S01.E16: Tamerlane

[thewhiteowl]

Elizabeth secretly travels to Iran in an attempt to prevent a coup that could impact President Dalton’s administration. Also, she brings her staff up to speed on the investigation into Marsh’s death.

 

 

[TimWil]

Why did Munsey and his minder have identical blue striped ties?

[Notwisconsin]

I hate it when the bad guys win! And I hate it even worse when a show makes the bad guys look like the good guys. Which reminds me, was that a reflection of people hanged from lampposts in SoS's car?

[TimWil]

Yes, it seemed to be, Notwisconsin, albeit computer generated.

[kwnyc]

Damn, that was one of the best episodes thus far. Since every damn preview showed the explosion, we knew Bess was going to be in danger, but the rest of the writing, the interplay between the characters, was really well done (not the least of which was Bess's dismissal of the Daisy/Matt "clandestine" relationship. I hope it gets that much coverage from here on out...)

 

Bebe really brought it when she revealed her affair with the late SoS. The only character who annoyed for me was the CIA head, who seemed to be going for kind of a comic turn. (And shame on the feds for not finding his concealed weapon...looks like HE doesn't get a trip to Gitmo).

 

And YAY! Anna Deveare Smith! (Callback to West Wing...though she seems to have been promoted to Attorney General).

 

I have to say I enjoyed this more than the following episode of The Good Wife, though that was one of their stronger efforts in awhile.

[MerBearHou]

Madam Secretary has replaced The Good Wife as my favorite Sunday night show -- actually, I prefer MS over just about all dramas on TV right now. The Good Wife is not even in the same league this season -- it's been strangely "off".

I was not a prior Tea Leoni fan, but my gosh, she is outstanding in all aspects of this role -- the Secretary of State, the serious dilemmas, her friendships, her staff and on the homefront with her family relationships. I'm liking her.

I fought back tears a few times in this episode. Their 16-year-old daughter jumping to the Silly String when the little brother came in -- and the shared look with her dad saying "love and thanks" -- was just a small, great moment.

The barely-seen images against her window of the car of the hanging bodies were incredibly powerful.

And the death of the leader right next to her and in front of his kids.....well, it's horrible and heartbreaking.

The writing is so smart and the stories are so compelling......very, very well done, Madam Secretary writers. Keep it up.

[sinkwriter]

 

Since every damn preview showed the explosion, we knew Bess was going to be in danger, but the rest of the writing, the interplay between the characters, was really well done

 

So much agreement. I thought they really showed the emotional impact on all characters involved (except that smug bastard who shot himself at the end; I wanted to punch him for getting away with so much).

 

What really got to me the most was Tim Daly. I thought they built up well his fears about his wife going into a very dangerous climate, and they showed it well through his attempts to hide it from the kids. I broke down crying when he did: when his girls hugged him and he couldn't hold it in anymore, just started crying in relief, oh man... that got me so hard.

 

Well done. Terrific episode.

[CMH1981]

I loved Dr. McCord speaking to the president like he was any other regular guy.  I was hoping when Russell told him to remember who he was speaking to, that he would have replied something to the effect of..."yes, my wife's boss" or "yes, Conrad Dalton."  I just wanted it to be something along the lines of that he doesn't regard him as anybody of more importance than anyone else in the room.

 

Loved Bebe's character throwing her ex/former-secretary of state under the bus like that...putting it all out there warts and all.

 

So now the former friend wants to come home after betraying everyone?  Really?

 

The emotional impact was great in the episode to all characters involved.

 

I agree w/other posters that this show has surpassed The Good Wife for me as well.

[sinkwriter]

 

So now the former friend wants to come home after betraying everyone?  Really?

 

I wonder if she's feeling guilty after hearing that she almost killed one of her best friends. How patriotic are you feeling now, Juliet?

[CMH1981]

I'm guessing it's more like she is stuck in Iran and doesn't want to end up hanging from a lamp-post in the street.

