BWW Recap: MADAM SECRETARY's Daughter is 'Collateral Damage'

There's gunfire at the State Department tonight on MADAM SECRETARY, and it's put everyone on lockdown in some pretty cramped quarters. The Secretary has an Iranian delegation in for a photo opportunity, and a figure from her past CIA work is part of it as well, causing some uncomfortable memories and secrets to be spilled. Speaking of secrets, Daisy's new fiancé Win, makes his first and maybe last appearance at her office, after he is trapped in Matt's office with him.

The eldest McCord daughter, Stephanie, stops by for a mea culpa with mom and to borrow $50 bucks and gets a bit more than she bargained for. Finally, Nadine has charged herself with handling any complaints from the recent foreign diplomat assignments, and gets trapped with one of the Ambassadors that has a particular issue with her newest assignment.

In our second flashback to Elizabeth's CIA days, we find her in Iraq, sent to interrogate a terrorist that she has been tracking for quite a while, and personally wants to be there to get any information he might have. A newly elected Iraqi Prime Minister and his opposition's representative are at the State House and it turns out that one of their translators is the cousin of the man the Secretary interrogated in Iraq, and remembers her taking him when he was just a boy. He discreetly threatens to expose her secret to the delegation, and to her daughter that has been trapped in the lockdown.

The Secretary feels she needs to be pre-emptive and calls her Stephanie in to explain what happened in Iraq. Stephanie and Blake have been having some funny bonding moments, but that leads to awkwardness after she learns her mother's secret, and she can't wrap her head around her mom being in on the torturing of another person, no matter who he was. I think this is one of the best political shows on television in addressing the family dynamics and relationships that go on in positions of political power, and the mother/daughter scenes together here are excellent, play as age appropriately, and bring two strong points of view.

Of course, in the end, the Secretary is able to win over the translator by telling him stories of the rest of his family that were brave, and not terrorists, like the cousin he has put on a pedestal. She also has the delegation leaving a little stronger than they were when they got there, which seems to be her wheelhouse. Patching things up with her daughter is not going to be as easy though, as she leaves the house to stay with friends for a few days to clear her head. This is going to be interesting to watch as this plays out in future episodes if they decide to continue it, and I hope they do.

Our comic relief this week, comes in the form of speech writer Matt, who gets locked down with Daisy's Cannabis lobbyist and newly crowned fiancé, Win. Matt is extremely nervous because of his feelings for Daisy, and his regular agitated self is in overdrive. Win tries to get Matt to calm down, and when Matt can't find his cigarettes, Win offers him gum and then asks Matt to tell him what he loves about Daisy....WHAT?

Actually, he is making a birthday video for Daisy and is getting her friends and relatives to record something they love about her. Whew, crisis diverted..............for the moment. Soon, Matt is telling him how wonderful Daisy is and all of the things that he loves about her. It seems that gum that Win gave him was laced with the marijuana that he advocates for, and has loosened Matt up a little bit too much. I guess Win is used to being stoned, because he is able to read between the lines and asks Matt if he has been with Daisy, and Matt spills all.

To Matt's surprise and disappointment, Win is just ready to walk out, and the fact that he doesn't want to put up a fight for Daisy has Matt opening up even more about his love. Eventually when the lockdown is over, he does just that, leaves without much discussion with Daisy at all. Matt apologizes for Win walking out on her, but not for telling him the truth and letting her know that she deserves to be fought for. UH-OH, Daisy ends their scene by planting a big ol' kiss right on Matt's lips! Tune in next week to see where this goes, I am excited.

Nadine wants to help the Secretary with her investigation into former Secretary Marsh, but realizes that as much as she loved him, he was keeping quite a few secrets from her, and she is starting to see the light. Her job today is to take any complaints from diplomats who are unhappy with the assignments that were just sent out, and she gets stuck in a room with one of those unhappy Ambassadors. Nadine gets turned around for the second time after listening to why the Ambassador is unhappy with the assignment and the sexist nature of it. In the end she is able to do what's right by the Ambassador, as well as to give some new information about Secretary Marsh to our current Secretary.

All in all, this was not one of my favorite episodes of the series, but I did like moving the Daisy/Matt storyline along a bit. I don't think that they really explained the shooting outside, or why they showed her at the shooter's bedside at the end of the episode without any dialogue. I am not shy about admitting that this is one of my favorite new shows this season, and I am looking forward to more. I did miss Henry in this episode, but fun fact if you weren't already aware, Daisy's fiancé Win was played by none other than Tim Daly's real life son, Sam Daly.

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below.

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