‘Madam Secretary’ Has to Clean Up the Mess

I don’t think Elizabeth knew what she was getting into when she started investigating the former secretary of state’s death.

Last week Elizabeth, Russell and Andrew’s op went south and this week they had to clean up the mess.

Turkey was saying the CIA was involved. Daisy was having to go in front of the press and tell them that wasn’t true, but she couldn’t be read in on what was really going on.

Elizabeth was keeping her entire team in the dark. Not even Nadine knew what was going on.

Elizabeth tried to do the right thing when talking to Brett Boris’ mother, but that ended up backfiring. Mrs. Boris was so mad at the Secretary lying, that she threatened to go to the public and tell them the truth. Elizabeth managed to calm her down with the promises of getting her son’s body back and bringing her with to Turkey.

Turkey released the footage of Boris dying and their men dying. What was shown looked more like an operation than just a tourist getting caught in the crossfire.

Elizabeth got on a plane to go to Turkey, but did not expect what she was going to find.

First she met Isabelle in Turkey. She found out from her contact that the Iranian woman had a laptop with her that was encrypted. Elizabeth had to add getting the laptop on to her agenda and that wasn’t going to be easy.

The Iranian Foreign Minster said that the Iranian woman was one of her assets and that they were plotting against them. Elizabeth was shocked by this. She had no idea that this woman was an asset. She assumed that it would be Juliet’s asset and Andrew wasn’t surprised by this news.

Elizabeth was able to have Turkey say that the CIA was not involved and get the body back, unfortunately they weren’t willing to give her the laptop.

Luckily she has influence with foreign minsters and the Iranian one gave her the contents of the laptop. He finally believed her and told her that there were people in both of their countries trying to start a war.

She brought this back to Potus and Russell. The laptop revealed that the CIA Director, Andrew, was running the Iranian woman. He was orchestrating a coup that was already under way. He never believed that the talk with Iran was going to work. He had his asset killed when they were getting too close

He said this is what Potus wanted. The plan was to make sure Iran didn’t make a nuclear weapon and according to him, this is the way to do it.

They dealt with the fallout of the failed operation, how will they deal with this?

I love that ‘Madam Secretary’ uses current events in their storylines. The nuclear talks have been heating up in the news lately and there are some people in congress that don’t believe a deal is the right way to go. That’s exactly the tone that ‘Madam Secretary’ took as well. Only in the show, the CIA has it’s own idea on how to tackle the problem.

I wish more people in Elizabeth’s circle would listen to her. She said they should tell Turkey about their operation, but Russell shot it down. Maybe things would have not blown up in their faces.

Now the Secretary’s staff is afraid she’s up to no good. It didn’t help that Matt told Daisy about feeding Russell false information. Now Daisy won’t lie to the public, but if she only knew what the truth was. The truth would not be good in the hands of the press. As much as people like transparency, sometimes the public shouldn’t know everything. It could compromise the work that is being done. When the mission is done, then it should be revealed, until then it should only be in the right hands.

Daisy stepping down from her post, doesn’t look good. Has Elizabeth ever given her any indication that she’s dirty? I don’t think so. She should have complete faith in her boss. And as Nadine said, it’s part of the job.

Another time Elizabeth should have been listened to was about Jason. She was worried about the bullying, but Henry thought they should let it be for now. Then Jason gets in a fight with the guy that’s bullying him. The boy called his mother a liar. Jason just protected his mother’s honor.

Violence is bad yes, but so is bulling. Jason was getting punished for getting in a fight, but what about the boy that was doing the bullying? What kind of message does that send?

It’s good that Jason is going to go to a different school, but I hope that expulsion doesn’t follow him around. I don’t condone violence, but the incident wasn’t just his fault.

Now if people would start listening to Elizabeth, maybe some of the fallout could be prevented.

