History Characters / MadamSecretary

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: She's something of a GenderFlipped version of Vladimir Putin: jingoistic, homophobic, paranoid, and vindictive, with an attitude of standing up for Russia against the West. However, unlike Putin, a former KGB officer who was active in the Russian government for some time before the 2010s (even previously serving as president after Boris Yeltsin), [[FromNobodyToNightmare she basically came out of nowhere]].

* MeaningfulName: Hizb al-Shahid means "Party of Martyrs" in Arabic... or at least, that's the intention. The Arabic word for "party" is حزب rather than إزب (which is transliterated as "Izb" and doesn't even exist as an Arabic word). Also, "al-Shahid"/"al-Shaheed" (which in Arabic is الشهيد rather than الشهد) is the singular form; the plural is "al-Shuhadaaʾ" (الشهداء).

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Slavic languages usually append the suffix "-a" to women's surnames. The English-speaking characters and the credits all refer to her as "Maria Ostrov", but the Russian-speaking characters correctly give her the feminine "Ostrova".

* {{Retcon}}: A minor one: her maiden name was initially given in promotional materials as "Faulkner" but was later retconned to "Adams".

* MeaningfulName: Hizb al-Shahid means "Party of Martyrs" in Arabic... or at least, that's the intention. The Arabic word for "party" is حزب rather than إزب (which is transliterated as "Izb" and doesn't even exist as an Arabic word). Also, "al-Shahid"/"al-Shaheed" is the singular form; the plural is "al-Shuhadaaʾ" (الشهداء).

* MeaningfulName: Hizb al-Shahid means "Party of Martyrs" in Arabic.

* BuxomIsBetter: {{Exploited}}. Liz's team looks at a music video of her from before her marriage and conclude she had some work done on her bustline. [[spoiler:She poisoned her husband while he was recovering from a tummy tuck by her own preferred surgeon, using surgical complications as the cover story for his death.]]

* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: {{Downplayed}}: It's nowhere near 100%, but there's a minor RunningGag in the series that her approval ratings are consistently higher than President Dalton's. Also {{deconstructed}} somewhat in the Craig Sterling arc, when it's mentioned that this could also be viewed as a ''threat'' to Dalton (his last Secretary of State having planned to primary him the way Sam Evans eventually did).

* TheRedBaron: He's got another nickname inside the beltway: "the Hatchet Man".

* WidowWoman: She sets up a masterful BatmanGambit against Liz while playing the grieving widow.

** Verges into PoisonousFriend when we learn in "Mitya" that he makes political promises to people on Dalton's behalf without him knowing about it "so that he doesn't have to"; for example, in order to get Senator Theresa Hurst onboard as Dalton's running mate.