After Elizabeth receives advice from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, she chooses to ignore President Dalton's recommendation on how to negotiate the safe return of a State Department employee who was kidnapped in Afghanistan. Henry must find a way to persuade Dmitri to spy for the U.S. government.
Last week's Season 2 premiere of Madam Secretary was a stunt episode filled with buzz moments that could excite the audience despite a very flimsy plot. Everything that happened was just buildup for what may or may not happen later this season. It ended with a big reveal that some new terrorist organization is targeting the United States. That's what gave the whole story purpose. It hinted that things would only be getting more complicated in the following episodes. However, "The Doability Doctrine" doesn't really address that at all. The administration knows what happened but they don't have anything to do regarding it. This episode sets out to tell its own unique story. One that will have consequences for the future of season. And yet, it still feels like the show is just building up to an action that won't happen until later on this fall.The season is clearly positioning a clash between the State and the Defense Departments. A conflict that has even made its way into the McCord marriage because Elizabeth is Secretary of State and Henry is working on this big recruiting mission for the Defense Department. It's clear that all of this has a purpose. Everyone is worried about the potential upheaval in Russia. For the majority of the time though, it just comes across as speculation. Something that the episode keeps hinting as a major concern for the characters but nothing more than idle storytelling in this particular hour. The Russian President has gone missing and everyone is planning which successor will be the best for the United States' interests. State and Defense have very different plans. That conflict is only going to get more heated in the future. And yet, it's going to have to play out in some way in the next episode. Immediacy has been given to the situation. The Russian President is dead and the various characters are on different sides of this argument. One side is going to need to emerge victorious in order to shape the ongoing storyline. This kind of divide can work. It's just not abundantly clear if it will though.
But again, that is largely a concern for the future. This season is setting up a lot of things while the episodic stories just fill time. The kidnapping of a State official in Afghanistan really isn't that interesting until it becomes about the office dynamics of this administration. In the first season, Elizabeth was able to correctly argue with President Dalton a lot of the time. The way that she saw things was often the most hopeful and humane outcome - and the President eventually would just listen to her. It didn't make him an interesting character. All Keith Carradine has to play is two seconds of contemplation followed by delivering an expositional line of dialogue. It hasn't been a good use of his talents. So, a divide between Elizabeth and President Dalton can also be interesting. During the climatic beat of the episodic story, he choses to retrieve the American asset and ignore the three Afghani men about to be killed by the Taliban. It proves that he doesn't always listen to Elizabeth. The outcome was favorable to the United States' interest - but at the cost of their humanity. Elizabeth always comes across as the most human voice in the room. That's just who she is. But how is this conflict going to help nuance her dynamic with the President?
Elsewhere, Henry is busy recruiting his student, Dmitri, to spy on Russia for the United States. It's a very contradictory story. Last week he adamantly refused to blackmail the student his handlers wanted to recruit with his closeted sexuality. He thought that was deplorable. But when the time came to make contact with Dmitri, he used a very similar tactic and it was suppose to be seen as the good thing to do. Dmitri's sister has gotten sick. Henry leverages treatment to get Dmitri's cooperation. He forces Dmitri into a position where he has no choose but to accept the assignment. Henry didn't know if he could be a handler like the Defense Department wanted. He wasn't comfortable doing that. And yet, the moral conflict within him isn't really seen at all in this episode. It's a tad baffling. It makes it seem like the story is only happening to help inform the much larger State vs. Defense conflict.
And lastly, there's Elizabeth and Henry's continued concerns regarding Stevie's life. The show wants Elizabeth's family life to be important. That often materializes in conflict with Stevie. And yet, it's a dynamic that has grown way too redundant over these two seasons. Plus, Stevie really isn't a great character. Does anyone really care about her as much as the show and her parents do? At times, she can be distracting from the political issues the show wants to address in its episodic stories. Why is she given more screen time than the rest of Elizabeth's staff? It continues to be very puzzling. Now, it seems she may be getting on a better path. But that still doesn't make the episodic story beats any more engaging or intriguing. It just makes it something the show continues to want to do for some strange reason.
Some more thoughts:
- "The Doability Doctrine" was written by David Grae and directed by Eric Stoltz.
- Elizabeth's sit down with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is another easily marketable stunt for the show as it tries to reconnect with audiences this season. They do have an amusing conversation about how the world can't handle mediocre woman. But it didn't feel specific enough to this particular episode. Also, how is this the first time that Elizabeth has dealt with this kind of situation with President Dalton?
- It's troubling and weird that Elizabeth and President Dalton go from talking about the problems in Afghanistan and Russia to talking about the troubles of raising adult children. That didn't work at all - mostly because the kids are horribly distracting.
- The other McCord daughter and her mediation skills come in handy when it comes to the family resolving their issues with Stevie. It's just a narrative quirk for that other daughter though. However, she doesn't need more screen time to be fleshed out as a character. That's just unnecessary - like most of the children.
- It's a tad puzzling why Jay is still just credited as a recurring character despite his importance over the rest of Elizabeth's staff in this episode. Again, it feels like the show is building to an exit of some sort for him. It just never seems to come and open up the rest of the office dynamics at the State Department.
