‘Madam Secretary’ season 3, episode 5 review: How relevant is too relevant?
Through Sunday night’s new episode of “Madam Secretary,” we saw ourselves firmly pondering over the question in the title. “The French Revolution” was an hour that contained a few monumental events, but at the same exact time, this was an episode that didn’t necessarily do a whole lot to fulfill any hopes that we had of TV escapism.
As a matter of fact, in between the complicated / twisty election and all of the email hacking, we almost wish the show went in a completely different direction rather than ripping anything from the headlines, though that does seem to be the move that a lot of people are really into doing at the moment. There are differences, but we also have over-zealous candidates here with strong, conversial opinions.
If there is some good news, it seems that Elizabeth and Henry McCord getting a chance to finally take down Julius Burton as one of the people responsible for the hacking that happened to the family is over. It feels good that justice is served, but we never thought that this would be a particularly satisfying reveal since the show wasn’t just going to introduce a culprit for the sake of shock value; the adversary had to be someone who made at the very least a modicum of sense. This reveal certainly made more sense than law enforcement giving Elizabeth and Henry probably way more control as to the results of the case than they really should. Secretary of State does not come with the responsibilities of being a judge!
Still, we’d call the potential of this story for the most part frustrating, especially since we didn’t need a story like this haunting the McCord family all season. That typically allows for the lighter moments of the season, including her, despite all of her power and authority, continuing to struggle at the concept of a good breakfast.
The one part of the story we didn’t find altogether interesting this time was the international crisis with France, though the one way we’d really describe that more than anything else is that this is precisely what happens in the event that you really have some other stories that are far more interesting and relevant to what’s been going on so far this season. Also, it really didn’t show us anything knew other than some dissension in the ranks around the Secretary of State’s office.
We’ll best remember “The French Revolution” as an installment that revolutionized the lives of the McCord family more so than anything else, and for the time being, that’s just going to have to be okay. All of the resolution there is what lifted the episode somewhat, but maybe in the midst of all of the election fatigue we’re not enjoying what’s going on there anywhere near as much as we thought we would. Maybe that’s just a symptom of timing and it’s nothing the show is doing terribly wrong per se. Grade: B.