S01.E05: Blame Canada

[thewhiteowl]

 

When Elizabeth faces the daunting task of negotiating with Iran over their escalating nuclear program, she is determined to deal with the situation in a peaceful manner, despite the President’s position of using military action. Jason has new admiration for his father when he interviews him for a school report.

 

Directed by Eriq Lasalle, interesting.

 

[crgirl412]

No, Madame Secretary, you don't ask Blake to investigate Nadine, you ask Olivia Pope!!  You'll find her on ABC and she hangs out in the Oval Office a lot. 

[thewhiteowl]

No, Madame Secretary, you don't ask Blake to investigate Nadine, you ask Olivia Pope!!  You'll find her on ABC and she hangs out in the Oval Office a lot. 

 

 Sure, ask Olivia if you can pry her off the POTUS peen. lol

[Shermie]

Yes, Canadians only care about hockey and ice. ::eye roll:: just missing a giant vat of poutine at that party.

Not to mention, no, Madame Secretary, the U.S. Did not win the War of 1812. If you did, then there would be no Ontario; it would have become part of the U.S.

Duh.

Gawd, and Americans are always so befuddled when the rest of the world dislikes them as a country. Although, to be fair, the US isn't the only country that teaches "history" that rewrites it to make their own country look better.

[mrsdalgliesh]

So at some point, someone decided that Dad couldn't "just" be a religion professor, he had to have a military background, too.  And no, not just any military background, but a Marine Corps pilot (which to a civilian sounds sexier).   I'm a nerd, I guess -- I think college professors are plenty sexy.

 

Ok, I'm a college professor, too.

 

Everyone was pretty tonight and Tea got to fire someone.  Thank you, show.  Very relaxing.  (I lived through the 80's as an adult -- *that* was nuclear tension.)

[kib]

Yea, so hubby turns out to be a former military officer when a drunk loud mouth soldier appears. That's handy, but wait, there's more.  Not only that, he was a fighter pilot when his spawn has questions about the morality of war.  Outstanding bit of serendipity.  To think, all I knew was he ran a small Nantucket airline back in the day.

Edited October 20, 2014 by kib

[zane73]

Thank you Shermie for the history refresher. I almost jumped out of my chair when she said that the the US won the war of 1812.

 

Other than that and the unfortunate use of every single Canadian stereotype I really liked this episode.

 

Meeting the Iranian ambassador at the Canadian embassy was good thinking even if they did have the ambassador discussing ice.

 

I'm really liking how they're writing the husband/wife dynamics. He seemed to deal with the "arm candy" article with good humour.

 

I love that the daughters are actually interested in what's going on in the world which makes total sense given their parents. It's nice to see. The son though annoys the crap out of me. His parents have the patience of saints.

Edited October 20, 2014 by zane73

[KLovestoShop]

Is it just coincidence or does Madam bear a striking resemblance to Caroline Kennedy? The hair style, hair color, the way she dresses and the husky voice just screams Kennedy.

[Beach Party]

If Nadine is being checked out this earlier in the series then that means she's clean. 

[picklesprite]

I loved the blue dress.

[Lillybee]

Didn't the Canadians recently withdraw their support for that pipeline?

[Kromm]

Oh look.  The Assistant President, er.. I mean the Chief of Staff, walks into the State Department and orders the Secretary of State to read a report and resolve a situation within 24 hours. 'Cause that's how Chiefs of Staffs roll, fo' shizzle!

 

The spouse being this war hero type was a little much, wasn't it?  Contrivance is thy name.

 

And the Canadian Ambassador talking about ice?  Come on.  Come the fuck on.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Kromm

[teebax]

Directed by Eriq Lasalle, interesting.

One of my favorite TV lines of all-time is from the show Psych when Shawn says to Gus, "Don't be the way Eriq Lasalle spells Eriq."

 

Yep, that's all I have to add to this thread. I spent most of this episode rolling my eyes. I think this was the weakest of the season so far, for me.

[picklesprite]

 

 I think this was the weakest of the season so far, for me.

Yeah, for me, too. I've been enjoying this show, flaws and all, but this seemed like one formulaic plot line too many. Madam Secretary Saves the Day. The further they go, the harder it is getting to ignore that a Sec. of State has an entire State Department to (ostensibly) run, and not just a wee little pretentious staff of weasels. (I wish they weren't all so damned smug.) It's time for her to get on an airplane. Release these characters from all their West Wing Hall Walking!

[candall]

I liked the shoutout to the influence of lobbyists when it comes to establishing official policy.  There's not nearly enough attention paid to that outrage, IMO.

 

"Who wrote this highly skewed report?"

"Ohhh. . .just some independent group on K Street."

 

********************

Very funny about Mr. Madame Secretary Joe Hackett getting his training with those Marine fighter jets, Kib.  (Pants post!)

[Xantar]

So the previous SOS had an extramarital affair, falsified an environmental report, and hired a goon ambassador who was willing to lie to the President's face in order to ignite a war in the Middle East. Didn't we just have that one assistant gushing about how great and ethical Secretary Marsh was? Are we supposed to like this President?

[Big Bad Wolf]

It is now clear that the son - both character and actor - are a major fail.

 

I simply cannot get over how the President, having basically begged/strong-armed Elisabeth into taking the job, feels he can talk to her like absolute shit when he feels so inclined. Total tool. I really want her to tell him to go stick it when he does that, but I can see that, now that she's in the role, she's feeling that she can really do some good, so is putting up with it. I do like that they've moved away from the CoS being a total, moustache-twirling villain.

 

Elisabeth needs to learn to delegate. One of the many assistants in that department should have been tasked with reading and summarising by section that 1000 page report. It still would have been exposed as false, and the SoS wouldn't have had to waste hours ploughing through it.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Big Bad Wolf

[CMH1981]

I'm confused about something, when the son asked his father "do you still think about her" what did he mean?  I don't know if i missed something in a past episode or what, but was the Tim Daley character married before?

