Madam Secretary

Maybe she got lost.

She didn't.

Says you Magellan.

6 floors, 132 rooms.

412 doors.

And one prodigal daughter returns.

- Hi! Sorry I'm late. Hi.

- Yes. - This place is like Hearst Castle.

- See? - And I can't stay.

- What? - What?

Stevie, you promised that you would have dinner with us.

I mean, look.

You are not going to eat and run.

I'm gonna run and eat. I'm sorry.

We are under water at the Human Amnesty Association. I mean,

you probably know. There are beheadings in Riyadh

and political prisoners in Myanmar.

Versus parents who don't get to see their daughter

at Pennsylvania Avenue,

- it's just... - Ouch.

Look, next time, I promise,

- I will clear the decks. - Fine.

The NIH is cloning you as we speak.

Your father and I are having brunch

with your doppelgänger on Sunday, so...

- Okay. Love you. Bye. - (CHUCKLES)

- Love you. - Bye.

It's finally hitting me, Henry.

We have an empty nest.

Well, there's a remedy for that.

Oh, no.

Lady died, like, nine years ago.

She was irreplaceable.

Those floppy ears.

She pooped on command.

She did not.

She did once.

Look, you can love more than one kid.

You can love more than one dog.

That is such a lousy analogy.

Why?

Because...

I'm the president.

And, clearly,

the office has honed your rhetorical skills.

But by that logic,

all the more reason. People love this stuff.

FDOTUS is a big deal.

We are never calling it FDOTUS.

It's our dog. We can call it whatever we want.

All right. But the search has to be low-key, okay?

This is a personal decision.

I don't want some kind of circus.

All dogs over 15 pounds have merit.

But FDOTUS is America's pet.

So let's look at the polling.

What... polling?

The polling that says designer breeds

paint you as an elitist,

a perception sorely at odds with the image that got you elected.

So, nothing with "doodle"

or "poo" in the name,

or the villagers will be massing at the gates with torches.

Second no-bark zone's working breeds.

You can't be seen as someone who condones

- the enslavement of another species. I don't.

- Mm. - So service dogs are off-limits.

That puts the kibosh on retrievers,

Pomeranians, shepherds.

Pomeranians?

Who do they... service?

The hard of hearing.

They were bred to be yappy.

Not even close to being true.

I know it's a bit over-the-top.

But getting this right matters.

If there were no Checkers,

there never would have been a Nixon.

Well, that's actually an argument for not getting a dog.

Or choosing the right one.

We boiled 190 breeds down to two choices.

Middlebrow.

Gender...

neutral but sprightly.

You're welcome.

A beagle or a cocker spaniel?

The data has spoken. Th-This is a puppy,

not a moon landing.

Lady was a bullmastiff.

That's what I want.

- I don't... Excuse me, Madam President,

Mr. Jackson, you're needed in the Sit Room.

Ephraim, what's going on?

Ma'am, satellite imaging has just confirmed

that Laszlo Galassy,

the leader of the Knights of Western Freedom

has been located in Caucasia.

And we're sure it's him?

Yes, ma'am.

The mastermind behind the murder

of the entire UN Security Council, including

Ambassador Peter Harriman.

So, after nearly two years of cat and mouse,

we finally have a bead on him.

For the moment, yes.

Galassy is holed up in a cave complex

in the Caucasus Mountains.

A semiautonomous state called South Ossetia.

Lawless?

Lawless enough that we don't need permission

if we want to target him.

- What are our options? The fail-safe

is a laser-guided GBU.

A bunker buster.

Downside?

The large blast radius will result

in substantial civilian casualties.

A more surgical option is to send in

Seal Team Nine.

We should expect

up to half a dozen casualties on our end.

American military dead abroad.

Not very appealing either.

There is another way.

Fully autonomous unmanned ground vehicles.

You mean killer robots.

Not the preferred nomenclature, but yes.

I actually didn't think that technology was close

to being operational.

We caught a break. Fossor Industries

is beta testing its autonomous UGVs

at Vaziani base outside Tbilisi.

This is a computer simulation.

The UGVs will enter the cave here.

They'll acquire their targets using lasers

and infrared technology,

suppress resistance,

then identify the weakest part

of the cave structure and bring it down

on the remaining hostiles.

What about remotely operated UGVs?

So that we can maintain human oversight.

Not an option, Madam President.

The cave walls will obstruct our comms.

Our intel suggests Russia hasn't taken steps to...

get involved yet.

- But that could change. - Moscow won't like us

in their sphere of influence.

And once Russian troops are on-site,

we're looking at a military conflict.

How soon could Russia have a unit in place?

Terrain's remote.

Even if Moscow mobilizes now,

not before morning,

meaning we have a 24-hour window.

And our options are

civilian casualties,

dead SEALs

or an untested technology

with dangerous implications for humanity.

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Moran, did you take leave of the campaign to attend

your parents' 40th anniversary party in Martha's Vineyard

- with Ms. McCord's eldest daughter? - Yes.

And no finance laws were broken,

- Senator Hanson. - Then why did the campaign

belatedly reimburse a donor for your free flight

to the Vineyard?

Senator, this line of inquiry is well beyond

the Senate Intelligence Committee's charter

of investigating Iran's meddling in our presidential election.

The committee's charter, Counselor,

also entails anything arising out of that investigation,

which you know,

as Mr. Moran was obviously prepped for this question.

A question I will allow him to answer,

provided he can give the proper context.

By all means.

We have to go back to...

my on-again, off-again boyfriend, Trevor.

Things were very much on again. _

- Wow. (CHUCKLES)

- Petite Auberge? - Well...

Kennedy Center?

If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were up to something.

Uh, look, Trevor,

we've been in each other's lives for a long time.

A decade is long, yes.

And these last seven months have been really...

meaningful.

Meaningful enough to...

I'm sorry. I'm nervous. I want to get this right.

Hey. Blake,

this is something I've wanted for a long time.

- Good. - (CHUCKLES)

Then you agree you should move in.

Oh. You...

You just want me to move in?

Yeah.

- Ah. - And, look, I made a spreadsheet.