[Boundary]

Concur with TGW comparison, Alicia who? Brilliant episode. I've sort of casually followed this show, missing chunks of episodes at a time but it's been getting better and better whenever I catch up. The writers make smart choices: the husband wasn't having an affair or the Secretary doesn't have more overt political ambitions at this point, for example; they make avoiding pitfalls look easy. Tea Leoni, as has been noted, is really brilliant in this. My most over-riding memory of hers has been from Bad Boys! She's quite believable here, not only as a politician and a family woman but also a former CIA analyst. She was not bad ass when the bomb went off but she'd put counter intelligence measures in place against the CIA director. Little touches like enhance a show. The only problem I have is the Daisy character, Bess didn't have to apologize to her. She should know her job means being kept in the dark at times, especially when she's not cleared for the infor. Daisy bitches a lot with little output shown, the writers need to tweak that character.

[Beach Party]

This show has me doubting whom can be trusted.  Meeting Zahed Javani's family felt like a set-up for the audience.  Just before the blast, Zahed seemed a bit off in talking with Elizabeth.  The tension was building.  I momentarily doubted Javani by thinking he was part of the coup.

 

I was thinking how careless the security were with exCIA Director Andrew Munsey.  Don't take him to a restaurant that he requests and leave him alone in the bathroom.  Don't leave him unsupervised in his own home where he might have gun.  Unless they wanted him to make the contact, and then save the trial by letting him execute himself!

 

Re: the bodies hanging in the streets.  Is that Iran government's way of sending a message of what happens to failed coup members?  Gruesome.

Edited March 16, 2015 by Beach Party

[Netfoot]

Another corker of an episode.

 

Didn't like to see they missed Munsey's hold-out gun.  Was hoping he'd find they had taken the bullets and left the useless gun.  Also, I thought we'd quietly dropped the Matt/Daisy affaire.  But if they want to keep it going but so secret we never see it,, I'm OK with it.

 

Post explosion, Téa really looked like she was ill.  So much so, I thought they were going to reveal she had been seriously injured in the blast.  I guess she was just shocked.  Either way, Téa rocked it.  In fact everyone gave good performances.  Even Stevie was sensible and believable. 

 

Javani's death was a sad twist, especially cruel in front of his pleasant family.

 

Juliet wants to "come in?"   I thought maybe they could just send her Munsey's little pistol.

 

This show has made a noticeable step up since the hiatus.  Did something change?

[sinkwriter]

 

Post explosion, Téa really looked like she was ill.  So much so, I thought they were going to reveal she had been seriously injured in the blast.

 

She seemed so "off" and kind of woozy that I wondered if she either had a concussion or was suffering some blood loss from that back injury. They seemed to make a big deal of it for a second, with the guy telling her he was going to get her a medic, and her saying she was fine but touching her back and bringing forth a bloody hand. I thought they were going to address the injury a little more, or at least show it had been taken care of, but they seemed to just skip it after that dramatic moment with her bloody hand. I don't get it.

 

Didn't like to see they missed Munsey's hold-out gun.

 

I was afraid it was going to be a hidden cell phone and that he still had contact with someone in the coup. The gun surprised me.

Edited March 16, 2015 by sinkwriter

[bros402]

I'm pretty sure the way the CIA director angled the gun wouldn't kill him - just sever his optic nerves. I used to read some medical websites, and apparently under the chin like that usually goes in a straight line with a small gun like that - and severs the optic nerves in the process. Sure, he'd be blind, and rendered unconscious from the pain of the gunshot, but he would survive.

 

He'd need a bigger caliber, a different weapon, or a different angle for placing the gun when firing it in order to get his desired result.

 

There's your random bit of learning for the day.

[Kromm]

She seemed so "off" and kind of woozy that I wondered if she either had a concussion or was suffering some blood loss from that back injury. They seemed to make a big deal of it for a second, with the guy telling her he was going to get her a medic, and her saying she was fine but touching her back and bringing forth a bloody hand. I thought they were going to address the injury a little more, or at least show it had been taken care of, but they seemed to just skip it after that dramatic moment with her bloody hand. I don't get it.

 

I was afraid it was going to be a hidden cell phone and that he still had contact with someone in the coup. The gun surprised me.

Sounds like there could have been a rewrite.

