#Bitches Take Over The Dog And Pony Show - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 6

Olivia's got the pool to herself.  You usually do in dreams.  She's swimming, arms perfectly curved and then extended, feet perfectly flutter-kicking, But she's also making love with Jake.  Then Fitz's face appears from between her legs.  She's confused at first, but then seamlessly segues between making love to both.  This stops only when she reaches the end of the pool, where a fully-dressed Rowan awaits her, and acts as her alarm clock. This is only a prelude to Joe Morton's great lines this week.

Olivia awakes to Abby, bedraggled and wanting to help.  But Olivia has nothing for her to do, and has to inform her that Fitz is the one who thinks Jake is guilty, so he won't help.  So Abby wanders off, still worried.

Fitz is currently alone on the White House balcony, in his bathrobe, going over his seriously bruised and cut knuckles.  Jake's face did a doozy to them.  Mellie comes out, and we're going through opposite day.  Because she's dressed, to Fitz's surprised pleasure, and he looks ready for bed.  Mellie can't believe he doesn't already know why;  he's got a Red File from the Secret Service to read, and she's got a state funeral to plan.  She offers him fried chicken from the kitchen before wandering back inside.

The funeral's for a Republic Party "legend".  Former President Cooper is basically a stand-in for Ronald Reagan.  Like Reagan, he's credited with pulling America out of its post-Vietnam funk with his sunny optimism, ending Communism, and strengthening America's military. President Cooper, like Reagan and Fitz, was also shot during his Presidency, and survived.

Olivia has an appointment with the convicted shooter, Leonard Carnahan.   Leonard is soft-spoken and polite.  He looks like he's calmly accepted his fate, except that he hasn't.  He denies shooting President Cooper to Olivia, and says the bullet that was lodged in Cooper's brain will not match with his gun.  The bullet could never be retrieved and used without killing Cooper, but now that he's dead... Leonard sees his chance.

The killer would have to be someone who knew he'd be in Stockton that day, knew he carried a gun and what kind... and could produce a forged diary with detailed plans of the murder.  Leonard has no idea who it could be, only that it wasn't him.

Prove me innocent.  It'll be fun.

Cy is getting dressed after a an all-nighter with Michael, who wears only a towel and confesses that he was only a kid when Cooper was shot.  Cy can't believe his luck in scoring such a young man.  And he's made some moves to keep Michael to himself.  He's gotten Michael his own phone, his own apartment, and own bank account.  Michael tries to refuse all this, but Cy insists that Michael deserves it.  And, Michael, apparently also deserves Cy's cellphone, which Cy carelessly leaves in the hotel room.  Michael checks it as soon as Cy leaves.  Cy, don't you even lock your phone when you put it down?

Michael has somehow also had pictures taken clearly showing that Cy has been hiring a male prostitute, which RNC Chair Lizzie Bear will somehow blackmail him with.  But Michael has more: the contents of Cy's email, and he warns Lizzie Bear that the White House plans on closing several military bases.  He uses Cy's email to wrangle a more long-term arrangement for himself. A well-paid arrangement.

Abby mouses her way into the Oval Office, and Fitz is happy to see her, getting her name right and wanting her opinion on how he should talk about Cooper's death.  Abby decides she'd rather haltingly bring up Jake Ballard, and Fitz's bruised knuckles, and his obvious conflict of interest in trying to beat a confession out of his former mistress's current boyfriend.  Fitz huffs and puffs about being Commander in Chief, and gets her name wrong.  Abby runs away, but only after informing Fitz that Olivia's nightmares aren't pretty, and maybe if he claims to love her he'd try to stop them.

Wait, is your job to call me on my bullshit?

Quinn finds Huck at Gladiator HQ playing a video game. Huck barely has any attention for her, except to show her a circle showing where Catelyn and Faith were on the days they were murdered.  Quinn is bitching that it contains numerous museums, which means thousands of lockers the key could open.  Olivia ends all their speculation, wanting an immediate run-down on Leonard Carnahan, making it clear he's their latest client.

Huck and Quinn get it done, and then some.  They share a suspicion that Leonard could be innocent, and that the bullet will be necessary.  But the family won't dare help Leonard by authorizing an autopsy.  So, they'll have to use a roundabout method.

Olivia explains to Leonard that it will require getting Leonard charged with murder.  Based on, the shooting causing the stroke that killed Cooper.  He ruminates on the risk, explaining that he's up for parole in a few months.  Should he wait for eventual freedom?  Olivia tells him that the bullet could be so degraded, that it won't help his case.  And Leonard would be looking at the death penalty for his troubles.  Leonard's calmly resolved.  He remembers a quote from a paper, some lawyer-type, who said something about how the truth is like the sun- you can't keep it out forever.  He tells Olivia to go ahead.  After he's gone, Olivia reminds Quinn that she was the one who said the truth is like sunlight.  Does Leonard remember that it was Olivia's line?  Is that why he chose her?

Mellie is clearly not looking forward to seeing former First Lady Mrs. Betsy Cooper, even though she appears to be a dear little old lady from the South.  She has no use for the airs of the office;  she has fond memories of the Afghani craftwork Mellie's placed on the wall.  Once Mellie sends away the cameras and assistants, Real Betsy emerges.  She's all business, with some piss and vinegar thrown in.  She's abrasive, but right.  Mellie would love to chat about hymns and how much they meant to President Cooper, Betsy bursts that bubble by telling Mellie her husband worshipped at the altar of Tits And Ass.  She cynically tells Mellie that they're just bitches who have to suffer through the dog and pony show that will be the repeated droning of her husband's legacy.  She then joins the entire world in shooing Mellie away to do her First Lady stuff while other people do the real work.

Let's be cynical and jaded together!

Lizzie Bear would like to be the first to wax poetically about her party's favorite president. She'd also like to be the first to repeat rumors of base closings, and the first to denounce them as a insult to Cooper's memory.  Cy watches the proceedings, and unloads his demands for a head to chop off on Abby.  He threatens her head, after the brouhaha she started with Fitz earlier in the morning.  Abby looks flustered for a second before leaving to do as she's bid to keep her job.

At the end of the day, apparently not finding anything out, Abby tries Olivia.  Olivia is worried when Abby lets her know that she tried to get information out of Fitz for Olivia's sake, but Olivia's going to owe Abby; Fitz knocks at that instant.  And Olivia has to go to receive the information Abby persuaded Fitz to share.  And information he has. Transcripts of Tom's confession and naming of Jake.  Photos of Tom taking the meningitis that killed Jerry Jr.  Rantings about Jake's initial surveillance, which he conveniently forgets was at Fitz's request.

Olivia also has to do some male privilege checking, when Fitz tries bad mouthing Abby.  Olivia points out that when a man pisses someone off but gets something done, people admire him.  Women who get things done get insults.  After Fitz drops his evidence bombs, Olivia repeats her demands to see Jake, loudly.  Fitz wants Olivia to accept that Jake played her,  He wants her to accept that Jake killed Fitz's son.  He wants Olivia to accept that Jake killed Harrison.  He wants to to accept that only Fitz really loves her.  When Olivia simply repeats her demand, Fitz almost calls her a bitch.  After he leaves, Olivia guzzles her red.  The cheap stuff?

Lizzie Bear isn't done.  After making the White House nervous, she decides to make Mellie her insider at the White House, buttering her up in the hall to ask her to to publicly deny the rumors of base closings.  This way, Fitz won't be able to close them without the White House looking stupid.  Mellie tries to get out of it by telling the truth; she has no voice in policy, and the White House just wants her to stand by her man.  Lizzie Bear disdainfully tells Mellie to get back to her funeral planning.

Quinn is ready to head off from Gladiator HQ to start putting the key in lockers.  But Olivia has a task for her and Huck, the second time she's interrupted them from helping Kathryn.  Now, they've got to drum up interest in charging Leonard with murder.  It can't come from Leonard, of course.  It's got to look legit.  So, of course, they come up with a Twitter Hashtag.  Olivia calls reporter buddies, acting like she wants information so they can plant the seed at White House press conferences with a stumped Abby.  Rosen pitches the idea to a receptive Fitz and Cy, and Abby tries to chime in with useful information, until Fitz shoots her down.  The reward is Olivia, Huck and Quinn looking at their handiwork: Rosen announcing new murder charges.

Mellie gets some facetime with Betsy to discuss speakers at her husband's funeral, but Betsy doesn't care what order the nice lies about her husband will come in.  Mellie tries to remind her that the man deserves to be honored for his accomplishments;  Betsy dishes that he doesn't have any.  She reformed the tax code.  She beefed up the military.  She made the treaty happen.  She knew how it all needed to be done, and she coached her ADD-afflicted husband through it all, though the man could barely read two pages.  But, her husband and his fellow old-boys club have claimed all the credit, and left Betsy with the consolation prize of being Wife to the Great Man.  She doesn't say it, but she's pained at the indignity of watching her unintelligent, philandering husband be worshipped by a system that kept her in her place.  Mellie can only hold her hand.

Will my hand make up for a lifetime of patriarchy?

Fitz and Rowan are busy sharing a scotch, and Rowan segues into requesting that Jake be transferred to B-613, so the death and burial can be quick.  Rowan paints it as B-613 cleaning up its mess, paints Jake as a dog that needs Rowan's discipline.  Fitz is still married to the idea of trying Jake on the up and up, which he must know isn't going to happen now.  Rowan tries to look impressed, and does a good job of flattering the president for his totally non-existent objectivity.   Sure, Fitz wants to kill Jake so he can have Olivia to himself.  But he's totally willing to go through the dog and pony show required.  Rowan suggests that selling the legitimacy of Jake's execution requires letting Olivia see Jake.  He counsels Fitz not to let Olivia build Jake up in her imagination as a hero.  Let her see him, humbled in a jail cell.  When Fitz says they'll have the really good stuff at their next talk, Rowan blows one final puff of smoke up his ass.

