Summary
Designated Survivor: 60 Days Season 1, Episode 5, “A Good Person” brings further challenges to Acting President Park, with his administration struggling to keep power.
This episode of Designated Survivor: 60 Days Season 1, Episode 5, “A Good Person” contains significant spoilers. The Korean Netflix Series will be running weekly every Monday and Tuesday until season 1 ends. You can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.
Patient, thought-provoking and once again, tense. That’s how I’d describe episode 5, “A Good Person”. The chapter focuses on the aftermath of that dreadful television interview, with Woo Sin-yeong, the driven reporter, asking the soul-crushing question to Park Mu-Jin (Jin-hee Ji). The “tip” she was given about his pending dismissal was more a political ploy by Mayor Kang than genuinely good journalism. With all his pent up honesty and morals, he answers it truthfully. Cha Yeong-jin is in despair, while his political opposition Yun Chan-gyeong is smiling on the sidelines — it turns out she has tried turning the head of the hardworking man of the administration with promises of power in exchange for information. President Park loves the truth too much.
Family is also burdening Acting President Park, while his approval ratings dip to an all-time high. “A Good Person” sees his son Si-wan understandably insecure with the sudden change of life. Park looks lost in comforting him. Designated Survivor: 60 Days barely focuses on Park’s family, but when the Netflix series does, the pressure is telling on the character.
Na-gyeong is looking frail in “A Good Person”; the Anti-Terrorism Agent requires her assurance that Assemblyman Oh Yeong-seok was involved in the horrific attacks, but her captain asks her to stand down, suggesting her grieving process is making her blame someone. At the memorial, Oh Yeong-seok displays a disconnected speech, refusing to deliver a eulogy and suggesting that South Korea has failed to protect its people, as Na-gyeong looks on, slowly convincing herself that maybe he isn’t a terrorist after all. His speech was oddly cold and felt acutely sinister.
As the media continue to pinpoint their pressure on Acting President Park, and opposition parties licking their lips, it gets worse for his administration. The video of North Korean Myung Hae Joon has been leaked to the press. Park tries to stop General Lee from sending troops into Cambodia, but then he is made aware of the video. Surprisingly, his approval ratings are now improving; the nation wants a team approach to their issues. The leak helped Park, and in the aftermath, he stands down General Lee of all his duties; he believes poking Cambodia will only increase tensions. Park may be a good person, but he knows how to fire people.
It turns out Cha Yeong-jin leaked the video, serving another twist in Designated Survivor: 60 Days. Yeong-jin hands in his resignation after Park Mu-Jin approaches him about it. President Park surprises again and decides to hire Cha Yeong-jin as the new Presidential Secretary, much to the surprise of Ms. Jeong, who must have felt she deserved it. I believe President Park finally conceded that he needs someone to make the harder political decisions that he may not be as favorable towards.
As Designated Survivor: 60 Days season 1, episode 5, “A Good Person” ends, we learn that Yun Chang-gyeong is working with Oh Yeong-seok, and Na-gyeong gets a strange phone call asking her to look at room 119 in the National General Assembly building blueprints — despite handing in her resignation at the Anti-Terrorism Unit, her investigation isn’t over.
You can read the recap of the sixth episode by clicking these words.
