The last episode of Madam Secretary left us on a cliffhanger when a rocket was fired at Elizabeth (Téa Leoni), President Dalton and Maria Ostrov as they left peace talks. It wasn’t clear who was the intended target or if anyone would be injured or killed.
The latest episode answered those questions as Elizabeth and Dalton escaped unharmed while Maria Ostrov was killed. Having just agreed a peace deal with Ostrov her death left the world in an uncertain place again.
It soon became clear that a Ukrainian was behind the assassination. Elizabeth tried to appease the Russian General Doroshevich and encouraged him to stick to the agreed peace deal. However he said that after three days of mourning the Russians would be striking back at Ukraine.
She then tried to approach the problem from a different angle by asking the Ukrainian government to track down the man responsible. She strongly advised that they hand him over to the Russians before all out war begins.
Meanwhile, Henry (Tim Daly) was having a tough time coming to terms with the failure to extract Dmitri. He attempted to get Dmitri’s sister to move to the U.S. so they could keep her safe from the Russians. She refused and shortly after news came through that Dmitri is probably now dead.
Henry is arguably the best character on the show and the news hits him hard. It’s likely to change him and he had a tough time facing Elizabeth after the news. He decided to quit his role with the DIA.
Not convinced the Ukrainians would listen, the U.S. managed to track down the assassin themselves. Sadly it cost them the lives of six of their special forces when their helicopter was shot down. They then handed him over to the Ukraine with instructions to give him to Russia before things got out of hand.
Preventing World War III wasn’t enough for this episode, Elizabeth also found herself dealing with a crisis on the International Space Station. A North Korean satellite had exploded causing damage to the ISS which had trapped the astronauts. Three Russians were trapped at one end but safe while two Americans and a Japanese were trapped without space suits at the other end.
It was impossible for the Russians to get the onboard space suits to the other side of the station as they were too bulky. Instead Elizabeth managed to broker a deal with Russia and China to send some modular suits up on a Russian craft.
China were able to use this as a way to be recognised as space partners. The suits arrived safely but the Russians were told the mission was too dangerous due to space debris. However they ignored the warnings and managed to complete the space walks needed to rescue the other astronauts.
Elsewhere in the episode Elizabeth and Henry had to carry out some volunteer work at Allison’s school.
At the end of the episode Elizabeth and Dalton spoke with the interim Russian Prime Minister. It looks like peace might be back on the table, for now at least.
The next episode of season two is The Middle Way. Elizabeth goes to Myanmar to sign a Pacific Rim trade agreement which will modernize their power grid and benefit several of its trading partners, but she is met with resistance by the country’s American ambassador who has immersed himself into the local culture. Also, Nadine attempts to mend her relationship with her estranged son.
Tune in to Sky Living at 9pm on Wednesday to see the episode.