Quinn arrives at her last site of fruitless keyhole trying, worried that the whole operation will be a bust.  She can hear Huck playing video games, yet again, and demands he stop playing games and help her.  Huck insists he's working before hanging up the phone.  What gives?  Quinn would rather fume while she starts at one end of a huge, blue locker room.

In court, Olivia's lawyer-friend Clark, originally seen helping Senator Vaughn and then her set-up aide, is head to head with the Attorney General himself, now openly gunning for a murder charge.  Judge Lancaster is at first skeptical of the value of opening up Cooper, but Clark tells the court the bullet could clear his client, and the Judge has to allow the collecting of exculpatory evidence.  Besides, to prove murder, they'd have to re-prove his client actually shot the President (maybe, maybe not- Leonard's already been convicted of that).  Rosen figures it out as the Judge signs the autopsy order, and angrily confronts Olivia over it, who at first doesn't care if she's hurt Rosen's fee-fees.  She walks out to Rosen insisting the bullet will incriminate Leonard.

Olivia is on the phone, wanting ballistics results, when she's quietly and quickly surrounded by Secret Service, which is a sign that Fitz wants to see her.  He brings her to the super secret Pentagon bunker that houses Jake.  He warns her to stay at least three feet away, or the visit will be over.  He doesn't warn her, though, that Jake looks terrible.  Olivia tries to bluster in, but Jake's horror-show face, while he sits cross-legged in a corner against a wall, in prison sweats, looking like a man ready to die stops her and brings water to her eyes.

Jake does his best to comfort her.  He wants her to have his offshore bank account.  He wants her to contact his mother in Bloomington.  He's very insistent that Olivia should remember that it's Bloomington, Indiana, NOT Illinois, and the password and account number to the money.  Maybe he hopes that if she remembers the details that will need to be cleaned up after he's dead, she'll forget his face, and what he's accused of, and how hopeless his case is.

Rowan gets the speeches about power; Fitz gets to bluster around about being the Commander in Chief.  Olivia gets to put bullies in their place.   Mellie gets to wax poetic about being  underemployed.  Cyrus gets to go on about politics and people's jobs.  Abby gets to occasionally scold people.  But Jake sometimes gets a word in edgewise.  His big lines are about the erasure of self in his work, in the life of serving the country by doing its dirty work.  He's always quick and to the point.  Here, he tries to prepare Olivia to just accept his death.  Don't worry about believing him, it will only cause her more grief and conflict.  Olivia tries to comfort him by reciting the bank account number.  Jake gets a small measure of relief; while watching the whole thing, Fitz feels his usual self pity.

Betsy and Mellie relax, shoes off and stockings showing, on the balcony.  The funeral is planned and they await only the end of the autopsy.  Mellie bemoans the fact that no one will let her step in the way Betsy did.  Betsy tells Mellie that she had to pry the incompetent boys' hands off the reigns of power, finger by finger.  Mellie confesses that Fitz would rather listen to his former mistress.  Betsy says the problem is that Fitz has only one.  Give a man some women to distract him, and a woman can get things done.  The wheels in Mellie's brain are visibly turning.

Lawyer Clark turns up with the ballistics, and Olivia is turning her rage at Jake's fate on the very guilty man in prison.  Leonard at first actually tries to appear like he's really still innocent.  But he bows his head once, and when he raises it, he's a different person.  A person who really did shoot President Cooper.  Leonard scoffs at the absurd idea of Russians in Stockton shooting Cooper.  It's Stockton, for fuck's sake.  The only Communists there are in bad movies at the movie theater.  Leonard's only regret is that he failed to kill the guy that day.  But all that changed when Cooper died of a stroke from Leonard's bullet.  Oh, the glory of being someone who got the job done!   Leonard wanted her from the minute he read that quote about the truth.  He used it to snag her.  Leonard's been patient, but not to be exonerated; to be executed.  Jake calmly waits to die; Leonard is screaming for 600 volts, pronto, while Olivia bangs on the door to be away from the monster.  

I love being evil!

Olivia runs to Rosen, where she, not Clark the Lawyer, makes the deal so Leonard doesn't get the execution he craves.  Rosen doesn't say no, but does admonish her for thinking eye contact is evidence.  Olivia, in return, wants Rosen's help (she did, after all, give him a big win with the conviction) with Jake.  Rosen would like to help, but it's his unfortunate duty to inform Olivia that Jake has been taken off the grid and out of the DOJ's hands.  Jake's fate will not be decided by a court.

Jake's fate was decided when Rowan plunged a knife between his fingers and vowed to do watch the life fade from Jake's eyes.  Jake's eyes don't look particularly scared, but he does try to remind Rowan that he loves Olivia.  Rowan has no use for Jake's love;  he castigates Jake for being smug, for thinking he knows best.  Rowan has spent decades perfecting the art of true power.  True power, he tells Jake, hides in plain sight.  True power tells the President he's the Scotch expert.  True power tells the President that he's been totally cool to Jake, and it's time to let Rowan do what he owes the President.  True power is a servant that lets the boss think he came up with the idea.  You can't beat B-613, because B-613 knows how to strike through manipulated leaders.  Command takes you, son.

So, what's the deal with the B-613 files?  Jake last had the key.  Rosen doesn't even bring them up to Olivia.  How long will they remain locked in storage?  Will they be pawned off to some unsuspecting reality TV star?

The funeral is just as morbid, with Mellie looking sincerely grieving, Betsy stoic, and Fitz would love to pay attention, but Abby's got his ear.  It leads Fitz to a room alone with Olivia, who at first tries to plead for Jake's release from B-613.  Then Olivia shouts for it.  Fitz tries to name every single body Jake made.  Every single way Jake ruined any chance they have.  Olivia realizes that, to Fitz, that was Jake's real crime.  Jake supposedly made all these bodies that neither of them can step over to get to each other.  So, Olivia holds out the hope that they could have a future in Vermont, if only Fitz will do the "right" thing he wanted to do in the first place- keep Jake out of the shadow government.  Keep him in the system.  Save him from her father.  Olivia, once again, has to offer herself up to keep the men in her life from tearing each other apart.

Betsy and Mellie, with no man to accompany them, slowly proceed together down some steps from the funeral.  Betsy plays the Tri-Delt from Tuscaloosa, saying that a plain lady like her isn't going to spend another moment thinking of her husband's convicted killer.  She's going to just concentrate on remembering her husband, which is partly true.  Mellie decides to add on, saying that she can speak for Fitz definitely honoring President Cooper's memory by keeping all those bases open.  She openly and categorically denies the base closings rumors.  She's back!  And Betsy is happy to celebrate.  Apparently, the Former First Lady carries a marijuana joint in her First Lady Purse just in case the Truman Balcony opens up for First Lady Toking.  Mellie and Betsy walk away arm in arm.

Cy is livid, on the phone practically firing Abby right then and there.  Abby doesn't exactly know where the leak came from, but IT confirmed it's not a hack.  That's not enough for Cy.  Well, then it's a good thing Abby did some digging.  Initiative is great, until one of your abused underlings finds out that you just set up your kept man with a new phone and new apartment, and tells you that you'll lay off her until you've at least done some due diligence on new friends.  Abby then announces that she's not fired.

Love and Happiness, by Marvin Gaye, plays as Huck gets in even more video games.  Wait, no, it's not Huck playing.  It's a little guy named Javi, whose mom, Kim, emerges from the laundry room, lets Javi play one more game with his new video game buddy, and then it's bed.  Huck, back at Gladiator HQ, can't believe how fast they've become an unstoppable team.  His eyes water in pride.  Oh, Huck.

Quinn face melts in relief as her key finally clicks a lock open. She gingerly opens the locker, to find...

Pictures of Olivia.  Lots of them.  Taken outside, in her home.  Someone wants Olivia, or at least every outfit she's ever worn.  And Catelyn and Faith seem to have died protecting Olivia.  Did they know who they were protecting?  Or was Olivia just a woman who needed their help?  Well, now the Gladiators have to know what was going on.

Fitz enters Jake's cell, with the good news:  Jake will spend his life in a supermax prison.  No guarantees, but it might be okay.  Jake is a little surprised he won't die, but he knows it's not like Fitz is freeing him to sleep with Olivia again.  Does he know that Fitz is going to try to get Olivia back?  Is he okay with it?

Olivia gets in one last swim.  We know it's a real swim, because when Rowan is waiting for her at the poolside, she makes herself touch him.  It's really Rowan, and he's really pissed that she intervened.  She tries to explain that it was for both men's sakes.  Rowan's furious, accuses her of crossing him.  Olivia looks scared for half a second.  Then she calmly readjusts her goggles, and owns it.  She declares herself armed with weapons Rowan can't possess.

Challenge accepted, Dad.

With Olivia openly challenging her dad, and starting to enjoy a tiny victory over him, what's next?  Is Olivia going to build on this victory?  And long-term, is Olivia the only person who can permanently end Rowan's reign?  Is Olivia the next Command?

Gotham's Golden Rule - Gotham - Season 1, Episode 6

It's ten years before Bruce's parents are killed.  There's an anonymous man, in an anonymous bathroom, looking into a dirty mirror.  He's worked up about something as he repeats, in an emotionally disturbed voice, that he's the Spirit of the Goat.  He sticks his head into a massive, black mask with horns.  His last victim, a pretty girl lounging on a balcony at night, is listening to a radio news clip about the Waynes, once again trying to help the city.  Is the show building these two up, so they can be torn down?  Why do Tom and Martha have to be so perfect?  The Goat doesn't notice, though, as he kidnaps his victim right from her balcony.

Who should be assigned to the case, but Detective Harvey Bullock, with his former partner Detective Dix.  Dix is clearly the senior partner, as he gives Bullock directions that Bullock disobeys.  They pull up to an abandoned building on a barely lit street called Cannery Row.  Has the city ever considered that, maybe, their proliferation of criminals is due to having so many places for serial killers to hide?  Just askin'.  They have a suspect, named Randall Milky, who supposedly uses this building. Bullock doesn't want to wait for the backup Dix just requested.  Dix insists that Bullock follow Gotham's Golden Rule:  No Heroes.  Heroes die.  Or worse, they get somebody else hurt.

