Madam Secretary Recap Winter Premiere: Season 1 Episode 12 “Standoff”

Madam Secretary Recap Winter Premiere: Season 1 Episode 12 "Standoff"

Tonight on CBS Madam Secretary airs with an all new Sunday January 4, season 1 episode 12 called, “Standoff” and we have your weekly recap below! On tonight’s winter premiere episode, a work crisis interferes with Elizabeth’s [Tea Leoni] plans to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary in New York City with Henry when political issues arise around the case of a Mexican cartel smuggler who killed a Texas state trooper. Meanwhile, Jason injures himself while under Blake’s watch.

On the last episode, Elizabeth, Henry and Isabelle worked together to find former Secretary of State Vincent Marsh’s secret bank account, but soon uncovered that one of Elizabeth’s staff members already had access to it. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.

On tonight’s episode as per the CBS synopsis, “when a Texas state trooper is killed by a Mexican cartel smuggler, Elizabeth arranges an extradition deal before going on vacation to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary in New York City. However, when political issues arise around the case, she is forced to cut their trip short. Also, Elizabeth’s son injures himself while Blake is watching him.”

This is definitely one series that you don’t want to miss. Don’t forget to stay tuned to Celeb Dirty Laundry where we will be live blogging every episode of Madam Secretary’s first season.

Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!

A Texas state trooper is killed by a drug cartel in a shoot out. Bess tells Mrs Banks, the trooper’s wife, she knows this has been hard. She says his killer, Carlos Ochoa, has been captured and they may be able to extradite him. She says she can get him there if she will agree to no death penalty in the case. Mrs Banks asks if she’s sure he’ll get life in prison. Bess says she can only promise a fair trial and that they will seek the maximum penalty. Sam, the guy’s son, says he should die. Bess reasons with him. The wife agrees and says if it’s the only way, she’ll agree. She tells her son it’s the best option.

Bess thanks them and they leave. Blake comes in and says the plane is ready. She says she wanted to train but Fred derailed that. He reminds her it’s her 25th anniversary and that her hubby told him not to let her drag her feet. She asks if he speaks to Henry behind her back and he says frequently. Bess tells the staff goodbye and to contact the acting secretary in her absence. Bess tells Nadine they need to finalize the extradition and tells them all to contact her if something comes up. Blake tells her to please leave now and they all shout out goodbyes.

Henry is surprised to hear from his handler Sarah that Klaus is clean. He asks about the sarin gas and other issues. He says he’s not ready to let it go but she says the NSA has bigger fish to fry and that it’s not her call. She says Klaus is headed to Tel Aviv for six months and Mossad is taking over. She thanks him for his service and tells him to take care. Jay comes to tell Nadine he’s meeting up with Governor Lockwood – he says he worked on his first Mayoral campaign when he was in college. She calls him a secret Texan and he says the guy wants to talk about the extradition.

He asks if he can tell Lockwood the trooper’s widow signed off. Nadine says Lockwood is wiley and he says he gave him some of those Wiley idea. Jay and Lockwood talk Texas steak over lunch. He tells him he’s done well shaving off his accent. Jay says you can still hear it when he’s talking with his mama or drinking. Lockwood says the talk with Congress was an irritation. He then brings up the trooper’s death and asks for an update on the extradition. Jay says it’s good news and the family gave their blessing and hopes to have him next week.

Lockwood asks how Mexico gets to dictate turns and asks why the Secretary didn’t consult with him. Jay says Bess was looking for justice, even second tier justice. Lockwood says he’s right and says he has the great makings of a politician. Jay says Texas appreciates his passion. Bess hands Alison a copy of the house rules and Henry tells Jason not to get conspiracy theorist on his school paper. They are headed to New York to reenact their first date. Bess says Blake is stopping by to check on them to make her feel better. They leave while she’s yelling out last minute instructions.

Nadine greets Deputy Secretary Steven and she says it’s very quiet down there. Jay tells her that Lockwood was annoyed about not being consulted on the extradition. Daisy comes over and plays them a video of Lockwood ranting about the extradition and Congress not giving them funding to protect the border. He’s ranting about them taking the death penalty off the table. He says he’s deploying the National Guard and says he’s making this a state issue. Ambassador Lopez from Mexico calls immediately. Nadine pulls a face.

Henry and Bess get out of their car in New York and teens lurking around with cameras are disappointed that they’re not Beyonce and Jay Z in the limo. Henry says they need to go off the grid for the weekend. He says she has a great staff that can handle anything and says they’ll find her if something big comes up. She agrees. We see Lopez come into the State Building. He wants the National Guard off the border. He says it will slow legitimate trade traffic. They tell him Deputy Secretary Cushing will meet with him and he threatens to call off the extradition all together.

