him as they also question his capabilities to become leader of the land. At any rate, "Designated Survivor" will continue with its probe on the Capitol bombing incident. Kirkman will also have to protect his own family as they are now exposed to dangers which come with his position as the President.