Madam Secretary – The Statement

By starrymag | November 16, 2016

By: Taylor Gates

 

A suicide bomber blows up a packed coffee shop in Illinois. Daisy (Patina Miller) says the FBI will handle the investigation since it’s domestic terrorism, but Elizabeth (Tea Leoni) took over 50 calls from other countries offering support. Reporters ask questions about the bomber’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia and the fact that Matt (Geoffrey Arend) attends the same mosque as the terrorist. Daisy tells them to attend the FBI briefing later if they want more information. Matt is stressed by all the calls and emails he is receiving about his connection to the terrorist’s mosque. The only people he wants to talk to are the FBI and his mother.

 

Daisy is frustrated that Matt allowed her to be blindsided with questions about him, but Matt clarifies that he is merely an agnostic who sometimes donates to his mother’s mosque. He was afraid and impacted by this too considering it was his hometown that was bombed.

 

Blake (Erich Bergen) briefs Elizabeth on an upcoming conference with the Saudi foreign minister in Montreal; her agenda includes meeting with celebrity chefs and taking selfies with prominent actors. Elizabeth is frustrated, not understanding how this will assure Americans that they are safe.

 

Matt and Daisy arrive late to the staff meeting. Elizabeth is concerned about how Matt is holding up, but he assures her he is fine to write the speech. Daisy wants Matt to address the issue at hand, but Nadine (Bebe Neuwirth) snaps, implying her words are Islamophobic. Elizabeth diffuses the situation and changes the subject back to her irritation at having to attend the conference.

 

After the meeting, Nadine pulls Matt aside to reassure him she’s on his side. He apologizes for being short with her, as he’s afraid for his mom—she’s volunteering at the mosque now. Nadine assures him the scrutiny about his donation will blow over soon. She offers him the day off, but he would rather stay busy.

 

Dmitri (Chris Petrovski), who is going by the name Alex now, is working for a wifi and cable company in Arizona. He sees news about the bombing and gets nervous. The lady he is installing things for gets irritated at him for not being able to fix things. He gets overwhelmed and destroys the TV.

 

An FBI agent (Ty Jones) visits Henry (Tim Daly) at the war college he teaches at, telling him Dmitri has been charged with malicious destruction of property—a Class 6 felony and a year in jail. His transition hasn’t been smooth sailing and the agent wants Henry to help by giving him insight on what could be prompting Dmitri to act out. Henry lists a whole mess of things: he is lonely, living in a strange place and has not been able to speak to his sister. The agent says he’s about to blow his cover and become a liability to himself and the country. Maybe seeing Henry could help him. It would be complicated, but they might have to settle for a Hail Mary.

 

Henry and Elizabeth help Alison (Kathrine Herzer) brainstorm college admission essay topics. She wants to write about something she did, not something that happened to her because of her parents. Elizabeth suggests fashion and Alison has an epiphany—she can write about the time her makeup tutorial got 250,000 hits on YouTube. The two do their best to be thrilled and supportive; if it sucks, the guidance counsellor will be the one to tell her.

 

Elizabeth doesn’t want Henry to go to Arizona to see Dmitri since she feels like she needs him at home with her. She can’t handle college applications and the state department.

 

It seems the Saudi government played a part in the Illinois bombing. The bomber made the bomb during his trip to Mecca and got the materials, training and inspiration from someone related to the foreign minister heavily connected with the government. The Saudi government skirted their involvement with the dirty bomb the previous year and Elizabeth isn’t going to let it happen again.

 

Prince Asim (Nuah Ozryel), the Saudi ambassador, comes to Elizabeth’s office. Elizabeth tells him unless their government denounces consultants terrorizing the west, the US will cut important economic ties with them. Asim is confident Dalton (Keith Carradine) won’t be around in a month and everything will be fine, but Elizabeth assures him Conrad’s administration would be the most beneficial to them as Reynolds (Michael Potts) and Evans (J.C. MacKenzie) both distrust the middle east.

 

The news shows clips of an Evans rally where he criticizes the fact that Matt has yet to make a statement about his connection to the bomber. He calls for Matt to be suspended. Matt tells Nadine that his interview with the FBI was painless and done within a half an hour. He is concerned though about the fact Russell (Zeljko Ivanek) called him into his office. He’s afraid he’s getting fired to give Dalton a spike in the polls. Nadine reassures him state isn’t his jurisdiction—if anyone were to fire him, it’d be Elizabeth or her.

 

Henry has found a lawyer that will take Dmitri’s case pro-bono. Dmitri wants to pay him back for bail, as he doesn’t want to owe him anything. Dmitri admits he feels isolated without a place in the world or a path forward. He hates not being able to tell anyone about who he really is or help the world anymore even though it is getting worse every day. He begs Henry to take him back to DC—with his computer knowledge and Russian army experience he can be valuable. Without that, he doesn’t know what he has left to live for.

