Quinn decides it's time for a Gladiator to have a heart to heart with their client's husband, so she slips into the Winslow home to talk to Catelyn's dad and Kathryn's husband. Mr. Winslow is alone, sitting on the stairs in the dark. His wife is accused of killing his daughter and he's somehow powerless to tell the cops who it was and why, though he knows both. Quinn knows who, and she suspects Olivia herself is part of the why, but she needs details. Alone with Winslow, she shows that he was lying about his alibi on the day of Catelyn's murder. Instead, he attended an unscheduled, unrecorded meeting. Was it about Olivia and the hundreds of pictures of her they found? Catelyn, intent on telling Dad that Mom likes her teenaged daughter's boyfriend too much, must have stumbled on the meeting, become even more disgusted with Dad, and swiped the pictures of Olivia, stashing them in the locker before going to a hotel where she was killed.
Guess that's a dead end...
Winslow has no answers for her. Quinn's incriminating monologue makes it clear he'll never be able to hide the truth. Quinn sees the gun too late, though she does try stopping him from shooting himself in the head.
The next morning, Cy is blissfully unaware of anything except that a sitting US Senator is on TV pooping into diaper with a prostitute. Senator Poopy has already resigned as Abby fields questions on the replacement. She's doing fine until a reporter asks who President Fitz will support, and throws out a name: Charles Putney. Abby gets flustered, but limps through the rest of the presser so she can hiss at Cy for not prepping her.
Cy is totally unconcerned, even though he's talking with someone who's caught his own wildly foolish behavior. And he's blissfully unaware of how awful the man shaking hands with Fitz in the Oval Office is. But Abby knows. Abby refuses to even enter the room as she quietly informs the room that she's Chip's ex-wife. A little detail that a room full of guys who think they're smart really should have known.
By the way, you know someone's an terrible, horrible, awful piece of filth when he's surrounded by other guys calling him "Chip". But, with Leo Bergen managing his campaign and Fitz and Cy lavishing him with bonhommie, Chip can't lose. The Party is replacing a Senator with a diaper fetish for a wifebeater.
Could you be any more old boy network?
Huck's having a better morning getting secret-Dad-quality-time with Javi over a video game. Javi's ready to take the next step and meet up, and Huck sends off a quick yes. He looks like he has no idea how he'll pull this off. And Quinn won't let him spend the day dreaming up schemes to look twelve, either.
While Olivia paces her office, trying to reach Rosen every five minutes, Huck and Quinn obsess together over when to tell Olivia about Catelynn's pictures. The hundreds of pictures of Olivia, showing someone is stalking her big time. Despite the fact that Winslow is dead, and the news will get out soon, requiring them to explain why he shot himself, Huck wants to hold off. Olivia is clearly still working on Jake's case, and while Huck can't help, he doesn't want to interrupt.
Abby has no such qualms, and Olivia is called on to sneak into the White House without anyone recognizing her or seeing that she's brought a clothing bag with her to Abby's office. Olivia knocks and enters, and at first it looks like Abby's out. But a small, pale hand rises from beneath the desk, and Abby's small voice beckons Olivia inside, afraid she's been seen.
Olivia and Abby have a hushed, teary talk about Chip, while Abby tries to explain that she just barely made it to the bathroom to puke all over her outfit, and all her extra dresses are at the dry cleaners. Olivia can't get Chip out of Fitz's office, but she can reassure Abby that she brought two outfits for Abby to choose from. Olivia tries to press Abby into telling Fitz that he's supporting a wifebeater for the US Senate. Abby tearfully tells Olivia that her boss is an idea in the heads of the American People, not someone who's going to stop his Party Machine's choice for the Senate.
Abby still crying, tries to declare that she'll just have to suck it up. That it's her job to suck up helping her abusive ex-husband get his Senate seat. Olivia asks Abby what Abby really wants. Abby says it's impossible to expect Chip to lose the special election for the Senate seat. Olivia says it's handled.
I can do this, I can do this, I can do this... Oh shit.