He’s offended Bess isn’t there to meet with him personally. Blake finds the kids playing ball in the house. Jason trips over Blake, falls and screams. Sounds like he’s seriously hurt. Uh-oh. Henry and Bess have champagne and they agree to cancel Hedwig since NPH is sick. He says he got them tickets to a Beckett play by dropping her name. She says it can cause a PR nightmare and says Daisy lectures her about it. Bess eats strawberries and asks why he’s being so sentimental. He says he always is. They head to the roof to drink champagne.

In the Mexican prison, a prisoner plays cards when automatic gunfire breaks out. There’s a helicopter and a loudspeaker calls out Ochoa’s name. He waves from the barred window. Henry and Bess get back to their room and the phone rings. He says they have to leave for the play but she gets her phone since it’s Blake. He tells her that everything is fine but says Jason had a small accident. He says he hurt his ankle and wants to take him to the ER. She asks to talk to Jason. Jason gets on the phone and says he’s fine and not to come home. He says he doesn’t think it’s broken and says Blake is over-concerned.

She wants him to go to the hospital and asks for Blake. She asks Blake to take him and call if it’s more than a little sprain. She tells Henry that Jason doesn’t want them to come home. She says they should call Stevie but he says they don’t need to mess up her weekend. He thinks her spending time with her college friends might get her to go back to school. Bess says they need to stop tip toeing and just tell her to go back to school. Henry says that will send her the opposite way and Bess says they are giving her too wide a berth. He says she needs to work out her issues with Stevie.

Bess says she tried to explain the torture thing to Stevie and he says she should help Stevie process it. They are at a stalemate and she says they can pencil in a better time to talk about it. Henry says she’s upset about Jason, worried about being away from home and work and says he doesn’t want them to fight. He says let’s go to the play and she agrees they can fight later. Nadine tells Jay and Matt that Ochoa is now “missing” according to the Mexican ambassador. He was apparently broken out of jail. Nadine then says Blake is at the ER with Jason. Daisy says she has to get there before the media does.

Nadine says Blake must be rattled since his message had a typo. Bess and Henry are at dinner, unhappy their little French bistro is a crowded hot spot. Jay says Ochoa was busted out of jail by a Texas militia. He shows Nadine a video of a Texan holding Ochao at gunpoint saying he’s there to be held accountable for his crime of killing a Mexican citizen. Nadine says this has just violated Mexican sovereignty.

Henry and Bess continue to argue about Stevie. She says she’s tired of her judging her. Klaus comes over and says he was speaking at NYU then missed his flight. Henry introduces him to Bess and says Klaus manages a historical conservancy. Bess asks Klaus to join them. He says he can’t intrude but she insists. Henry looks pained. They go sit and Henry asks why she did that. She says she was just being nice and he says it was supposed to be a romantic dinner. She says it already wasn’t and says she did it for him since he was acting so weird.

Klaus is checked by Bess’s security but gets a pass. The man watches them go. Klaus is very charming at dinner and he talks about a dinner he hosted with a bunch of different extreme religions and says the only passionate debate was over soccer. Henry excuses himself and goes to call Sarah. He tells her he’s with Klaus and asks why he’s in New York. He tells her that he doesn’t think Klaus randomly wandered in on their dinner and says he has a briefcase and says he could have something in it to hurt Bess and says that he got the friends and family check.

The Deputy Secretary fills in the staff on Lockwood’s shenanigans and Nadine suggests calling Bess but the guy says he’s headed to meet with the DOJ and there’s no reason to disturb her. Nadine tells Jay to go to Texas and meet with Lockwood. Henry gets a text from Sarah that Klaus wasn’t on the roster for the symposium and that he wasn’t scheduled to fly out of NYC. Klaus talks about how he and Henry met and brings up his son Adrien who’s 14. He says he knows Adrien will make a greater mark than him and will make great sacrifices.

He picks up his briefcase and Henry slams it to the table, tells Bess to run and alerts her team. Klaus seems shocked. Bess is hustled to the limo and Henry asks if she’s okay. She asks if he’s the scholar Henry was spying on and he says he was but it’s over now. He says it’s safe to say his cover is blown. She says he lied to her and he says it was a clearance issue. She asks him to stop yelling. He tells her the NSA canceled his op before they came but then Klaus showed up and it didn’t feel right to her. She says he did the right thing.

The team says they searched Klaus but he was clean and that he was reaching for his briefcase to show them a photo of his son. Bess says this is why the intelligence community shouldn’t keep secrets from her. He agrees. Blake brings Jason back home – it’s a sprain – and Allison goes to take a pic but Daisy says no photos and says it was a miracle the press didn’t find out he broke the Secretary of State’s child. He says it was his fault and Daisy says to keep it together. Blake tells Jason to work on his report. Jay listens to the radio as he pulls up to the prison where Ochoa is being held in Texas. Lockwood is telling the feds to stick it.

