Madam Secretary - The Ninth Circle - Review: "Diplomatic collapse"

Madam Secretary aired the second part of its three-episode arc on Sunday. The episode delivered shocking twists and truths in regard to the Vincent Marsh case. But honestly, it's not really about Marsh anymore.

In the opening moments, we immediately learn what was in the note that Juliet left for Elizabeth: "Whatever happens, know this: I did it for my country. This is a righteous cause." Isabelle, who is still mad at Bess, is brought in and reads the note as well. They deduce that Juliet wasn't coerced into being involved in Marsh's death, but also that she can't be working on her own. Meanwhile, Bess' biggest concern is preventing consequences from last week's failed raid in Istanbul. Not only did it kill person of interest Samila Mahdavi, but also two Turkish nationals and Special Forces Operative Brett Boris. The State Department denies any knowledge and claims Boris was in Turkey as a tourist. However, since the Turks want to do more research, they are holding onto Boris' body. Boris' desperate mother pressures Elizabeth to get her son's body back and Elizabeth promises to do everything she can. Sadly, just moments after the woman leaves, Turkey releases a video of the Istanbul operation and claim the CIA was involved.

To prevent any further damage, Bess decides to head to Turkey. She takes along Boris' mother to show her true intentions and to prevent her from talking to the press. Of course, Bess' trip serves three goals:
1. Take home the body of Brett Boris
2. Control the damage from the leaked video of the Istanbul raid
3. Find evidence from Mahdavi's body or belongings. Isabelle later learns that Mahdavi had a laptop on her, so Bess should be looking for that.
Long story short, Bess succeeds in goals 1 and 2. She offers the Turkish Foreign Minister Ozan Canoglu a gas deal in exchange for the body and damage control. However, Elizabeth isn't the only one interested in the laptop. The Minister tells her that Iran also made an offer, which they happily accepted. Said offer was made by the Iranian Foreign Minister Zahed Javani, who earlier helped Elizabeth in ensuring ongoing peace talks between Iran and the US. Bess attempts to convince Javani to hand over the laptop because they need it in an active investigation. However, Javani instead tells her that she lied to him. He found evidence on Mahdavi's laptop and in her apartment that she was turned to work for the CIA and that she was involved in a plot against the Iranian government. Bess is stunned to hear this and says she didn't know, but Javani doesn't believe her.

Elizabeth immediately suspects that Juliet was Mahdavi's CIA handler. Bess is about to go home with one body and a statement from Turkey confirming no CIA involvement, but without the laptop, when she is stopped at the airport. Turns out Javani had a change of heart and that he believes Elizabeth, because they both want peace between their nations. Hence, he gives her a copy of the content of Mahdavi's laptop. Back in the States, Elizabeth, Russel Jackson and President Dalton have a meeting when CIA Director Munsey comes in. The laptop ruled out Juliet as Mahdavi's handler, but instead pointed to Munsey. Dalton demands an explanation, and Munsey says he wants to help Dalton to make Iran nuclear-free. According to Munsey, there are elements in Iran who would never agree to a deal, so they made a plan to wipe out the Ayatollahs once and for all. He's talking about a coup, or regime change as Munsey calls it, and he claims it's already set in motion. There is nothing that Elizabeth, Russell or the President can do to stop it.

Meanwhile, Jason has a bully, named Preston, at school and stands up to him. Jason punches Preston in his face when he accuses Jason's mother of lying about the Istanbul raid. Preston's nose is broken and he needs surgery, so Bess and Henry later come over to Jason's school to talk about it. Jason apologizes to Preston, but says he is not sorry for standing up to him. This leads to Jason being expelled from school, but he already knew he would. He confesses to his parents that he made a reserved apology on purpose, because he didn't like at school and wanted to go to school with 'normal' children.

Also, Daisy has a lot of trouble lying to the press about the Istanbul incident. She tells her concerns to Matt and Nadine, with the former telling her about his spy job for Elizabeth. However, Nadine tells her it will be a problem if she can't spin her story. Therefore, the last press conference that clears up the incident is not handled by Daisy, but by someone else.

Well, there we have it. We finally know what was up between Iran and Marsh that lead to the Marsh's death. And wow, that conclusion does not disappoint! So Marsh, Munsey, Juliet and Mahdavi and possibly others (perhaps Allan Bollings from episode 5?) were planning a coup in Iran? That is one awesome twist that I would never have seen coming. We still don't know who exactly killed Marsh and George Peters, but that's besides the point now. Munsey did kill Madhavi so there is a strong possibility that he killed Marsh and George as well. I'd like to get confirmation as to who killed Marsh and George, but for now the focus is solely on the coup in Iran. I was lucky enough to have seen the next episode as well and I was so glad to after the cliffhanger ending of this episode. I can tell you that episode 16 won't disappoint either. All in all, this three-part arc brings out the best of the show and I'd like to call them the show's best episodes so far.

Besides the awesome twists, the side story with Jason was actually pretty interesting. Bullying is a frequent problem at schools, so to see Jason stand up to Preston was great. Of course, he had an underlying reason for doing so, which was surprising to me. I really enjoyed the moment with Bess and Henry and the school director. It showed they are just parents like any other and have no special rights whatsoever. Seeing them making desperate attempts not to have Jason expelled, was hilarious.

What did you think of "The Ninth Circle"? Did you see it coming that they were planning a regime change in Iran? How do you think it will impact the ongoing peace talks? Does Elizabeth have an ally in Zahed Javani? Were you surprised that Munsey is involved in the plot as well? And what are your thoughts about Jason's side story? I would really love to hear your opinions of the episode in the comments below.

The three-part story concludes with the episode "Tamerlane", airing next Sunday at 8/7c. I will publish an advance preview of that episode later this week. In the meantime, check out the promo here.

About the Author - Daniel van der Veer

Daniel van der Veer 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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