Eh, it's less "stupidity of 24's writing" and more "trope of this type of series." Which is why I hope the conspiracy thing is over with soon, or only for the first season, and the rest of the series focus just on the vastly more interesting idea of an "everyman" running the country.
But, yeah, the Deputy Director was being a bit *too* obvious of tipping off the Congressman. Certainly when entering the Oval Office he could have said something like, "Excuse me sir. Given the sensitivity of this information I'd prefer to give it to you in private as Congressman (whatever) doesn't have clearance." Or something along those lines in order to get Congressman out of there but not act all suspicious with the "What, oh I called to tell you that I had to come tell you I had nothing to tell you."
But, yeah we're in the trope of the good guy being a puppet for the bad guy due to control over a family member which, to be fair, was half the story in 24's first season.
I'm more "bothered" by this "trope" of the all-powerful, all-seeing, monolithic organization that controls all aspects of everything. There's now two series on TV that I watch that do this, Designated Survivor and Timeless. The idea also played a role in Prison Break with "The Company" and it even had a role in 24 to one degree or another. Can't there just be bad people doing bad things without them being tied to some all-powerful organization that controls every aspect of the government and has been since pretty much the very beginning? (Sorry, that last bit shifts too far into Timeless's story.)
The basic premise of the show is interesting enough, I don't think we need to add conspiratorial nonsense.
And, I dunno, it's impossible for me to know what it's like to be in this position but given the pressure he's under and how it seems the story is bound to come out sooner or later why not cut the nuts off the story, and the guy in prison, confront their son about , get the paternity test taken and then release a statement to the press. That Kiefer and the First Lady met one another after she had broken up with her ex and soon after got pregnant, the child is (whoever's) and they're still a family that is close who love one another? Seems like the story could be wrapped up quickly and dealt with by being pro-active about it and they're just making things more complicated and potentially worse by trying to keep the cover-up and evade the press.
But, yeah, the Deputy Director was being a bit *too* obvious of tipping off the Congressman. Certainly when entering the Oval Office he could have said something like, "Excuse me sir. Given the sensitivity of this information I'd prefer to give it to you in private as Congressman (whatever) doesn't have clearance." Or something along those lines in order to get Congressman out of there but not act all suspicious with the "What, oh I called to tell you that I had to come tell you I had nothing to tell you."
But, yeah we're in the trope of the good guy being a puppet for the bad guy due to control over a family member which, to be fair, was half the story in 24's first season.
I'm more "bothered" by this "trope" of the all-powerful, all-seeing, monolithic organization that controls all aspects of everything. There's now two series on TV that I watch that do this, Designated Survivor and Timeless. The idea also played a role in Prison Break with "The Company" and it even had a role in 24 to one degree or another. Can't there just be bad people doing bad things without them being tied to some all-powerful organization that controls every aspect of the government and has been since pretty much the very beginning? (Sorry, that last bit shifts too far into Timeless's story.)
The basic premise of the show is interesting enough, I don't think we need to add conspiratorial nonsense.
And, I dunno, it's impossible for me to know what it's like to be in this position but given the pressure he's under and how it seems the story is bound to come out sooner or later why not cut the nuts off the story, and the guy in prison, confront their son about , get the paternity test taken and then release a statement to the press. That Kiefer and the First Lady met one another after she had broken up with her ex and soon after got pregnant, the child is (whoever's) and they're still a family that is close who love one another? Seems like the story could be wrapped up quickly and dealt with by being pro-active about it and they're just making things more complicated and potentially worse by trying to keep the cover-up and evade the press.
