Designated Survivor season 2 episode 17 preview: A war on Kunami

Remember some of those teases leading up to the midseason return of Designated Survivor season 2 suggesting that we’re going to see a country at war? Well, all indications at the moment suggest that we’re nearing that point of the show. Next week’s new episode “Overkill” (the 17th episode of the season) is one that features Kiefer Sutherland’s Tom Kirkman making a move to take the country to war. That’s a pretty big risk; it could unify the country or further divide it much in the way that many wars often do. To make matters worse, whatever sort of peace efforts we end up seeing could prove to only unravel things more.

Just remember this — Designated Survivor is still many weeks away from the finale. For now, what we think is that we’re at that point in the season in which things go from bad to worse. (Sometimes, they don’t really get a whole lot better in the finale, either … not that this is a whole lot of consolation for anything.

Check out the Designated Survivor season 2 episode 17 synopsis below for more:

Following the deadly bomb explosion inside a D.C. metro station, President Kirkman declares war on Kunami. When the emir of that country sends his ambassador to negotiate, FBI Agent Hannah Wells learns the emir is hiding something that could have deadly consequences.

The state of the latest Designated Survivor ratings

What’s going on right now with the show and ABC? Is there an actual chance that it could be renewed for another season? We’d argue that perhaps more than any other on the network right now (save for maybe Agents of SHIELD), Designated Survivor is in a really interesting spot.

In terms of the ratings themselves for season 2, they don’t exactly inspire much confidence. Designated Survivor season 2 is pulling in just a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is down more than 30% from what the series was getting previously in season 1. The ratings have been even lower than that, by and large, since returning from hiatus.

Yet, there are a couple of different things that give this series a little bit more hope. For starters, there is the fact that this show stars Sutherland, a known name internationally thanks to his work over on 24. Beyond that, you also have the DVR numbers, which continue to be strong. Shows after 10:00 p.m. Eastern are having an increasingly harder time generating big ratings, whether it be because of cable options or simply because more people are expressing an interest in going to bed.

Hopefully, ABC will announce the future of Designated Survivor season 2 a little bit later this spring when the network has their upfront presentation in New York City. At this point, it would be a surprise to learn about the series’ future within the next month.

Do you have any potential hopes in regards to next week’s all-new episode of Designated Survivor? Be sure to share right now in the comments!

Also, you can like CarterMatt on Facebook to get some more insight right now on the ABC series. (Photo: ABC.)