It is getting a bit frustrating seeing that, despite eight episodes of a conspiracy brewing in The White House, President Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) is none the wiser about it. Season 1, episode 8 of ABC’s “Designated Survivor” started right where episode 7 left off two weeks ago with FBI Deputy Director Jason Atwood (Malik Yoba) becoming a part of the conspiracy after his son Luke was kidnapped.

Here are the highlights of “The Results”:

Atwood Confesses To Killing Majid Nassar

Atwood meets the mysterious woman (Mariana Klaveno) who has held his son hostage in some shady building. She tells him to confess to killing Nassar because he felt it was his patriotic duty to kill the man that was responsible for so many deaths. Atwood is obviously angry and tells her she won’t get away with it, but with Luke’s life hanging in the balance, he does confess to murdering the Al-Sakar terrorist to Kirkman.

Fortunately, FBI Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) knows something is wrong with Atwood. She follows him and takes photos of him meeting this mysterious woman. Unfortunately, Catalan knows Hannah is watching them and clicking photos of the meeting.

A Ricin Crisis Was Averted By The President

Meanwhile, in the Oval Office, the President is dealing with a ricin crisis. Several poll workers have been poisoned and an investigation reveals that the poll booths were laced with a toxin known as ricin. Kirkman has a dilemma to deal with: Either risk the lives of voters and get a congress since the election is to vote for a house of representatives, or cancel the elections and the government collapses.

Things get worse in “Designated Survivor” episode 8 when one ricin victim and poll worker dies. However, Kirkman, inspired by the poll worker’s commitment to doing her civic duty so that people can vote, decides to hold the elections. He and the First Lady Alex (Natascha Mcelhone) decide to head to the polling booth to cast their votes. This encourages people all over the country to cast their vote.

Hannah Wells Is Still Investigating

Wells soon figures out that Atwood has been roped into the conspiracy. Her suspicions are further strengthened when Chief of Staff Aaron Shore (Adan Canto) tells her that her boss confessed to killing Nassar. However, rather than spilling the beans to Shore, she runs a trace on Atwood’s phone and calls a number. The mysterious caller, the same one who led her to room number 105, tells her that they will never meet each other. She also gives her a clue – 11:15 p.m.

Tom Is Leo’s Son!

Leo’s (Tanner Buchanan) paternity again comes into question when a reporter asks him for a comment on a rumor that the President isn’t his father. Leo confronts his father and they decide to do a DNA test.

When the DNA results come in, neither Alex, Tom nor Leo open the sealed envelope. Tom tells his son it doesn’t matter to him what it says and Leo decides that no matter what the results indicate, Tom is his father. However, towards the end of episode 8, we finally see Tom opening the envelope and learn that he is indeed his father.

Tom quickly shoves the DNA results on the reporter’s face for good measure.

Kirkman Has To Die?

“Designated Survivor” ended this week with Peter MacLeish (Ashley Zukerman) making his intentions clear to Congresswoman Kimble Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen) that he wants to be the President of the United States. It isn’t a distant dream since he is already a candidate for the Vice Presidency. After meeting Kimble, MacLeish meets the mysterious woman who kidnapped Atwood’s son.

MacLeish asks her how many people have to die for her plan to succeed. “Just one more,” she replies. It’s obvious that this person is Tom Kirkman.

“Designated Survivor” Season 1 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST on ABC.

RELATED STORIES