Bullock isn't convinced.  The Goat's latest victim is in there, and Bullock doesn't want to wait if she could still be alive.  They enter, with guns and flashlights drawn.  The last victim is indeed there, but already dead.  She's trussed up like a sacrifice to King Kong, complete with angelic outfit, and creepy candles surrounding her.  Bullock is convinced The Goat is near- the candles are freshly lit.  Randall Milky flashes in and out of the edges of the screen, and Dix and Bullock know they're not alone.  They both start searching, and it's Dix who falls through some rickety scaffolding just as The Goat crashes into Bullock.

Hey guys, wanna' hang out?

Bullock and The Goat tussle it out, but Bullock gets the better of him.  The Goat refuses to surrender, though.  He claims he'll return, that he can never be defeated.  Bullock is unconvinced when he shoots The Goat in self-defense.  The Goat, Randall Milky, dies right in front of him.  Bullock races back to Dix, while the backup he should have waited for arrives.

Why does this case matter?  I mean, it's nice to see that Bullock was once a eager, young cop that Dix had to restrain.  Does Jim remind Bullock too much of the hot-headed young detective he once was?  Does Bullock ever wonder what Dix would make of Jim?  Bullock doesn't have time to think about these things in the present day.  He's too busy looking at the same victim set up he saw ten years ago.  This time by the river.

Bullock is sure it's a copycat, re-identifying all the old ways The Goat used to leave his victims repeated with the body of Amanda Hastings.  Like The Goat's former victims, Amanda was the child of Gotham's 1%.  Their oldest child.  Gotham's trusty forensic scientist/riddle enthusiast is on the scene, to give Bullock a time of death and ask him how you cross a river with a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage.  Get it?  The wolf would eat the goat, and the goat would eat the cabbage.  How many trips does it take to get them all across the river?  Nygma is about to gleefully give Bullock the answer when Bullock orders him to zip it while he tries reaching Jim.  Again.

Dammit, Jim, you need to see these flowers

Jim and Barbara are trying to work things out back at their apartment.  Barbara is willing to compromise; Jim can tell her half of what goes on.  Jim thinks even that is too much, and too dangerous for her to know.  Barbara says her middle name is risk, and Jim should know that by now.  Jim just wants them to stop fighting, and says he'll tell Barbara everything as soon as he can answer the damn phone that's been ringing again and again this morning.

Can we talk about why we're a terrible couple later?

Allen and Montoya, still working on Oswald's presumed murder, are still canvassing the shipyard's piers, looking for any evidence that Oswald met his grim fate there.  Allen wants to quit; but Montoya has already told Barbara and Jim that Jim's going down, and doesn't want to be wrong.  They "luck" out when they find an obviously drunk homeless man enjoying the sunshine and worried they're here to kick him out.  Allen reassures the guy they just want to ask him a couple questions about a possible shooting here, and the man is eager to confirm that he saw the whole thing.  He happily confirms, from a photo, that it was Jim.  The guy has no other details.  Montoya is ready to bring Jim down based on the word of a man who's drunk before noon.    Without even confirming that he really could have seen the murder in the first place.  

Jim arrives at the present-day Goat crime scene to Bullock griping about Jim being late for once;  Jim is unfazed, since Bullock is usually the late one.  Besides, Jim's answer to Bullock's unease with the crime is to solve it quick.  Before heading off to see Amanda's parents, Bullock tells Nygma he wants to personally witness the autopsy.  When Nygma can't figure out why, Bullock throws a hissy fit and orders Nygma to do it without putting his nose where it doesn't belong.

Amanda's parents are overcome with grief.  Her dad's only help, in between fist-clenching, is that he's been dreaming of a dark, overbearing presence all week.  Mom is tranquilized out of being any help at all.  Their therapist, a beautiful, polished and attentive woman named Dr. Marks (significance of the name to come later), shoos them away and tries to downplay any help Jim and Bullock will get from the parents.  Bullock is unhappy with Dr. Marks possibly ruining possible witness with drugs.

Downstairs, Jim and Bullock recite what they know of Amanda's last night.  She arrived home about 36 hours ago, and there are no signs The New Goat broke into her family's apartment.  Jim and Bullock realize that their killer, like The Old Goat, probably works as a maintenance man for various elite apartment buildings in Gotham.  When Jim gets notified that the autopsy on Amanda is about to start, Bullock insists on leaving right away, and giving the task of analyzing maintenance records to Nygma.

Nygma, would like to do his own digging in the Gotham PD Records Annex.  It's run by a bespectacled Kris Kringle (yes, her name is literally Kristina Kringle).  Nygma loves Kringle's name, but she's heard this one a million times.  Her big concern is that Nygma expresses some frustration with her way or organizing old case files.  Kringle gets worked up, insisting that her records are organized for her convenience, not Nygma's.  And he will mess them up at his own risk.  Then she does the dumbest thing possible and leaves Nygma alone with her files.

Mrs. Kapelput, at home, still in the same Miss Haversham Outfit we first saw her in, finally gets to see her son.  Her dear, dear, Oswald has come home!  At first, they argue about whether Oswald was in some hussy's clutches.  Oswald has a different tale of woe to tell her, sounding almost bitter as he tells his mother he was betrayed, and treated horribly.  Mrs. Kapelput insists that he certainly could never have done anything to deserve such treatment.  Oswald isn't dwelling on the past anymore, but his future.  He tells his mother that he's going to be somebody.  And soon.

Back at the precinct, Bullock hovers over the ME performing Amanda's autopsy while Jim watches, detached.  He doesn't know why they're there, but Bullock is on edge as the ME confirms that Amanda died from asphyxiation with chloroform.  Bullock isn't done.  He instructs the ME to look at the base of the skull, right where the scalp ends.  The ME is reluctant, but finds a missed stitch there.  The ME is immediately intrigued and opens up the stitch, to find a penny.  A penny that Bullock hoped wouldn't be there.  Bullock is instantly convinced that this is the Orginal Goat.  He just has no idea how it could be, as he killed the guy himself.

Can you, by any chance, find my lost innocence in there?

Bullock, with Jim, explains to Captain Essen, in a room full of other cops, that it's the same 1813 Liberty Penny that The Old Goat used.  And that this detail was kept secret from the public, as well as out of the original case files.  The only people who ever knew this detail were Bullock, the ME (who has since died), and Bullock's old partner, Dix.  And now, Captain Essen and Jim know.  And anyone who's hanging around the precinct.  Essen sends Bullock and Jim to see Dix.  Maybe he talked.  Maybe he knows the ME did.  Maybe he's got some ideas.  Maybe he can help with revealing more about Bullock's character.

At Wayne Manor, Bruce watches a TV news report.  It gleefully recounts how The Goat is once again targeting the wealthy.  And the newscaster has a little disdain in her voice as she notes how Gotham's 1% are literally fleeing Gotham for anywhere else for a while.  But not Bruce, not even when Alfred tries to not-so-subtly suggest it.  But Bruce is still busy working on his Wall of My Parents' Murders.  Plus, Bruce is sure he's safe; The Goat won't take him, as Bruce doesn't have a family now.  Alfred, with The Oath of the Horatii once again in the background, looks like Bruce just called him chopped liver.

Kris Kringle gets what she really should have expected from leaving Nygma alone with her precious files.  She loses her shit on Nygma for reorganizing based on date, victim's favorite ice cream flavor, and murderer's shoe color.  Kringle thinks Nygma is trying to sabotage her job;  Nygma, clearly interested in more than Kringle's name, tries to awkwardly tell her that of course he wants her to keep her job.  What he doesn't say, is that it's so he can see her.  She banishes him from the Records Room.

Dix is in some sort of hospital, and Bullock doesn't look happy to be there.  When Jim tries to ask what's bothering Bullock, Bullock blocks the attempt, claiming his brain is a black box.  Well, it's dark in there, at any rate.  Bullock wants Jim to wait outside the patient rooms, but Jim insists on sitting down in the patient lounge, where Dix is playing a board game by himself.  Dix asks Bullock if he remembers Gotham's Golden Rule; they repeat together, No Heroes.  Dix complains about his liver, Bullock reminds him that he should take it up with the booze he guzzled earlier in life.

Bullock sits down, bringing up the case and the penny dilemma.  Dix reminds Bullock that not revealing that detail to anyone was his idea, and he definitely didn't talk.  And Dix, somehow, knows that the ME didn't talk before dying.  Bullock insists his mouth stayed shut.  So, Dix tells Bullock that their not looking for a lone killer.  They're going to need to uncover a conspiracy.  Catching The New Goat will only be the beginning.  This time, they'll need to find a person behind The Goat.

Before leaving, Dix warns Jim to watch out for Bullock, calling Bullock a loose cannon and a white knight.  Jim isn't buying the White Knight part.  But, when he comes out of the lounge, he sees Bullock has already been talking to an administrator, about Dix's latest bills and whether Dix is getting Bullock's gift of magazines.  The administrator doesn't like Bullock's taste in reading, but he only cares that his old partner is getting his favorite reading.  Jim is taken aback; has Bullock been taking care of his old partner?  Bullock gives Jim one don't-even-think-of-asking-about-this look, so Jim won't find out.

One Emily Copley is the last rich girl left in Gotham.  But not for long.  She and her maid, Anita, are finishing her packing so she can meet her parents at the marina and join the exodus.  Emily decides that, despite kids being kidnapped from home, she's totally safe in the dark, creepy stair hall of her family's multi-story luxury apartment.  Anita's not so sure, as she wanders in looking for Emily, only to be attacked and knocked out with chloroform.  Emily decides to investigate, only to be attacked herself.  Who woulda' thought?

Jim and Bullock get the call right away, and while standing around in the Copley apartment, agree that they've got some ways to narrow down their search of maintenance men.  Has to be someone who works in both buildings, and took some time off to commit the murders.

