'Madam Secretary' Season 4, Episode 9 'Minefield' Recap: Landmine Cleanups and a Holiday Party [SPOILERS]

Things are hopeful for Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) in “Madam Secretary”—at least that’s what the President and his Chief of Staff thinks. The latest episode, titled “Minefield” shows McCord handling a tedious task of trying to get an international treaty on landmine cleanups signed by President Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine). But it’s not the only catch here since this is Dalton’s second term, it’s going to be his last, meaning he has to pass the torch to someone capable of continuing what he started. His Chief of Staff Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek), gives Elizabeth a heads-up, but she refuses—for now.

Bomb Cleanups

The episode opens with a family trip to Cambodia gone wrong. Jacob (Mark Jacoby) and Natalie (Nancy Lemenager) Barker panics as their daughter stands still after stepping on a landmine. Their daughter is soon rescued, with her unharmed and the mine a dud.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s staff watches the rescue video as she comes in to brief them about the day’s task. Elizabeth has one of her detail bring in an unarmed landmine for her staff to examine and for her to make a point. Based on the recent incident, the Secretary wants to clean up the remaining mines planted in different countries to avoid civilian victims. Policy Advisor Kat Sandoval (Sara Ramirez) and Elizabeth’s Chief of Staff Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelius) brainstorm on the possible plans they could do to enact the treaty that could help Elizabeth push her landmine cleanup to move forward. Russell then calls her up to the Oval Office.
Elizabeth then tells Dalton about her plan to get countries to remove the landmines left untouched in their respective areas. Dalton doesn’t like it because the United States hasn’t used one since the 90’s. He wants to focus on other legislative agendas before the recess. Dalton then gives Elizabeth a challenge—if she can whip the votes for the treaty herself, then Dalton would gladly sign it. It’s a tough task, but Elizabeth takes him up on his offer.
After their meeting, Russell comes up to Elizabeth to ask her about her weekend plans. When he found out that Elizabeth doesn’t do much on the weekends, he tells her to host a party for potential campaign donors, since Bunny Duncan, a prominent DC personality, passed away and won’t be able to host Holiday parties anymore. Elizabeth is taken aback by the idea, especially with Russell telling her that Dalton is looking to her as his replacement when his term is over. Throwing this party can attract future campaign donors. Elizabeth refuses but tells Russell that she’ll think about it.
Back in Elizabeth’s office, Kat and Jay inform Elizabeth about the number of votes she’s going to need for her treaty. It’s incredibly tricky, and it looks like a hard ball to roll. Michael “Mike B” Barnow (guest star Kevin Rahm), Elizabeth’s go-to guy for complicated matters like this, comes in and tells that Senator Gordon Becker (guest star Mike Pniewski) could greatly help her. Mike B also asks about the party that Elizabeth is supposed to host, with Kat and Jay surprised at the revelation. Kat then has a bright idea about it, though. If Elizabeth throws the party, the informal setting can be used to whip votes for the treaty. Elizabeth likes it, but Mike B—as always—tells her that it’s a bad idea.

Later that day, Russell sends Meghan Pearl (Rebecca Faulkenberry), an event coordinator, to Elizabeth as she prepares to leave for Senator Becker’s office. Meghan then orients her on the necessary grand preparations for the party, including the food and the “party favors.” It’s obviously going to cost Elizabeth a lot, and when asked about it, Meghan tells her that she can’t tell her up front how much it’s all going to be. It’s not going to work, so Elizabeth lets her go upon arriving ar Becker’s building. Inside, Elizabeth tells Senator Becker about her treaty. Becker’s concern is how it could set a legal precedent that could ban other weapons in the future, not to mention the Korean peninsula and Russia, with how the treaty would appear to them. Becker doesn’t see the point in disarming themselves, let alone having China and Russia jump in on it. Elizabeth asks Becker if he will support the treaty if she can have China agree to it beforehand, to which Becker agrees.
Elizabeth brings the new challenge back to her staff. Jay believes nothing much can be said to make China agree on the treaty, but Kat thinks they can appeal to their vanity by acknowledging their “superpower” status. Elizabeth likes how it could work out, so she prepares to make the call to Chinese Foreign Minister Chen (guest star Francis Jue). However, her Secretary Blake Moran (Erich Bergen) shows Elizabeth’s daughter Stevie (Wallis Currie-Wood) into the room. Since Elizabeth didn’t like Meghan, Russell sent Stevie to help plan her party.

Elizabeth calls Minister Chen about having his approval on the treaty. But another challenge is posted: China will support the deal if the United States goes first. This request is a dead end for Elizabeth because, to get the US on her agreement, she’d have to convince Dalton, who already gave her the task of getting the votes for it herself. It turns out that the Holiday party is the only way for Elizabeth to get Dalton to sign the treaty. Meanwhile, back in the McCord’s house, Stevie asks help from Henry (Tim Daly), Alison (Kathrine Herzer), and Jason (Evan Roe) to make the party as successful as it needs to be. Later, Dalton, Russell, and Elizabeth meet with Senator Beau Carpenter (John Cullum) to ask for his help in getting the majority votes. He agrees and looks forward to attending Elizabeth’s party.
Back in Elizabeth’s office, Stevie informs the entire staff on the guest list and how the party would go. Elizabeth flips upon seeing Senator Carlos Morejon’s (José Zúñiga) name in the list. Mike B says that it could help her gain the upper hand by making him feel awkward. Morejon would have to RSVP to the party, and by then Elizabeth can get his vote. As Stevie informs Elizabeth about the timeframe to prepare, Elizabeth tells her that it could all be done in under an hour and leaves. Stevie comes after her and angrily confronts Elizabeth in her office. She says to her mom to stop being a diva and just get on board with everything. Elizabeth is surprised but agrees to all of it.

