Tonight on ABC their new conspiracy thriller Designated Survivor airs with an all-new Wednesday, December 7, 2016, episode and we have your Designated Survivor recap below. On tonight’s Designated Survivor season 1 episode 9, Hannah (Maggie Q) is running out of time to prove MacLeish’s involvement in the conspiracy before his confirmation as vice president.
Did you watch last week’s Designated Survivor where on the eve of the country voting to elect a new House of Representatives, an unexpected development forced Kirkman to consider canceling the elections entirely? If you missed the episode we have a full and detailed Designated Survivor recap, right here.
On tonight’s Designated Survivor as per the ABC synopsis, “When classified government documents are leaked online, President Kirkman searches for the party responsible only to find that they have taken refuge inside a foreign embassy and are behind even his reach. Meanwhile, Agent Hannah Wells races furiously to gather evidence of MacLeish’s involvement in the conspiracy.”
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#DesignatedSurvivor starts with a guy transferring data to a hard drive at his office and then going into the bathroom and pulling a chip from his laptop. He places it inside a fake coin and leaves the NSA with it in his pocket.
Kimble is on TV for her announcement as the new Speaker of the House. Alex tells her husband that Kimble is intimidated by him. 160 independents have been voted into Congress. Aaron comes in and asks Emily if Kimble has hurt them yet.
Seth comes in and asks if they checked their emails. They find out about the NSA security breach and dig into it so they can fill the President in. Hannah sees they’re cleaning out Atwood’s office. Chuck asks what’s up and John Forstel, the head of Internal Affairs shows up to talk to Hannah.
POTUS learns about the breach
Gabriel Thompson is the guy who stole the data and he was an analyst at the agency for 20 years. Aaron says he took a prototype hard drive and could have stolen a terabyte of data. Aaron says the NSA is tracking him down.
POTUS says they need to get ahead of it. Hannah sits down with John and he says her friendship with Atwood might hurt her since she was at the prison when Nassar was poisoned. Hannah asks why he’s investigating given the confession.
John asks who killed Nassar if Atwood didn’t. He threatens her with a federal prosecutor. He says he’s going to see Atwood today and says their stories better match. Hannah calls Chuck for the MacLeish files and asks him to come to her house.
WikiLeaks!
Seth tells Aaron the press wants to know who killed Nassar. Aaron says POTUS meets with the FBI today. Emily shows them that Gabriel dumped data on WikiLeaks and there is dirt on the members of the last president’s cabinet.
Seth says it looks worth than it is. Aaron says it’s mostly pay for play. Seth says the blowback has been minimal and most of the people are dead except Kirkman. Aaron says Kirkman’s files haven’t been released.
Aaron asks if there is anything to hide. Kirkman says no secrets. Emily asks about the paternity. Aaron asks why wouldn’t he release records for Kirkman when he did everyone else. POTUS says the priority is to find Thompson and stop the leak.
Hannah shares with Chuck
Chuck meets Hannah and she tells him that MacLeish is wrapped up in the bombing of the Capitol. He says she made a good case and she says she need hard evidence and John is on her right now because of Atwood.
Chuck starts going through her files. Hannah says if he doesn’t want to help, it’s okay. Chuck says she’s usually right so he’s on for the ride. Kimble threatens a new Congressman and doesn’t want to flatly endorse what the president wants.
It’s MacLeish’s confirmation hearing and Kimble wishes him luck. He calls her back and asks what she has against him and POTUS. Kimble says she doesn’t trust people that have power handed to them. She walks away.
Chuck and Hannah dig
Chuck hasn’t found anything but Hannah says her source is always right. Chuck wonders if it’s a date, not a time. He shows her a file on MacLeish’s military file where he won a Bronze Star. Chuck says MacLeish saved most of his men.
Hannah says they need to look beyond the letter and talk to the men who served with him. Seth tells Emily that MacLeish is doing well. There’s another WikiLeak dump and Aaron mentions one on Senator Hazelton.