Barbara, who literally got a promise that morning that Jim would tell her all, wastes very little time in confronting Montoya on the steps of some public building.  She's negotiated to hear what Jim is hiding, so she can go right to her old girlfriend investigating him and clear his name.  She tries to prepare Montoya for hearing Jim's side of things, but Montoya's not having any part of the Worst Girlfriend Scheme ever.  She tells Barbara, clearly violating her rules, that she's already got a warrant for Jim's arrest that I guess she's just sitting on.  Montoya tells Barbara to leave town instead.  It will get her far away from Jim.  Montoya also tells her never to try to contact her again.  Unexpected appearances are Montoya's thing, not Barbara's.

Nygma has found their man:  named Raymond Earl.  And he just happens to be squatting in good ol' Cannery Row, which Bullock and Jim drive up to.  Bullock is complaining about the deja vu before they're even inside to find the same scene he found ten years ago with Dix.  This time, he's got a younger partner who manages to free Emily Copley in time to join Bullock in fighting The New Goat.  The Goat is bigger than Jim; but Jim takes his time and eventually knocks him out.  Bullock gets up shakily and gives Jim what might be his first compliment.  They totally forget about the crime victim as they sit down for a breather on the stairs.

At Wayne Manor, Bruce is demonstrating just how unconcerned he is about The Goat by falling asleep in his study, with the windows unlocked.  No serial killer comes for him, but he is visited by a young burglar.  Cat, with full gear, skulks in, in perfect cat burglar form.  She makes sure Bruce is sleeping before proceeding to take in his Wall, and some of the pictures he's got there:  Mayor James, Carmine Falcone, and Molly Mathis are featured.  Cat doesn't linger long, only until she can scarf a pretty silver box for herself and skedaddle before the approaching footsteps reach her, closing the window behind her.  Is Bruce going to be tracking down his lost valuable?

Oswald is also relaxing at home this evening.  His mother has lovingly ironed his suit while he relaxes in the bath, and now she's come to make sure Oswald got all clean.  In creepy smothering style, Mrs. Kapelput washes her grown son while reminding him that she's the only person he can ever trust.  Oswald tentatively suggests that maybe, he's found someone else he can trust.  A cop.  Who's done him a good turn.  This guy is a real friend, who will do right by Oswald in the end.  Oh no, what's Oswald's plan for Jim?

Back at the precinct, Bullock, Jim and Essen watch Raymond Earl handcuffed to a table in interrogation.  He's calm now, but Bullock points out a list of non-violent crimes and mental instability, just like Randall Milky.  Essen's willing to declare case closed, but Bullock's not done.  He's still wondering how Earl knew about the penny.  Bullock sends Jim home, while he stays and watches Earl.  Bullock gets weirded out when Earl starts to fidget, trying to escape the cuffs, all the while pleading against some imaginary hurt to come.  Bullock doesn't know what it means, but he definitely sees something he can use there.

Jim comes home to find Barbara has stacked some antique-looking suitcases in the living room.  Barbara tries to give him one last chance to tell her all, saying that she knows something happened to Jim right after he started with the PD, and she wants to know what it is.  Jim says he can't tell her.  Jim knows she can't help him.  Barbara tries to convince Jim to come away with her, but he won't run.  Not even when there's a knock on the door, and it turns out to be Allen and Montoya there to arrest him.  Jim is silent as Barbara watches him taken away.

Bullock returns to the Hastings home, where Dr. Marks, cleverly almost named after the founder of Communism, is treating Mr. Hastings again.  Bullock confirms that she is also a hypnotist, which Dr. Marks expands on, noting how it's a good way to treat obsessive disorders.  With Mr. Hastings, she replaced another obsession, through hypnosis, with clenching his fist.  But Bullock has done some additional digging.  She's been working pro bono for over ten years.  And, she just happens to be the therapist to both dead Randall Milky and imprisoned Raymond Earl.  Dr. Marks doesn't freak out at all, although it's obvious Bullock has just caught her for conspiracy to commit murder.

Instead, she lounges in a nearby wing chair while she explains that Gotham needs The Goat.  The Goat restores balance, and gives the people what they want- the chance, vicariously, to eat the rich.  Bullock moves to arrest her, but she's been prepping Mr. Hastings well;  she calls him out, tells him some weird nonsense about a golden temple being open, and orders him to kill Bullock.  While Dr. Marks starts escaping down the stairs, Bullock has to pry Hastings off of him long enough to shoot Dr. Marks in the leg.  She collapses in pain.  The Goat may finally rest in peace.

Bullock is explaining all this to Captain Essen back at the precinct, when they're interrupted by the kerfuffle of Montoya and Allen parading Jim through his own precinct, so all Jim's co-workers can see their top secret investigation.  Jim is ranting that he's not a dirty cop.  And when Montoya reads out the charge of killing Oswald Cobblepot, Bullock is the first to refuse to believe it.  Jim tries to tell everyone that he didn't kill Oswald;  Bullock emphatically agrees, although he doesn't know Jim is actually telling the truth.  He's the ultimate partner- he'll probably even happily supply an alibi.  Except that Montoya has a surprise- the homeless guy at the pier also identified Bullock there that day, so he's getting arrested as an accomplice.  Bullock is about to object when there's a visitor to the precinct.

Jim hears the voice he least ever wanted to hear again.  Oswald stands at the door to the precinct, where all can see and hear him, and greets everyone as if he's arriving at a dinner party.  Now, Bullock realizes Jim wasn't lying or kidding before.  Now, Bullock's the one who's mad.

For once, we don't see Bruce actually making any progress in getting new names or info for his Wall.  We also have almost stopped seeing Jim visit him completely.  Has the show abandoned the idea of Bruce and Jim as good friends, now showing them going their separate ways?

This is also the first episode without Carmine Falcone, Maroni, or Fish Mooney.  It's nice to not see their gang war for a change.  We can focus on Jim, and the coming hammer, for a change.  It's always difficult to see how the coming three-way war is going to create the list of heroes, anti-heroes, and villains of Gotham.  It always looks like something in there to make Gotham more complicated, or emphasize how corrupt the city is.

With Jim's non-crime coming home to roost, it's obvious that now people are going to have to make big moves.  And it's all going to be on Jim's head.  Let's hope Barbara's already out of town.

Don't Eat Me, I'm Ugly! - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 3

It's funny, how cannibalism makes you philosophical.  Can you guess anything about someone based on how they taste?  Can you guess how someone will taste?  One does have to wonder if pretty people really do taste better.  I would've bet on muscular people with a little fat in general would taste better.  That perfect combination of nutritious muscle and savory fat would be irresistible. Gareth, while residing at Terminus, has had a long time to ruminate on these issues and Bob is the lucky recipient of his wisdom.

Gareth is also into staving off the inevitable, even while he obsesses over it.  Those walkers inside an adjacent school building look like they'll get through the glass.  Bob is definitely going to die.  Gareth is going to eat Bob's friends, too.  Gareth tries to paint this as the inevitable that we can stave off, but that we must accept will happen with some slowly, softly spoken, good-willed prose.  During his speech, we realize that Carol killed Gareth's mother, and Gareth also lost his brother in the sacking of Terminus.  He can barely disguise his rage at losing his family while he reveals to Bob that Carol and Darryl drove off just as Gareth was about to capture and eat them.  So, Bob's leg will have to do.

Bob spends most of Gareth's speech quietly despairing.   Calling for help would probably bring more zombies, not his friends.  So, when Bob starts racking himself with spasms as he makes strange, indeterminate noises, Team Gareth can only stand around, wondering how to shut him up.  Especially when Bob eventually is undeniably laughing.  The hysterical villain laugh from your favorite childhood TV show.  While calling them idiots.  Bob somehow maneuvers his shirt away from his shoulder and Team Gareth gets their first taste (pun intended) of horror.  And if that wasn't enough, Bob immediately starts belting out "Tainted meat!" over and over again.

Team Gareth spits out what they can, but they've been feasting on him for a while now, and they're blaming Gareth for the predicament while he reminds them that they no doubt cooked the zombie infection out.  But Bob is still chanting "Tainted meat!", so he no longer tastes good.

Well, that shut him up

Back at the church, Sasha gets predictably ambushed by a zombie until the others intervene.  They've already noticed their missing, but stumbling around in the dark will achieve nothing.  Inside, Maggie finishes her Bible reading, and she puts the book aside on a pew.  Returning from their search, Rick and Sasha decide to interrogate Gabriel.  Who's still a scared, little man whose survival method has been extreme compliance.  He blubbers that he has no idea where Sasha's friends are, or why they're missing, but Rick isn't buying it either.  Rick successfully bullies an unarmed, totally frightened man into confessing that during the initial zombie outbreak, Gabriel barricaded himself in the church, and let his parishioners die right outside as their calls for help brought zombies instead.

It's all the fault of the one guy who's been nice to us

Gabriel can still hear his parishioners as they screamed while being eaten.  Does Rick realize that attacking a man who freely gave them shelter and helped them find food, and certainly isn't keeping them there, is maybe a bad idea?  He certainly doesn't apologize, even after Gabriel practically offers himself up to be killed, as repentance for his fear of helping others.  Rick decides it's not worth it.

Especially when there's some thumping noise outside, and they find Bob sprawled out in front of the church.  Sasha is horrified when she realizes he's missing a leg; Bob is carried inside.  Rick looks around, but the only clue is an "A" painted onto the front of the church.  The same letter painted onto the freight car they were held in at Terminus.

Bob's immediate report confirms Rick's suspicion.  They've been followed by Team Gareth, who cut off his leg to eat him.  Bob repeats that Carol and Darryl left suddenly in a car, and that Team Gareth is holed up next to a building that looked like a school.  One wonders why Gareth would ever have released Bob alive to give Rick this info. Bob's last information sends the group into sadness, as Bob reveals his zombie bite to the rest. Gabriel, proving himself a decent person as long as you can get into his church, offers Bob the couch in his office as a deathbed, where Sasha wants to keep vigil over him.  Bob's still playing the Glad Game, but Sasha would rather spend his last hours in bitter rage.

