Madam Secretary - Tamerlane/Face the Nation - Review: "Elizabeth's PTSD"

The latest two Madam Secretary episodes were pretty intense. Not only did they conclude the conspiracy arc in Iran, but they also showed how Elizabeth dealt with it all. Let's recap the three most important events of episodes 1.16 and 1.17. Please note that the review of 1.18 will come later this week or possibly next.

Iran incident
After Munsey's reveal that a coup in Iran is in motion, Elizabeth informs her staff of the entire ordeal. They attempt to identify potential coup leaders, and eventually find out that the leader is Jafar Alinejad. Bess and Russell visit him in Canada, but Elizabeth deduces he is dying. Since the coup will fall apart without him, the President's consideration for going on board with the regime change is completely off the table. In order to stop the coup, Elizabeth will have to go to Iran herself. She stays with Zahed Javani and his family. While there, Munsey in the US manages to make contact with co-conspirator Juliet and gives the greenlight to start 'Operation Tamerlane' aka the coup. The location of the phone call is tracked, and Bess gives the coördinates to Javani. He subsequently passes it on to President Shiraz, who promises to look into it. But right after that, a bomb explodes at Javani's house and is quickly followed by gunfire. Not only is Javani killed, but also Elizabeth's head of security Fred Cole.

Fortunately, Bess makes it out alive although she is wounded. She is brought to President Shiraz, who tells her that the coup has failed. Elizabeth hopes the peace talks can continue and so does Shiraz, but he isn't sure whether it's possible. Bess is taken to the airport and goes back to the US, much to the relieve of Russell, President Dalton, her entire staff and of course her family, who were all afraid something had happened to her. In the end, Bess receives an email from Juliet, who is apparently still alive, saying she wants to come in.

Aftermath
In the episode "Face the Nation" it becomes very clear that Bess is still struggling with the attack. She has flashbacks, nightmares and is unable to sleep. When Daisy calls her a hero, she goes all out on her and says the only hero was her security guard who died for her. Matt and Daisy also are pushing her to appear on Face the Nation, but during a practice session Elizabeth blacks out and needs a break. Later, during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Chen, Bess hyperventilates and stumbles out of her office. She is taken to the hospital, but apparently it's only a panic attack and not a heart attack as Bess originally thought. Henry wants her to talk about the events in Iran, but she says she isn't ready yet. Bess mostly feels guilt over what happened, as she wasn't able to prevent Javani's son from watching his father die. This even leads her to giving Jason more security at his new school despite promising him he doesn't need protection.

Knowing these are all signs of PTSD, Russell confronts Elizabeth at home and tells her how he lost his brother in a car accident. He also gives her the number of someone who can keep her mouth shut. Elizabeth then finally opens up to Henry, and she appears on Face the Nation without any blackouts.

Ecuador escalation
There is of course a weekly problem to solve in episode 1.17. This time, it's about the rain forest in Ecuador. The thing is, an oil company is drilling in the Amazon, but Bess wants to preserve the trees in the forest. However, if the US doesn't continue the drilling, the oil will go to China. So Elizabeth meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Chen and tells him they need to keep the rain forest. Bess starts shouting that both their children will suffer if they destroy the forest. As Minister Chen is obviously offended, Elizabeth's panic attack starts and the meeting is ended. Nadine later manages to calm down Chen and offers her apologies. She and Blake also work to start a campaign to save the rain forest.

Both of these episodes were excellent episodes. Episode 16 stands out for all of the action in Iran. The bombing at Javani's house was pretty shocking and very unexpected, and the first time I saw it I almost jumped up from my chair. It's sad that Javani is dead as he really seemed to be wanting peace between Iran and the US. Now the peace talks are in limbo and I'm not sure President Shiraz wants to continue these talks. The episode was also very heavy on emotions and it was lovely to see Henry's reactions to the events in Iran. Specifically, the sequence when he broke down in front of his daughters and the music started, was one of the best scenes of the series to date with beautiful and fitting music. Episode 17 was likewise heavy on the emotions and it was good to watch Elizabeth struggling with PTSD. I'm glad they once again showed and acknowledged that Elizabeth is also just a human person with a heart and emotions. Téa Leoni does an excellent job of putting so many layers in Elizabeth. And it was beautiful how everyone cared for her, even Russell!

Obviously, the story in Iran is over, but there are still a few loose ends. What happened to Juliet? How did Elizabeth react to her email? Did she allow Juliet to come in? Is Juliet hiding somewhere and does Bess know where? We also have no confirmation who killed Marsh and why. Then there's George Peters, who clearly knew too much and was likely killed for that reason, though it has not been revealed who killed him. I think it's safe to assume the show will come back to a few of these ends and hopefully some things will be addressed in the finale.

A few side notes from both episodes:
-Did anyone else notice during the aforementioned music sequence in episode 16 that, when Elizabeth was brought to the airport, you could see bodies hanging on the streets? I assume the co-conspirators and everyone that was involved in the coup was executed by the Iranian government. Iran still does have hanging as a capital punishment I believe.
-Nadine's affair has been revealed to the rest of the staff. The reactions of the staff members were hilarious!
-It was funny that Matt and Daisy were still trying to hide their affair, even though Bess told Daisy that everyone already knows.
-Allison celebrated her 16th birthday without her mother. However, Bess did call her daughter from Iran.
-Henry didn't tell the kids where Bess went, but both Stevie and Allison deduced that she went to Iran. They are smart children and I'm glad that they noticed Henry's strange behavior and jumped to their own conclusions. Jason didn't know nor suspect anything was off.
-In both episodes, Henry's concerns for Bess were portrayed amazingly. He is such a supportive husband of what he does, yet also knows when it's too much for her. Tim Daly is such a strong actor and it was heartbreaking to see him cry when he learned Bess was still alive.
-In episode 17, there was also some good news: Jay is a father! His wife gave birth to a daughter, whose middle name is Elizabeth. I'm glad we are also getting some happiness in the midst of all this intense stuff.
-Returning in episode 17 was Mike B, who also appeared in episode 14 and back then advised Bess to fire one of her staff members. Mike B has also returned in episode 18.

-Throughout the entire episode 17, Russel called Elizabeth Bess. I haven't kept track of it, but I believe this is the first time Russell called her that. Dalton has called her Bess very often, but as far as I know Russell hadn't done that before. The relationship between Bess and Russell is very interesting, sometimes they are allies and sometimes they are nearly enemies, but they also have a mutual respect for each other. The scene where Russell came to her house was beautiful and it was good to get some more insight on Russell. He could have easily been a one-sided character, but thanks to Željko Ivanek Russell has gotten some more layers.

What did you think of "Tamerlane" and "Face the Nation"? Are you glad the events in Iran are over? Do you think the peace talks will continue? What did you think of the show's portrayal of Elizabeth's PTSD? And lastly, do you have any theories on the loose ends that have yet to be answered? I would love to hear your opinions and theories in the comment section below.

Madam Secretary's next episode airs Sunday at 8/7c.

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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