‘Madam Secretary’ Season 5, Episode 8 ‘The Courage to Continue’ Recap: Overthrowing a Regime

This week’s episode of Madam Secretary, titled “The Courage to Continue,” dives into foreign issues and workplace dilemmas head-on (with a few minor problems like finding a decent grave and managing interview anxiety. President Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine) faces an overarching problem—the old president of Haiti won’t step down to the new democratically-elected leader. Because of this, Dalton has Elizabeth (Téa Leoni) work out diplomatic ways to ease the tension—to almost no avail. Meanwhile, the Secretary’s assistant, Blake (Erich Bergen) is reminded about his last days in the State Department. He’s being fired in three days.

The Regime

President-elect Claude Galbert’s (Sean Patrick Thomas) win is putting strains in Haitian democracy. Elizabeth and Henry (Tim Daly) mull over the news over breakfast, which doesn’t look as easy as a walk in the park. Back at the State Department, Blake’s happy day ends with a reminder on his computer that he’s out in three days.

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On the bigger scale of things, Elizabeth and her team assess the likelihood of a coup from the former Haitian president, Hervé DuPont (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.). President-elect Galbert is also coming over to reaffirm its relationship with the US, although it looks like he needs more than the reaffirmation—some help from the world’s most powerful country. This is also a chance for Elizabeth to assess of Galbert will be another Haiti fascist who will likely want to extend his seat.

Galbert arrives with his team, and they are acquainted with Elizabeth’s own team. Matt (Geoffrey Arend), the Secretary’s speechwriter, is paired with Dany Victor (Hubert Point-Du Jour), Galbert’s speechwriter, for apprenticeship. At first, Matt doesn’t like it. But after Dany showered him praises and called him a master, Matt caved and showed him the ropes—much to his regret soon after.

Elizabeth offers Galbert a considerate amount for their aid package. Galbert refuses, saying what he needs is a more solid grip on his country and to remove DuPont and usher in a new day for Haitian democracy. Over at Haiti, tension builds. Riots are everywhere as DuPont’s regime start a campaign against Galbert, calling him a US puppet. He also refuses to cede the presidency.

At the White House, Dalton tells Elizabeth to impose sanctions and threaten DuPont further to make him step down. Despite this, though, DuPont remains undeterred. So Dalton organizes a strike against DuPont, sans Elizabeth’s knowledge. When Elizabeth gets wind of this plan, she confronts Dalton, who admits that he was doing this to protect Elizabeth from any form of controversy that could jeopardize her presidential campaign. Elizabeth then asks for one more chance for her to figure out diplomatic ways to deal with DuPont.

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Liz reaches out to Monaco to see if they are willing to offer refuge for DuPont. Monaco is hesitant but ultimately agrees if they’d do something for the Prince. Elizabeth brings this to DuPont, but he refuses. He wants to go out in a blaze of glory, saying his soldiers will fight for him, even with the threat of a possible US strike.

Blake & Matt’s Dilemma

Blake worries about his State Department post. When he reminds the team that he only has three days before MSec fires him, Matt, Daisy (Patina Miller), and Chief of Staff Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelus) assure him that Elizabeth has forgotten about the firing date. After all, Blake is staying on as an assistant for an indefinite time only. But during the meeting before Galbert’s arrival, Elizabeth tells Blake that he has 72 hours before he’s fired.

Blake goes to Jay and tells him that he doesn’t want to leave the inner circle and that he likes what he does. Jay then tells him that Blake could put his name in for a policy advisor assistant post, but he will have to impress Elizabeth. Jay agrees to go through a practice interview with Blake. As Jay coaches him, Blake loses concentration and messes up his terms. It’s not looking good for him. The next day, Blake pours his frustration to the janitor, who then tells him that he only needs more confidence.

Meanwhile, Matt struggles to tolerate Dany. Despite calling Matt a master at his craft, he constantly criticizes Matt’s way of writing. When Matt has enough, he heads over to the speechwriter’s desk as Daisy stops him. She informs Matt that Dany’s father was one of the casualties in DuPont’s revolt. When Dany comes to Matt for more corrections to his speech, Matt offers his condolences. Dany also reveals that he only wants to make his father proud, being the only one among his children who was able to finish college and have a desk job.

Crisis Averted

Elizabeth is called to the situation room with her staff. Dalton and CIA Director Gordon Becker (Mike Pniewski) strategize ways on how the strike at Haiti will go about. Blake then whispers a possible solution to Jay, to which Dalton sees and demands to hear. Blake proposes pulling out the financial support to the corporations supporting DuPont. This could work because by then DuPont would lose his grip and will be forced to step down. Dalton then reminds Blake never to withhold any helpful idea again.

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Later, Elizabeth’s team watch as DuPont declares himself as the rightful president, locking himself up in the Presidential Palace. Galbert’s concern grows, even more, fearing a massive bloodbath in the wake of DuPont’s stubbornness. But Jay was finally able to work out a deal that would have DuPont safely escorted to Monaco with his family. When DuPont gets the news, he finally steps down. Elizabeth then congratulates Galbert, promising the US’ undying support to his administration.

The next day, Elizabeth calls Blake in for his interview. But Elizabeth has none of it and fires him. She then rehires him as a policy advisor assistant, saying that Blake passed his final test by proving his worth in the situation room with Dalton.

Grave Problems

Elsewhere in the episode, Elizabeth and Henry stress about where they’re going to be buried. Arlington cemetery is filling up, and they have to decide fast. So they call a family meeting, but the kids end up throwing the decision back at them. Ultimately, Elizabeth admits that she’s not sure about where she wants to be buried because she couldn’t deal with the finality of death and the grave. After their accident many years ago, Elizabeth never visited her parent’s graves because she wanted to maintain the illusion that they’re just around. The episode ends with Elizabeth and her family finally visiting her parent’s graves.

‘Madam Secretary: The Courage to Continue’ Overall Verdict

“The Courage to Continue” dials down on its meaty dialogue (compared to last week’s) for a more forward approach in dealing with international crises and minor office dilemmas. I like the way the episode sets up a precedent for Elizabeth to continue should she be elected into office as the new PotUS. Blake, on the other hand, deserves a grander character arc like this. He has been with the team for so long, but we only ever saw him in the sidelines. Now that he’s a senior staffer, things are looking good for the direction of his character. It’s been a while since we got a considerable amount of character development in Madam Secretary, and what better way to do this than with Blake.

Madam Secretary continues Sunday, December 9th, with “Winter Garden” at 10/9c on CBS.