Seth and Emily read it and raise their eyebrows. They go to POTUS. There’s a memo about Hazelton being a lecher and Emily is the one that wrote the letter. Hazelton wants her fired ASAP.
Hazelton threatens
POTUS and Emily meet with Hazelton and she says sorry and it has nothing to do with Kirkman. Hazelton says she’s scared and that’s why she said sorry. Kirkman says he wants to move forward. POTUS wants to focus on the leaker not the leaked info.
Hazelton tells him again to get rid of Emily today or he’ll block any legislation he wants. He leaves. Emily says Kirkman has to let her resign. MacLeish is still in his hearings. He talks about all the ways he served the country.
Hannah watches the hearing and is annoyed. Chuck has contact info on the eight members that served with him. She splits the list with Chuck and says you do one state, I’ll do the other. She hands him a burner phone and he says he’s not a field agent.
Hannah begs for help
Hannah tells Chuck he’s the only person besides Atwood she trusts. John goes to see Atwood and asks why he waived his right to an attorney and he says he’s guilty. He says he hid the poison in a salt packet in his pocket.
He says there is a blind spot in a corridor he’s known about for years. Atwood says Nassar was Muslim so he could see that meal was halal. Kirkman watches the interview and John is there with him. Kirkman asks if he thought Atwood could do this.
John says sometimes people leave us no choice. Aaron pulls POTUS for an NSA update. Gabriel is in the Venezuelan embassy and they can’t touch him since there’s no extradition and that’s considered foreign soil.
Hazelton threatens
POTUS and Emily meet with Hazelton and she says sorry and it has nothing to do with Kirkman. Hazelton says she’s scared and that’s why she said sorry. Kirkman says he wants to move forward. POTUS wants to focus on the leaker not the leaked info.
Hazelton tells him again to get rid of Emily today or he’ll block any legislation he wants. He leaves. Emily says Kirkman has to let her resign. MacLeish is still in his hearings. He talks about all the ways he served the country.
Hannah watches the hearing and is annoyed. Chuck has contact info on the eight members that served with him. She splits the list with Chuck and says you do one state, I’ll do the other. She hands him a burner phone and he says he’s not a field agent.
Hannah begs for help
Hannah tells Chuck he’s the only person besides Atwood she trusts. John goes to see Atwood and asks why he waived his right to an attorney and he says he’s guilty. He says he hid the poison in a salt packet in his pocket.
He says there is a blind spot in a corridor he’s known about for years. Atwood says Nassar was Muslim so he could see that meal was halal. Kirkman watches the interview and John is there with him. Kirkman asks if he thought Atwood could do this.
John says sometimes people leave us no choice. Aaron pulls POTUS for an NSA update. Gabriel is in the Venezuelan embassy and they can’t touch him since there’s no extradition and that’s considered foreign soil.
Kirkman calls the ambassador
The Venezuelan ambassador won’t hand over Gabriel. Seth says they still have to deal with Hazelton. MacLeish is asked about his Bronze Star in Afghanistan. Hannah is with one of the soldiers and asks him the same question. Chuck also talks to people.
The stories all seem identical. All use the phrase “he’s a hero” and MacLeish denies it and says he’s not a hero, but the man he is today. Hannah says they all got the same talking points when she speaks to Chuck. She has one interview left.
Emily comes to see Aaron about Hazelton. She says POTUS won’t fire her so Aaron needs to accept her resignation to protect the President. Seth comes in on a close moment between them. He hands them a folder of press requests about Nassar’s murder.
Hannah’s last interview
Aaron goes to the Venezuelan embassy with an idea. She talks to Sarah, one soldier’s wife and says her husband had a bunch of letters and awards in it when it was shipped home after he died. Aaron meets with Gabriel at the embassy.
Gabriel asks why he’s there and Aaron says he knows what he wants. Gabriel says CNN thinks he wants radical anarchy. Gabriel offers him five minutes with the president. Aaron says he’s going after people close to POTUS but not the president.