[ren]

I just created an account to say that Stevie's parting words of "Keep the world safe for democracy," is horrible television writing.

[Kromm]

While I appreciate this episode overall, I do have to say that it's utterly ridiculous that a security scan didn't find CIA Boss' hidden gun.  Or that in this ridiculous circumstance where they didn't arrest him that they didn't have video surveillance inside his house instead.  Or how 'bout this... people WITH him at all times.

 

But even if they didn't have the those last two things, I would at least had a more clever suicide method than a gun (which as I said they had to magically allow him to have anyway).  The mere fact that he could even be alone and get on a stepladder was already a sign of how unrealistic that was, since he could have just hung himself anyway (or stabbed himself with a kitchen knife, or if they took those away, broken a glass and cut his own throat with it).  So it was him being alone that was bullcrap. Even MORESO when the logical conclusion of every conspiracy theorist in the Madam Secretaryverse should probably now be that he was a patsy who was murdered to take the fall for someone else (the logical candidates being The President, Elizabeth McCord, or both). 

Edited March 16, 2015 by Kromm

[mwell345]

 

Madam Secretary has replaced The Good Wife as my favorite Sunday night show -- actually, I prefer MS over just about all dramas on TV right now. The Good Wife is not even in the same league this season -- it's been strangely "off".

I was not a prior Tea Leoni fan, but my gosh, she is outstanding in all aspects of this role -- the Secretary of State, the serious dilemmas, her friendships, her staff and on the homefront with her family relationships. I'm liking her.

I fought back tears a few times in this episode. Their 16-year-old daughter jumping to the Silly String when the little brother came in -- and the shared look with her dad saying "love and thanks" -- was just a small, great moment.

The barely-seen images against her window of the car of the hanging bodies were incredibly powerful.

And the death of the leader right next to her and in front of his kids.....well, it's horrible and heartbreaking.

The writing is so smart and the stories are so compelling......very, very well done, Madam Secretary writers. Keep it up.

 

I agree with everything (although I have never watched the Good Wife, so I can't compare. ) I was watching RHOA at 8 on Sundays, but changed to this a few weeks ago and am so glad I did.

 

Point about the "barely seen images" of the bodies.  Thank you, Madame Secretary producers for not shoving graphic images in our faces like so many other shows do. Much more compelling when it's not so visible and  I for one am tired of shows competing to see who can be the most insensitive.   

[shapeshifter]

I'm guessing it's more like she [Juliette] is stuck in Iran and doesn't want to end up hanging from a lamp-post in the street.

Yeah.

So long as they don't go for the "they threatened my family if I didn't go along with it," I don't really care what they do with her story.

...I was thinking how careless the security were with exCIA Director Andrew Munsey.  Don't take him to a restaurant that he requests and leave him alone in the bathroom....

I guess if they had sabotaged the water faucet he would have been suspicious and they wouldn't have gotten their intel.

When the security guy checked out the ceiling space above the toilet, he verified that there was a communication device there, right? How hard is it in reality to tap into it directly? I guess it wouldn't have mattered, because they figured out what his message was anyway.

I wish I didn't know that

Tea Leoni and Tim Daly were a couple

because it's all I can think about when

watching their scenes together

.

So were Daisy, Matt, and Jay happy she survived because it meant they were still employed, or was that supposed to indicate a new-found appreciation for her?

[betsyboo]

Madam Secretary has replaced The Good Wife as my favorite Sunday night show -- actually, I prefer MS over just about all dramas on TV right now. The Good Wife is not even in the same league this season -- it's been strangely "off".

I was not a prior Tea Leoni fan, but my gosh, she is outstanding in all aspects of this role -- the Secretary of State, the serious dilemmas, her friendships, her staff and on the homefront with her family relationships. I'm liking her.

I fought back tears a few times in this episode. Their 16-year-old daughter jumping to the Silly String when the little brother came in -- and the shared look with her dad saying "love and thanks" -- was just a small, great moment.

The barely-seen images against her window of the car of the hanging bodies were incredibly powerful.

And the death of the leader right next to her and in front of his kids.....well, it's horrible and heartbreaking.

