'Madam Secretary' Season 4, Episode 6 'Loophole' Recap: Division Between Policy and Saving A Life [SPOILERS]

Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) has more than one role, she’s Secretary of State, a mother, and a wife. But sometimes one role is bigger than the other. In “Madam Secretary” Season 4, Episode 6 titled “Loophole,” she and her husband Henry (Tim Daly) don’t see eye to eye on a current crisis. It’s not easy when the President is on Elizabeth’s side. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is also taking on her role as a mother as she tries to comfort Stevie (Wallis Currie-Wood) about her broken-off engagement.

‘Madam Secretary’ Won’t Negotiate With The Taliban

 
Nafisa Samadi (Ursula Taherian), an American CIA agent is captured by the terrorist group Taliban in Afghanistan.  Henry goes to Elizabeth and the President for a solution. He presents a ransom video where Nafisa was forced to ask for compensation for her release. Henry was ready to agree to the ransom to free the agent. But the President makes it clear that “the United States doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.” Hoping his wife would take his side, Henry sees that Elizabeth agrees with the President.

While Elizabeth’s team follow the policy, Henry and his team are finding other ways aside from the policy. He and his team watch the video again. They notice something weird. Nafisa looked nervous but kept fidgeting. It’s later found out that she was sending some kind of a Morse code for them to figure out. After cracking the code, they can’t understand what she was trying to say. Meanwhile, Elizabeth believes they can ask help from Pakistan. This creates tension between the married couple. Sometimes work and marriage can’t coincide when terrorists are involved.

Husband and Wife Take On Different Tactics

Time is of the essence when a human life can be killed any second. One of Henry’s sources revealed that the Taliban’s Deputy of Foreign Affairs is willing to help them. But there’s a catch—he’s asking for half a million dollars. Henry tells Elizabeth and the President’s team about the offer. But they all disagreed and won’t fund a man connected to the Taliban. Henry argues there’s a human life at stake and they have to do something. The President opted for a military rescue while they wait for other solutions.

Henry pulls Elizabeth aside asking for a little support. But she argues there’s a policy and how it should be properly handled. The two get into a heated argument about consequences of their actions. Elizabeth and her team try to get help from Pakistani again. But their representative refuses to agree to any amount they are offering. Matt Mahoney (Geoffrey Arend) offers a suggestion that India can help persuade the Pakistani to help. Elizabeth agrees to the solution and Nafisa was later released. Henry and his team have a video conference with Nafisa asking who might the leak be. If you recall last week, there’s a leak within the team who divulged the whereabouts of the Afghan safe house to the GRU. Nafisa tells Henry that the Taliban is a rouse for the GRU.

Heartache and Movin On For Stevie in ‘Madam Secretary’

While the United States is facing terrorists, Stevie is trying to move on after ending her engagement with Jareth (Christopher O’Shea). She’s currently finding refuge with her parents as she deals with the heartbreak. Elizabeth tries to console her daughter by offering to go out for drinks to forget her ex-fiance, as well as helping her clean out Stevie’s apartment and remove the relics of her past relationship.

Two share a heartwarming mother-daughter moment talking about the difference between Millenials and the generations before them. Elizabeth helps Stevie realize she had no fault in the break-up. After cleaning up her apartment, Stevie bumps into Dimitri (Chris Petrovski) walking out her parent’s house. The two started flirting, and she gives Dmitri her number hoping to catch up.
Looks like Stevie is ready to move on.
“Madam Secretary” returns next Sunday with “North to the Future” at 10:30 PM on CBS.