She starts by marching with a pessimistic Quinn into the amateur hour that is Chip's opponent's campaign event. It's about ten people who US Senate Candidate Susan Ross is talking to about coal exports. The signs are hand-drawn, probably by someone's kid. The staff has no idea what they're doing. Olivia wastes no time, giving the staff orders before she's even browbeat Susan Ross into accepting her pro bono services. Olivia is one of the few people who can browbeat people while whispering, but she makes it clear that she's not leaving until Susan has put her in charge of the campaign. Susan looks like she doesn't even know what's going on.
I'm going to shout until this woman gets a real staff!
Susan Ross, herself, is a great person: widowed years ago, she raises her daughter while teaching Political Science and serving in Virginia's legislature. But she looks terrible, and has no money. She literally wields a wooden pointer at her appearances. Olivia's first stop with her is a salon, where Susan is transformed into someone who can appear on TV. Olivia's first task is to drum up some money for TV spots.
Appeals a lot to people with nothing better to do
While Olivia is handling Chip's opponent, Chip's campaign manager decides to pay his candidate's ex-wife a visit to find out what dirt Abby might have on him. Abby gives Leo Bergen nothing, and he tries to bluster Chip's past out of her. Lucky for Abby, some militants in West Angola (note: doesn't really exist) decided to car bomb a US Embassy. Some West Angolans were killed, and Fitz appropriates some troops to beef up security, including sending the USS Truman closer to West Angola. Because nothing says the US will secure your country like carrier-launched drones bombing your civilians.
Cy sees his chance to test Michael, pulling the old give-the-spy-false-info trick. We're looking for any future references to the USS Roosevelt. Or rather, Ethan is. Cy gives him the job of tracking everything Lizzy Bear says into a microphone for the time being. Which is why Lizzy Bear decides to use Mellie, approaching her while she's alone reviewing past White House China Patterns. Mellie is bored, and complaining that her job is unpaid, and that Eleanor Roosevelt just didn't get dinnerware aesthetics. Lizzy offers her the chance to be a pawn of the Party. The job of First Lady is so awful Mellie sees it as a promotion.
Rosen finally gets back to Olivia, trying to burst her bubble until he realizes that Olivia doesn't want to see Jake; she's already made arrangements, instead, to see another prisoner of what I hope is another supermax prison ('cause two B-613 agents in the same prison is asking for a break-out). Olivia waits until Tom the B-613 mole in the Secret Service is chained to the floor and the chair he's sitting in. She's arranged the meeting to take place in the warden's office, somehow, telling Tom their chat is off the books and hopefully secret, at least long enough for Olivia to try to demand Tom tell her someone besides Jake ordered Jerry Jr.'s killing.
Tom doesn't talk at first. For the first time in a while, he's not protecting the President. When you're Secret Service, you're always in the room, but you're not looking at the people talking. You're looking out the window, in mirrors, for anyone who doesn't belong. You're looking for anything going wrong. You don't get to take a good look at your boss's mistress. You don't get to see what it is about her that makes your boss so obsessed with the woman.
So, when Tom has a chance to take a long look at her, he does. When Tom has the chance to ask her why Fitz is so in love with her to the point that she has power over his thoughts, he asks. When Olivia tries to keep the talk focused on her dad, Tom scoffs at the notion that Rowan is her father. She's a part of B-613 like the rest of them. She's been taking orders from Command all her life, and Tom is mildly amused that Olivia thinks she's ever going to be in charge of her own life. All Tom knows is that two very powerful men and one very unlucky one are all hopelessly obsessed with her to the point that they use whatever power or smarts they have to be the one she loves. To Tom, she's Helen of Troy, repeatedly calling her that, telling her she's beautiful enough to launch a thousand ships.
Well, she's beautiful enough that after she left with Jake for that island, Fitz couldn't resist sneaking into her apartment one night to be alone in her former home. Secret Service wanted to give him privacy, but when Fitz sounded like he needed help, Tom had to enter to find Fitz making the kind of sound a man racked with inconsolable grief makes. It's kind of like sobbing, but has more moan sound in it. Tom tells Olivia about the suicide attempt, and laments that while he can protect the President from bullets, he couldn't protect Fitz from his own grief and feelings of abandonment.
