‘Madam Secretary’ Season 5, Episode 12 ‘Strategic Ambiguity’ Recap: That’s a Very Good Plane

Tension has never been a lingering thing between Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) and President Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine). Tonight’s episode of Madam Secretary, though, puts it front and center. It’s awkward and a bit alarming, but it also shows the distinction between Elizabeth and Dalton’s way of leading the country.

Titled “Strategic Ambiguity,” this week’s Madam Secretary has Elizabeth juggling between a deal with a defense contractor that would supply new military jets to Taiwan (one that they don’t even need and want). But this directive from Dalton jeopardizes the peace between China and the US, as Foreign Minister Chen (Francis Jue) gets wind of this and threatens to drop out of the free and fair trade initiative. Little does Elizabeth and the President know that someone is leaking sensitive information to China. Meanwhile, we’ve got Daisy (Patina Miller) and Matt (Geoffrey Arend) quarreling over Waffles, Daisy’s dog.

An Expensive Jet

“Strategic Ambiguity” opens with Henry McCord (Tim Daly) test driving the new F40 fighter jet, courtesy of James Champlin’s (Casey Biggs) defense company, Fossor Industries. Despite the F40’s advanced features, Henry isn’t impressed. He airs his concern over to his friend and former-Marine-turned-congressman Jeff Pearson (Michael Cerveris). The congressman, however, tells Henry to pretend to like it when the investors ask him about it.

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Meanwhile, at the Oval Office, Dalton brings Elizabeth in to have a meeting with him, his Chief of Staff Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek), and Defense Secretary Gordon Becker (Mike Pniewski). Apparently, the US military has too much of these F40’s on hand, so they want to get rid of the extra 20 jets by selling it to Taiwan. Fossor has to make 100 more jets, so they’d need an extra $3 billion from the Federal Government to produce the new equipment. This does not make sense to Elizabeth, but Dalton urges her to have Taiwan bite on the deal. Reluctantly, Elizabeth obliges.

A Cause For Concern

As Elizabeth wraps up her team meeting, it’s evident that no one likes where this is going. Their strategy is to have the fair work and trade deal with China wrapped before they get wind of the potential sale of the F40s. Gary Martin (David Wilson Barnes), the undersecretary of the Political-Military Affairs, airs out his discomfort with Dalton’s decision. By doing this, the US might get into trouble with China. Despite Gary’s concerns, though, Elizabeth shuts him down and says that they all serve at the pleasure of the President.

At home, Henry shares his experience of piloting the F40 with Elizabeth. He’s clearly unimpressed, more so about Dalton’s risky decision. Elizabeth then gets a surprise call from an outraged Minister Chen, dismayed at what the US is about to sell to Taiwan. He threatens to treat this as a form of hostility if it pushes through. Chen also withdraws from the fair work and trade deal.

That night, Elizabeth, Dalton, Russell, FBI Director Ephraim Ware (Clifton Davis), and Attorney General Hank Nolan (John Bolton) discuss ways to find out how that information leaked to China. Because it’s a potential threat to national security, Dalton and Ware strongly told Elizabeth that they will need to investigate the State Departments various sub-departments to find the leaker.

Elizabeth realizes that Gary must’ve been the leaker since he had strong feelings against the sale of the F40s. The next day, Blake (Erich Bergen) is brought in for questioning by the FBI in Elizabeth’s office. However, Blake has nothing but respect for Gary, so he doesn’t answer the questions correctly. Instead, Blake showed his cooperation by pretending to buy Gary a drink at a local pub. Gary is instantly suspicious, but Blake brushes it off. Meanwhile, the FBI break into Gary’s house to gather evidence.

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The next day at the Oval Office, Nolan informs Dalton, Russell, Elizabeth, and Ware that Gary’s longtime girlfriend leaked the information to Fossor Industries (apparently employed as a spy for the company), with an unidentified Fossor employee sending it out to Chinese intelligence. Because the State Department recommended not selling the F40s to Taiwan, Fossor wanted to gain leverage by having the potential sale reach the ears of the Chinese. If China acts out, it would be a win-win situation for Fossor either way.

The party decides to sever their ties with Fossor. Dalton consults about the legality of the matter with Nolan, who gives him a go. So Dalton, Nolan, and Becker call up James Champlin, Fossor’s CEO, to inform him about their decision. Meanwhile, Blake feels bad about what he did to Gary and can’t bring himself to accept that it’s all part of the job.