[Shermie]

I don't care for the actor playing the son. Not that there's anything wrong with his acting, per se, but he looks like a little boy, and not a modern little boy, but some apple-cheeked laddie plucked from a '50s milk ad. Not that all activist teens have to be hairy, pierced hippies, but they should at least look old enough to be in junior high.

The whole Iranian ambassador furtively plots in the Canadian embassy with the Americans had Argo stink all over it. This episode was about as historically accurate as Argo too, so maybe that's what they were going for.

Klovestoshop, I don't think having Madam Secretary resemble Caroline Kennedy is intentional. She's just being Tea Leoni, who has looked and sounded like that for her entire career. The hair is pretty generic for "professional woman over 35" anyway.

I adored that blue evening gown and would wear that myself if I had anywhere to wear it. I would add a chunky blingy necklace.

[Xantar]

I loved that blue evening gown, too (I'm a man and I don't wish to wear it, but it still looked awesome). The best part about it was it had pockets built in. Stylish and practical!

[Shermie]

It had pockets!?!? Now I must have it.

(A big peeve is women's clothing - especially jackets - that don't have pockets. I mean, they actually spend time and effort putting fake pockets on some women's jackets!)

[CooperTV]

I'm confused about something, when the son asked his father "do you still think about her" what did he mean?  I don't know if i missed something in a past episode or what, but was the Tim Daley character married before?

He asked "do you still think about it?", meaning the Gulf War and the missions he did.

[Netfoot]

 I mean, they actually spend time and effort putting fake pockets on some women's jackets!

 

Wait, what?

 

What's the  point of using fake pockets when real pockets would be authentic and functional?

 

Pockets are essential.  My tee-shirts have pockets.  My pajamas have pockets.  My swim trunks have pockets. 

[buttersister]

Seeing her use the pockets in the dress elevated the entire episode for me.

 

What was the purpose of Handsome Tim being a fighter pilot who was doing a fine job of not thinking about killing people until now? I'm hoping it was a throw-away scene to establish his rapport with their daughter, or establish her as a fully functional human being, but I may be wrong about that. There was no draft during the first Iraq-area war--no need to have placed him there to establish his macho cred. Feh.

[Dowel Jones]

Didn't the Canadians recently withdraw their support for that pipeline?

 

They must be mad because they just found out we did win the War of 1812.

 

There is no good exit from this Ambassador problem.  No matter what spin the administration puts on it (personal reasons, family time, career development), there is too much left hanging out there that could come back and haunt everyone.  Suppose one of the Iranian delegation blabs to a European newspaper?  Eventually the Pres. is going to have to admit that one of his crew threatened Iran with war, and in so doing loses credibility for the rest of his ambassadors.  Unless the guy can mysteriously die in an auto crash into a lye factory or something of that nature.

[Shermie]

As mentioned above, the US did not win the War of 1812. It was a battle for the territory of Upper Canada, which is now Ontario. In Canada, part of the British Commonwealth. If the US won, it would be part of the US. That's pretty simple to understand.

I didn't really get the "blame" part of the ep title, unless I missed something (I did take a phone call). Other than being a random reference to a South Park song, what was the point of the title?

[shapeshifter]

Just watched.

I LOL'd 3 or 4 times, which is 3 or 4 times more than I did watching any comedy in the last month.

I thought dad was hot when he arm wrestled the drunken sailor. Should I be embarrased?

My only problem was Jivani legally getting from the UN to the Canadian embassy, but, whatever.

Edited October 26, 2014 by shapeshifter

[TV Anonymous]

One small thing that I think very weird is the SecState threatening Canadian ambassador that she would cancel P-1 visas for Canadian athletes in the NHL. How stupid such statement is. If that happened, does she think that Canada would be the biggest victim? The biggest backlash would come from the 23 American NHL teams and the sports networks, namely NBCSN and Fox Sports. Imagine what would happen to the U.S. franchises if the Sidney Crosbies, Jonathan Toewses and Patrice Bergerons were not allowed to play.

[missbonnie]

I loathe politics in any form. I don't give a rats ass about the legitimacy of the characters, or the way the government runs. I'm just here because I love Tea Leoni and so far I haven't been disappointed in the least.

[TV Anonymous]

My only problem was Jivani legally getting from the UN to the Canadian embassy, but, whatever.

 

Jivani has diplomatic immunity. So do the vehicles of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. So Jivani can travel from NY to DC aboard Iranian vehicle with diplomatic plate, and he is perfectly fine. There are plenty of diplomats whose countries are not in friendly terms with the United States, who roam the streets of NYC freely because they are accredited to the United Nations.

[ShellSeeker]

It is now clear that the son - both character and actor - are a major fail.

 

Yeah, I don't really like him either. But I did like his take on his assignment, when he said his teacher obviously wanted him to interview the SoS for his paper, so he decided to interview his dad instead.

 

And I can't decide how I feel about the reveal that dad is ex-military. It does feel kind of tacked on. I did like the scene with him and the son, when he said he still thinks about his Gulf War missions all the time. Maybe that is meant to be the thing that inspired him to go to divinity school? I can see why TPTB would want some background on that...it is a bit esoteric. If he were an accountant or an IT geek we wouldn't need any context.

 

One thing I do really like about this show is that there is no overdone trope about the husband being threatened or feeling emasculated by his wife because she has a very powerful job and (by some measures) is more successful than he is. He's very supportive and steps in and takes care of things at home when she's not able to be there, and doesn't whine about her not being there to make dinner (or whatever). I really hope the show keeps this up and doesn't go down the tired road of making him resentful and bitter about his wife's career.