The conclusion of these intense three episodes airs next week. It looks like Elizabeth will be caught right in the middle. Take a look at the promo:

Daniel Sharman Cast in CBS Pilot

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Daniel Sharman may not be reprising his role of Kol in ‘The Originals’, he just snagged a role on CBS’s pilot ‘LFE’.

According to Deadline, Daniel 28, has been cast as the lead in the medical drama. The show “is described as a high-octane medical procedural revolving around second-year residents at New York City’s top hospital as they attempt to balance their god complexes with their humanity.” Daniel will play a good hearted and very gifted surgical resident, Joe.

The pilot sounds a little like what ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ was at the beginning.

Before ‘The Originals’, Daniel also starred on ‘Teen Wolf’, ‘The Nine Lives of Chloe King’ and the film, ‘Immortals’.

I was very upset when Kol died. I really enjoyed Daniel’s portrayal of Kol and the budding romance with Davina. Kol was much better as a witch than he ever was as a vampire. You never knew if you could trust him or not, but you really wanted to trust him.

I think Davina could actually trust him, but we will never know for sure now.

Rebekah said that she would dedicate her time in the witch’s body to finding a way to bring him back. I’m sure she will, but with Daniel’s new show, It’s unlikely that he’ll be coming back as Kol or at least not very regularly.

I’m very sad that Daniel’s time as Kol is over. I thought he was the perfect Kol and a great addition to ‘The Originals’.

On the upside, I’m happy he didn’t waste any time securing a new role.

We’ll have to wait and see how the CBS pilot does.

‘Madam Secretary’: Elizabeth Played the Game for an Important Cause

Elizabeth’s team messed up so badly, she had to call in a fixer. And he brought his dog.

Politics are a dirty game and Elizabeth knows how to play the game very well, but she does it for a good cause.

Elizabeth was attending her first Congressional Budget Hearing. She was preparing for a fight for the Micro-loan program. It was an issue that was important to her. Matt and Daisy agreed, but Jay wanted to cut it from the budget.

Chairman Burke was gunning for Elizabeth and her staff just left her hanging. The man in charge of the program was caught in a compromising position. That wasn’t all, he was caught gambling with tax payers money. This discredited all the good the program was doing.

We’ve hardly seen Elizabeth get mad at her staff and this time she was very angry. She called in a fixer to help sort the dilemma out, Mike B and he brought his dog Gordon. The whole team was terrified they would be fired.

The Secretary is not the kind of boss to clean house, she gives second chances, so when she fired Jay, everyone was shocked, including me.

When we later saw him drinking away his sorrows and consulting with the enemy, I was not too happy with him. I was also surprised that Elizabeth offered Burke’s guy, Kyle, the one who found the dirt, a job. There was just surprise after surprise, so when the real surprise came, it wasn’t a shock. The outcome was much more in character with the Secretary than the road that got her there. But I really enjoyed the ride.

Jay wasn’t really fired. It appeared like he was so he could leak false information to Kyle and he could pass it along to Burke. The Chairman called Elizabeth back to the hearing and wanted to hear her guest speak, but he thought the guest didn’t speak English or have any idea what was going on. The young woman was able to speak English and talk about how her village benefited from the program.

I’ve understood Elizabeth’s frustration with Stevie. She dropped out of school and has been floundering ever since. I understand not knowing what you want to do, but out right refusing to go to school, wasn’t too smart.

Stevie has learned the hard way that she won’t be able to do anything she cares about without a degree. Henry hoped that he could talk to his daughter and persuade her to go back to college. Their lunch didn’t go as well as he hoped, but it did send her down the path to coming to her senses.

Elizabeth’s old friend and colleague was behind the leak. She left a note before vanishing.

She felt really passionate about the micro-loan program, so she went to volunteer. She got handed a call as she walked through the door because she spoke French. Then she spent the evening there working hard. She easily got the internship, but was informed she had to be a student to take the position. This brought her back to her senses and she decided to apply to Georgetown.

