Heo Jun-ho is such a wonderful actor that he certainly will be convincing in the role as the stalwart to the newbie president, but also much to his credit as an actor, I will wonder if he keeps a dog dungeon beneath the Blue House.

What a cast!

I really love and respect Lee Jun-hyuk as an actor. He chooses roles which are interesting and varied. At times he completely disappears into the role that I have trouble recognizing him. It took me a while to realize that Dr. Ye is Prosecutor Seo Dong Jae! 😬

wow i legit enjoy everyone in this cast. i really like ji jin hee's acting style and presence too. and kang hanna has always had an aura that i liked, hopefully she's a lot more dynamic than in JBL (her character was just sad like everyone else. not bad or good just incredibly lonely. it's a very melancholy drama even though it's happy) i love espionage n thrillers >:)

So Lee Jun-hyuk is playing a Hot Weasel? In uniform?!

Also, yiiikes, good luck to Kang Hanna's character and the headaches she'll get working with politicos...

Everything seems perfect for this drama! Am waiting!

I just read somewhere that it’s getting picked up by Netflix

Oh so excited, Heo Jun Ho!!!

Until he collapsed, I was not 100% sure that Heo Jun-ho was not behind the explosion plot. His expressions are so deliberately hard to read, I could imagine him being the power behind the throne not just in the Blue House but in Joseon.

Can't wait to find out whether the guy who swiped the phone is her fiance (who survived) or someone covering his tracks. I have the feeling she's going to be 1 step behind him until about ep. 8.

@saya, @festerfaster, I was glad you mentioned the shoes. I can't wait to see what happens with the comfy shoes vs the dress shoes. They gave him the nickname Cinderella, but I think Mr. Rogers would be a better fit. And it would also cover the change from comfy sweatshirt to suit jacket.

I feel like the first 10 mins of ep 3 are full of statements waiting to be challenged: "He's not suitable for politics" "Have you ever seen anyone give up power willingly?" "We can go home after 60 days...."

Wait, is that the end for Secretary Han? Is he really going to disappear after ep. 3? Or will he be back at the Blue House in some other role before ep. 4 is over?

On the other hand, jumping into the story at ep. 3, is there any doubt that that's the missing fiance who just got pulled from the rubble?

I sure hope a real terrorist investigation would have more to work on than one man who managed to kill himself trying to get away. Obviously he couldn't have pulled off the whole cabling scheme himself.

Four episodes in, I'm not sure I'm going to last much longer in this cynical world. It's awfully bleak.

@pakalana pikake, they sure are teasing us with Oh Young-seok. He's a national miracle. He's a person who knew when to leave the room. He's a war hero dedicated to his troops. And now we have to think he was tied to the bombing after all? It makes me wonder if the title of the show has a double meaning. President Park was the designated survivor to assume the presidency. But Oh Young-seok could have been designated as the one to survive the bombing.

Glad President Park had the guts to fire General Lee, before the military took charge. The first task of the president is not just security, but preserving the democracy.

Ep. 6, about halfway through, we've just been introduced to two of the commandos by name. That gives me the BAD feeling that they won't be coming home.

I wonder if the Weasel's attitude to President Park will change based on his heartfelt compassion for the soldiers. I'm sure it must have contrasted with the way he and his men were abandoned by everyone in the battle he talked about earlier.

When I thought the Weasel might turn out to be a good guy, then I wondered if there would be a loveline between him and Ms. Han. But I've gone back to thinking that her fiance survived, but is in hiding. I think he was on to the Weasel's plans, and he is the one who called her from in front of her apartment. She was looking at his photo, missing him, and he was out in front, watching her light. I wonder when she will begin to suspect this too.

Discussion aside I want to make comment in honour of true OTP of the series, newly appointed Chief of Staff Cha and Press Secretary Kim :D

As of ep. 6, methinks there's a birth secret because cranky son freaked out when he saw that photo of his obviously pregnant mom with a man who isn't President Dad. Are we going to find out that Mom was married to Dad's best buddy from college -- who ended up getting killed or terminally ill, so Dad married her so her child wouldn't be a bastard? Was Junior's fist fight at school the result of someone persecuting him after discovering his secret?

Apropos of Prez Park's insistence on telling the truth, I was reminded of an apocryphal quote from Mark Twain:

http://factmyth.com/factoids/if-you-tell-the-truth-you-dont-have-to-remember-anything/

Tell the truth and ditch having to remember your lies.