Just waiting for the knife part

Abraham's heard enough.  While Rick and Co. were gathering food, Abraham actually managed to repair the bus, enabling all who want to leave immediately to do so.  And his plan includes shaming a reluctant Eugene and questioning Rosita to come.  Rick refuses to let Abraham take the only wheels with him while Carol and Darryl are still missing.  Abraham's only compromise is that they'll wait until noon the next day, and in return, Glenn and Maggie will come with him.  Tara offers her company instead, but Abraham wants two experienced zombie killers.  Rick tries giving Abraham an order not to take the bus, and the two come to yelling and almost blows before Glenn calls it off, and agrees to the deal, with Maggie backing him.  Rick tries to object, but Glenn reminds him he's not in charge anymore.  He's got until noon tomorrow to find Carol and Darryl if he wants to ride.

Abraham's bus or Rick's Crazy Train... tough decision

To be fair to Rick, it is definitely a terrible decision to try to make it to the bus at night.  Sure, it's close.  But it's probably also been sabotaged, which Abraham wouldn't be able to figure out until he'd flooded the engine and Team Gareth, or worse, had surrounded the vehicle.  Bob was captured because he left alone; their best chance is to stay put until dawn.  But, hey, it's a horror show.  Good decisions have no place here. Abraham, however, is starting to figure out that trouble follows Rick wherever he goes.

At least Rick has a plan that will put Abraham to good use.  Rick checks with Gabriel, who informs him that the nearest school is about a 10-minute walk south of the church, Sasha offers to go, despite Tyrese telling her stay with Bob.  But Sasha wants to strike back at Bob's captors.  When Tyrese tells her that Bob needs her with him, she places her own knife in Tyrese's hands, and states that Bob really needs to be put down if he passes.

Rick, with Abraham and other assorted fighters makes a big show of carrying their guns off toward the school.  The zombies there, sill pawing the glass, are waiting.  But Team Gareth is waiting too, in cover by the church.  Instead of letting Rick find them at the school, they've simply let the fighters walk off, and Team Gareth quietly approaches the church, five dark figures whose silhouettes can barely be seen.  They make almost no sound until they reach the church doors, which they break open.  They let Bob be recovered so Team Rick would leave with their weapons and fighters.  The church is theirs.

It's like hide and go seek, but with a tasty dinner after

From there, it's a slow walk up the aisle, Gareth flanked by his armed hunters.  Only Gabriel remains visible, as the rest are in one of two side-rooms off the altar.  Gabriel is openly crying as he prays.  He's always certain he's going to die, yet he always seems to live.  Gareth, as he creeps up the aisle like some obscene bride, recites the names of all the people Rick left behind, learned when people first appeared in Terminus, or from Baseball Cap Guy.  He reminds the hunted that they have almost no guns.  And he offers Gabriel the chance to take Judith and go.  Gabriel is too afraid to save himself.  Besides, no one would ever let him get far with Judith, who he'd never be able or willing to defend.  Gabriel kneels, silently crying and praying.

Gareth gets his break when Judith can't stop from crying, probably reacting to the fear of everyone around her as they hide in the room to the right of the altar.  Gareth offers them a last chance to come out, lying that maybe they'll let someone live.  But, it's really too late for Gareth, who is surprised when Rick, Abraham, and the rest have quietly returned to the church to surround Gareth and his team.  Rick even keeps Gareth from getting any ideas of resisting by literally shooting his hand almost clean off.  Gareth looks in disgust and fear as his hand is now just blood and pain.

Sucks about your hand, dude

The Hunters surrender almost immediately, and Gareth varies between bargaining for their lives and trying to convince Rick that they were good people once.  But they were driven by the distrust of strangers and extreme hunger to cannibalism.  Gareth looks straight at Rick, mocking him for ever thinking he was as hungry as Gareth has been.  When Gareth wonders if Rick means to let them live, Rick simply tells him they're saving bullets as he lifts the machete with red handles and tells Gareth he's got a promise to keep.

Rick starts the bloodbath by hacking right into Gareth's head, and the rest follow, using knives or gun butts to completely bludgeon Team Gareth until their heads are bloody goo.  A few, like Tara, look away, but most of those Rick took are happy to beat their enemies to death. Gabriel, alive, saved by Rick, is almost angry, but more traumatized, that they've turned his church into a slaughterhouse.  It's Maggie, daughter of Hershel, who just put her Bible down an hour or so ago, who tells Gabriel that this is shelter.  This is just a safe place.  There are no more churches.  There are just buildings that keep the dead out.

Michonne finds something on one of the dead bodies.  She lifts up her sword, back in her hands again.   She's back.

The next morning finds everyone standing in Gabriel's office, saying their final goodbyes to Bob.  He's still in his good, optimistic mood, while Sasha hovers over him, savoring every final moment and dreading what she's about to lose.  Everyone else tries to leave; but Bob calls out for Rick and Judith to stay.  Who wouldn't want to see the baby last?  Bob reminds Rick that he, too, took people in, without losing his distrust of humanity or his humanity.  Once alone, Bob will wander in and out of consciousness, until he speaks his last to Sasha.  He tries to give her hope that the nightmare of living now will end, and that she shouldn't let her current nightmare rob her of her decency and goodness.  He tries to tell her one last thing to be glad about.

Sasha is all attention, desperate for one last play of the Glad Game.  But she'll have to come up with it herself.  Because Bob passes just as she leans in.  Note how Bob's halting, painful attempts to pass with some dignity contrast with Gareth's self-serving, articulate cannibalism defense.  You may not remember anything Gareth said, but you remember he said it so well.  You may not remember Bob's tone of voice, but you remember him saying "Nightmares end.  They shouldn't end who you are."

In the end, Sasha has to, once again, hand her blade to Tyrese.  Sasha leaves, and Tyrese can only bring himself to kneel by Bob's body. It takes a little longer for Tyrese to stab Bob in the forehead.  The way the head is turned, we don't see much, but Tyrese would see every gory detail, and he can't take it.

While Sasha finishes the cross on Bob's grave, Bob now in the ground, some of the group are preparing to go.  Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Glenn, Maggie, and Tara are all board.  Abraham, in a much better mood, hands Rick a map (really?  he had a spare map???) showing his route so Rick can find him once his team is together again.  The goodbyes, as Team Abraham is in the bus and Team Rick stays behind, are touching but quick- no good comes from wasting daylight.  Abraham drives off, and his final note, scrawled on the bottom of the map, has to apologize for losing his shit and asking him to find them in D.C., will have to speak for him.  Abraham thinks a world cured of the zombies will need Rick Grimes.  Is Rick ready to be more than a leader of a small band of survivors (has he ever been ready for even that?)?

Rick, despite wanting Carol and Darryl, is in no hurry to actually find them.  Instead, he moseys over to Tyrese, who is digging graves for Team Gareth's bodies, represented by blood stains under white sheets next to the holes he's digging.  Rick grabs a shovel and starts to help.  He asks Tyrese how it would have felt, for Tyrese, who's as sensitive as Gabriel, but braver, if he'd seen Terminus.  Tyrese knows the answer right away, telling Rick that seeing a butcher shop would have been the end of him inside.  Rick has more faith in Tyrese than that, reassuring Tyrese that he would have survived.  Tyrese doesn't contradict him, but I doubt Rick's swayed him.

We jump to that night, with Michonne on guard duty, still looking at her sword as if it's new.  Gabriel joins her, after apparently not sending them all away from his four walls and roof.  He's still hearing the voices of those he condemned to zombie-hood.  Michonne's only comfort is that, eventually, the voices won't be so loud or unending.  They're interrupted by rustling in the woods.  Gabriel immediately retreats inside, but Michonne makes the horror movie mistake of approaching the dark woods, from which nothing can be seen, totally alone.  Maybe the sword back in her hand has made her bold, or stupid.

But she's really just lucky.  Because Darryl emerges from the woods.  Michonne is relieved, and so is Darryl, who calls to someone else to come out.  Is it Carol?  Is it someone else?  Did they find Beth, and double back for reinforcements?  Does Darryl have Beth now?  Has Maggie ever noticed that she's missing a sister?

Just taking a really long dump?

Under the Ol' Banyon Grove Tree - Legend of Korra - Season 4, Episode 4

The kids are preparing their sky bison, Pepper, for a trip.  Tenzin has just assigned them the task of finding Korra, but Pema isn't so sure they should be the ones to do it.  Shouldn't their dad go with them?  Tenzin sounds regretful as he tells his wife that President Reiko has asked him to stay at Republic City and develop a solution to Kuvira's coup that doesn't involve a war.  He doesn't sound terribly hopeful they'll find one.  At least, not without Korra backing them up.

The kids have none of Pema's reservations.  They've been waiting to be treated like grown-ups since they were born, and here's their big chance!  Iki reminds her mom that their grandfather was a kid when he travelled the world to defeat the Fire Lord.  Meelo insists that they will survive in the wild, excited about doing it, even refusing extra food.  Pema has to inform Meelo that his favorite treat is packed with the extra food.  Meelo varies between teenaged bravado and childish whining when his favorite treat has a smudge.  Pema good-naturedly tells him to get used to smudged food in the wild.

Tenzin doesn't understand why Jinora hasn't been able to find Korra's spirit from Air Temple Island, but Jinora tells him she just needs to get far away from Republic City, away from the spiritual chatter, and she'll be able to focus.  She tells her dad they'll be gone a few days.  When Tenzin reminds the younger ones that Jinora's in charge, Meelo dismisses the instructions, ignoring his dad so he can issue the order to take off.  It's Jinora, though, who's actually flying Pepper, and Pepper takes off when she calmly gives the order.

I can't actually fly the bison, but I can give orders!

Pema looks even more worried as the kids lift off from sight, but all Tenzin can do is put his arm around her shoulder and watch with her as the kids on their sky bison disappear into the distance.