The writing is so smart and the stories are so compelling......very, very well done, Madam Secretary writers. Keep it up.

^^^^Agree on all counts! I had this thought last night - I got very excited when I remembered MS was on, and then was indifferent for TGW.

 

I just absolutely love the family dynamic. Everyone seems so easy with each other. Love the silly string tradition. Stevie still needs to get taken down a peg. The "she's 16 now, you should tell her" made me angry because that's up to the parents and she put her dad on the spot. (Altho I don't disagree that "Noodle" figured it out on her own.)

 

Bess will carry the death of Javani (sp?) with her for a long time - she will for sure feel responsibility (not that they were aiming for him, since he was high enough to be a target in his own right) because she couldn't get word of the coup to him earlier.

[kwnyc]

So now the former friend wants to come home after betraying everyone?  Really?

 

Hmm: stuck in Iran with the possibility of being hung from a lamppost or in a US federal prison for life (though maybe with the possibility of seeing her children). In that case, life in prison is actually the less-worse scenario. Also, she will sing like a canary.

[roomtorome]

Security messes up all the time in real life - which is why when the govt is always telling us "don't worry, we are safe" - I just shrug.  Safety here in NYC would mean people can't scamper up (a few times within two months) to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge (a high profile target) undetected or be able to ride up the elevator of the "Freedom Tower" just before completion with no security, just walking in off the street and on and on so I buy that they missed essential stuff when doing their security check.  

 

It happens - humans involved means big mistakes can and do happen. 

 

I like that they have made her character just very casual and more real in her behavior than most other characters on these sort of shows with political figures - she doesn't get histrionic or make long speeches - she acts like an ordinary person, more than anyone else in the cast, in my opinion.  It's a very appealing way for her to be directed and TL is doing a believable job of it - 

 

Good Wife is off my plate; simply awful now.  Shows to have a shelf life and, for me, it is usually at about the 3 year mark that things start to bore me and expose the redundancy and lack of new creative juices.  I'm fine with that.  

 

I hope this is renewed.  It is one of a just a few I am watching this year at all.

[Kromm]

Security messes up all the time in real life - which is why when the govt is always telling us "don't worry, we are safe" - I just shrug.  Safety here in NYC would mean people can't scamper up (a few times within two months) to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge (a high profile target) undetected or be able to ride up the elevator of the "Freedom Tower" just before completion with no security, just walking in off the street and on and on so I buy that they missed essential stuff when doing their security check.  

Yes, but there's a big difference between some street cop on some routine duty not seeing something, or some security guard getting lazy watching a monitor, and what would theoretically be elite level federal security personnel working directly under Presidential orders, in an Emergency/Crisis situation.  Those things are not all equitable.

Really they were glaring flaws in an otherwise pretty good episode.  And again, we're not talking about a single oversight, we're talking about THREE of them.  1.) Missing the gun in a premises scan  2.) Not installing security cameras  3.) Not having personnel at his side at all times, since even innocuous household items could be used as weapons against them (or suicide aides against himself).

Because it's three separate oversights, it stretches credibility and makes that plot twist seem kind of outlandish as a result.

And I really DO want to see if they take this in the direction of blowing this up in The President and McCord's faces, because logically that seems to be a consequence of a sudden death of someone they were going to finger as the main conspirator.  

At least if the coming episodes work that angle, I'll see that they allowed this rather outlandish thing to happen for a concrete plot reason (to get those two into real hot water, because now their own public may not believe them about any of it).

[Netfoot]

How many of Liz's politically placed friends have died?  I make it three.  First was George.  Then Prince Yousif.  And now Zahed.  Any more?

 

She is a dangerous woman to be around!

[roomtorome]

Well, I guess it is all perspective. As a New Yorker, I was alarmed at which the ease someone could walk into that building with no security stops, enter an elevator and go to one of the highest floors in the nearly completed building - that building, of all buildings.

 

Again - people screw up and I do think it was an overwrought plot point but this man had already managed to do some extraordinary feats before being busted.  

 

Look how many intruders in the last year made it onto Whitehouse grounds - one, getting inside.  