It was really funny watching her parents stay really calm when you just knew they wanted to jump for joy.

Stevie was not too happy about having to surrender to her parents. She made sure they knew she was doing this for herself and not them.

Through all the chaos of the congressional meeting and Stevie coming to her senses, Elizabeth and Russell were investigating Marsh’s death. They found an Iranian woman that could have shed light on the plane crash, but when the operatives tried to grab her, there was an ambush. The op had been blown.

Elizabeth had to come clean that she was working with her old CIA colleague, Isabelle. Her friend’s house was searched and she was given a polygraph. There was a bug in her purse and she passed the test, but Russell wasn’t convinced she was innocent.

Elizabeth said it was time to take this to Potus. Russell wasn’t too happy about this but brought it to him anyways. This brought some very bad things to light.

Potus suspected the crash in Dubai wasn’t an accident but he was told it was. One of the analysts that told him it was an accident is now dead. It was George, Elizabeth’s friend who died suspiciously at the beginning of the series.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the other analyst was also a friend, Juliet. Her friends were corrupted and she didn’t even know it. She’s so good at knowing people and must be devastated in herself for not knowing. But what did the note say? What could Juliet possibly say to make this better?

Their failed op will cause them some problems. Take a look at the promo:

Calista Flockhart Coming Back to TV, Cast on Supergirl

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Kitty was one of my favorite characters on ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and I was very sad when the show ended. I watch reruns and ‘Ally McBeal’ from time to time too. Now Calista Flockhart is coming back to TV.

Calista, 50, has been cast as a series regular for ‘Supergirl’, Variety reported.

She will take on the Kitty name again, but this time as Cat Grant. This Cat is “a self-made media magnate and founder of CatCo.” The lead character, Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist), works as Cat’s assistant. Variety also revealed that Cat started as a reporter before building “her company into a global powerhouse.”

‘Supergirl’ has received a series commitment from CBS, The Hollywood Reporter said. The show revolves around superman’s cousin, Kara. She was born on the planet Krypton and escaped before the destruction of the planet. Kara was taken in by a foster family, the Danvers, when she arrived on Earth. Her family cautioned her to be careful with her powers, but now at 24 she decides to start using her powers to help people.

I’m very excited to see Calista back on TV, even if it isn’t in a leading role. As Ally she was very funny and as Kitty she was very strong. I’m looking forward to see what her portrayal of Cat will be.

In ‘Brothers and Sisters’ she was a driving force in politics, from a radio show, to a TV show, to a communications director for a senator and book author. Lets not forget she was married to the ambitious presidential candidate, Robert McCallister. I think being head of a huge media company will suit her well.

I was already interested in the show because of the shift in male superheroes to female, but now that Calista has joined the cast, I’m definitely tuning in.

‘Madam Secretary’ and ‘Gotham’ Receive Second Seasons

During the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, CBS announced it was renewing ‘Madam Secretary’ and FOX said that it was was renewing ‘Gotham’.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Madam Secretary’ is averaging 14.9 total viewers and is Sunday’s most watched scripted broadcast. The series is also the number two new show of the season.’Madam Secretary’ has improved the time period by 49% for CBS.

‘Madam Secretary’ stars Téa Leoni, Tim Daly, Erich Bergen, Patina Miller, Bebe Neuwirth, Geoffrey Arend and Sebastian Arcelus.

‘Gotham’ was renewed because it’s doing pretty well too.’Gotham’ has averaged 10.6 million viewers since its premiere, Variety reported.

THR also said that ‘Gotham’ is ranked number one with men 18-49 and 18-34.

Robin Lord Taylor reacted to Twitter by telling Access Hollywood that he found out on Twitter just like everyone else.

He also told Access Hollywood: “It’s just a dream…. it’s just unbelievable.”

The show also stars Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue and Jada Pinkett-Smith.

‘Madam Secretary’ is broadcasted on Sunday nights at 8/7c on CBS and ‘Gotham’ airs on Monday nights at 8/7c on FOX.

