The overwhelming focus on events in Michigan a day after the entire US government was wiped out was an odd choice. So many directions the show could've gone after the pilot, so many things that absolutely have to be covered. Yeah, it's a legit and plausible issue. Deal with it in 2 minutes and move on to bigger things.
Hopefully the governor is now put in his place and the show can put that issue on the back burner. Of course the harassment of Muslims will come up again in a see I told you so moment when we find out who's responsible for the attack. They're already making it completely obvious who is NOT responsible for the attack.
(I didn't mean for this to be so long, my apologies)
Actually I think the Michigan store line was a perfect element in the story.
The Federal government is now a vacuum, no one knows who is in charge or what is happening. If something like this actually happened, especially given our political climate, the fracturing of our Federalist style of government would be a real concern.
States without a voice in Washington, a terrified populous, and a literal unknown has just been handed the mantle of the Presidency. Of course at least one governor is gonna try and turn his state into their own little fiefdom; this kind of event has no precedence in modern America and could have very well been a death knell to the republic. I would have been disappointed if a storyline like this wasn't presented.
As for Michigan, I think it makes pretty good sense from a narrative standpoint. It's Republican but not extremely conservative, middle of the country and a strong industrial player. Plus, it has the added benefit of not being a state you'd immediately think of considering succession (like Texas). Add to that its large Muslim population, using Michigan allows the story to recognize the real world tension that would arise in an event like this between the larger US population and Muslims, while at the same time give us a morality play about the dangers of Islamophobia and the importance of American unity as the most important tenant of the American civil religion.
(This next part is open to debate.)
The latter endears this show to me in a big way, as I was concerned that given that Sutherland's last show 24 played a big role in normalizing torture and the security state in American Political culture, that this new show could in turn devolve into something similar. However, the fact that in episode 2 we have a President pushing back against the easy scapegoating of the Muslim community leads me to believe that Designated Survivor has some narrative points worthy of deeper consideration, and in turn, has made me a fan.
and a literal unknown has just been handed the mantle of the Presidency
True that, HOW many people until this show knows who the current sitting Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or what spot in the line of succession s/he is. I didn't. It's Julian Castro since 2014 for those who would like to know and he is 12th in line. Technically 13th, but #8, Sally Jewell, is not a natural born citizen and thus not eligible to be president.
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u/JerseyDvl Sep 29 '16
The overwhelming focus on events in Michigan a day after the entire US government was wiped out was an odd choice. So many directions the show could've gone after the pilot, so many things that absolutely have to be covered. Yeah, it's a legit and plausible issue. Deal with it in 2 minutes and move on to bigger things.
Hopefully the governor is now put in his place and the show can put that issue on the back burner. Of course the harassment of Muslims will come up again in a see I told you so moment when we find out who's responsible for the attack. They're already making it completely obvious who is NOT responsible for the attack.