Madam Secretary – My Funny Valentine

By starrymag | April 7, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

Daisy (Patina Miller) tells Elizabeth (Téa Leoni) she’ll give some brief remarks to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of an embassy bombing before reading all the names of those who were killed in the attack. Afterwards, there will be a small reception. Elizabeth is upset they’re trying to minimize the event with words like “brief” and “small.” She wants to make sure they’re properly acknowledging both the American and Ugandan casualties.

 

Jay (Sebastian Arcelus) says the White House is pressuring them to expedite the sanctions review on Sudan. They were put into place because of the Ugandan bombing as well as several genocides, but there’s talk they might have cleaned up their act. Elizabeth tells Jay to go easy on Peter Harriman (Skipp Sudduth) during their meeting together, as he survived the bombing.

 

Peter asks Jay why the White House is so hot on lifting sanctions. Kat (Sara Ramirez) explains that the sanctions worked and Sudan has done everything the United States has asked. Peter argues the Sudanese only stopped doing things because there were forced—they still support Al Queda. The sanctions are the only tool they have to punish the regime and keep them in line. Another person in the meeting expresses that she thinks the sanctions are hurting the people more than the regime. Peter suggests they use the prospect of lifting the sanctions as a carrot for the US to help select the new Sudanese leader.

 

Daisy and Matt (Geoffrey Arend) pitch an idea for how to get Congress not to cut their embassy security budget: bomb sniffing dogs. Their plan is to make a video with Elizabeth highlighting their importance, and because the dogs will be so cute, it will go viral and there will be outside pressure for Congress to make it happen.

 

Elizabeth has lunch with Henry (Tim Daly), telling him he doesn’t have to hold her hand through the week. She admits she snapped at her staff, feeling guilty she didn’t stop the bombing as a CIA analyst. To speak at the memorial and not acknowledge her own failure is tearing her up. Henry assures her there was no way she could have stopped it and that he’s here for her.

 

Jay tells Elizabeth that the CIA is rushing sanctions because they’re in deep negotiations to build a base in Sudan. Elizabeth yells at Dalton (Keith Carradine) and Ware (Clifton Davis) about keeping her department in the dark about this, adamant they not lift the sanctions. The treasury director states that Sudan could be funneling money to their neighbors in order to get weapons to use against their own people, and Dalton says Elizabeth has three days to get to the bottom of their finances. Elizabeth finds out the Sudanese have been upping their game and playing the system in order for their money to be untraceable.

 

Daisy and Matt go to a bomb-sniffing dog training center. They meet Waffles, a dog that isn’t quite cut out for bomb-sniffing but would make a great pet. Matt and Daisy both fall in love with him, and Matt encourages Daisy to adopt him since his own building doesn’t allow pets. He also wants to know that she and her daughter have someone to take care of them. During the shoot, Elizabeth considers adopting Waffles, which makes Daisy jealous. She spontaneously says she’s already agreed to take him home.

 

Henry tells Jason (Evan Roe) he can invite Piper (Salena Qureshi) over for dinner, but Jason complains that Piper is suffocating him. Henry suggests they talk about boundaries and spending some time apart, but Jason says he’s exhausted from being so in touch with his feelings and always feels like he comes up short. They’ve had a good run, but he thinks it’s time to end things. Henry reminds Jason that Piper has been an important person to him, encouraging him to talk to her face-to-face instead of just ghosting her.

 

Peter hands Elizabeth his resignation, saying his position has been undermined—he can’t do his job if the Sudanese know they can go around him to the CIA to get what they want. Elizabeth understands where he’s coming from but refuses to accept his resignation, saying he’s one of the best negotiators they have. She tells him they would be honored if he were to speak at the memorial. He saved lives that day and is heroic. Peter snaps back that he was having an affair and much more amazing people than him died. It’s clear he has survivor’s guilt.

 

They have tracked the Sudanese finances and have found that the president is buying property in Europe, prepared for retirement if he is ever forced out of power. Because there has been no evidence of weapon purchases, Dalton thinks they should move forward with lifting the sanctions.

 

Jay tells Elizabeth they’ve found that Gaafar El-Basha (J. Oscar Simmons)—the man responsible for the Uganda bombing, a person they thought was dead—has been managing the president’s funds. Dalton is still in favor of lifting the sanctions, and Elizabeth rants to Henry about it that night. She doesn’t know how she can make a memorial speech saying that times have changed when they haven’t. She changes the subject, asking how things are going with Jason and Piper, encouraging Henry to stay out of it and let Jason figure things out himself.

 

Henry doesn’t listen to Elizabeth, telling Jason to text Piper and tell her he’s coming over. Henry drives Jason to her house and is roped into having a cup of coffee with her mom (Orlagh Cassidy). Piper’s mom gushes about how much they love Jason and how they should all have dinner together sometime. Henry awkwardly agrees, and he and Jason leave a few moments later. Elizabeth finds the story hysterical, telling Henry it’s karma for getting involved.

 

The next day, Henry is surprised to see Piper and Jason at their house together. Jason admits that, after thinking about what Henry said, he realized he only wanted a little space. The two talked it out and grew in their relationship, and Henry is proud.

 

Elizabeth speaks with the Sudanese Foreign Minister, telling him about Gaafar possibly hiding out in his hometown of Khartoum. She asks if his team will help locate Gaafar, and he agrees. The US locates Gaafar and captures him themselves, violating Sudan’s sovereignty.

 

Elizabeth informs the furious Foreign Minister that Gaafar will have a trial in Virginia, where most of his victims are from. They will not lift the sanctions that year because of this ordeal. The Foreign Minister says they’ve decided not to let them build a CIA base there in response, but Elizabeth says the CIA has already proven themselves by catching Gaafar. She tells him that when it comes to getting revenge on people who hurt their citizens, the US never forgets.

 

Elizabeth tells Peter that she has accepted his resignation but recommended to Dalton that he make him the next Ambassador to the UN and Dalton agreed. Peter is shocked and asks her for a few days to think it over, and she tells him not to wait too long. Elizabeth admits to Peter that she was involved in the CIA during the time of the attack. They knew something was coming, but they couldn’t figure out all the pieces fast enough. Peter says they all failed—nobody had enough resources to properly deal with the attack. He forgives Elizabeth and then tells her about his own regrets leaving his wife and children. He also tells her about Lana (Rachel Pickup), the love of his life over there and the first person who saw the real him.