‘Madam Secretary’ season 2: Why put Russia at center of conflict?

Tonight, the midseason finale of “Madam Secretary” is airing in full over on CBS, and it is going to be one that certainly will build excitement for the show’s return on January 10. Sometimes, we have situations on these sort of episodes where producers like to put a bow on some of their major stories, and then come back with something new on the second half of the season. However, this is not even remotely something that is being done here; CBS has openly hyped up a cliffhanger at the end of the episode, and this is something that you can expect to see play out in as dramatic a fashion as possible.

So why choose Russia to be at the center of most of the conflict for Elizabeth this season? Given everything happening in the Middle East these days, there were clearly other choices that the show could have made. As you would expect, there was some thoughtful consideration put into this, and it is something that executive producer Barbara Hall discusses further in a chat with TVLine:

“We always look at where the most interesting points of world conflict are or could be, the countries that we have issues with … We look at, ‘What are situations that could suddenly turn ugly, even though they’re under control right now? Where do we have tenuous relationships?’ We turned our attention to Russia because it’s always a fraught relationship, even when it’s under control. There’s history there.”

We will come back soon with some further news on this episode; be on the lookout for it!

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