First stop is some anonymous plateau with a fairgrounds on it.  Meelo races off, frantic to find a bathroom, while Jinora quietly proceeds to a quiet corner, where spirits play, to start her spiritual search for Korra.   When Jinora can't take Iki and Meelo's chatter any longer, Meelo tells Iki they're canvassing the nearby village with a detailed pencil sketch of Korra he says he drew.  He tries to look mysterious as he tells Iki he has lots of talents.  One wonders if lying about drawing pictures is one of them, but Iki and Meelo are too busy heading off for adventure.

The town, in the valley surrounding the plateau fairgrounds, is covered in pro-Kuvira banners.  And the elderly lady they see has no time to look at Korra's portrait, because Meelo is just too cute.  And his cheeks are just right for scrunching.  She doesn't see Meelo as the mature man of mystery and danger that he is.  Iki is mildly amused by the whole situation- Meelo is stewing as he demands his sister never speak of this, and demands they leave the town.  Pepper flies off with them in the sunset.

Totally sure this will be quick

The next town is even sadder, as the guy drinking was not aware there still was an Avatar.  Another town provides no information, but the tweenie girl Meelo approaches is impressed with his mission.  Especially when Meelo uses it to flirt with her.  Iki puts and end to it with her teasing, and insistence that they're moving on, but Meelo gets a flower out of the young lady, named Tuya.  He rants that Iki just chased away the love of his life while he tosses the flower he just got from her aside.

Their first real lead is the fishing village Korra visited six months ago.  Meelo is wandering, not even bothering to canvas for Korra, when he catches a familiar face and excitedly calls his sisters over.  Iki expects to see Korra, but it's only a photo.  The fisherman recounts how the Avatar was there six months ago, and Meelo is smug as he points out he got this lead.  His smugness turns to frustration when the old man points out that she didn't look good when she was there.  Meelo walks off in a huff, while Jinora and Iki remember that Meelo has always been this petulant and demanding.

Somebody needs a sit-down with Gloria Steinem

Korra has her own unsatisfactory companion.  She's eager to do something, anything.  But Toph is only interested in reclining on some conveniently placed rocks.  Korra tries to get a little story time out of her: Toph can only remember that Sokka fell in a hole the day Aang learned earth bending, and that a big lion showed up on the day they defeated the Fire Lord.  Her versions of the old stories leave something to be desired, and Toph can't stand Korra's fidgeting.  So, she sends the Avatar off into the swamp, past the big boulder, in search of slimy mushrooms.  Korra is bored enough to be happy to go.

Iki has made a terrible discovery- their food reserve is missing.  Meelo announces, happily, that he threw it in the river to satisfy his living-off-the-land-fantasy.  When he announces they'll be hunting for food, Iki reminds him that they're vegetarians.  Meelo is undaunted while he waves a stick, with his lemur, Poki, on his shoulder.  Jinora wants them both to shut up so she can meditate.  With an uncooperative little brother, and an unconcerned older sister, is it any wonder that Iki decides to wander the forest alone, complaining about Meelo's farting and Jinora's detachment?

Iki has to chase down a forest squirrel after scaring it away from its breakfast, but she ends up losing her balance in the air and collapsing in a clearing.  The squirrel manages to forgive her, but Iki soon is more interested in the fact that the clearing was made by people who cut down all the trees in the area.  She's quickly spotted by two Earth Empire Soldiers, one of whom can bend earth to trap her hands and feet.

The soldiers quickly tie her to a chair in their barracks, and demand that they admit she's spying on them.  Iki refutes the charge, crying as she predicts how disappointed her dad, Tenzin will be if they don't succeed in finding the Avatar.  The older soldier, with a bushy mustache, wants a sidebar with the bender.  He's figured out who this kid must be, and that her mission would be extremely interesting to Kuvira.  We see a suspiciously familiar bag under the table in the barracks, and we also see Iki take her arm out and back into the ropes binding her to the chair, which means she's only sitting down as a courtesy.

When the soldiers agree to take her to Kuvira, they turn back to her and ask if she'd like to take them to her brother and sister; but Iki didn't run away from them so she could go back.  She wants to stay in the barracks with her new friends.  When the soldiers tell her that they have treats for her brother and sister, Iki gets suspicious of their source, especially when the bending soldier takes out a handwritten note about someone being Pema's special little man.  Iki makes it clear to the soldiers that she doesn't want to see her stupid brother and sister, and would rather snack on the treats her mom made with them.   The bending soldier is happy to feed a macaroon directly into her open mouth, but 'Stache loses his temper.

Making new friends with cookies!

Korra proceeds down the path, now worried that she's going to find more than mushrooms as it gets darker and closer.  Behind a layer of tree fronds, is the vision she's been dreading:  at one point, Amon takes away her bending, and she collapses again.  At another point, Tonraq is forcing Raava out of her, to break her connection with past Avatars.  At the last, Zaheer is poisoning her, to break the whole Avatar cycle.  Korra lets out a cry of fear, and Zaheer and his acolytes turn to notice her.  Her fear returns her to reality, where she's on all fours in a creek.

Meelo finally returns to camp, with a bag of berries.  He's obviously eaten his fill, and offers them to Jinora.  He says they're delicious, but Jinora's not buying his smile made weak with nausea.  When he actually throws up into a nearby bush,  Jinora throws the bag away and can give only a sarcastic comment about living on the land.  She then asks if Meelo saw Iki, and when the two realize she's probably lost, Meelo can't believe the inconvenience to himself, acting as if it rests on him to do everything.  Jinora gets annoyed at this point, and reminds Meelo that this is their mission, and he certainly hasn't been doing everything.

Well, he did manage to find poisonous berries

Iki has the two soldiers listening intently to her story.  She's still bound in the chair, but the soldiers are really only keeping her prisoner in theory- she's happy to stay, snack on her mom's cookies, and gripe about Jinora and Meelo.  In return, the soldiers confide that they've been left out of a massive troop movement to Zao Fu (Suyin's city - major plot hint!), and that once the Earth Empire has been totally re-united, they'll be left out of the party too.  Iki laments with them- her brother and sister won't even let her help find the Avatar.  The soldiers totally relate, and offer to help her,  unrolling a map on the table in front of her.

Iki reveals that they've been traveling the West Coast of the Earth Realm; with only one lead, six months ago.  'Stache tells Iki pretty firmly that with so many soldiers stationed throughout the Earth Realm, they would have heard if she'd been seen anywhere.  When Iki actually takes both arms out of her ropes and points to a big green blob in the center of the Earth Realm, 'Stache doesn't believe Korra could be there- they certainly don't have any soldiers there.

Oh, yeah, she'd never be in an isolated area

Iki is sure that Korra would be where no one goes, to get the alone time she'd been wanting.  The soldiers are happy to have helped, and are about to untie Iki when the door is blasted open.  Meelo and Jinora send another blast, throwing the soldiers against the wall, out cold.  They tell Iki she's being rescued, but Iki tells them she's actually been getting a lot done with the soldiers' help.  She takes the bag of reserve food back, slung over her shoulder, and tells them she knows where Korra is. Before leaving, Iki leaves each soldier one of her mother's treats for each of them.  Because they've earned it.

Korra has forgotten about the mushroom-gathering, even if Toph didn't.  When Toph finds Korra despondent while resting on a massive set of swamp roots, she asks for her dinner.  All Korra has for her is a sad story of seeing her enemies hurting her again.  Toph casts Korra's sadness aside.  Yeah, she thought that might happen.  Oh well.  When Korra is hurt that Toph knowingly sent her to Fear Central, Toph explains that the swamp is trying to teach her what's been holding her back.  She's been afraid of her past enemies, pushed there by one close call too many.  But, maybe she could learn something from her past suffering, instead of letting it make her afraid.

Don't mind me, I'm just wallowing

Amon was obsessed with equality;  Tonraq with spiritual awakening; Zaheer, with freedom.  Their problem, and why they became villains, is that they took their ideals to extremes, blinded to the opposites necessary to create balance.  Between equality and differing abilities;  between spiritual connection and compassion for the human world;  between freedom and order.  Korra could learn something about balance from them.  She could use her suffering to better understand how to bring about balance.  And Toph knows just the place Korra can reconnect with her mission of balance.  She makes Korra get up, stop despairing, and follow her to the Banyon Grove Tree.

Iki, Meelo, and Jinora are flying on Pepper.  In addition to Poki, they've got a new animal friend - Iki's pal the squirrel, who stays close to her.  They approach the swamp from above, and it's a collection of murky greens below clouds in the warm glow of sunset.  Jinora pauses from piloting duty to briefly meditate.  The swamp is indeed filled with spiritual energy.  It would be, if it was the one place in the Earth Realm without human settlements.  But, Jinora doesn't sense Korra and agrees with Meelo, who thinks searching the swamp will be a waste of time.  Iki insists on giving it a chance, but Jinora turns Pepper around.

The swamp, though, has other ideas, and while Pepper is changing course, vines strike from the swamp, enclosing on Pepper's torso and dragging the sky bison down.  They disappear into the murky green foliage, and crash into a pond in the swamp. Pepper and Meelo immediately get to work, blasting and ripping vines apart, until Pepper is free. Then, the team has a chance to debate why the vines pulled them down in the first place.  Iki insists that the vines know that Korra is here, and the swamp itself wants them to find Korra here.  Jinora repeats that she didn't feel Korra's spirit.  Iki reminds her that she hasn't felt Korra's spirit the whole time they've been searching.  Meelo doesn't care either way.  He's grousing that he's never doing a co-ed mission again.  Iki hangs her head in exasperation.

The Banyon Grove Tree is an ancient masterpiece of roots, combining together in a massive thing that isn't really a tree.  It's like, if a tree was a castle.  It's the Grand Canyon of trees.  It's so massive, and so old, that its roots spread for miles.  It's probably been Toph's source of information on the world, too.  Placed in the center of the swamp, it has a view of the countryside all around.  And it connects the spirit energies of the swamp as well.  Toph has brought her here because Korra has decided to cut herself off from her friends, and from life;  it's time to reconnect.

I guess I should have brought you here first.  Oh well.

