‘Madam Secretary’ Season 6 Premiere ‘Hail to the Chief’ Review: A Presidency Under Scrutiny

I still can’t believe that Elizabeth McCord’s (Téa Leoni) journey to the White House came after President Conrad Dalton begged her horse shit clad boots to take up the Secretary of State post six years (or a little over a decade if you’d count the time jumps) ago. Formerly known as “Madam Secretary,” Elizabeth is now the President of the United States. That seems to be the best thing in the world right now—except it isn’t.

In the Season 6 premiere of Madam Secretary, titled “Hail to the Chief,” Elizabeth is a hundred days into her first quarter as PotUS. But this doesn’t come easy as Elizabeth faces a credible threat that is looming over US democracy. The United States has been hacked by Iranian forces, with a piece of information that also happens to be directly related to the McCord presidential campaign (sound familiar, anyone?). Meanwhile, we’ve got the First Gentleman of the United States—or in a more awkward acronym, FGOTUS—Henry McCord (Tim Daly) facing crazy problems of his own: his wardrobe style and a slight bit of misinformation during Henry’s guest stint at the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Man, this has been one awesome ride to the White House. Finally, we have our very first woman President! And she doesn’t spew pretentious bullshit on Twitter! She also doesn’t collude with foreign powers to manipulate the elections! Oh, what a beautiful world we live in.

All jokes aside, here’s what went down on tonight’s season 6 premiere of CBS’ Madam Secretary President.

The Work Never Really Stops Even If You Want to Have Fun

“Hail to the Chief” opens with an unflattering look at Elizabeth, now the POTUS, as she struggles with her shoe choice for an upcoming fundraiser. She has a new stylist because Alison is off to an international internship. Now seated in the Presidential Convoy, Elizabeth reminds Blake (Erich Bergen), now promoted to being the POTUS’ secretary, and Daisy (Patina Miller), her Press Secretary, that she’s giving this night to Henry as he is about to make a speech. This is his night, so it’s just fitting for her to take the backseat. They arrive at the dinner with Henry, Jason (Evan Roe), and Stevie (Wallis Currie Wood) in tow as an entire platoon (like a hell lot of them) of Secret Service agents flank them into the ballroom. This, after all, is Elizabeth’s 97th day as POTUS.

The unfiltered Mike B (Kevin Rahm) is Elizabeth’s Chief of Staff, with Susan Thompson (Tonya Pinkins) finally replacing her as the new Madam Secretary. Elizabeth’s plans of taking the backseat take a u-turn as Mike reminds her that she needs to cozy up to the Senators in attendance to whip some votes for her landmark legislative agenda. In covert McCord fashion, Elizabeth does just that (more so at the chocolate fountain with Senator Chet Wagner [David Adkins] who seems to have been apprehensive about the bill at first but resigns after McCord’s irresistible sweet talks.) Later, Henry takes the stage to deliver a speech about how art and creativity fuel the world’s economy. Elizabeth appears touched by Henry’s eloquent words, and they hit it off at the dance floor.

A Purposeful Hack

The next day, we see Mike and Elizabeth in action at the West Wing, with the former pressuring POTUS to select his replacement as Chief of Staff. It turns out that Mike only signed on to be Elizabeth’s right hand for 100 days after learning about Jay jumping ship to pursue a relationship with Annelies De Runnow, the chess player he met in Holland last season. After that, he’ll only stay on as Presidential Counselor.

But just as things get a bit stressful on the POTUS administrative staff front, a new threat emerges—CIA director Ephraim Ware (Clifton Davis) and FBI Director Amelia Banks (Linda Powell) informs POTUS that Iran hacked Senator Beauregard Miller presidential campaign to leak out confidential information. Now, Miller was a staunch critic of Elizabeth and a near loss for her during the election, so naturally, people could get the idea that this hack was of her doing. Mike tells her to figure out a way to control it, but Elizabeth thinks it’s her duty to tell the American people that their democracy is being attacked by foreign powers.

In a hot, Texas afternoon flashback to the early throes of the McCord campaign, it’s revealed that word got out about Miller’s affair with his intern (is this 1998?) and that they’re also having a baby together. Mike wanted to use this info to derail his campaign, but it fell flat. However, Miller lost his high status in the Republican party.

