Madam Secretary

Ugh. I am dreading this trip.

Come on. You love Montreal.

Not when the hosts are stabbing me in the back.

That was Jay with

the advance team.

Last week, this group

of Canadian divers discovered this wreckage

of the HMS Wanderer, disappeared in 1848

while trying to reach the North Pole.

With a name like that, I'm not surprised.

They're claiming it planted a flag for Canada in the Northwest Passage.

Because it sank there in 1848?

Right? And meanwhile,

Russia, Norway, Denmark are all calling dibs.

On the North Pole?

Well, I guess Santa will be next.

The fact is,

the melting ice cap is, among other things,

a massive strategic opportunity.

Shipping lanes, natural resources,

fishing rights.

What we achieve at this summit could well determine

the balance of power for the next... hundred years.

Assuming the world exists.

Not a given, at the rate the ice is melting up there.

Thanks, Dr. Doom, but I actually have to just focus

on one monumental global issue at a time.

Has anyone seen my passport?

The one I found in the dryer after the India trip?

- Possibly. - Yeah, I have it.

So, are you getting psyched for Montreal?

Ah, not as much as Piper. She's all about Bella Rossi

and the big scoop for the school paper.

How cool is it that Mom is letting you

tag along with your girlfriend

so she can interview the woman who's gonna be

outside the hotel protesting Mom

and the summit?

It's pretty cool, I guess.

Gosh, I'm overwhelmed.

Well, listen, there are some

beautiful churches up there

you guys might want to check out. You know,

the Jesuits were the first missionaries

- to New France. - First?!

Wow! I should finish packing.

Yeah, they were the radical reformers of their day.

You... ah.

Oh, honey, I think that Jesuit churches are pretty cool.

Well, I don't know how

the Canadians are gonna be able to resist you, eh?

- Hey. - Hey.

Oh, the secretary said she wants to stop by the Chip Harding

- meeting on the way to Andrews. - Hmm.

But she said to get started without her.

Copy that.

You ready for your part of the Future Energy pitch?

- Oh, of course. - Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey.

You're the one that wanted to get more involved in policy.

And I'm very thankful to the secretary

for allowing me to spread my wings

under your expert supervision, of course.

It's just... it just burns me

that we have to suck up to an oil magnate.

- Blake, Congress cut our... - Cut our funding. I know.

The last word on practically every state initiative.

And I get why the World Expo is a critical showcase

for American companies in a ferocious global marketplace.

It's just...

It's just a tad ironic that our big opportunity

to promote American renewable energy at the expo

is being sponsored by Big Oil and Gas.

Dude, this is not the irony hill you want to die on.

If Chip Harding doesn't pony up, we'll be saying "Buy American"

with dioramas and sock puppets.

So let's get on board, 'cause this is our only shot

to compete with China at the expo, okay?

Yeah.

- Come on. - Okay.

- We got this. - Okay.

And then the Hall of Renewables is here.

I heard China has a holodeck,

robot dancers, and free hoverboards.

Well, we have food by Rachael Ray.

And a pre-taped video of Jennifer Lawrence

personally lobbying world leaders

on behalf of American companies like yours.

- Mm-hmm. - But your pitch

has a fundamental problem.

The nuclear power section?

It's taking up a lot of real estate here,

and you've neglected good old natural gas.

Well, nuclear power produces carbon-free electricity,

while natural gas does not.

And most climate scientists see nuclear

as the key transition technology

until renewables become more efficient.

The bridge to renewables is not nuclear, my dear.

It's gas.

It's cheap, has half the emissions of coal,

and most importantly, it won't melt down

and make the neighborhood children glow in the dark.

Uh, due respect, Mr. Harding,

no child or anyone has ever glowed in the dark from any...

- Ma'am. - Mr. Harding.

So good to see you again.

I'm on my way to Montreal, but I couldn't leave

without stopping in to say hi.

I'm happy to hear that the Arctic is a top priority

of the Dalton administration.

It's a brave new world.

Everybody wants a piece, myself included.

Well, I am eager to negotiate a contract

that will be fair to all of us.

And I wanted to thank you again for your generous pledge

to our World Expo pavilion. Wow.

- Yeah. - Yeah. Yes.

- Yes. - Yeah.

It is being held in my home state of Texas.

Wouldn't want to fumble the ball on the home field, right?

Not at all, which is why I'm so concerned

there's no section on natural gas.

If we're talking future energy, we need to tell folks

that gas is cheap, has half the emissions of coal,

and most importantly, folks won't glow in the dark.

Let me tell you something else.

So, wait, nuclear's gone, just like that?

Well, it's not gone, it's just,

it's not a part of "future energy."

Okay, well, can it be part of...?

Kat, have you heard anything from Jay at the summit?

Deputy talks suggest that Canada is still holding firm

on the HMS Wanderer.

Crap.

Okay, I have spent weeks with those briefing books.

- I know full well... - I know. Hey, kids!

You excited about your trip?

- Yeah. - Do you need anything?

- I'm good, thanks. - Uh... snacks, juice.

How about a bedtime story?

- Uh, have a great trip. - Thanks.

- Yeah. - I'll apologize later.

Okay.

Look, 16 of the 17 of the hottest years on record

have occurred since 2000.

The North Pole is the hottest it's been in 1,500 years.

Did you see the video of that starving polar bear?

- Because it is just awful. - No. I did, I did,

because you showed it to me several times.

- Okay. - Let's just go right into my...

Well, look, natural gas is better than coal...

I will give you that... but that's still a lot of CO2.

And-and renewables are great,

but you need, like, 12 billion solar roofs

just to match the projected growth

in energy consumption by 2050,

which wind and solar won't even come close to filling,

unless something magical happens,

which doesn't seem like a very good plan to me.

You are preaching to the choir, man.

Do you know how many Americans have died

from commercial nuclear power accidents since World War II?

- Zero. - Zero.

And that includes Three Mile Island.

People only died at Chernobyl

because they didn't have a containment dome.

And when it comes to waste,

the world's entire supply of spent uranium

from reactors could fit on a single football field.

Meanwhile, this expo has the potential

to generate thousands of green jobs.

I know. I guess it's picking our battles.

Besides, we can't even begin to turn the tide on nuclear

until we have backing from a major environmental group,

like the... I don't know... NRDC or Climate Defense Force.

Yeah.

All right.

I'll give the heads-up to the ECA and the Expo Unit

about the redesign.

- All right. Hey, Blake? - Yeah.

You've done really good work.

Thank you.

Yeah.

The British ship Laconia was carrying more

than 2,000 soldiers, crew and passengers

when it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat.

And the German crewmen were actually in the process

of rescuing the survivors when they were spotted

by USAAF bomber pilot Lieutenant James D. Harden.

Even though the Germans

broadcast their humanitarian intent

on open channels and were flying the-the Red Cross flag,

what did Harden do?

- He bombed the sub. - That's right.

The panicked U-boat crew threw the survivors off the deck

to make their escape.

More than a thousand people died, including civilians.

It was hushed up at the time, and Harden even

won a medal, but in today's world,

would his actions classify as a war crime?