Designated Survivor (spoilers)

[aliasname]

Enjoyed the first 2 seasons. Started watching the third, and the tone feels different - some of the cast have disappeared etc. So I googled it to find out if they changed writers or something and came across this for episode 3.

It becomes public that Kirkman’s sister-in-law, Sasha, is transgender. […] Penny has her first period, and Sasha helps her adjust. (Wikipedia)

WTF. I don’t know whether to watch it in case I’ve misunderstood and it’s not as awful as I think… or if I should just skip it because it will make me so angry.

for those who haven’t watched, Penny’s mum was killed at the end of season 2, and nobody has mentioned Sasha until now ???!

Please tell me I’m wrong and close-minded, and it’s actually really sensitively written, as I can’t bear the alternative. 😠

We had to stop watching at this point, it turned from exciting drama into preachy, unbelievable drivel.

Nah it's as bollocks as it sounds.

I still watched it, it was a great show, but this was bollocks

I stopped watching it soon after that episode, it got worse.

I just don’t get it, wasn’t there anyone on set who thought this was inappropriate for the young actress playing Penny to talk about this subject?

How can the transwoman support her through an experience she has never had herself? Well I suppose you could say the same about her father supporting her instead, but that to me feels different because he at least wouldn’t be giving the impression that he understood exactly what she was going through.

for some reason it makes me feel really uncomfortable, I think because I imagine the girl feeling like she has to play the scene as everyone has told her it’s normal.

Given that there were female members of staff within Kirkmans office and no doubt household staff that would have been closer to the daughter at the time than some random uncle that's never been mentioned that thinks he's a woman the choice of then doing a daughter gets first period episode and having the uncle as her confidante to guide her through it felt exceptionally exploitative of the young girl playing the daughter.

It was unnecessary and was pushing a political/ideological agenda.

It really pissed me off.

’exploitative’ yes, that’s exactly it!

But I haven’t yet seen the episode, so I was hoping someone on here would say “actually it’s okay, she plays it very sensitively, like ‘I don’t know exactly how you’re feeling but everybody goes through puberty & it can be tough…’

ugh. I quite liked this show (well DH watches it while I surf mumsnet lol) but I enjoyed Seth’s speeches, and the whole Andrea plot was great. I will have to leave DH to it because it fills me with rage.😡

It's been a while since I watched it, so I don't remember the ins and outs, but I do remember the whole story arc of the mothers much loved but up until then never mentioned trans sibling felt incredibly forced and didn't flow particularly well. And the whole daughter gets first period at school thing was just so incredibly uncomfortable to watch i wanted to reach into the screen and remove the young actor from it. It really tainted the show for me.