At the Command Ops Center, the Department of Defense gives her three options—all of which will target Iran’s cyber defenses and intelligence—as a form of retaliation. Elizabeth chooses all three and proceeds to inform the public in a press conference about the situation (to Mike’s disagreement). The press con backfires as it’s now being spun as Elizabeth deliberately using this information to win the election, making her presidency illegitimate. Adding to that is Senate Intelligence Committee leader Mark Hanson (Wentworth Miller, it’s been a while) launching an investigation over the matter and Miller himself accusing Elizabeth of collusion with Iran.

But in the midst of all the conundrum, Elizabeth sets her eyes on getting her bill passed. Hell, if Nixon was able to accomplish landmark bills at the height of Watergate, why can’t she? What a big day for Elizabeth’s first 10 days, huh?

Colbert Takes a Dig at Henry and Elizabeth’s Sex Life

Henry’s guest spot at the Late Show with Stephen Colbert took a more hilarious turn for the worst. Initially, Henry wanted to promote his cause for bringing art in the frontlines of education. Of course, Colbert is in his usual element, with Henry being painfully corny (and Jason sitting with the audience unamused). But when Henry falls into awkward silence in answering Colbert’s question about how Henry and Elizabeth spend time together, everyone assumes that Colbert is talking about their sex life (which, in all fairness, isn’t the point). To make things more awkward, Colbert gifts him a beer hat labeled “FGOTUS.” Seriously, this whole sequence has to be regarded as one of the most uncomfortable TV bits ever.

Meanwhile, in another flashback during the McCord campaign, it’s again revealed that Elizabeth wanted Senator Carlos Morejon (José Zúñiga), another of her fiercest opposers, to be the former Madam Secretary’s Vice President in an effort to show unity for both parties (as it turns out, Elizabeth won the Democratic nomination so to hell with running as an independent I guess). Despite Elizabeth’s convincing points, Morejon turns down her offer because he thinks their “partnership” would only do more harm than good.

Of Victory Toasts and Shocking Subpoenas

Elizabeth’s choice to focus on passing her bill pays off as Mike enthusiastically tells her that they were able to whip enough votes to get it through congress. To celebrate the small feat of victory, Elizabeth and Henry do a quickie in the Oval Office, a personal “fuck you” to the false-assumptions on their sex life. But the momentary rush of adrenaline quickly wanes as Mike informs Elizabeth that Senator Miller dropped his support for her bill.

Now here’s where things get super uncomfortable. Miller is a sexist Republican who only dropped his support to Elizabeth’s bill because he’s a sore old loser. Left with no other option, Elizabeth caves to Miller’s trivial request of being the first one she shakes hands with when the bill is signed and having him reinstated to his committee assignments. Later, Mike drops the truth bomb as to why he doesn’t want the Chief of Staff post—he wants to figure out how to live freely after losing his dog. And like all things apparent, Elizabeth has the great idea of having Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek) back as his transitory Chief of Staff until she finds a permanent one (at least, for now). Russell accepts, and they celebrate the victorious day through a toast.

But it’s not all smiles for now. Senator Hanson is hellbent on tearing down the credibility of Elizabeth’s presidency, so he sends out subpoenas to Daisy, Blake, Mike, Stevie, and Henry. In a jarring parallel to current events, President Elizabeth McCord is now under formal investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The episode ends with another flashback revealing who Elizabeth’s running mate is, and it’s none other than Senator Carlos Morejon. QUESTION: Given Morejon stressing that he will not support most of Elizabeth’s initiatives, is the Vice President of the United States backing Senator Hanson on this?

‘Madam Secretary: Hail to the Chief’ Overall Verdict

Directed by Eric Stoltz (who also happens to play Elizabeth’s brother in a couple of past episodes), “Hail to the Chief” is a hopeful glimpse of an otherwise rocky presidency for Elizabeth McCord. And knowing that this is the last season of the show makes it all the more pressing, what with the possible scandals and political turmoil that she is bound to face as the first woman president of the United States. Overall, “Hail to the Chief” lays the perfect groundwork to a powerful season that would likely go out with an unforgettable bang.

Madam Secretary continues Sunday, October 13, with “The Strike Zone” at 10:30/9:30c on CBS.