Korra gingerly kneels down and carefully places a hand on one of the roots.  Energy immediately leaps from her hand, down the root, traveling and taking Korra's vision with it.  It zooms through the swamp, finding the exact location of Meelo and Iki fighting over who to listen to.  Jinora feels Korra make contact right away.  When she turns and calls out to Korra, her brother and sister instantly stop fighting, and the whole team gets Pepper in the air right away.

Korra turns to Toph, to tell her the great news; she's just seen her friends, and they're here!  And they're coming.  Toph hopes it means she'll soon be rid of her charge.  The three kids can't wait until Pepper reaches the Banyon Grove Tree.  Once they see Korra, they leap off, open their suits and fly themselves to Korra's arms for a long, satisfying, well-earned group hug.

Get ready to be hugged to your limit!

Toph gets her introduction, first finding out the kids are the grandchildren of her old friends; and then Meelo puts the pieces together, declaring her Toph!  Meelo's attitude gives Toph some hope for the next generation, as the kids admit they all helped find Korra.  They also tell Korra that she's got to wrap up her spiritual journey.   They tell her the world needs her, as Korra's face shows she doesn't think she can help this time.

It's crunch time in Toph's cave.  It's night, there's a good fire blazing, and Korra is trying to face her fears so she can relax enough for the metallic poisoning to be removed.  Toph repeats that she won't be doing it- her last attempt failed, and she doesn't want Korra messing up any other attempts.  Korra has to clear her mind, focus on finding the metal and letting it escape, and not freak out!  Korra's first attempt gives her another vision that makes her afraid; Toph reminds her that the fight is in the past; she needs to release the fear and focus on this fight with the microscopic globules of metal that start to re-appear on Korra's skin.

Korra's in the Zone now, as she works the last of the metal out of her system, and sends it gliding in the air towards Toph, who has a hollowed out rock ready to take it and seal it for good.  Toph gives Korra her first compliment,  as Korra did what Lin and Suyin did not.  Korra found all the metal, and bent it out.  And she faced her fear, ready to learn from her suffering.  The kids cheer for Korra as she immediately reaches the Avatar State that has eluded her for three years.  Korra quickly returns to reality, gratefully telling Toph that she feels lighter from removing the burden of her fear and the metallic poison.

Bye bye, fear!

Toph is pleased enough with Korra to allow herself to be hugged, with Korra does gently, realizing that connecting to people isn't Toph's strength, but letting one learn what she needs to learn on her own is.  Toph can only mutter that she's ready for some peace and quiet as Korra and kids call out their goodbyes from Pepper, already in the sky and headed for home.  Kicking the Avatar's butt for a couple days is fun, but can get boring.  And the noise when other kids show up is unbearable.

Was Toph's indifference to Korra's healing real?  Or was it an act to help Korra make her own discoveries, learn from her own failures?  Why wait so long to bring Korra to the Banyon Grove Tree?  Did it require a certain state of mind?

Will Kuvira really allow the swamp to be uninhabited and full of untameable spiritual energy for long?  Or is her plan for the spirit vine extracted from Republic  City part of a plan to take the swamp?  And how long until the poop hits the fan, with Kuvira's troops massing at Zao Fu?  Something tells me that Suyin may not be a matriarch much longer.  And how will Bataar Jr. feel if his hometown is destroyed for Kuvira's Empire?

Korra has now learned that her enemies, though out of balance themselves, could help her learn how to achieve balance in the world.  If she can release her fear long enough to find out how freedom, equality, and spirit combine into one.   Is Kuvira ready for Korra's return?  Kuvira has probably been preparing for the Avatar's eventual return to challenge her rule.  For now, Kuvira's been content to amass serious military hardware and a vast army.  Will they be enough to defeat Raava?  Will Raava be able to defeat the most advanced war machine ever assembled?

On Lost Children - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 5

There's a brief pause in this episode, where Olivia ponders aloud what every moment must be like for parents who don't know yet their child is dead.  The musing is sad, and sweet and filled with the pain and torture of the not knowing.  And it's ruined by a clueless Huck, who informs Olivia in gory detail that the not knowing would last less than a week.  Olivia is not reassured.  Huck has just reduced a murdered teenager to her decomposing body.

She's usually scolding dishonest clients, or her dad, or Fitz.   This is one of the few times Olivia pauses to reflect.   This is also the only time so many lost kids have affected the characters.  Catelyn's best friend (now that she's dead, I can remember her name is Faith) is murdered while Quinn and Olivia call 911 trying to save her.  Discovering Jerry Jr. was murdered sends Mellie and Fitz into drastic action (in Mellie's case, it's relative).  Rowan and Olivia are now openly warring over whether Jake ordered Jerry's death, which Jake has realized everyone wants him to pay for.  Huck comes so close to seeing his precious son, Javi, and erupts when his son is denied him.  Catelyn's dad literally knowingly shares a park bench with his daughter's killer while his wife sits in jail accused of the crime.

Aside:  who here is now a little paranoid of ever actually visiting the parks of Washington, D.C.? Do visitors have to worry about overhearing murder and cover-ups of murder plots?

Olivia starts her work for Kathryn by reviewing the footage, seen two episodes ago, of Catelyn, in an elevator somewhere, fighting over a file folder with an unknown man.  Kathryn, unlike super sleuths Quinn and Huck, can identify him- he is in charge of her lawyer husband's firm's security.  His name is Stan Kubiak, and he's identified as a dirty cop from the get-go.  Quinn stakes out Kubiak at some apartment somewhere, and quizzes a restless Olivia on why she's deigning to watch how the sausage is made.  Olivia outright admits that she's avoiding having to admit that Jake is avoiding her.

The girl talk is cut short when Kubiak gets company.  Olivia and Quinn are puzzled when they make out Catelyn's bestie, Faith.  They'd love to hear it, especially Olivia, but Quinn can't find the microphone and Huck is not helpful on the phone when Quinn asks him where it is.  Perhaps Huck could just swing by from his ex-wife's house, where he's blatantly parked on the street in front of her house, with the microphone in the open window.

Quinn and Olivia don't wish for the mic for long; Kubiak gets violent with Faith almost right away, and Olivia decides to call 911 immediately.  Both women are shouting their amazement that Faith doesn't try to flee, only placing both hands firmly on her mouth as she backs away from Kubiak, who approaches with a gun.  Olivia and Quinn have a major freakout as Faith is shot.

Back at Gladiator HQ, Huck deflects all questions about where he was with the latest on the police investigation.  The scene was determined clean of any evidence (besides the dead body, and hopefully, the slug in the victim), and Kubiak has been provided with an alibi from his old cop buddies.

Fitz does everything except pace the Oval Office floor as the interrogation of Jake proceeds in a dimly lit with green light room in the Pentagon.  Cy has to play nanny, literally offering to escort the President to bed so the staff can go home.  Cy also has to tell Fitz that the questioning is going to take as long as it takes, like a driving parent with a kid in the backseat.  Cy tells Fitz that he can only speed things up with a less Constitutional method, but Fitz also wants his hands kept clean for a change.

Olivia leaves Jake another voicemail, sounding like a woman who doesn't want to be a needy clinger, but still puzzled over his silence.  Rowan takes the chance to mosey on by with multiple bottles of red wine.  He claims to know something is wrong by seeing Olivia has been downing the cheap stuff.  And he raised her better.  He tries to distract Olivia from her worrying with the drama of two, count them, two! rare bird exhibits at the Smithsonian at the same time, but Rowan's cover job will have to wait.  Olivia confides that the not knowing whether Jake is in danger, or just her relationship with him is, is killing her.

You.  Me.  Good Wine.  Your lies.

Olivia doesn't know whether to call her fellow Gladiators or change her Facebook status to "Single".  Rowan, despite Olivia telling him how uncomfortable it makes her, tries to diplomatically remind his daughter that guys have no respect for "the schedules of ladyfriends".  

Jake looks like he's not thinking about Olivia's schedule.  For the last two days, Jake has refused food and water and refused to answer  his interrogator's one, repeated question.  Bill The Interrogator simply repeats the same question:  "Did you order the killing of the President's son?"  Jake thinks that if he sits tight and shows how tough he is, Fitz will come.   And get him uncuffed.  Jake calmly tells Bill to stop interrogating him, because he'll only talk to Fitz.  When Jake gets physical, pushing Bill back with his unsecured legs, the room is instantly full of armed guards surrounding Jake.  Jake is unconcerned.  He's back on the beach, with curly Olivia.

Totally not worried. 

Mellie is also perfectly calm as Fitz tries to re-insult her and she basically says "So, what?"  Fitz tries demanding she return to California if she wants to be deadweight, but she refuses to leave the city her son is buried in.  That would interfere with her daily tombstone visit.  Their daily tombstone visit, she reminds him.

Catelyn's dad, Jeremy has two distinct conversations in the same scene, one by flashback where all he can do to his daughter's killer is express his powerless contempt.  Quinn's got the microphone back and learned that they're looking for a key that Catelyn hid.  The key opens a locker, but since no one has the key yet, the locker isn't a priority.   Olivia, ambushing him in a restaurant, gets a reaction more like fear from him.  Olivia's contempt scares Jeremy a little, because Olivia Pope has a way of finding secrets out, which kind of ruins his meal.

David calls Abby, drunk and still guilt-ridden over Judge Sparks' B-613 file-related suicide.  He wants to come over to the White House, where Abby admits she basically lives now.  He tries an old nickname for her, calling her "Abs".  It fails, because Abby simply hangs up on him.

Olivia calls Jake again, and gives him a five-minute deadline before she calls the Gladiators in to find him.  Huck is stationed outside his ex-wife's again, when Olivia calls him to put him on Jake's trail.  Huck will get to that the second his ex-wife, Kim, is done blasting him for spying on her and their son, Javi.  Again.  She's tired of calling the cops.  She's tired of his spying on them so long after he just disappeared.  She's tired of his ridiculous story of secret torture and murder and imprisonment in a hole in the floor.  She's tired of him, and tells him never to come back.  Huck seems apologetic, but even more desperate for her to believe him.

