Madam Secretary - Game On (Fall Finale) - Review: "Who killed Vincent Marsh?"

Madam Secretary on Sunday saw major developments in the Vincent Marsh murder case. One major suspect was crossed off the list while another one was introduced.

Following Nadine's reveal about Marsh's Venezualan bank account, Elizabeth calls Isabelle and resumes the investigation into her predecessor's death. They discover three people who have access to the account, and one of them turns out to be Nadine herself. After confronting Nadine, Bess decides to pay a visit to Venezuela with Henry and her staff. Although Venzuelan President Francisco Suarez is initially unwilling to allow Americans into his country, he changes his mind when Bess brings along Venezualan-born baseball player Manny Azucco. Elizabeth negotiates with Suarez to have free elections in his country, but Suarez is heavily embarrassed when Azucco at a press conference admits to being gay. Suarez also finds out about the bank account and threatens to reveal this to the public. Bess beats him in his own game, threatening to reveal that the Venezualan banks lack safety measures. She also offers to have Azucco play in the Venezualan baseball team for the next championship, which will assure them a victory and all the positive consequences that brings such a victory along. Of course, this turns Suarez around.

Meanwhile, Nadine investigates the Venezualan bank account and discovers that $40 million was withdrawn the day after Marsh died. The person who withdrew the money signed as Marie Porter. After Bess receives security footage from a Venezualan Colonel, Isabelle investigates the footage and discovers that the woman is an Iranian associated with VEVAK.

Also, on Elizabeth's orders, Matt tells Russell about her meeting with Israeli Ambassador Lior Dori. Russell subsequently confronts Dori about the meeting, but the ambassador doesn't reveal too much. After she has returned from Venezuala, the Chief off Staff confronts Elizabeth about the investigation into Marsh's death. He gets mad at her and then she reveals that she suspected him and the President to be behind Marsh's demise. However, because Russell questioned Dori and because he could have covered up the entire investigation into Marsh's death, Elizabeth deduces that he couldn't have killed Marsh. She later passes on the information about Marie Porter, and Jackson tells her that if the Iranians were behind Marsh's death, it could very well lead to war.

On a lesser note, there were several developments in various love stories. The episode confirmed that Matt and Daisy reignited their romance after Daisy and Win's break-up from last week. Also, Blake was embarrassed when Azucco tried to seduce into sleeping with him, and although Blake did not take the bait, there was no confirmation whether or not Blake himself is gay. Lastly, Stevie watched over Allison and the McCord mansion while her parents were away. As she led Allison's boyfriend into the house, she decides to let him stay with Allison but later changes her mind.

This was a great episode to cap off the first half of Madam Secretary's freshman season. I am glad we finally got confirmation whether or not Russell and the President were involved in Marsh's death. I think it's good that it's looking like they had nothing to do with it. It would have been difficult to pull off such an inside job and make it believable. Sure, it would have a lot of potential but I think the current twist also does. If a foreign nation was really involved in the death of a US Secretary of State, this could very well mean war. Of course we have no confirmation yet that Iran did kill Marsh, but I think it does make sense given the events of episode 5. Allen Bollings, who was trying to negotiate peace with Iran, wanted to start a war with Iran and worked together with Marsh to do so. Therefore, it's definitely a possibility that Iran found out and had Marsh killed.

However, while some questions are now presumably answered, I have a few new ones after having seen "Game On":
-If Marsh was truly killed by the Iranians, then who killed George? After all, George implied that Marsh's death was an inside job but he had a car accident before he could tell anything else. Were George's suspicions wrong? The Iranians had no clear reason to kill George. In fact, it would only benefit them if he suspected someone from the US government.
-How did the Iranians know about the Dubai plane crash? Marsh's plane was sabotaged in the same way as that plane. The Dubai crash killed Iranian nationals, and it was implied that Israel was behind that. If that's true, then how did the Iranians know how to have Marsh's plane sabotaged? Did they simply find out when they investigated the plane? Or does Israel perhaps have an Iranian spy amongst them?

These are just the most important questions I have now. Feel free to tell your theories in the comments below.

What did you think of "Game On"? Are you relieved that Russell and the President did not kill Marsh? How will the US respond now that they suspect that Iran killed him? Will this perhaps lead to war? And what are your theories on my two burning questions? Shout out in the comment section!

The next episode of Madam Secretary airs Sunday January 4.

About the Author - Daniel

Daniel is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Stalker, Madam Secretary and the upcoming shows Battle Creek and Odyssey. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.

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