Madam Secretary Season 1 Episode 13

Elizabeth went to pay her respects for her friend.

In the last few episodes Elizabeth has been really good at discussing peace. This week she continued that streak, but it had dire consequences.

Unfortunately, not all cultures view things the same as America. The U.S. is a strong advocate of hunan rights and Elizabeth tried to uphold that. Then things got really complicated.

Things were already really rough between Stevie and Elizabeth and the secretary inviting over her old school friend, who just happens to be a prince of a country that is okay with slave labor, to dinner didn’t help matters. Especially when he wasn’t able to get his father to accept the rejection of immunity.

There was a start of a heated debate at the table before Henry stopped it. Just because Elizabeth’s friend has more forward thinking views, didn’t mean his country agreed with them or that he could speak openly about it.

Elizabeth has a way of convincing people to do things. Maybe it has something to do with her CIA analyst training. She knows people and she knows what to say to them. To be fair I don’t think it really took that much persuading for the Prince. He wanted to do that, but he wanted to do it when he had the crown.

He took a stand too early and it cost him his life. It’s a shame he had to die, but someone has to stand up for human rights too. It’s a harsh reminder about how other parts of the world live and how hard it is to change things. The U.S. didn’t just happen to be a free country, it took time and a lot of sacrifices to get there.

This was probably one of the best episodes for Téa Leoni. Her character had to deal with a very hard decision. Her friend had just died, but would she attend the funeral. That was a lot of reasons not to attend on a official capacity, but he was her friend.

Maybe seeing what happened with the Prince made Stevie rethink her views of her mother. Maybe she’s finally seeing how complicated the world really is. Stevie has lived a pretty privileged life. But it is really nice having Stevie test Elizabeth.

This was such a moving episode, but the writers gave us a little smile at the end when Nadine went public with her relationship.

Madam Secretary Season 1 Episode 12

Elizabeth tries to have a nice romantic weekend with her husband, but it gets cut short.

Everything fell apart when Elizabeth tried to go on vacation, but it didn’t take her very long to clean it all up.

It was nice to see Elizabeth and Henry trying to celebrate their 25th anniversary. But they shouldn’t have been too surprised when a lot had changed in 24 years. They wanted to stay in the same hotel and go to the same restaurant they did on their first anniversary, but a lot has changed, including them. What was supposed to be a romantic weekend turned into a disaster.

For a moment the writers made us think that Henry’s involvement with the NSA would have an affect on Elizabeth. Not quite. While it was no coincidence that the religious scholar that Henry was spying on turned up at the restaurant, it wasn’t for the reasons Henry believed. But it does make me wonder if Henry will continue working for the NSA. Will he be this guy’s handler? I know Elizabeth would not approve, but I really hope that’s where this is going.

I really like Tim Daly and I would like to see his character used more and this would be a great way to do it. Henry has depth and it’s a shame he doesn’t have much more of storyline, but if the writers continue down this path he could.

Not that I don’t enjoy Elizabeth fixing problems left and right, because I do. She’s great. I loved that in just a matter of minutes ( well screen minutes) she just cleaned everything up. She used the governors want of being president and she made sure it would be impossible unless he backed down. It was great.

Each week the stories get more and more interesting and Elizabeth is a bad ass. I don’t see why more young people don’t watch this show. There may not be any physical action but there is a lot of suspense and it’s always nice having a powerful leading lady.

She’ll have another issue to deal with next week. Check out the preview:

Claire Holt May Be Trading Fangs for a Cape

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Claire Holt is in consideration for CBS’s ‘Supergirl’.

According to The Wrap, she is one of the actresses testing for the lead role of Kara Zor-El.

Kara is the cousin of Superman and was also born on the planet Krypton. She escaped before the planet was destroyed and has been hiding her powers, but at the age of 24 she decides to embrace them and “the hero she was always meant to be,” The Wrap reported.