 

The show is either writing a lazy plot point or highlighting just  how "secure" security even at the highest level is and is not.  Not sure their intent.

[readster]

 

I was thinking how careless the security were with exCIA Director Andrew Munsey.  Don't take him to a restaurant that he requests and leave him alone in the bathroom.  Don't leave him unsupervised in his own home where he might have gun.  Unless they wanted him to make the contact, and then save the trial by letting him execute himself!

 

 

 That was the weakest part of the episode. Considering what he had done, no way, and I mean no way would that have happened. He would have been locked up in no time and had someone with him at all times. Especially, after the coup failed. He spent months setting this up. Killing the former SoS and letting good service men die for what he believed was what the President wanted. It was an easy out for him. That was the classic: "Suspend all logic for this part to happen." The rest, great episode. I'm also happy this really puts an end to the previous SoS plot lines and everyone can move forward.

[Kromm]

Well, I guess it is all perspective. As a New Yorker, I was alarmed at which the ease someone could walk into that building with no security stops, enter an elevator and go to one of the highest floors in the nearly completed building - that building, of all buildings.

Yes, but in addition to not being emergency situations, your examples also are area surveillance not target surveillance.  It certainly was amazing those perimeters could be breached, it's true, but taking precautions to prevent one specific person, who's 100% in your custody (so there's a low number of variables), from doing something, should be many degrees easier than protecting gigantic buildings, at all times, from an almost infinite number of variables. 

 

I certainly DO understand it was a plot convenience for the episode, but as I said, it better be to a specific end.  If it is (as I said, the best rationale being to get The Prez and McCord into political hot water) then there's a reason to overlook the stupidity of it. If it just turns out to be a throwaway, and the whole crisis is gone and done by the next episode, then I for one will feel a bit insulted they used such a plot convenience for no good reason.

[sinkwriter]

 

I was thinking how careless the security were with exCIA Director Andrew Munsey.  Don't take him to a restaurant that he requests and leave him alone in the bathroom.

 

I was pretty annoyed with that -- for example, I wondered: how could he search the same place in the ceiling and not find the guy's phone device?? -- until the scene where they talked about how they basically let him believe he had a little leeway so that he would make his next move and they could gather intelligence from that. 

 

Still, seemed pretty risky to me. And I hated that he was able to hide that gun.

[Guest]

I mean, the President was considering the firing squad for him, yes?  But he was still allowed to walk free?  Makes no sense.

 

Still a great episode. Even Stevie was likable.

[sinkwriter]

One thing I really loved was Russell's reactions to everything. He's a character that could easily be written and played as a jerk or a bad guy, with absolutely no nuance, just a major thorn in Elizabeth's side. Instead they've given him some good dimension, and though he and Elizabeth may disagree with one another and may never be best friends, I think they've started to feel respect for one another.

 

I loved how upset he seemed to be when they didn't know if Elizabeth was still alive. I thought Željko Ivanek played it very well.

 

Actually, I thought Željko was especially terrific in comparison to Keith Carradine who didn't seem to express much care one way or another. The President's "thank god" when Elizabeth was reported as safe didn't seem to have any more or less emotion than anything else he expresses. I don't know if that was a deliberate presentation or if Keith just doesn't have the acting chops to give a more nuanced performance. At this point, given what's presented I'm starting to wonder if his character has his own secret agenda.

[readster]

I was pretty annoyed with that -- for example, I wondered: how could he search the same place in the ceiling and not find the guy's phone device?? -- until the scene where they talked about how they basically let him believe he had a little leeway so that he would make his next move and they could gather intelligence from that. 

 

Still, seemed pretty risky to me. And I hated that he was able to hide that gun.

 

 Exactly! I'm sorry, you can't have one person go check that exact spot and not find anything. Then the characters to that same spot and magically there is a hidden gun. Wow! Some trick.

[sinkwriter]

I also thought it was weird that it didn't seem to occur to the corrupt CIA guy that they might have planted a bug in the bathroom in case he tried something. I mean, that bug was right there on the bottom edge of the sink. They didn't even put it in a more obscure place. All he would have had to do is run his hands underneath the sink and he would have found it, but he didn't even seem to look before he got started. It was weird all around.