Gabriel says he had to hang Emily out to dry to get his attention but says he can save his career. Hannah goes through the foot locker. She finds a photo of MacLeish and Catalan is in the photo with him. She calls Chuck to update him.
Hannah needs time
Hannah needs access to a special database and he says he’s been shut out of his account. John from IA is coming for him. Chuck tells her to find a way to finish it and he crushes the SIM card from the phone she gave him.
Aaron tells him that Gabriel wants to meet him and hands over proof that Emily told the truth about Hazelton. Aaron says Gabriel will stop leaking if he meets with him. POTUS says get Hazelton over there now but isn’t certain about Gabriel over.
Hannah calls Kimble and says please delay the MacLeish hearings and says she has a lead that could hurt him but needs time. Kimble asks how much time and Hannah says as much as possible. Hazelton shows up irate when he sees Emily in the room.
Hazelton gets hammered
Hazelton asks why she’s still here. Kirkman says he won’t let her go and says he has proof that what Emily says is true. He says Gabriel’s leaked information is 100% accurate and hands him proof of him getting inappropriate with a teenage page.
Hazelton says it’s extortion and Kirkman says no, what you did is extortion. POTUS tells him he needs to retire and spend time with his family. Hazleton glares at Emily who gives him stone face. Hannah goes into a diner and meets her CIA contact.
She shows him the photo of Catalan with MacLeish. She asks if he has MacLeish’s CIA file. He says someone buried the file and he dug deeper and found this. It was written by an agency liaison and says the ranger unit massacred three villages full of people.
Meeting the leaker
MacLeish is a war criminal not a hero. She tucks it into her pocket and leaves. Alex comes to see Kirkman happy about Emily. He says he’s reading Gabriel’s psych profile. POTUS is upset about Gabriel and Atwood and says it doesn’t add up.
POTUS says he wants to talk to the guy despite all the reasons not to. He says the guy is smart and not crazy. Kirkman says Gabriel knows he’ll go to prison after he comes out of the embassy. Alex encourages him to look deeper.
Gabriel is brought to the White House. Mike has him empty his pockets, they cuff him and take him inside. They sit him with Kirkman and Mike stays put. POTUS says they’ll take you to prison soon and he knows that his daughter died in the Capitol bombing.
Gabriel hands over the drive
Gabriel says children should never die before their parents. POTUS offers condolences then asks why sacrifice all this to talk to me. Gabriel says he needs to make sure an attack like that won’t happen again. Gabriel says he researched Kirkman thoroughly and he’s a good man.
Gabriel says there is a fake coin in that bag and the hard drive is in it. He says he didn’t make copies. Gabriel says there are bigger problems than him. Gabriel whispers about file 1280-C and then he’s taken away.
Kirkman hands Mike the hard drive and says find out why that man sacrificed his life to get this info to me. Mike loads the drive into an air gapped laptop and runs encryption software. Mike tells Kirkman he rotated through the tech department before.
MacLeish gets weird
Kirkman tells Mike to keep it between them. Aaron tells POTUS about Kimble delaying the hearings. Kirkman calls MacLeish in to task what she might have on him. Kirkman notices him rubbing his hands together strangely.
Kirkman says fine and MacLeish tells him Hannah seems obsessed with him and she was close to Atwood and he’s worried she might be feeding Kimble conspiracy theories. He leaves. Hannah calls Kimble and says she has the evidence and is on her way.
Kimble thanks her and says her witness is on the way. Emily comes to see Aaron and thanks him for saving her job. Aaron admits he wanted her to stay around. He asks if she’ll have dinner with him after work and she says okay.
The bomb plans revealed
Hannah races down the road with her blue lights flashing. Mike finds the file that Gabriel told them about and they see it’s the plans for the Capitol. Hannah almost hits a cab and she stops and is t-boned. The file shows a plan of how to blow up the Capitol.
It was created by the Pentagon to assess security vulnerabilities. Kirkman says someone handed the blueprints to Nassar for the Capitol bombing. He says there’s a traitor among them.
THE END!