Madam Secretary – Sea Change

By starrymag | October 4, 2016

By: Taylor Gates

 

President Dalton (Keith Carradine) and his staff watch the news, which announces he has just lost the presidency. Russell (Zeljko Ivanek) immediately points the finger at Elizabeth (Tea Leoni), blaming her for his defeat.

 

Rewind two months. Nadine (Bebe Neuwirth) and another staff member brief Elizabeth on a pig judging contest she will have to attend in order to promote agriculture. She will also attend an important dinner with donors and appear on a talk show where the subject of her accepting the Vice President position is strictly off limits. Elizabeth is a natural crowd pleaser and everyone at the fair falls in love with her. Back at the office, Elizabeth’s staff gives her more information about the U.S. naval base in Bahrain that was hit by a tropical cyclone. Not only were there over thirty injuries, but there were also billions of dollars in damages.

 

Elizabeth doesn’t understand why they want to renew an agreement with Bahrain, as their human rights are less than impressive and the United States isn’t terribly reliant on oil from the Persian Gulf anymore. When Elizabeth leaves for a meeting, Daisy (Patina Miller) and Jay (Sebastian Arcelus) express concern for President Dalton’s poll numbers. Blake (Erich Bergen) and Matt (Geoffrey Arend) though aren’t worried—his competition is a nobody from Pennsylvania.

 

The representative from Tunisia is irritated that Elizabeth can’t give him the time or attention he feels he deserves. Since their country is moving towards a democracy, he feels it deserves respect from the United States. He thinks the US should make decisions based off more than just strategy.

 

Jose (Carlos Gomez) visits Henry (Tim Daly) at his college saying they’re getting Murphy Station back together to finish out finding Hizb al-Shahid. Henry is reluctant, as he almost died last time and is enjoying spending more time with his family. Jose pulls the guilt card by saying his country needs him. Henry promises he’ll think about it and Jose plans to tell the others he’s in.

 

An expert informs Jay that sea levels are rising everywhere, not just Bahrain, and they should be raising naval stations around the world. When Jay asks him how he knows this, the policy guy spits that he should ask his boss.

 

At the donor dinner, Russell tells Elizabeth that she has to charm everyone there—they’re all extremely influential and Elizabeth needs their support to be VP. Elizabeth talks to Julius Burton (Brian Reddy) first and he immediately starts pressuring her about getting the Bahrain naval base restored.

 

That night, Henry and Elizabeth are both miserable. In their bedroom, Elizabeth voices that she doubts she can do the Vice President job. Henry is upset that Dalton asked him to cut back on work in order to campaign. Elizabeth is frustrated they seem to be giving up jobs that matter in order to go to fairs and fancy dinner, but Henry assures her this is an even bigger opportunity she’s been handed and that she should go for it.

 

The McCords sit around the breakfast table with Stevie (Wallis Currie-Wood) looking at a flat Jarith (Christopher O’Shea) found in Oxford and Jason (Evan Roe) accidentally letting Elizabeth’s VP nomination slip while complaining about his computer messing up. Henry promises to take it to the White House and get it fixed when he officially turns down the consulting job.

 

Jay talks to Elizabeth about what the policy consultant told him the previous day—that climate change is a huge threat overseas and the fact congress doesn’t officially recognize it is problematic when it comes to foreign affairs and agreements. Jay sulks, realizing there’s nothing he can do, but Elizabeth has other plans. She’s ready to change the world.

 

It turns out someone has hacked into Jason’s computer and has been spying on him through the webcam every time his computer was connected to the internet. Oliver (Kobi Libii) recommends that Henry take it to the FBI for further investigation.

 

Russell is preparing Dalton for his debate when Elizabeth barges in, demanding to know why Burton Enterprises did nothing when every respectable climate scientist warned him the Bahrain naval force was at risk for cyclones. She goes on to rant about how they are stuck in old thinking—they shouldn’t be aiding Bahrain at all because of their atrocious human rights records, but rather helping likeminded progressive nations like Tunisia. Russell and Dalton think her train of thought is too simplified, as she has to take into account things like terrorism. Elizabeth loses it, screaming about how making decisions based on power and political expedience makes them no better than Russia or China and doing things just to keep people like Julius Burton happy isn’t what the US is about. Dalton can’t believe Elizabeth is seriously suggesting they overhaul foreign policy during an election year, especially an election he is barely winning. Bold idealism won’t be of any use to him if he isn’t in office anymore. Elizabeth wants to do what’s right; Dalton wants to win. Elizabeth calls Henry, worried that she’s going to get fired. Henry tells her she’s much too valuable to lose and Dalton probably appreciates her passion. He starts filling her in on the situation with Henry’s computer, but is ambushed and violently pulled into a van.