Quinn updates Olivia on the whole Catelyn-key situation, and Olivia leaves her to brainstorm on where the key is.  Huck arrives back in the office with a long, jargon-filled explanation for tracking Jake through his cellphone and, apparently, chemtrails.  Huck says Jake was last at the White House.  Then he disappeared.

Olivia calls Fitz first, who gets the call as he and Cy are having yet another conversation about Jake.  Fitz answers but outright stonewalls her.  Fitz hangs up, but Cy tells him that Olivia has only begun as Olivia calls Cy at this office.  He instructs the assistant to cover for him, but he must realize it's only a matter of time until Olivia shows up in the Oval Office, hands crossed over her chest, with that pained-search-for-the-truth look on her face.  As Fitz decides to see Jake himself, Olivia tries Abby, who almost takes a gleeful pleasure in telling Olivia to fuck herself.  Abby then gets the pleasure of telling David the same thing when he calls to insist that only going to lunch together will erase the awkwardness of last night's drunk dialing.  Abby hangs up right away and gets back to scurrying around the White House.

Fitz arrives in Jake's interrogation room at the Pentagon.  But not before a table, extra chair, and a meal are also delivered.  Jake knows what this means.  He turns to Bill the Former Interrogator and dismisses him, but not before advising him to stand right before Fitz rushes in and sits himself down across from Jake.  We don't even notice Bill's exit as Jake eats while telling Fitz everything he knows, telling Fitz that Jerry Jr.'s death was on Rowan's command, and that Rowan also killed Olivia's employee and friend, Harrison.  Fitz and Jake share a relaxing moment while Jake tells him that he imagined an old R&B hit to keep sane.  Fitz wants to make sure that Jake is well fed, and is in his right mind, because his plan to screw Jake depends on Jake's confession looking above-board.  Jake stops eating once he realizes Fitz means to pin Jerry's death on him, no matter what the truth is.

Jake also realizes why Fitz is really so angry with him, and so happy to believe Jake wanted Jerry Jr. dead.  Fitz himself brings up Jake's island vacation with Olivia, and Jake laughs the laugh of the damned no matter what.  Fitz doesn't just want a confession.  He wants to throw a party after Jake's execution.  Fitz's self-pitying frowny face is at its deepest while Jake tries to remind Fitz that he's supposed to be one of the good guys.  One of Olivia's White Hats.  A White Hat would never execute an innocent man.  Would he?

Jake has a solution.  Fitz can leave, look past his obvious and petty jealousy, and realize that Rowan is setting Jake up and using Fitz's grief and jealousy to get away with it.  Jake looks slightly desperate, as if he's not entirely ready to die, as Fitz stalks out.

Huck has decided to get in trouble with ex-wife Kim again.  She threatens a restraining order, but Huck promises that if she'll just let him meet Javi, just once, he will go away for good.  Kim looks doubtful, but tells him to come back later, at night.

Mellie is all ready for her afternoon appointment at Jerry's tombstone, but when the world's most patient assistant Lauren tells her Fitz is not available and not reachable, and apparently missing, Mellie has The Freakout.  Thinking that Fitz is with his mistress, abandoning her to grieve for Jerry Jr. all alone.  While he is with his mistress.  This is the fuck-up Mellie has been looking for to get even worse.

Progressing to kettlecorn, now

Quinn has the best day of everyone.  She suddenly realizes why Faith may have put both hands at her mouth before being shot- because she was making herself swallow the key.  Or something.  Either way, Quinn decides the key is actually lodged in Faith's body.  She triumphantly recites this to Huck, while wrapping a present for him.  Quinn wants to know who it's for, but Huck is too preoccupied rehearsing the monumental father-son talk that's coming.

Quinn's trip to the morgue, where she brazenly hauls out Faith's corpse and successfully digs, bare-handed, for a key in Faith's abdomen is actually easier to watch than Huck's call on Kim and Javi.  There's no Javi.  Just some doctor Kim called over to talk Huck into getting therapy for his "delusions" and his obsession with his family.  Huck at first combs the ground floor for Javi, refusing to believe that Kim got the better of him.  When he realizes he's been had, he takes his rage out on the doctor, holding him by the throat against a wall.  Only Kim's threat that if he doesn't let go of the doctor and leave, he'll definitely never see Javi again gets through to him.  He leaves, but somehow I doubt he'll trust Kim now.  He'll come up with his own plan to see his son.

Olivia, like her hypothetical parents of a missing, dead child, still doesn't know where Jake is.  Cyrus comes to her late at night, at her apartment.  He's subdued, but deadly serious, as he informs Olivia just what Jake is charged with.  He tells her outright that Jake killed Harrison.  Olivia is shocked, but Cy has had a day to deal with this, and he also tells Olivia that he will dance on Jake's grave for killing James.  Olivia isn't going to get any favors from Cy on this.  Cy may have been a terrible husband, but he can at least make sure his husband's killer is executed.  And Cy plans on never talking about this again.  Because he's decided Jake is guilty too.

Olivia finally tries Rowan.  If B-613 did, indeed, kill Jerry Jr., that leaves Rowan as the only other suspect and Olivia outright accuses Rowan of killing both Jerry and Harrison in his office.  Rowan flat out denies it, which we all know is a lie,  He ascribes the same motives to Jake for killing Jerry Jr. and Harrison that he had.  Namely, revenge against Fitz for his affair with Olivia and Olivia's love for Fitz.  Rowan knew that Olivia's guilt from thinking her mother killed Jerry Jr. would keep her away from Fitz for good.  He now tells Olivia that it was Jake's goal.

How I got into your secret spy office is irrelevant

When Olivia points out the obvious, that her dad would never have let her live with Jake, alone and isolated, if he thought Jake was a murderer.  Rowan acts like a wishy-washy dad.  He claims that he knew Jake well enough from his days in B-613, and from recent events, that he knew Jake would never hurt Olivia.  And, Olivia seemed so happy with him.  And Rowan just wanted Olivia to be happy.  Does Olivia buy this?

Look, I'm only framing him for two murders...

Quinn strides into Gladiator HQ, ready to show off her key and pick up her medal.  Instead, she gets an obviously upset Huck, who now must tell her all.  He's in despair from being denied his son, and Kim not believing his story, and Quinn, despite all their recent anger, feels the need to comfort him with a hand on his shoulder.  Huck and Quinn rediscovering the friendship might be the only good thing that comes down the road.

Fitz returns from his unsuccessful attempt to get Jake executed to find that Mellie has sent home the assistant, and is waiting to confront Fitz and guilt him over seeing his mistress when he was supposed to be at Jerry's grave.  She wants to take Fitz's judgement of her and fling it back in his face, so Fitz erupts and spills the beans on Jake.

Fitz realizes that he might just have made Mellie worse, and turns away in obvious regret, declaring that they need to stop attacking each other.  Mellie can barely hold her drink, but she gets everything Fitz knows out of him.  Fitz thinks he can comfort Mellie by reassuring her that he'll make their son's killer pay.  Mellie finds her own comfort.  To Fitz's growing horror, Mellie starts out relieved that her son's death wasn't some freak accident.  She goes on to Jerry's death getting them the victory they needed to stay in the White House.  She ends with Jerry bravely sacrificing himself for Fitz's victory.  Jerry becomes their own personal war hero.  Fitz can't take anymore.  He demands the old Mellie back and refuses to let her stay in the Oval Office one more minute.  And he bans her from ever mentioning Jerry again.  If she's going to go crazy with grief, she can go on her own.

David is graduating to full-fledged stalking by literally falling asleep in Abby's office.  She wakes him from his drunken stupor, resembling Fitz trying to rouse his wife.  Abby wants David out so she can get back to ignoring all her old friends.  But, David has a lot of guilt to work through, and a lot of blame to lay at Olivia's feet.  He recites his use of the B-613 files to get what he's wanted.  He admits to Abby that he wanted to win.  That other people always being more powerful and able to kill anything good he's wanted to do drove him to blackmail.  That he loved winning, until it left a nine-year-old fatherless.  And he blames Olivia.  Or rather, their own desires to be as awesome and victorious as her.  But not as Gladiators.  Because you only really get Olivia's awesomeness if you're on her team.

I

I coulda' been a contender!

Abby goes straight to Olivia, to basically blame Olivia for David crossing the line and devolving into a mess because of it.  Olivia is not in the mood to be called poison, but when she breaks, it's to cry as she tells Abby what Rowan and Cy accused Jake of.   Olivia doesn't want to believe it.  All three of the most important men in her life have ganged up on the one man who was willing to take her away and just love her.  She may be powerless to stop them.  She may have to face losing Jake.  And she can't.  Abby's not sure of what to think, but she knows enough to hold Olivia, making comforting sounds.

Mellie faces herself in the mirror.  Well, she thinks, are you going to be worthy of Jerry's brave sacrifice?  The Uggs come off, and Mellie steps into the hot water.  Did she expect it to hurt?  She looks relieved that it's just cleansing water.

Fitz returns to Jake's interrogation room.  Without food.  Jake still denies having anything to do with Jerry Jr.'s death as Fitz literally rolls up his sleeves, like some TV dirty cop.  Fitz's first blow isn't bad, but the blows keep coming and get worse.  It's not long until Jake is a bloody mess who tells Fitz that Rowan is playing him.  Jake is calm because he knows that Fitz probably knows he's innocent.  Jake may be executed, but they both know why.  And they both know why Fitz is in that room, demanding a confession through violence.  Because a man isn't supposed to beat a man who his former mistress ran away with, who the woman he loves loves.  But, he can be excused for beating a man who killed his kid.

Jake's not going to down nobly.  Already bloody, he goes right to taunting Fitz about Olivia as Fitz continues pummeling him.   Jake, however, isn't there.  He's back on that beach. Curly Olivia is smiling at him.  He's smiling back.  Did he know, somehow, that coming back could mean the end of him?

Is Fitz losing his shit because he wishes he could be as absurd in his grief as Mellie?  Is he really losing his shit because he still can't accept that Olivia is trying to move on?  Does he really think that Rowan is right? Or honest?  At this point?