Madam Secretary Episode 1.05 Blame Canada

Relationships are a balancing act. Give a little and you might get what you want. In "Blame Canada," Madam Secretary walks that tightrope with two very different countries: Iran and Canada.

At the start, Madam Secretary is pulled into the most difficult of conflicts - the Middle East. Iran has an active nuclear reactor that the U.S. needs to shut down. Allen Bollings (John Finn), Chief Negotiator for the Mideast peace talks, wants the U.S. to threaten military action against Iran. But Secretary McCord is not quick to jump into a military assault. She proposes that the U.S allow inspectors to make sure the reactor is turned off. In exchange, we'd give Iran planes and end the trading embargo. The President likes his new Secretary of State's "carrot and stick" approach. But Bollings isn't so sure. Secretary McCord has 48 hours to convince Iran to shut down the reactor. Or else, the U.S. will have no choice but to go to war.

Closer to home, The Canadian Ambassador Lester Clark (Robert Klein) is throwing Secretary McCord a welcome party. But this friendship comes with strings. The Ambassador wants approval for an environmental pipeline. All Madam Secretary has to do is skim a 1,000 page report and sign. But Secretary McCord isn't the skimming type. She sets out to read the thick document and quickly discovers that it isn't well-researched. It's a fake. And she can't put her name on it.

Outside the office, Madam Secretary comes home to find her husband has some notoriety of his own. He was voted third hottest DC spouse by a local magazine. Jason (Evan Roe) decides to interview his dad for a school report to learn more about the hottie/former Marine pilot. It's hard to think that any parent is cool, but Jason is impressed by his father's experience and learns that his mother isn't the only badass in the family.

At work, Madam Secretary is alarmed to discover she's not at war with Iran - she's at war with Canada! When she refuses to sign the falsified document, Canada retaliates by occupying some U.S. fishing boats - to strong-arm her into releasing the pipeline report. In return, the Secretary threatens to cancel all the visas of Canadian National Hockey League players, right before the start of the season. It's a hardball move, but one the Secretary is more than willing to take. The Canadian Ambassador backs down and the friendship is restored (for now).

In international news, the Iranians walk out of nuclear disarmament talks in Vienna. Madam Secretary entices Iran back into playing ball with the US by offering to lift the ban on trade that won't go into effect until inspectors vouch that the nuclear reaction has been shut down. The Iranian representative agrees, but first reveals that Madam Secretary's own staffer, Allen Bollings, is telling the Iranians very different things than the Secretary of State's prescribed agenda. The Secretary fires Bollings and quickly begins an investigation of her own - a confidential background check on her own staffer, Nadine.