Jay shows up and Lockwood says he was hoping Jay was the one he’d send. He asks him to send Ochoa back to Mexico and Jay says this is kidnapping and they have to return him and let him be properly extradited. Jay asks if he really thinks he’s doing the right thing and says if he knew what the militia was doing, he’s culpable in the kidnapping. Lockwood tells him to watch himself. Several SUVs pull up and FBI personnel get out. Jay tells him they’re there for Ochoa. They give Lockwood a warrant and he slaps it back at them and says to take their warrant and go home.

Nadine watches the news and talks to Jay. She says it’s a real Mexican standoff. Lockwood won’t let the prison open the gates and she says this is what Lockwood wants – the Federal government outside the gates. Nadine says Ambassador Lopez is threatening to stop patrolling their side of the border. Jay says it’s time to call Bess. She’s up watching the news and tells Henry she’s been gone less than 24 hours and they’re at civil war with Mexico. Bess packs her suitcase as Henry offers to go to Texas with her. She says maybe it’s best to put this vacation out of its misery.

He promises to make it up to her and she says they can make it up to each other. She says she’ll see him at home and takes off. Henry’s phone buzzes and it’s Klaus. He goes to meet him in the park. Klaus tells him this is the oldest police precinct in the city. He says he’s there to assuage any fears Henry has. He says he knows Henry planted the bug which means he’s working for an intelligence agency. He says it wasn’t a coincidence him showing up last night but says he didn’t intended to hurt he or Bess. He says he wants protection. Klaus says he’s in too deep with people whose views are too radical.

He says he’s been trying to distance himself and says if they found out an intelligence agency was interested in him, could hurt his son. Klaus says he just wants protection for Adrien. He says he doesn’t want to do to the CIA and end up in a pit on Poland. He asks Henry if he can help him. Bess is in Austin with Jay and asks if the state is seceding yet. He says he heard she talked to Lopez. She says she spent half her flight apologizing to him and says she had to promise trade talks. She asks about Lockwood. He says Lockwood is all about shock and awe in politics.

Jay says he thinks this is all one big show. He says he thinks Lockwood is planning a future presidential run and asks if she has a plan. She asks how long the drive is – 20 minutes – and she says that’s enough time to come op with one. They pull up at the prison and she gets out. Lockwood greets her and she asks to talk to him in private. He says he’s comfortable here. She says she has a warrant for his arrest by the Mexican government and they want to extradite him. She says it would be a hell of a run for presidency with a Mexican arrest warrant on his head.

She says if he’s convicted in absentia would mean any country he traveled to that had an extradition treaty with Mexico could take him into custody. He says he’s listening. She tells him she got the extradition finalized and says he’s going to hand him over and recall the National Guard from the border. She says if he doesn’t, she’s going to let the DOJ charge him with a stack of federal violations for the federal laws he’s violated. He tells the troopers to hand Ochoa over to the FBI. She gets in her car to go and he smiles nervously at the media.

Sarah tells Henry that Klaus will only talk to Henry and will reveal where the cache of sarin gas is. She says they can’t touch Adrien right now. She says they flipped him and once he gives them enough information, they’ll bring he and his son in. Henry is angry that they are making his son a pawn. Sarah says if he was really concerned about his son, he never would have gotten involved with terrorists. Henry goes and tells him what’s expected of him before Adrien will be protected. Henry promises to make sure Adrien is safe once he’s delivered.

Klaus tells him his life is over but he would be comforted to know that Adrienne’s is not. He tells them where to find the sarin gas – in a warehouse in Algeria. Blake gets back to the office and sees Lockwood on TV grandstanding and covering his own butt. He says he should be tried in a Texas court and not one in New York. Blake tells Bess that it’s his fault that Jason hurt his ankle and didn’t finish his paper. Bess says he can have a pass since Jason shouldn’t have been playing ball in the house and says he finished his paper. Blake says he failed her. Bess says that’s fine.

He asks what that means and she says failure builds character. She says if it’s any consolation, her trip was a crushing disappointment without the ankle and civil war. She says they should call it all a universal fiasco. He says he’ll try and shift his perspective to fit that. Bess gets home and finds Henry alone. She says she’s sorry she missed dinner and he says he’s been thinking about the weekend. She says it’s all her fault. He tells her it was his fault too and says they put too much pressure on themselves to get back to the way it was. He says they need to move into the unknown and live in the moment. He says he ordered Chinese and she says she’s starving. He also has the Scrabble board out.

THE END!