A submarine from Russia was the latest crisis Madam Secretary had to deal with. This coincided with Henry's visit to Russia, which made for a tense situation.
We start near the coast of Alaska, with a Russian submarine receiving new orders from Moscow, which sends them into US waters. When Bess hears about this the next day, the sub has vanished and cannot be traced. Russia denies their sub is in American waters. It is suspected that the sub has experimental cloaking tech, meaning it can evade sensor tech. The President wonders what the Russian President Ostrov wants, so Bess has a chat with Russian Foreign Minister Anton Gorev. He tells her that the sub might find their map again if the US pulls back their troops near Latvia. However, Gorev also invited Henry to speak at a lecture and says Henry is now out hunting with President Ostrov. Ostrov makes it clear that Henry is basically his hostage. The sub is later found near the coast of Alaska, but they are not responding to communication. One of Dalton's advisors suggests they might be using nukes, and Dalton is not going to let that happen. He is ordering Admiral Hill to send a Navy ship that can destroy the sub permanently. However, this might just cause war with Russia.
After the hunting party, Henry sees Ostrov praying in a church and notices fear in his eyes. He calls Bess and informs her on this. Bess also gets advice from nearly retired State Department official Ezra Helsinger, who gets a retirement ceremony, and he tells her that it's strange that Ostrov is not talking about the sub at all. Normally, the Russian President would be all over it. Based on this, Bess asks the President to hold off on attacking the sub. However, the Navy ship does attack the sub, but the sub fires a torpedo back. There are no injuries, but the situation is tense. Elizabeth says they need to talk to the sub directly. It is revealed that the sub is in trouble, because they had a malfunction and a fire. As a result, there was a lack of oxygen and 42 people are dead already. The captain subsequently fired a torpedo, but the crew members have relieved him of his command. To save the remaining crew members from suffocation and from an execution for mutiny in Russia, the President makes a deal with Ostrov through Henry. The crew members get new lives in the US while the cover story says they have all drowned.
Meanwhile, Allison posts a photo of Stevie and Harrison on social media, leading to rumors that the two are dating. This causes friction with Stevie and Daisy gives the girls a PR lesson. However, when she learns that Stevie is currently dating Arthur from the microloan program, she urges her to break it off to prevent a PR nightmare. Stevie later does so, telling Arthur that he is basically too old.
This was an interesting episode with a quite tense situation. However, I do wonder how many times the series can have this near-war crises like the one in this episode. I mean, they have had quite a few already and we are only in the first season. I also have mixed feelings about Henry getting involved again. I think it was a bit too soon after the Bolivia cult for him to be involved in State matters yet again. However, I do understand his involvement, because he has dealt with Minister Gorev before early in the season (something that was referenced in this episode). Besides the case, I am glad that Arthur and Stevie broke off. I totally agree that he was way too old for her, and that dating her boss wasn't very smart from a PR standpoint. I am not sure if Daisy could really force her to break things off with Arthur, and it now looked as if Stevie only broke off because someone else told her to do so. Anyway, I'm happy with the outcome.
What did you think of "The Necessary Art"? What are your thoughts on the tense situation with Russia? Do you think Henry shouldn't have been dragged into this? And how wo you feel about Stevie and Arthur ending their relationship? I would love to hear your opinions in the comment section below.
The next episode airs Sunday at 8/7c. CBS has been kind enough to give us screeners of both episode 21 and the season finale, so look for previews for these episodes in the coming days and next week. Till then, here is a promo for episode 21:
About the Author - Daniel van der Veer
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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 show American Odyssey. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.
