I am a realist. But there are events that transcend national interests, and I believe this is one of them.
I know you do. But I don't.
All S1
S1 E15Unfinished Business
So, do you want to talk about it?
The sandwich?
Why you're getting drunk in a bar alone.
He's a cheater.
That sucks. But you're young. You can find someone else.
My dad. He's a cheating cheater who cheats.
So I should tell the Secretary, right?
And be the woman who told her boss about the other woman? That makes you the other, other woman. The worst woman of all.
Are you having an affair? I heard it, but I don't believe it. But I need to hear it from you. [Henry gives her a blank look] Oh, my God.
No.
Well, you're going to have to be a lot more convincing immediately.
Have you completely lost your mind?
Okay. That's better. But what's going on? You haven't given me pages...
Pages? I can't even get you on the phone. How am I gonna...
Henry, you've published eight books. I've seen you in writing mode. You can't stop talking about it. You're like, "Yak, yak, yak," you won't even shut up! I mean, this is different. This is... this is weird and you're being sneaky. I don't... Wait... I know this. You're working for the NSA again.
Yes.
That's why you're not at the archives!
Well, I...
That's why you're being seen around town with a cute young woman!
She's my handler.
I added "cute."
No, she's...
Is she cute?
...my handler.
Okay. But then why didn't you just tell me, Henry?!
I told them it was absurd! I mean, they let me tell you the last time!
Yes!
But this mission is so top secret that even the Secretary of State can't know.
[after her speech] You think Minister Samant is warming up to me yet?
Possibly.
What is that? Is that a smile? Or a smirk?
It's a little of both. It's a smirkle.
You can't ground me. I have to work.
Work and home. Two weeks...
This is ridiculous. I'm an adult.
I guess that's why most adults don't live with their parents.
Mom? I'm really glad about Dad. It was horrible. [they hug]
I am really sorry you had to go through that. You're still grounded.
So why tell me now?
Because now Jackson wants me to spy on you.
Really?
Yeah, in exchange for a job at The White House. I tried to tell him no, but he made me promise to think about it.
Tell him you'll do it.
You don't backstab the President of your own party without consequences.
MMarsh
Is that a threat, Russell?
It's a guarantee. I speak for the President on this. As you might imagine, he's very upset.
MMarsh
And he'll have no compunction whatsoever slitting the throat of someone who has been a staunch ally and helped get him elected.
So it goes.
I never agreed to spy on Secretary McCord. I won't do it.
Then think of it as keeping tabs. Come on, Matt. This is how it works. You give me something. I give you something. Don't you want an office in the West Wing?
If you never listen to anything I say again for the rest of your life, please hear this: Everything is more complicated than you think it is right now. And the only way you come to know that is through experience. And that's what this whole process of growing up is all about.
Yeah. I know. I gotta go do that now.
What did stepping it up mean?
Stress positions. Physical abuse. Waterboarding. I wasn't in the room when they did it. But I knew what was happening, obviously.
Why are you telling me this?
'Cause I have to.
Well, I really wish you hadn't.
We were at war. Changes the landscape. It forces you to face things you didn't even want to know.
Yeah, like the fact that your mother is not the person you thought she was at all.
My God. All this time. How could you just go about your business?
That's what I was trained for.
Tell me everything.
That could take awhile.
I've got all night.
So what am I supposed to think? What possible reason could there be except that you think I had him killed.
Thought you might have knowledge of it, yes.
You seriously think I and the President are assassins?
Not anymore.
Maybe you can finish what he started.
What's that?
Land.
This is why the intelligence community shouldn't keep secrets from me.
I agree. Not that we're doing a very good job of it.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Madam Secretary pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.