[kwnyc]

 

Instead they've given him some good dimension, and though he and Elizabeth may disagree with one another and may never be best friends, I think they've started to feel respect for one another.

I think that's it and Ivanek is a really good actor, so we've been able to see his character develop over the season. And in terms of President Carradine (!) we've usually only seen him pissed off, when he's calling in Bess for some hot international mess or other. But when he & Russell spoke about how to handle the blowback of the attempted coup, and he said: no, we just have to get out there and own it, it's the first time I've really seen him be Presidential on the show. I mean, the guy got elected (on this show), so he must have something going for him that made millions of people vote for him. (Or not...but I don't think the show is going there...that's more "Person of Interest" territory).

[sinkwriter]

 

I think that's it and Ivanek is a really good actor, so we've been able to see his character develop over the season.

 

Željko Ivanek really is terrific. Everything I've seen him do has been awesome (and he's done so many things!)   :)

Edited March 16, 2015 by sinkwriter

[sinkwriter]

Also awesome for me as a West Winger? The presence of Anna Deavere Smith. The minute I heard her voice, I cheered. She needs to come back again sometime!

[Sandiscot]

 

I also thought it was weird that it didn't seem to occur to the corrupt CIA guy that they might have planted a bug in the bathroom in case he tried something.

 

 

That was why he turned the water on, so nobody would be able to hear what he said.

[gazebo]

Boy, those guards couldn't quite cut it when it came to the guilty CIA Director, eh?  The first guard checked the bathroom of the coffee house before the ex CIA director used it, and still couldn't find that secret little thingabob phone hidden inside the ceiling tile.  The guards guarding the CIA guy's house apparently never swept the the house for hidden bugs or weapons.  So the CIA guy just simply got his gun from the ceiling (light,vent?) and managed to off himself. 

 

Aside from this ridiculousness, I am quite pleased with the episode.  It seems to realistically shows everyone's anxiety when Bess went off to Iran to warn the government of the impending coup.  I can almost feel how freaked out her husband felt knowing that his wife was going into real danger and that she might not come back in one piece.  Bess's two older daughters were quickly hip to the fact that this trip that Bess was taking was quite different from the other trips.  I love that they automatically knew where Bess was going even though no one told them.  I'm glad the son didn't know anything about this trip and that his sister was willing to hide it from him.  The silly string fight was cute and kind of heartbreaking at the same time as everyone is hiding the secret from the son.  I thought Bess's husband was going to start crying when he heard that Bess was back safe.

 

Tea Leoni just continues to knock it out of the park on this Show.  She realistically showed her shock and fear when the explosion happened.  She looked genuinely shocked when she realized that her bodyguard jumped on top of her and gave his life for hers during the explosion.  I felt so sorry for Sahad's little son when he saw his father lying dead on the floor.

 

Good episode!  I'm surprised at how hooked I am into this Show considering I never liked politics.

[sinkwriter]

 

That was why he turned the water on, so nobody would be able to hear what he said.

 

Yeah, I figured that out, but it seems like the CIA would have stronger, more high-tech equipment that should be able to pick up conversations above running water. Running water seemed pretty lame, as did the hiding of the bug under the sink. It was all pretty implausible to me.

 

Boy, those guards couldn't quite cut it when it came to the guilty CIA Director, eh?  The first guard checked the bathroom of the coffee house before the ex CIA director used it, and still couldn't find that secret little thingabob phone hidden inside the ceiling tile.

 

I think they did know it was there. That's why they put the bug under the sink, in order to capture the conversation the CIA guy had with his accomplice(s). In a following scene where they mentioned the information they had been able to pull, they said they let him think he had some freedom to try such a stunt.

 

But the gun? That was pretty ridiculous. They should have found that.

Edited March 16, 2015 by sinkwriter

[shapeshifter]

...But the gun? That was pretty ridiculous. They should have found that.

Maybe they left it on purpose too. Can you imagine the congressional finger pointing and witch hunts a trial would generate?

[sinkwriter]

I did wonder about the people guarding the CIA guy. I mean, he had everything pretty well planned. What's to stop him from having more people on the inside who will deliver messages for him? (Well, while he was still alive and under house arrest, I mean.)

