In the latest episode of Madam Secretary, Elizabeth (Tea Leoni), Henry (Tim Daly) and Isabelle (Marin Hinkle) work to undercover the secrets to former Secretary of State’s, Vincent Marsh, classified bank account. When they hit a snag, they discover one of Liz’s staff members has already gained access to the account.
When the show opens, Isabelle arrives at the McCord house and the pair begin to investigate the bank account number, which Nadine Tolliver (Bebe Neuwirth) gave to Liz in the previous episode. Isabelle reveals that the account has three signatures on it. She suggests Nadine can give them access to the account, if they can get her on board. Liz decides it is time to visit Venezuela, which no American cabinet member has visited in over fifteen years.
The Venezuelan President, Francisco Suarez (Louis Antonio Ramos), refuses to allow the Americans to enter to his country. Daisy (Patina Miller) comes with the plan to entice Francisco using a baseball player, Manny Azucco (Philip Anthony-Rodriguez), since the Venezuelan President is a huge fan of the sport. Afterwards, Matt Mahoney (Geoffrey Arend) is reluctant to continue being Liz’s double agent. She insists he pass information regarding Dubai to Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek).
Afterwards, Elizabeth questions Nadine about the bank account and she admits that she helped setup the bank account and broke many fraud laws, by doing so. Nadine agrees that she’ll travel with Li and attempt to access the bank account. Afterwards, Russell tells Liz to tread lightly near Suarez, who he deems to be a lunatic.
Azucco arrives and the team prepare him for the trip. Meanwhile, Liz prepares the house for her kids, Alison (Katherine Herzer), Jason (Evan Roe) and Stevie (Wallis Currie-Wood). Afterwards, Henry and Liz depart. At the same times, Matt passes the information regarding the Israeli Ambassador Lior Dori (David Wohl) to Russell. He also mentions Dubai, as Liz requested.
When the show returns, Liz and the crew make contract with the Venezuelan President. The President quickly takes a liking to Manny Azucco. Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelus) tells the team that everything seems to be going well. Afterwards, Beth and Nadine discuss gaining access to the former Secretary of State’s hidden bank account.
Meanwhile, love is in the air, as Matt is invited to Daisy’s room. At the same time, Azucco attempts to seduce Blake Moran (Erich Bergen), who denies the advances. Meanwhile Stevie supervises Alison, who has a boy over. She first allows James to spend the night, before having a change of heart and sending James home.
Meanwhile, a nervous Nadine access the bank account and discovers that forty million dollars was removed from the account, by a Marie Porter, the day after the death of Vincent Marsh. Nadine and Liz can’t wrap their heads around the account and Marie. Meanwhile, Azucco makes Blake promise he’ll keep his secret quiet, but Blake suggests he shouldn’t be a hypocrite. Alison is upset with Stevie, while Liz gives her speech in front of the President.
When Azucco gives his speak, he comes out as a gay man, which sends Suarez into a fury, since there were rumors regarding Suarez’s sexuality, during the last election. Nadine and Liz are instructed to enter the President’s office. They’re shown the video of Nadine accessing the bank account, as the President attempts to use the video to extort Liz.
Russell makes contact with the Israeli Ambassador and questions him about Dubai. Meanwhile, Liz uses the blackmail attempt against Suarez. Meanwhile, Beth asks the Venezuelan chief of police to help her gain info into the bank account’s other two signatories. Afterwards, Beth is questioned about her investigation into Marsh’s death, by Russell. Russell lashes out at Beth, which leads her to believe that Russell and the President had nothing to do with Marsh’s death.
Liz and Henry question Stevie about James and she covers up for Alison. Isabelle calls and tells Liz she got a lead on Marie Porter. Russell and Liz discuss Marie Porter, who is working for the Iranian Nation. Russell suggests Beth give the case to the CIA.
Review
This was an interesting episode, which saw Elizabeth expand the team that is investigating the death of Vincent Marsh. She now has recruited Nadine and Russell Jackson. The confrontation involving Manny Azucco and Francisco Suarez was simply a side step, but fun nonetheless. Still, the best aspect of the show is the relationship between Elizabeth, Henry and the kids and the investigation into Vincent Marsh’s death.
Zeljko Ivanek was quite scary, when he went off on Elizabeth near the end of the episode. Now, it looks as though he’ll be a valuable asset to the investigation. Of course, he seems to have different plans than Liz. Still the question is, who is Marie Porter? The episode was good, but not great. A 7.5 should do it.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