That night, Blake, Daisy (Patina Miller) and Jay are on music duty as the first wave of guests arrives in the McCord household for the Holiday party. The house is packed, and Stevie admires how good it’s going. Elizabeth goes around to socialize and ends up getting friendly with Morejon in the end. They shed their hostile attitude towards each other as Elizabeth convinces him how the treaty would help the country. He considers it, and eventually banks on the agreement in the end.

Henry takes down the Russian’s Big Fish American asset

Before Elizabeth’s earlier meeting with President Dalton, Russell meets with the joint task force between the FBI and CIA to investigate on Senate Majority Leader Beau Carpenter’s alleged ties to Russia. The last episode showed how Henry and his team narrowed it down to Carpenter as the one responsible for blowing the covers of some US assets against Russia in Afghanistan. A case needs to built against Carpenter; however, Russells tells them that Carpenter is one of the most influential politicians in the country, and not to mention the most cunning, so they have to get to him before Carpenter gets to them. The investigation will zero in on Magna Nagy (guest star M. Grace Sutton), Carpenter’s housekeeper, as she is a Russian immigrant who became a US citizen 15 years ago.
Back in Henry’s office, his staff fills him in on what they learned about Magna. Based on their research, Magna is clean—no online transactions and no doubtful accounts. However, Henry notices that she often posts the route of her morning runs on social media, it’s odd, considering a morning jog doesn’t even seem like a shady activity. He then has his FBI team look into the route.
The FBI and CIA organize a reconnaissance mission to know what Magna is up to with her runs. The following morning, agents scatter themselves at the park where Magna is currently doing her morning jog. As soon as she reaches a curb, a man who works for the Russian embassy pretends to stretch but is apparently waiting for Magna to pass by him. They need to document her meeting with this man, but their cover blows as soon as two other FBI agents flank Magna while running. It’s clear that the Russians are now on to what they’re doing, and Henry grows even more frustrated. The only option is to grab her for interrogation.
Meanwhile, after Senator Carpenter’s meeting with Dalton, Russell, and Elizabeth, he leaves and appears to be bothered by something. With Russell and Elizabeth knowing about the case that the CIA and FBI want to build, they go to him and ask him a couple of questions about how he’s doing. Carpenter tells them that for some weird reason, his cleaning lady, Magna, called in sick. Russell thinks that Carpenter is on to Henry, but Elizabeth believes otherwise. Russell then tells Elizabeth that if Carpenter gets caught by Henry before the party, she will lose the house majority votes for her treaty.
Back in the FBI, Magna is brought in for questioning. It turns out that she’s only tasked to pass coded messages along. She doesn’t even know what they mean and what they are intended to do. It’s enough to build a case against her, but not for Carpenter. A raid would need to happen in Senator Carpenter’s house, but it’s going to be hard to get a court order since he is the Majority Leader. A secret search as also an option, but time is against them. Henry then remembers the party, which Carpenter is attending. They can search his house while he is at Elizabeth’s Holiday gathering. That night, the FBI and CIA teams proceed to examine Carpenter’s home. After a thorough sweep, there’s nothing much that can be used to pin Carpenter against the wall.

Back in Elizabeth’s house, Carpenter prepares to leave, so she asks Morejon to help stall him for a couple more minutes. While at it, Carpenter mentions something about his son and leaves. Elizabeth alerts Henry that he’s coming home and also suggests her hunch about Carpenter’s son. Henry then tells his co-agent about Elizabeth’s gut feeling. Whatever the Russians have on Carpenter has something to do with his son. They then instruct the search team to look for anything that concern’s carpenter’s son. They find related files on his computer and proceed to download the files just as Carpenter arrives. They make it out on time.
The next day, Carpenter is brought in for questioning, but Henry angrily storms in to confront him about what Carpenter did to expose the agents; leading to their death. At first, Carpenter seemed adamant about not having anything to do with it, but he loses his composure as guilt takes over him. He sinks into his chair and deeply regrets what he did.
The episode ends with Dalton finally signing the treaty, and with Russell asking Elizabeth about a possible presidential campaign. She refuses by saying she wants to do everything in her power to hold Russia accountable for infiltrating US intelligence assets.

‘Madam Secretary: Minefield’ Fall Finale Overall Verdict

Tonight’s “Madam Secretary” episode does more than just to explore how deep the Russian infiltration is within the US government but also shows us a possible future for Elizabeth McCord’s career in public service. It’s an episode that effectively establishes an open-ended situation for Elizabeth—will she agree to run for president once Dalton’s term ends? I see it happening soon, and it would be a great game changer for the series’ direction. Nonetheless, “Minefield” is a slow but pivotal episode, and it never fails to set up a more significant challenge for Elizabeth and the Dalton administration.
“Madam Secretary” continues next Sunday with “Women Transform the World,” at 10/9c PM on CBS.