[memememe76]

I was not a prior Tea Leoni fan, but my gosh, she is outstanding in all aspects of this role -- the Secretary of State, the serious dilemmas, her friendships, her staff and on the homefront with her family relationships. I'm liking her.

 

I so agree with this. Tea is really remarkable. I have always found Tea kinda jocular in attitude, and I think the writers have been successful in really bringing out that snarky side while still having her be intelligent and optimistic/idealistic. 

 

Tea is much more presidential than Keith Carradine, who is my main disappointment with this show. Otherwise, really enjoying the show. I hope it has another season. 

[Kromm]

Maybe they left it on purpose too. Can you imagine the congressional finger pointing and witch hunts a trial would generate?

This is worse.  A dead lead conspirator means a groundswell of people assuming the dead guy was a patsy (and murdered to cover that up).

[Netfoot]

I hope it has another season. 

 

Wikipedeia and IMDB seem to think there will be a second season, at least.

[myril]

Wikipedeia and IMDB seem to think there will be a second season, at least.

 

It is official, renewal for a second season was already announced by CBS in January.

[Kromm]

It seemed like a shoe-in anyway. Regularly getting north of 12 million viewers is considered a heck of a lot these days, isn't it? Just as a point of comparison, the current season of CSI gets around 8.

[bros402]

Maybe they left it on purpose too. Can you imagine the congressional finger pointing and witch hunts a trial would generate?

 

It is easier to sack a few secret service agents/FBI agents/whoever than it is to withstand a very prolonged public trial & full congressional inquiry (which there is bound to be, but not as much of a media circus as it would be if said high-ranking government official were still alive)

[CooperTV]

Boy, those guards couldn't quite cut it when it came to the guilty CIA Director, eh?  The first guard checked the bathroom of the coffee house before the ex CIA director used it, and still couldn't find that secret little thingabob phone hidden inside the ceiling tile.  The guards guarding the CIA guy's house apparently never swept the the house for hidden bugs or weapons.  So the CIA guy just simply got his gun from the ceiling (light,vent?) and managed to off himself.

 

They knew he had a hidden phone in the bathroom, that's why they planted the bug on the sink. They were hpoing he would contact his agent in Iran. And I reasonably sure one of those people who search his house were his cohorts/co-conspirators and could reasonably well plant the gun there as well.

[shapeshifter]

This is worse. A dead lead conspirator means a groundswell of people assuming the dead guy was a patsy (and murdered to cover that up).

So then who will be the mole in SoS's inner circle ('cause ya know there has to be a mole)? I'm guessing Daisy and or Matt will be the red herring(s), and Jay is the mole. It just better not be sweet Blake!

ETA: I'm changing my mole vote to Matt. Didn't he feed Daisy some miss-information last episode? Plus it would explain the zero chemistry between them since day one, IMO.

Edited March 17, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Kromm]

So then who will be the mole in SoS's inner circle ('cause ya know there has to be a mole)? I'm guessing Daisy and or Matt will be the red herring(s), and Jay is the mole. It just better not be sweet Blake!

ETA: I'm changing my mole vote to Matt. Didn't he feed Daisy some miss-information last episode?

Huh?  I don't get this question at all. I wasn't saying the dead guy really WAS a patsy and murdered.  I was saying that since the President already put out the story about the conspiracy, the moment the administration says that the lead conspirator is now dead, lots of people are going to assume it sounds all too convenient that the supposed guilty party isn't around to state his own case (even with the recordings they have, those can be faked, some might argue).  

 

Now the show may completely gloss that over and move onto a new major storyarc, but to me that's the logical next one.  They dug out this major conspiracy and now by managing to kill himself, this one guy has put their careers in the crossfire again, because its them, as the face of the government, likely to meet lots of skepticism.

 

So I'm not sure I get what any of that has to do with a mole in the SoS' inner circle.   The way the events unfolded means there didn't have to be one, and since there wasn't REALLY a conspiracy plot to kill the CIA guy, there's no dramatic tension to have a Mole now.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Kromm