Madam Secretary - The Kill List - Review: "Peace comes at a price"

Sunday's episode of Madam Secretary was all about the nuclear treaty with Iran, which was ready to be signed. However, with Juliet returning and Iran getting ready to execute a gay citizen, the deal was compromised.

Let's start with the biggest threat to the deal: the return of Juliet Humphrey. The episode begins with her spying on her ex-husband Aiden and her children Lily and James through a camera. That eventually leads her to be traced to somewhere in Algeria. President Dalton informs Bess that he has put Juliet on the kill list and is ordering a drone strike to take her out. The US will need permission from Algeria to send out the drone, so Elizabeth offers to talk to the Algerian Ambassador. Despite Dalton and Russell saying they can handle it, Bess says it's fine. However, the Ambassador doesn't see enough evidence that Juliet is really there and is concerned for civilian loss. Instead, he offers to send in a unit to the location. Bess agrees to this, but Russell gets furious when he hears about this. He says she should have run the extra mile for the President and nearly accuses her of insubordination. However, it appears Bess made the right call as it turned out Juliet played them all. At the location, there was a shirt with her DNA all over it, so a drone strike would lead to a positive identification. She was planning on faking her death, but that plan went wrong thanks to Bess' so-called insubordination.

An increasingly worried Aiden asks Henry what he knows and also invites them to Lily's birthday party. The little girl tells Bess she saw her mother wearing a yellow headscarf after praying in church to see her mother again. Elizabeth thinks it's nonsense, but Lily turns out right when a photo of Juliet at an airport confirms she is wearing the yellow headscarf. Knowing Juliet is in DC, Bess suspects there are still plans to destroy the nuclear deal by killing the Iranian President Shiraz. She asks the FBI to track down a previous phone call from Juliet to an unknown person. That person turns out to be a Metro cop who is now on sniper duty. Fortunately, the FBI arrive in time to prevent the sniper from assassinating President Shiraz. Juliet is also arrested when she walks to her ex-husband's house to see her children one last time.

Also, Iran is preparing to stone a gay citizen to death on the same day the deal will be signed. This is of course meant as a statement from the Iranians: even though they might make a deal with the US, they are still the Islamic Republic of Iran. Bess won't let this incident impact the treaty, but she does task her staff with doing everything they can to postpone or call off the execution. Meanwhile, Jay is tasked with talking to a Human Rights movement that is planning a protest near the White House. However, the leader of the protest makes Jay think about the situation and whether they should really make peace with a nation that performs such grueling activities. He confronts Bess about this and even tells her that maybe supporting the coup would have been better. Jay walks out and is later seen at the protest. And when finally the deal has been signed, Blake informs Bess that the gay citizen has been stoned as planned.

Elsewhere, Elizabeth breaks down in front of her therapist when talking about Juliet and how betrayed she feels by her. Also, since Allison turned 16 a few weeks ago, she is taking driving lessons. Of course, she makes a couple of test drives with Bess and Henry first.

So the deal is finally there! This storyline began in episode 5 and now the deal has finally been done. Does it mean everything is now good between the US and Iran? Is it finally over? I don't know. As we learn from the end, Bess has her doubts about the deal. The episode was interesting in that it showed us how Elizabeth slowly formed these doubts. She was so focussed on getting this deal and she has risked her life for it, but now she has realized again what kind of nation Iran really is. I am glad this episode also resolved the hunt for Juliet. It was one of the loose threads that was still hanging from the three-part Iran arc. I also think Jay was pretty good in this episode. After his talk with the Human Rights movement guy, he was really in doubt about the deal. I think it's logical that he confronted Bess, but he was a bit too emotional and went somewhat too far. In turn, however, he gave Elizabeth doubts. The sacrifices that have to be made in order to achieve peace, was something this episode showed very well. Bess' struggle was really the highlight of the episode for me, and Téa Leoni delivered as always.

What did you think of "The Kill List"? Will the deal with Iran hold? Are you glad the Juliet storyline has been resolved? Do you think Elizabeth was right to have her doubts in the end? And how do you feel about Jay's behavior? I would love to hear your opinions in the comment section below.

The next episode is the season 1 finale, airing Sunday at 8/7c on CBS. I have seen the episode already, so be sure to check out my advance preview of the episode later this week. You will not want to miss the season finale! Here's a promo for the episode:

About the Author - Daniel van der Veer

Daniel van der Veer is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Stalker, Madam Secretary and the upcoming show American Odyssey. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.

Recent Reviews by Daniel van der Veer (All Reviews)