Summary
The stakes are high in Designated Survivor: 60 Days season 1, episode 7, “Governance”, as the political minefield becomes more intense for Acting President Park.
This recap of Designated Survivor: 60 Days Season 1, Episode 7, “Governance” 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.
At this point, I am astounded at the quality of direction of Designated Survivor: 60 Days. Every episode so far has surprised me in some way. “Governance” hones in on the mechanisms of the political system, with Acting President Park Mu-Jin (Jin-hee Ji) trying to pave the way for the nation to have a Presidential Election.
But before we delve into the main story in episode 7, the NIS is tasked with interrogating North Korean Myung Hae Joon — the man supposedly behind the bombings. In “Governance”, Na-gyeong and her boss Han-mo battle it out in the interrogation room, attempting to get as much information from Myung Hae Joon, whose responses are aggressive, patriotic and show a whisker of hope that the North Korean government were not behind the attacks.
“Governance” shows that the public is also enjoying Park Mu-Jin’s news that Myung Hae Joon has been caught, but unfortunately, he is assassinated; someone managed to infiltrate the NIS and poison the man via his food. This is not a good moment for the newly formed administration who had been riding the wave of National Security. Myung Hae-Joon did leave a message with his blood in episode 7 — a name — but there are thousands of people with that title. It’s going to take a while.
With the expectancy of the public to stabilize the government and bring normality to the nation, Park Mu-Jin and his administration decide to form a non-party cabinet, inviting members of the opposing parties to create a new government, which would naturally result in a new wave of democracy and elections. However, Yun Chang-gyeong believes this is a violation of the constitution and intends to table a motion of impeachment if Park Mu-Jin goes ahead with it. Her justification to tabling this motion is that Park is Acting President, and does not hold all the powers. Mayor Kang is seemingly on board.
With pressure mounting on Park Mu-Jin in “Governance”, he invites Han-mo to the Blue House to update the administration on any leads regarding the bombing. Han-mo plans to demonstrate that Assemblyman Oh Yeong-seok is a suspect, but when he gets there, the Assemblyman is with the President, and he is unable to move forward with his debrief. This moment is critical; Han-mo looked terrified that Oh Yeong-seok is primed to be the new Defence Minister.
With the impeachment from the opposing parties looming, Park Mu-Jin has two options — cancel the non-party cabinet restructure and allow his enemies to believe he is soft and continue instability or risk impeachment and be accused of throwing his government into chaos. His staff, especially his new Secretary, feels the pressure will get to him, but his ex-secretary, Han, appears indifferent.
But… what nobody accounted for in episode 7, “Governance”, is Park Mu-Jin’s wife is a lawyer. She stayed up all night reading that constitution to give her Husband a more calculated choice.
And the next twenty minutes serves many surprises; it appears Chief An has been colluding with Mayor Kang to undermine Park Mu-Jin to remove him as Acting President and a legitimate candidate for future elections; Park’s team get wind of this when he excitedly rushes into work with his observations of the constitution.
Park Mu-Jin plays a blinder; rather than firing Chief An, he asks for his opinion of his wife’s observations, and when An refutes the interpretation, Park Mu-Jin plays the footage showing his collusion with Mayor Kang. He asks whether he wants Chief An to play this out “legally or politically”.
Park goes ahead with the non-party cabinet formation, setting up a hearing so all the candidates can be assessed on live TV. The opposition party tries setting up an Impeachment Hearing at the same time, but nobody turns up, because of Mayor Kang; once he got wind that the President knew of the conspiracy, he sent a message out the opposition party that he will pledge his allegiance to their policies.
Designated Survivor: 60 Days season 1, episode 7, “Governance” confirms that Park Mu-Jin is ready to be a contender for the next Presidential Election after playing some strategic chess moves.
You can read the recap of the eighth episode by clicking these words.
