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Recap: What happened in 'Madam Secretary' episode with PH president

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ABS-CBN News

MANILA – The American series “Madam Secretary” made headlines last week after the Malacanang said that the US television series negatively depicted the &quot;Philippines&#x27; unconventional new president.&quot;Based on the trailer of Madam Secretary&#x27;s season 3 episode 15, entitled &quot;Break in Diplomacy,&quot; the Filipino leader &quot;crosses the line&quot; by making inappropriate advances towards the female lead character, US Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord.The Philippine embassy in Washington sent a letter to the CBS Corporation, in &quot;protest&quot; of the character and to urgently call for &quot;the necessary corrective actions.&quot; While the CBS Corporation and producers of the show have yet to comment on the issue, actress Téa Leoni, who plays Elizabeth McCord, took to Twitter to react to the uproar.“Funny, I had someone else in mind… #relaxduterte,” she tweeted.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Funny, I had someone else in mind… <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/relaxduerte?src=hash">#relaxduerte</a> <a href="https://t.co/JJvFqUZoLx">https://t.co/JJvFqUZoLx</a>— Téa Leoni (@TeaLeoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeaLeoni/status/839196424432660480">March 7, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>Here is a recap of what happened during the 40-minute episode which finally aired on Monday morning, Manila time.The episode opens at the McCord residence with Henry and Elizabeth preparing for work while their two kids, Alison and Jason, tease each each other while having breakfast. They notice their mom wearing an outfit unfit for the weather, but Elizabeth reminds them that she is off to Southeast Asia to finalize the Singapore Interchange. She boasts to her husband how the United States is close to having a meaningful territorial accord with all the countries of the Asia Pacific including China. Because Jason is actually paying attention to what his parents are talking about, Alison teases him that the only reason he is interested is because the Philippines is involved and her brother is obsessed with its new president. At this point, Elizabeth gets a text message from White House Chief of Staff Russell Jackson, who summons her to the Oval Office. At the White House, Elizabeth, Russell, US President Dalton and other government officials gather around a computer while watching a video of Philippine President Datu Andrada declaring that his country is done “living in the shadow of the United States.” Obviously, this poses a problem in sealing the Singapore Interchange. While Russell thinks it’s time to call Andrada’s bluff and cut the Philippines loose, Elizabeth informs Dalton that she would like to fly out to Manila first to counter Andrada’s position “with a little face to face diplomacy.”In Manila, Elizabeth meets with President Andrada at his office. She starts the conversation by congratulating him for being the country’s new president. Andrada, however, cuts her sentence and says he knows that Dalton supported his opponent during the campaign. Still unwilling to participate in the treaty, Elizabeth offers him some military hardware to boost Andrada’s goal for the Philippines to become a superpower. Looking a little excited, Andrada comments that he finds it sexy when a woman talks about drones. When Elizabeth was just about to leave, the Philippine president suddenly gropes her from behind. Reacting instinctively, Elizabeth punches Andrada in the nose, leaving him bloodied.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Don’t mess with Bess! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MadamSecretary?src=hash">#MadamSecretary</a> <a href="https://t.co/hhrEdR43pA">pic.twitter.com/hhrEdR43pA</a>— Madam Secretary (@MadamSecretary) <a href="https://twitter.com/MadamSecretary/status/841094340487262208">March 13, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>Elizabeth reports back to Dalton and Russell, and while they are trying to come up with a solution to save the treaty, Blake (Elizabeth’s personal assistant) informs her that Andrada has sent military personnel to literally kick them out of the Philippines.Back in the US, Elizabeth decides to keep quiet about the incident in Manila, thinking it would jeopardize the Singapore Interchange. When she is summoned at the White House, she, along with Russell, Dalton and other US government officials, learn that Andrada does not only want to pivot away from America -- he is also gradually allowing China to take control over the Philippines. The US government then decides to reach out to the Philippine military, with whom it has a good relationship, to see what can be done with the situation. Apparently, the military’s chief of staff says they do not share President Andrada’s stand to cut its ties with the US. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">“President Andrada wants us to leave.”-Blake <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MadamSecretary?src=hash">#MadamSecretary</a> <a href="https://t.co/CC70pfP0bc">pic.twitter.com/CC70pfP0bc</a>— Madam Secretary (@MadamSecretary) <a href="https://twitter.com/MadamSecretary/status/841095769104965632">March 13, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>Acknowledging that the Philippines is in a “critical juncture requiring a critical action,” the chief of staff proposes to covertly assassinate Andrada with the help of the US government. In such way, the Philippine Vice President will take over and all the parties could go back to “to our valued relationship and alignment of power that would keep peace and security.”The plan doesn’t sell out to Elizabeth, of course, so she convinces Dalton to explore other remedies where they can find leverage against Andrada. Their efforts pay off when they discover that during the campaign, Andrada paid off some women with whom he allegedly made inappropriate advances. Elizabeth instructs to try and find these women. To her surprise, one of them turns up in her office the following day, saying she was paid off not to keep quiet for being sexually harassed by the President but to shut her mouth about something “much bigger and more damaging.” The Filipina then tells the Secretary of State that she will tell everything she knows only if she would be granted an asylum in the US.The next scene suggests that Elizabeth agreed to the deal with the Filipina. Back in her office, Elizabeth is on a video call with President Andrada. She asks him about his nose before she tells him that they know about the tens of millions of dollars he has taken from Chinese companies to sell the Philippines out to enrich himself. Threatened by what the US government knows, Andrata is forced to keep its ties with the Dalton administration. The two presidents hold a press conference together where they solidified their countries’ alliance. After facing the media, Andrada comes up to Elizabeth to tell him that they are now even. Elizabeth refuses to accept his statement, telling him that she is just waiting for the right time to tell the world that he groped her and that she punched him in return. She also reminded the Philippine President to call her “Madam Secretary” the next time they cross each other’s paths in Singapore.<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en">&quot;The next time we see each other, call me <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MadamSecretary?src=hash">#MadamSecretary</a>.&quot; Watch the latest new episode: <a href="https://t.co/jGHFnoXV4E">https://t.co/jGHFnoXV4E</a> <a href="https://t.co/XQpIb4aQ1l">pic.twitter.com/XQpIb4aQ1l</a>— Madam Secretary (@MadamSecretary) <a href="https://twitter.com/MadamSecretary/status/841154376454479873">March 13, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>

Here is a recap of what happened during the 40-minute episode of "Madam Secretary."

Here is a recap of what happened during the 40-minute episode of "Madam Secretary."