‘Madam Secretary’ season 3, episode 9 reaction: Will Russell be okay?

We’re going to offer up a lengthier review for tonight’s “Madam Secretary” episode a little later in the week, but for now, we wanted to give you a quick reaction to the ending of tonight’s new installment: WOW. It’s a rough one to watch, even if there were some press materials out there that gave the ending of it away.

Right in the thick of the most complicated Presidential Election in history, Russell finally had the pressure of the race and all of its various odds and ends get to him — he collapsed, and all signs point to a heart attack. He’d been going too hard, working too many people, and not taking a moment to even consider trying to take care of himself. Here’s the unfortunate part of this: It’s not like anyone is going to take a moment to breathe in the middle of all of this, given that the race is still ongoing. Someone like Sam Evans could even find a despicable way to use this as further leverage that the Dalton campaign cannot handle the stress.

Regardless of whatever Evans does or doesn’t do, the immediate hope here moving forward, at least for us, is that we get a chance to see Bess, Henry, and many of the other main characters stop for a second and care for the man, while questioning the best way forward and if there is a way to do so without causing any further pain or heartache to anyone. There are certain things, after all, that are simply not worth it, regardless of the ramifications.

The only good news we can offer you for now is that we at least know that Russell will still be alive at the start of next week’s episode. Beyond that, we’ve got a little bit of a blank slate.

If you do want to get some further news right now pertaining to the series and what’s up next, head over to the link here! (Photo: CBS.)