 

Russell wants Matt to write a speech denouncing radical Islamic terrorism. He tells Matt he is uniquely qualified to speak on this issue and move people while also laying this offensive story and rumors to rest. Matt refuses believing the fear mongers won’t be assuaged no matter what he says. Nadine backs him up. Russell whines about having to fight terrorism and move mountains because Matt refuses to cooperate, even daring to ask Matt if he does support jihadism since his silence looks like support.

 

Elizabeth disapproves of the way Russell spoke to Matt, especially since she has the real bombing culprit. She wants to punish the Saudi government for participating in gender apartheid and threatening the US. Elizabeth wants to take a stand and play the long game, but Russell is only thinking about election strategy, which doesn’t include standing tough and isolating Saudi Arabia. Russell begs her not to go to Conrad with this, as he is consoling the bombing victims’ families at the moment. Elizabeth questions when the right time will be.

 

Elizabeth runs into the mother of one of the victims in hallway, Victoria Butler (Allison Daugherty Smith). She calls Elizabeth out by saying they never held Saudi Arabia accountable for attacks in the past. However, she wants the government consultant responsible for this to pay for this crime. Elizabeth apologizes for not being able to be specific in telling her the actions they’re taking.

 

Nadine forcefully encourages Jay (Sebastian Arcelus) to go out with Matt that night in order to bond with him and take his mind off things.

 

Elizabeth calls Henry, telling him she cancelled her trip to Montreal, not being able to stomach seeing the Saudi minister. Henry asks Elizabeth if there was any way Dmitri could work for US intelligence. Elizabeth says it’s not possible because they promised the Russians they would never use Dmitri and it wouldn’t take long for them to find out if they broke that promise.

 

Jay takes Matt to a bar to see how he’s holding up. A couple of Evans supporters threaten Matt, calling him a jihadist. It quickly turns violent and punches start flying. Jay is frustrated that Matt refuses to press hate crime charges even though there are at least ten witnesses that will say the other guys started it and both he and Matt got beat up pretty badly.

 

Matt is irritated that Nadine keeps lecturing and checking up on him. He finally snaps, calling everyone into the conference room to address them. He says it’s bad enough that his hometown was bombed, his childhood mosque investigated, and he has been physically and verbally harassed. However, the worst part is his own country and colleagues keep asking him why he won’t defend himself more or make a statement. He says he shouldn’t have to, as it should be obvious he is just as horrified as everyone else. Nobody asks white men across the country to condemn a killer who shoots up a church so why is every Muslim implicated when an extremist attacks? His donation was simply for a playground and that’s exactly where the money went.

 

Nadine confirms this, saying the FBI sent over their report. The killer was radicalized in Saudi Arabia, not Illinois. His mosque is cleared. Elizabeth says she’ll tell Russell that nobody should force Matt to speak. Everyone apologizes for the way they have acted towards Matt and he admits he hides his background because he doesn’t want to deal with the assumptions, but now he’s tired of denying it. He’s going to take the week off to visit his mom. Elizabeth tells Blake the visit to Montreal is back on.

 

Elizabeth meets with the minister with the press around. She has brought Victoria with her, who demands justice for her daughter by putting pressure on the minister to publicly denounce his cousin for funding terrorism.

 

Henry forces Dmitri to meet with him and the agent handling his case. The bad news is that they can’t let Dmitri back into intelligence. The good news is that Dmitri will now be able to keep in touch with Henry via a dead drop number. And although Henry can’t give Dmitri professional satisfaction, he can at least help him try and achieve connection. He has brought his sister Talia (Masha King) there to see him. Elizabeth fast tracked her visa to be able to temporarily live in the US, and in a few months it’ll be permanent under a new name. Her cover story involves being his sister so they won’t have to lie about that.

 

The Saudi minister tells Elizabeth they have never been treated with such disrespect, but Elizabeth tells him this is an opportunity to prove their progressivism. Elizabeth threatens to target them as well as make their European allies target them with harsh economic restrictions if their government doesn’t denounce the terrorism. She will be the secretary for a few more months regardless of whether Dalton wins or not.

 

Henry tells Elizabeth that Alison’s essay is actually amazing—she’s used her YouTube tutorial to talk about the democratization of media, third wave feminism and the internet as a virtual university. It’s poignant and Henry is overwhelmed and overcome with emotion.

 

The news announces the Saudi leader in charge of funding the bombing is under arrest. Matt and his mosque have been pronounced as innocent parties in the attack.