I said before I want more screen time for investigation, I take it back. It was awful, it would be miracle that ROK lasted as an independent country for so long if it had intelligence and military forces as portrayed by this writers.

I really liked ep. 9. I liked their backstory, I liked the way PMJ didn't care about the political fallout, he was determined to protect Si-wan. I like the way they were able to shift the focus of the story to the First Lady as a positive role model.

Maybe one of the reasons I enjoyed the ep was because they kept the Weasel to a minimum? His smug face really annoys me.

I suspect that Mr. Han is the mole in the Blue House. I suspect that he had a son who died in that battle seven years ago. Or if he didn't die, he was tortured and has never recovered.

I knew Secret Agent Fiance Kim Jun-o was still alive! I knew he was the one who saved HNG when Oh's henchman was trying to kill her. I'm really surprised though, that he found a way to communicate with the president secretly when poor Han-mo could not.

I'm also finding it hard to buy all the collateral damage from this new world-building. I get it that the Oh YS and his team are embittered and want to overturn the system, but they are embittered because they were left to die. So how can their movement -- which seems to be founded on valuing human life -- justify not only blowing up the National Assembly building, but also taking individual human lives, including possibly Han-mo's innocent son, who could die of an allergic reaction????

Last but not least, when are we going to see Mr. Cha acknowledge his feelings for Ms. Choi and vice versa? The way that she kept pushing his buttons to get what she wanted was really cute, and the way that he kept falling for it was even cuter.

Isn't it interesting that the lead photo for this preview features not Pres. Park but Secretary Han? Because I am now convinced that Secretary Han is the VIP. I think that's why he apologized to the first lady in the hospital. I think he's the only one with the connections and behind the scenes power to pull this off, and I think he did it because he was so disappointed that the man he believed in was not able to accomplish anything. So he made him a martyr.

I was surprised that Oh YS was not the VIP, and I think that he's going to rebel against his role. He takes himself too seriously to be someone else's puppet. I have the feeling that when the final confrontation comes, he's going to die protecting President Park. That's just a feeling.

I'm also convinced that people who gave up on the secretary ship were mistaken. Secretary Cha and Ms. Jung are going to figure it out in the end, and when they realize who gave Cha the order to make that phone call, they will have smoked out Secretary Han. And when it's all over, she's going to ask him out for chicken and beer.

My predictions. ; )

The main thing I got out of ep. 12 was that the air was cleared between Secretary Cha and Secretary Jung. Don't worry, Secretary Jung, there's chicken and beer in your future.

I really don't get why Oh YS is allowing himself to be a pawn in someone else's game. With his ego and his self-righteousness, I would think he would want to run the game himself. I don't think he would have chosen to get closer to the Americans. It's interesting how the tailor has kept all his pawns compartmentalized. I don't think Oh YS and the General knew they were on the same team.

I can't stand the mayor, but I'm really getting rather fond of Ms. Yun. I love the way she got to the real heart of the stock market crisis. I also really liked her moment with Pres. Park, when she said he was the only referee she could trust.

And I'm still convinced that Secretary Han is the VIP. What's really behind it? Not sure. Now that we know that Oh YS is just another pawn, I don't think he has any personal connection to Oh's story. He just was smart enough to scout Oh for his plan.

I can't believe they have just two weeks left to find the bomber and elect a new president!

Ep. 13 -- How about that basketball showdown? Was it really all about policy, or was it partly about Secretary Jung?

I'm wavering a little on my theory that Secretary Han is the VIP. I'd like to think someone took advantage of his bitterness to enlist him in revolutionary change -- but without letting him know they'd be blowing up his friend Pres. Yang and everyone else at the National Assembly. But in the end the only other person with enough influence is Ms. Yun, and I don't want to believe it's her either. I think she's capable enough to win on her own without blowing up her opponent, and after her warm words in the hospital room, I don't think she would have targeted Pres. Park for death. I think one reason Secretary Han is so dismissive of Pres. Park as a presidential candidate is because he doesn't want him to get in the way and get hurt. I think he really gave himself away when he was talking about Oh YS and how the people got what they wanted/what they deserved.

In the middle of ep. 14 -- He realizes that he sacrificed policy to politics, and looked down at the shoes, the shoes that don't seem to bother him anymore.

Am I the only one getting tired of Pres. Park's perpetual concerned look?