 

Jason, Stevie and Alison (Kathrine Herzer) fret over Henry, but it turns out he was just mugged and is now fine. Elizabeth is worried about the computer, but Henry tells her not to fret. She heads to her interview while the kids make Henry dinner. Jane Pauley asks Elizabeth if she expects to be offered the VP position, which she dodges effortlessly. Jane then moves onto questions about the Bahrain base, which she handles with less grace. She admits she believes climate change is not a question and that it must be addressed. She breaks rank with the president, saying she is a public servant and not an official member of either party.

 

Jay tells Elizabeth how admirable her climate change answer was, but Russell has the opposite reaction. If she cares about Dalton or wants to further her own agenda, she had better keep her mouth shut on climate change. Russell calls Dalton right before the debate, informing him that Ensign Kelley (Julian Gavilanes) didn’t make it after the cyclone in Bahrain. Dalton delays the debate in order to call the family and send his condolences and gratitude for his service.

 

Dalton’s primary opponent, Governor Evans (J.C. MacKenzie), quickly goes for the jugular saying throughout his presidency he has never supported the military. Dalton goes off-script, saying that climate change is to blame for Ensign Kelley’s death—a subject congress and even their own party deny. Though the reality of it doesn’t serve the United States, they must take action to change this or more lives will be threatened. Dalton vows to prepare the United States for a rapidly changing world despite all opposition if he is elected for a second term.

 

The next day in the car, Dalton tells Russell and Elizabeth that he will not be renewing the deal with Bahrain and instead will be offering assistance to Tunisia. Russell tells him he has basically written his presidential obituary and that all his changes will be rolled back in January.

 

Fast forward two months again. Russell tells Dalton he needs to address the crowd and eventually endorse the winner of his party on the campaign trail. However, right now he is too much of a liability to help. Dalton doesn’t blame anyone for his loss and is upset that he won’t be able to announce Elizabeth as VP. He still has seven months in office and they will make it count.

 

Henry is sad for Elizabeth, but Elizabeth says now she can visit Stevie in Oxford and go back to teaching. She admits she wanted a shot at the vice presidency, but more than that she wanted Conrad to have another term. Elizabeth runs into Chief Justice Frawley (Morgan Freeman) at a cafe, who admits he would have voted for a Conrad/Elizabeth ticket despite it not being his party. Elizabeth tells the Tunisian foreign minister that they will employ local workers to help build a naval base in their country, offering them both protection and jobs. The Prime Minister is thankful for the sacrifices Dalton and Elizabeth made on his country’s behalf.

 

Dalton says that Evans wants Dalton’s endorsement because he is still popular in some demographics. Evans tells Elizabeth that he will do everything in his power to undo the Tunisian agreement and that her climate change stance has destroyed the party unity they had. He also asks Elizabeth to stay on as Secretary of State when he is in office, informing her he will ask Russell to stay, too. Elizabeth has an epiphany and asks Dalton to run as an independent. She thinks he may be able to win even without his party’s support—it would be unprecedented but so was the move his party just pulled on him. If they’re going to make history, they want to make the good kind.

 

Russell shows up to Elizabeth’s house saying Conrad running as an independent is an insane idea. He can’t win and it makes Russell choose between one president and the party he has supported since middle school. Elizabeth argues that it’s not the same party; this candidate doesn’t stand for what he and the party supports. The only way Dalton can win is if nobody else does either. If he can make it so none of the candidates get 270 electoral votes, the election gets thrown to the House of Representatives where Dalton has a good chance of winning. If they want to have any shot, they need to win Evans’ home state of Pennsylvania, which is worth 20 electoral votes. He needs to choose a popular Pennsylvanian politician to be his running mate.

 

Elizabeth gives him her blessing to do that, but Dalton refuses and says he still wants Elizabeth to be his VP. She finally convinces him that she will be more useful as his Secretary of State since their platform has to do with so much foreign policy overhaul.

 

Henry has ordered some cheeseburger pizza for him and Elizabeth to eat while they grade term papers and restructure foreign policy. The flirtatious mood is interrupted though when Elizabeth spies pictures Henry is holding—creepy paparazzi-like photos of their children. Someone, Elizabeth realizes, is stalking their kids.