Greg Berlanti (‘Green Lantern’, ‘Arrow’, ‘The Flash’) and Ali Adler (‘Chuck’, ‘No Ordinary Family’) will be writing and executive producing the series. Sarah Schechter (‘Pan’) will also be executive producing, The Wrap said.

Claire has been a very busy girl since she left ‘The Originals’ in season one. Not only is she up for the superhero series, she nabbed a recurring role in NBC’s ‘Aquarius’.

According to TV Guide, the 13 episode miniseries follows an undercover cop (David Duchovny) hunting Charles Manson (Gethin Anthony) in the 1960s.

Claire will play young female Officer Charmain Tully, who is trying be taken seriously at the LAPD in the male-dominated world in 1967, E Online reported.

There is no premiere date yet, but check back at the Aquarius website for further updates and Primetime Addiction will also keep you posted.

Madam Secretary Season 1 Episode 11

Nadine got in on the investigation this week.

‘Madam Secretary’ was starting to look a lot like ‘Scandal’, but after a big break in the case, it turns out the White House isn’t corrupt.

It was a nail bitting episode. Elizabeth and her team were going down to Venezuela, who don’t like Americans very much. They were getting into Marsh’s account using a fake identity and leaving a trail of information for Jackson to find. Not only that, a press conference gone really wrong. It was looking really bad for Elizabeth, but then Jackson freaked out and everything calmed down.

I don’t know what’s scarier, the White House being behind the Secretary of State’s murder or another country. I guess an inside job is pretty bad, but now they’re not sure who did it and why. Is Elizabeth in danger too? That was always the question when she thought Jackson was behind it, but now that it was someone else, who knows.

Stevie was going to let Alison just lose her virginity all to get back to her mother. Then she stopped it and made her sister very angry. How long is Stevie going hold a grudge?

It’s interesting watching Elizabeth at work and then at home being a mother. She’s got two totally different sides.

So does this mean Blake is gay? That’s been the question since the beginning. I’m thinking yes, but it was a big way of coming out.

Elizabeth’s team are good at their jobs, but they are not being good at being agents. Nadine was shaking when she was getting into the account. Matt did a much better job, but he’s clearly trembling inside. He should be happy to know his double agent days are over. At least the number of people Elizabeth can trust is growing.

Madam Secretary Season 1 Episode 10

Elizabeth finds more allies in her investigation into Marsh’s suspicious death.

A lock-in revealed secrets, divided lines and made some progress.

I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that Elizabeth’s CIA work is coming up. She’s working with a lot of different countries to promote change and help actual change. It doesn’t surprise me that someone recognized her from her work. She handled it so dignified though. Yet another reason to like Elizabeth.

Now it all makes sense why she left the CIA. She’s so knowledge about the people and the countries, I wondered why she left the CIA behind. Now I understand.

I like how the writers are weaving in some of her CIA time. It’s a lot of what makes her who she is, what made the President choose her for Secretary of State and backstory to help figure out what happened to Marsh.

I’m not sure why Elizabeth chose to to tell Stevie what she had done. I get she was threatened with the first person finding out being her daughter, but she was so forceful with him that he didn’t tell anyone. Or was she that forceful because Stevie already knew?

I like Stevie’s character because she thinks she knows everything. She thinks she has everything figured out, but she’s completely lost. You would think her mother’s confession would make her more lost, but I think it makes her believe she knows everything even more. I think this leaves a lot of room for growth for her character and she will test Elizabeth and Henry a lot too.

Daisy was only marrying Wynn out of fear and it’s probably a good thing that he found out about Daisy and Matt, maybe not in the way that he did though. She would have married him and ruined both their lives. But what’s next for these too? Late nights working and hooking up may have worked for fun, but can they sustain a functional relationship? And is it too soon to bring them together?

Next week Elizabeth’s investigation into Marsh’s death heats up when she takes on the White House. Check out the preview: