Madam Secretary – Extraordinary Hazard

By starrymag | May 5, 2017

By: Taylor Gates

 

Elizabeth (Tea Leoni) is stressed about receiving emails for an impending book fair she signed up to help with so Henry (Tim Daly) offers to take over for her. Jason (Evan Roe) also announces needs an $127 graphing calculator, which his parents find absurd.

 

There is no sign of Pirosmani (Elya Baskin) in Spain, which is especially bad news for Elizabeth considering she’s the one who convinced the CIA to let the Spanish handle it. Dalton (Keith Carradine) is especially angry. Elizabeth encourages them to try and capture Pirosmani alive in order to get more information from him, but others are skeptical that he’ll cooperate and want to use lethal force. Dalton tells them to try and get him alive but agrees to take him in dead if necessary.

 

Jay (Sebastian Arcelus) asks Matt (Geoffrey Arend) if he’s going to spend another night at his apartment, but Matt refuses to spend one more second in his bachelor pad with terrible furniture. Jay tells Elizabeth that Russia has been tracking Pirosmani and found that he is due to be at an international conference in Nice. To go there and investigate would technically be going against the CIA, but Jay thinks they can spin it so it appears as a simple follow-up on Somalia. Elizabeth tells Jay to go and spend a few extra days at the Riviera—he deserves a relaxing break.

 

Henry and Mo (Arian Moayed) talk to the FBI about their theory. They’re pretty sure the Covenant of John is planning an attack on a mosque, but they’re not entirely certain which one. However, Al-Aqsa is the most likely target, and the FBI agrees to tighten security at the border. It’s risky, but it makes the most logical sense.

 

In France Jay meets with Timur Soroka (Mark Ivanir), a Russian tracking Pirosmani’s accounts, to talk about Pirosmani’s whereabouts. Soroka cryptically tells Jay that Elizabeth needs to be careful who she works with before taking a phone call. When he steps away, a group of men kidnap Jay throwing him into the back of a van and driving away.

 

Elizabeth is getting ready to give an online address when Jay calls her. Pirosmani gets on the phone telling her she has 24 hours to release his assets or something will happen to Jay. He doesn’t consider himself a terrorist, but a businessman and wants the US to negotiate with him—something they can’t do. Elizabeth promises to call Abby (Stephanie Block) but warns her staff not to spread the information. Elizabeth tells Dalton, who warns her that this is a CIA matter now and she needs to stay out of it. The US also won’t compromise its position on negotiating with terrorists even if the target is an American diplomat.

 

At the book fair, Henry talks to Jason’s teacher (Purva Bedi) about the steep price of the graphing calculator. She understands that it’s a little pricey, but says there is nothing she could do. However, Henry finds out the calculator is only $27—not $127.

 

Elizabeth asks Brennan (Jeremy Davidson) if he thinks she can trust Pirosmani in a one-on-one negotiation. A story he tells her about a time Pirosmani ruthlessly stabbed him and his men in the back makes her think she can’t. Elizabeth goes to the conference room, where her entire staff is still working around the clock to try and locate Jay.

 

The next morning Henry confronts Jason about his lie. Jason admits that he saw an Instagram picture of his girlfriend Piper hanging out in a helicopter with a rich kid. He was going to rent a hot air balloon to try and win her back. Henry tells him that Piper is going to like who she likes and that by trying to compete he’s not being true to himself.

 

Nadine (Bebe Neuwirth) tells Elizabeth the French police have Soroka in custody and Elizabeth interrogates him via video chat. Soroka is adamant he had nothing to do with Pirosmani or the kidnapping, but Elizabeth isn’t buying it. She threatens Soroka saying they’re going to go to the Russian president and tell him all about how he’s in the pocket of a Joran arms dealer. Soroka breaks saying he has proof on his computer.

 

Meanwhile, Pirosmani has Jay tied up in a basement, yelling about how the American government is full of liars. Jay reminds Pirosmani that he is selling American weapons to terrorist groups, but Pirosmani promises him that’s not the case.

 

Nadine talks to a frustrated and terrified Abby. Nadine tries to calm her saying that finding Jay is the priority for many intelligence agencies. Plus, she’s seen many hostage situations resolved: it’s always about more than money.

 

Elizabeth rushes into the situation room, showing them proof from Soroka that Pirosmani never made a deal on American soil. They only cooked the books to keep him out of trouble with the Russians. Pirosmani isn’t their guy and he views Jay tracking them and the US freezing his assets as a personal attack. Elizabeth thinks sending in SEALs puts both troops and Jay in danger—she wants to give him one last chance to come to them. Dalton agrees to give him 40 minutes before going in.

 

Jay tells Pirosmani that the president won’t reverse his position just to save his life. However, even if Pirosmani does get out of this he will never be truly free again. He’ll always be looking over his shoulder, and someday he will be caught. Pirosmani thinks Jay is just saying this to try and save his own life. Elizabeth calls Pirosmani telling him that if he releases Jay he will make it out of this alive. However, the US can’t release his assets even though they did make a mistake. Pirosmani refuses to cooperate, but Elizabeth remains hopeful that he’ll come around.

 

Their patience and hardball pays off, as Jay is released. Some of the CIA team wants to take Pirosmani in, but Elizabeth stops them. Not only was that not the deal, but Pirosmani is now useless as an asset as well. There’s no reason to risk the lives of the SEALs in order to go after someone who is no longer a threat. Dalton angrily tells his team to figure out who they should really be after.

 

Elizabeth and Henry talk on the phone about Jason. Elizabeth tells Henry he should’ve told Jason to fight for Piper, just not in the big way he was originally planning to. Henry gives him this advice, but Jason gloomily says it’s no use—he’s already in the friend zone. Henry tells him to cheer up and call her. If they have a connection, Piper will come around.

 

Nadine tells Elizabeth that all of their leads are either dead or in prison. Elizabeth feels the only logical thing to do is start all over. Jay stops by Abby’s house before going back to work. They hug and she tearfully says how happy she is that he’s okay.

 

Pirosmani is lounging in a luxurious hotel room when he hears shots outside his bedroom. The next day, Elizabeth lights into the CIA commander for disobeying the president’s orders and her recommendation. He promises he had nothing to do with Pirosmani’s death. Elizabeth is even more frustrated now feeling like she’s constantly wrong about things lately.

 

Elizabeth calls a meeting with Jay and Brennan to discuss the situation with Somalia and the stolen weapons. She tells Brennan that they found Pirosmani never sold American arms. Paul Crane, a man that worked for his company, is a different story. She calls in men to arrest Brennan for stealing and selling US property as well as murdering US agents.

 

Jason and Piper watch a movie together online. Like Jason, Piper is also grounded for the helicopter ride. It turns out she was just roped into it and even got sick when they were in the air. Jay tells the rest of Elizabeth’s staff that Brennan got tired of them trying to solve problems with diplomacy instead of violence and took matters into his own hands. He started a side business to cover up his debts and ordered the murder of Joseph Garcia when the CIA started closing in on him. Daisy (Patina Miller) gets an email saying that Garcia is going to be honored in a CIA memorium the next day and Nadine encourages her to go. The staff goes out for drinks together.

 

Henry and Mo talk to the FBI. They found that cult members are in Syria but are making their way to their final destination of Jerusalem. Jay gets a new, nicer piece of furniture in his apartment as well as a crib for Chloe.