Madam Secretary Season 2 Episode 2 Review: The Doability Doctrine
Samantha McAllister
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The White House really needs to look into a new phone plan.
There were a lot of intense moments on Madam Secretary Season 2 Episode 2, but a majority of it could have easily been remedied by the peer mediating stick. Maybe Elizabeth should look into getting a peer mediating stick while in the situation room because it would help with many of the conflicts.
Let's not waste anymore time and discuss, "The Doability Doctrine."
It's ironic Stevie would say Elizabeth lies for a living when, in reality, it's Henry who is the professional liar. He's working for the DIA and is now tasked with recruiting one of his students, Dimitri, to be a spy – I'm pretty sure Henry's lies are trumping Elizabeth's at the moment.
Of course Henry would hit a snag with Dimitri, but I appreciate his persistence at not wanting to go after Ivan by exposing his sexuality – at least Henry still has some morals; though those morals quickly went away when he offered Dimitri a cure for his sick sister if he became a spy. I can't blame Dimitri for getting angry and not wanting anything to do with Henry.
Going back to Stevie, I can't fault her for getting upset over Elizabeth and Henry secretly testing her hair follicle to see if she was on drugs. Stevie may be a complete brat at times, but she was up front about the heroin being on her and her parents could have asked her point blank if she was doing drugs. I guarantee Stevie would have offered up her own hair for testing.
Stevie's parents also have no say in who she dates because she is an adult. Should she be dating Harrison? Of course not, but the more her parents tell her not to do something the more she's going to do it. I didn't have a problem with Henry pressing Stevie to tell President Dalton about what Harrison possibly being back on drugs.
Even though President Dalton has a lot on his plate, he deserved to know what is going on with his son. Harrison is a drug addict, and while he may have truly forgotten about the hidden heroin, you can never be too safe. Thankfully it was Harrison who told President Dalton the truth about what was going on – Harrison needs to keep himself clean and out of a relationship.
The main conflict tonight, the kidnapping of a foreign service officer in Afghanistan named Tom, was an interesting look at how little control Elizabeth has. Elizabeth wasn't trying to negotiate with terrorists, she wanted to talk to them, and I hated how Craig was trying to talk her out of it. Elizabeth is Secretary of State, and she has the right to do what she feels is necessary.
I loved how Elizabeth talked about the issues she was facing with Madeleine Albright – what a smart move for Elizabeth to make. Madeleine gave Elizabeth excellent advice, and I was thrilled when she used said advice and called up the kidnappers to the get information she was seeking.
It was understandable why Elizabeth wanted to help the kidnappers out because the men were denied visas so many times. These men were at the end of their ropes, and they wanted to save their families. To them, they had no other choice but to kidnap Tom and be heard.
I was shocked when Russell essentially agreed with Elizabeth to get the men and their families visas. It was true nail biter watching them try to rescue all the men, but I knew it wasn't going to end well. It was hard watching the three men fight for their lives while Tom was being rescued, but I understood both sides of the argument of wanting to save the others or clear out.
On one side, it is hard to justify possibly losing men while trying to rescue kidnappers – even if they were decent men. On the other side, Elizabeth was right when saying the President could have easily been persuaded by his advisors to save all four men.
In the end, it was revealed the Russian President is dead which sets up some interesting stories for the future. Russia seems to be the sore spot this season, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens if/when the government goes off the rails. I wasn't entirely surprised Henry would call on Dimitri and get him to finally agree to be a spy since Russia's future is now hazy.
Do you think Russia's government will go crazy? Do you think Elizabeth will finally get some respect in office? What do you think of Craig?
Don't feel bad if you missed out! You can watch Madam Secretary online via TV Fanatic anytime. Just make sure to come back to let us know what you think.
On Madam Secretary Season 2 episode 3, President Dalton and his administration tries to handle the latest conflict in Russia. Will they be able to get things under control? Find out Sunday, October 8 at 8:30/7:30c on CBS.
Samantha McAllister was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in November 2018.
