Now this is what I am talking about! This episode is what I have been waiting for since the beginning of the season. I guess some shows just need a bit longer to hit their stride, but man I hope Madam Secretary keeps this up.
Everything fell into place here. There was a great balance between Elizabeth’s work and family lives, and Tim Daly was finally given some meaty work. Not only that, but the office staff started to come into focus. Their personalities continue to develop and some back stories were revealed. Matt and Daisy, eh? I like it! He’s kinda goofy, but is clearly bright (and obviously in love with her), while she’s struggling with her feelings for him… and for her boyfriend. Ooops!
The Iranian nuclear program is the emergency du jour, combined with an issue with a Canadian oil pipeline and both problems, to no one’s surprise, can be traced to the late Secretary Marsh. It turns out that not only did he hire an oil lobbyist to write the supposedly unbiased environmental impact report on the pipeline, but his hand-picked peace negotiator seems to want neither peace, nor does he want to negotiate. Granted, this bit was a little obvious from the beginning, considering he suggested bombing the facility during the cold open.
Not only that, but the honeymoon is over for Elizabeth. President Dalton (Keith Carradine) is pissed. While it’s true that Elizabeth inherited these problems from Marsh, the problems are real, and the training wheels are off.
The Canadian ambassador’s attempt to strong-arm Elizabeth into releasing the pipeline report by boarding and seizing some fishing boats is possibly the first humorous in-office plot in the show—and that’s a welcome addition. The ambassador (winningly played by Robert Klein) is impatient about the pipeline, but is out of his depth, threatening the US. It’s cute!
On the home front, precocious son Jason (Evan Roe) and his essay offer a great bonding opportunity for him and Henry (Tim Daly). After Henry ranked third on a magazine list of tasty DC arm candy, Jason’s decision to profile him rather than Elizabeth is a nice touch, and shows that the kid is pretty astute. I am sure that regardless of how accomplished Henry is as a professor, eventually he’d start to feel somewhat eclipsed by Elizabeth, so by choosing him, Jason gives him a bit of a boost.
Then there’s the scene at the bar with the drunken soldier; it’s a new side of Henry that I am glad to see. The former Marine pilot who put himself through college on the GI Bill and now teaches religion at Georgetown is a pretty interesting character, and I hope that now that they’ve given him something to do, they let him run with this.