This review contains spoilers!
Election day is finally here on the latest Madam Secretary episode, which brings, chaos and uncertainty. Add a possible nuclear threat to that, and you got yourself a one intense Madam Secretary episode. So let’s jump on the wild ride that the newest episode turned out to be.
Case of the week
On this week’s Madam Secretary episode Elizabeth had to juggle presidential election and a possible nuclear threat, that could mean the end of their Iranian peace deal and Daltons time in the Whitehouse.
After Walter Nowack brings information about Iran’s top nuclear scientists getting together to Elizabeth, she uncovers, that a Russian ship is smuggling gas centrifuges, that can be used to enrich uranium, to Iran. That kicks everything into action, and President Dalton has to make a difficult decision: prevent Iran from getting the centrifuge or save face on Election Day and do nothing.
Of course, after proving many times in last episodes, what kind of a man he is, and, more importantly, what kind of president he is, Dalton decides to stop the ship that is smuggling the centrifuges. But not even the confirmation of the contraband on board lightened the mood. Marines during the operation of stopping the Russian vessel shot two Russian sailors, which opened up a whole other set of problems to the Dalton administration – how will they get Russia to agree to send inspectors to Iran.
Luckily, after doing some Elizabeth-magic, Russians caved and the inspectors traveled to Iran. But before we could get a happy ending, they were captured by Iranian revolutionary guard, and the show ended on a big old cliffhanger. As much as I love the Madam Secretary cliffhangers, I don’t like the fact, that we will have to wait until December 11 to know, what happened.
Secondary story line
But happy endings, or at least semi-happy endings were met in the Presidential election story line. Dalton won Ohio, which meant, that no candidate received the absolute majority of electoral votes. And now it is up to the House of Representatives to decide who will be the next POTUS in the Madam Secretary universe.
So it looks like this election story line is far from over, since now Conrad needs to win the majority in the House of Representatives vote. And if previously it seemed a given, now, with the peace deal falling apart, nothing is set in stone.
I guess we will just have to see, how this election plot like plays out and when it will actually be resolved. On the mid-season finale, or maybe on the first episode back after the winter hiatus? Who knows!
Family affairs
I have praised Madam Secretary for including such dynamic family scenes in each episode of the show. And I will do it again, because this episode didn’t lack in that department. At the beginning of the episode, Jason announced, that he is supporting different presidential candidate, not Dalton.
But the way he made this announcement was the most shocking part. He walked into the kitchen during family breakfast wearing a T-shirt that stated support for Dalton’s rival. He clearly did it to get a rise out of his parents, but, fortunately, Henry put him in his place. Later in the episode, Henry said, that Jason should be able to defend his candidate-of-choice, before he so publicly endorses him as the better option for president.
I think it is a great lesson for young people, not only in regards to politics, but in general. We often feel strongly about different matters, however, as long as you don’t know how to substantiate your point-of-view, you shouldn’t be advertising it publicly. Actually, you shouldn’t be talking about it at all, because, not knowing all the facts, makes you extremely under-qualified to be speaking about the matter publicly or otherwise.
Last thoughts on this Madam Secretary episode
Finally, this Madam Secretary episode wouldn’t have been half as fun without the scenes from the election party. Not only we got Daisy and Blake singing, which was amazing by the way, we also got a whole lot of flirting and drunk conversations.
Luckily for everyone at the party, but especially Nadine and Daisy, “what happens on election night, stays on election night.” Both women definitely looked like they regretted their drunken encounters the next morning, what with Nadine sleeping with Mike B. and Daisy with Mikes Co-worker Win. I wonder if that will really be true about everything staying on that night, because Mike B. and Nadine would make an odd, yet great couple. What do you think?
Episode highlights:
• Elizabeth and Henry after voting
• Nadine inviting Daisy to join her at the Election night party
• Elizabeth running to find Jay and Walter
• election night party and all the shenanigans during it
• Daisy and Blake singing
• Dalton once again showing what kind of president he is
• Henry giving advice to Jason
• the cliffhanger at the end of the episode
Episode let-downs:
• Jason flaunting around the fact, that he is not supporting Dalton
• Russell flipping out about Daltons decision to attack the Russian ship
Quote of the episode:
Elizabeth: “But you know what they say, couple that gets fired together, stays together.”
Allison: “No one says that.”