Directed by Norberto Barba
Written by Dana Ledoux Miller & Jenna Richman
Speaker Hookstraten fights for her political life as the investigation into the allegations surrounding her past activities continues unabated. Meanwhile, President Kirkman prepares for an international summit and Agent Wells struggles to escape from her captors.
Tropes in this episode:
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Atwood manage to save or transmit his recordings before he got shot by Catalan? It's ultimately left unclear until the season finale, when it's revealed that he did successfully send the files back to the White House.
- The Bad Guy Wins: More or less. Hookstraten gets forced out of the House Speakership, although she is rescued by Kirkman nominating her as Secretary of Education. Jason Atwood gets gunned down fruitlessly when he goes to investigate Patrick Lloyd. Meanwhile, Agent Wells manages to escape her bonds only to find herself on a ship in the middle of the ocean.
- Discard and Draw: Being forced out of the Speakership leads to Hookstraten being named the new Secretary of Education instead (and then catching Chuck Cunningham Syndrome for the second season).
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Jason Atwood gets abruptly shot by Catalan, just as he had finally managed to record (and send) incriminating information about Patrick Lloyd and The Conspiracy.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Before the attack, Representative Saldua wasn't even in Congress. Now, he's an independent member of the House who heads both the Ethics Committee and the Ways and Means Committee, making him arguably more powerful than Hookstraten even before he ends up scheming to push her out entirely.
- Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee: Or at least a House Ethics Committee; Hookstraten ends up on the receiving end of this.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Hookstraten pulls one by resigning the Speakership and her House seat before she could be forced out of office, in order to secure continued arts funding for a national program that was set to expire. Fortunately, it gets her nominated by Kirkman for his Secretary of Education.
- Idiot Ball: For all his preparations, Atwood goes onto Patrick Lloyd's property alone, with no on-site backup whatsoever, in order to investigate The Conspiracy. It gets him shot to death, and if he hadn't sent the files moments before, Catalan could have made his entire excursion a completely Senseless Sacrifice.
- Kangaroo Court: Aaron Shore notes that the ethics investigation is just one of these, convened for the sole purpose of getting Hookstraten out of the way.
- Kicked Upstairs: Representative Saldua and his allies manage to force Hookstraten out of the Speakership and even out of the House entirely, but all it manages to achieve is getting her nominated for Secretary of Education by President Kirkman.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Somehow, Kirkman is able to smoothly nominate Hookstraten for Secretary of Education even though her candidacy for Vice-President is sunk by the unproven allegations around the trip to Turkey and subsequent arms deal. But this means that, with the Vice-Presidency and now the Speakership both vacant, the first person in the presidential line of succession (behind Kirkman) is currently the President pro tempore of the Senate, who is either Senator Bowman or a close ally of his. Even better, the next Speaker will be an unknown quantity to Kirkman's administration, and may very well be less trustworthy and more extreme than Hookstraten is.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By the same token, Representative Saldua and his allies successfully forcing Hookstraten out of the Speakership and her House seat seems like a win for them, but it gives President Kirkman the opportunity to bring Hookstraten fully into his administration by nominating her as Secretary of Education.
- Redemption Equals Death: Ends up being the case for Jason Atwood.
- Red Herring: Patrick Lloyd mentions that the Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty are all fake targets, planted to distract attention from some other real target of the conspirators' plans.
- Resignations Not Accepted: Played with. Since Congress clearly will not allow Hookstraten to continue as Speaker, and the same scandal apparently makes it impossible to bring her onboard as Vice-President, Kirkman nominates her for Secretary of Education.
- Sacrificial Lion: Jason Atwood turns out to be this.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Atwood might not have been gunned down at all, if only he had brought any backup instead of being a Leeroy Jenkins.
- Wham Shot: Agent Wells escaping her shipping-container prison, only to find out that she is trapped on a ship in the middle of the ocean.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Just as Atwood is listening in on Patrick Lloyd and Jay Whitaker, he gets distracted by a deer in the woods and is promptly shot down by Catalan.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Representative Saldua and his allies certainly seem to believe this about Hookstraten as The Remnant of the "old guard" in Congress.