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Retaliation

That night, Elizabeth meets with Minister Chen and Canadian Foreign Minister Warren (Don Noble) in Canada to discuss the fair work and trade deal. Chen offered his support back in the table after learning about the US withdrawal from selling the F40s to Taiwan. As Elizabeth and Chen share a hearty laugh after the meeting, a paparazzi snaps their photo.

The next day, Elizabeth and Russell calls Jay (Sebastian Arcelus) over to look at the latest news item that broke that day. It shows Congressman Kevin Brandt (Rod McLachlan) enraged about people losing jobs because of Dalton’s decision to cancel their contract with Fossor and the US’ failure to sell the F40’s to Taiwan because “they so desperately need it.” Brandt also showed a photo of Elizabeth and Chen laughing, saying that the Dalton is more focused on kissing up to China. Brandt goes on to announce that he’s brought on an emergency writer to the upcoming spending bill. If there’s no deal to bring Fossor back, they will risk a government shutdown.

Later, Elizabeth and Russell meet with a few members of Congress to explain why the Fossor contract was canceled. They then urged the Congressmen to vote against the writer so they can avoid a shutdown. A Taiwanese representative also explains that they don’t need or want the F40s.

After the meeting, Congressman Pierson meets Henry outside, who tells him that the facts around the cancelation of the contract aren’t proven, so he might vote for the writer. This shocks Henry.

Dog Days

Elsewhere in the episode, Daisy panics over her dog, Waffles. She just took him to a 24-hour vet and had to take him to work because her mom wouldn’t know what to do. Daisy hands Waffles over to Matt, instructing him about everything he needs to do to make sure that Waffles gets his food and medication. After all, Matt did promise that he’ll also take care of Waffles when Daisy adopted him.

As tension rises over the hoo-ha between China and the US, Matt stresses over his day and rants to Waffles. It’s just the beginning of the workday and he’s already tired. He closes his eyes and falls asleep on the couch. Waffles sees the opportunity and tries to escape, but Daisy catches him and is furious at Matt.

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Later, when China finally went back on board for the fair trade deal, Matt asks about why China needs to go over the terms and revise it. This results in a shouting match between him and Daisy. Jay mediates between them, with Daisy admitting that she might have to put Waffles up for adoption. Matt can’t take him in his apartment because pets aren’t allowed. In the end, Matt was able to ask his landlord for an exception, allowing him to take Waffles home three times a week.

Proper Solutions

Blake meets with Gary in the same bar. He’s mortified with what he did, so he apologizes by suggesting to Gary that he can be a great teacher, and there is an opening for one in Boston. Gary recognizes Blake’s big heart and tells him to keep on being the way he is as the State Department lacks people like him.

Meanwhile, Russell drops by Elizabeth’s house to inform her and Henry that Congress voted for the emergency writer. The next day, Dalton, Elizabeth, and Russell lick their wounds. Nolan then barges in to bring them a possible win—his investigation into Champlin’s spy led him to uncover (from an anonymous tip) that the Fossor CEO is involved in heavy public corruption and money laundering. Later, while playing golf, Champlin is arrested by the FBI.

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Back at the Congress, Elizabeth and Russell try to gloat over the Congressmen who voted against them but are cut short when they argue amongst themselves about the developments. Later that day, Henry meets with Congressman Pierson again. That’s when Pierson reveals that he was the anonymous leak. At the end of the day, they’ll always be Marines who would defend the constitution no matter what.

That night, Elizabeth is called over to the Oval Office for a celebration. Dalton is bringing Fossor back on board with a deal to make the F40 jets at a cheaper price. This angers Elizabeth, causing her to walk out while Becker assures Dalton that the F40 is an excellent plane.

‘Madam Secretary: Strategic Ambiguity’ Overall Verdict

Despite everything that transpired in the episode, all I saw as one thing—the clashing of ideas and principles between President Dalton and Elizabeth. Throughout the episode, it was made clear that this is not the usual disagreement that Dalton and Elizabeth experienced. Tonight’s episode was nothing compared to that time when Dalton was on the brink of being ousted due to his medical condition. Dalton is in his purest, and it doesn’t seem to jive with Elizabeth’s way of running things. Now, could this be a problem in the future, especially with Elizabeth running for Presidency to replace Dalton in his party?

Madam Secretary continues Sunday, January 27th, with “Proxy War” at 10/9c on CBS.