Despite thinking Olivia is beautiful, Tom sticks to his story that it was Jake who gave the order. Before Olivia leaves, he reminds Olivia that Helen's father was supposedly a god, too (it was Zeus). Olivia, reflected in a nearby glass pane, counters this by reminding Tom that Rowan will want to kill him. That makes two people who have told Tom that.
Susan, despite the makeover and the money and lecturing college kids for a living, cannot make a TV commercial without bug eyes. Olivia is despairing when she notices that Susan's daughter has taken a liking to Huck, and a star is born. Miss Ross is made for explaining on TV why her mom is so awesome, Susan Ross's only contribution is to call off screen for the kid to go to bed, and the video goes viral, now spreading for free on the Internet while Team Fitz watches and bitches that Olivia Pope is working for an unknown for an unknown reason. Chip is sent out to shake hands and remind people who the powerful want in the Senate.
Chip, instead, decides that he needs some alone time with Abby in the parking garage. He tries to gloss over his violent past; Abby pulls a gun on him, and points out that his abuse has permanently traumatized her. Chip backs off, but Abby's still scared out of her mind; her first stop is Olivia's office, where Olivia coaxes her into handing over the gun. Once gun free, Abby goes back into worry mode, unable to cope with Chip's eventual win. Olivia tries to once again persuade Abby to talk about him, saying this time to go public and be a hero. Abby points out that women who are heroes never win. They must always slink away; the public doesn't want reminders hanging around of Great Men's Dirty Laundry. Olivia has no answer and no solution to this. They can only sigh together over being surrounded by absolute scumbags so they can be anywhere near power.
Olivia gets home from sighing with Abby for another late night phone call from Fitz. Despite getting Jake out of Olivia's picture, he has complied with her demand to know how Jake is. He recites Jake's calorie intake and entire daily schedule. After berating Olivia for visiting Tom, he demands to know again what "hope" means. Olivia thinks it means they should talk about his suicide attempt. Fitz thinks it means that Olivia wants to be slowly stripped naked, spread out on his desk in the Oval Office, and given oral sex until she begs him to have sex. Olivia doesn't respond, but she does look like the idea interests her. Fitz thinks it means that Olivia wants to hear that he's the most powerful man in the world, and that he's drunk. The second Olivia seems a little interested, Fitz becomes a total tease and hangs up on her.
Huck's Thursday night plan is to show up alone and watch Javi from afar, who's waiting at the arcade for what he thinks is a fellow kid. Huck leaves him to his solo gun-shooting game, too afraid of revealing to Javi what his mother's kept under wraps for so long.
Cy is ecstatic when Ethan reports that Lizzy Bear has said nothing about anything related to West Angola or the USS Roosevelt. He's even nice to Ethan for a change, who is rightfully suspicious that Cy is either going to fire him or go insane.
Abby returns to the office, presumably to get used to the idea of Chip in the Senate when Leo makes a repeat appearance. Whatever reason Abby has to hate Chip, which Leo still doesn't get out of her, Leo announces that her plan to keep him out of the Senate will fail. Ross is running in Virginia, which still likes slut-shaming women who weren't really married to the father of their children. Leo declares victory. Abby says his devotion to old-fashioned dice games is only the start of his problems, telling Leo the violent history that Leo should have researched himself. Abby is surrounded by the best dirt-diggers in American history who probably could have found out all this stuff for themselves, but Abby instead unloads on Leo, congratulating him on getting a violent bully into the Senate.
Yahtzee is Olde English for "You didn't do your homework"
At least a day has passed when Olivia gets home, presumably from filming another ad with Susan's kid, to find that Rowan is waiting for her in the dark. Unlike Fitz, he won't let the topic of her visit with Tom go. Olivia tries sending him home, but he wants to bark at her that he's in charge. Rowan wants Olivia to know that he's spent decades protecting the Republic, cleaning up powerful people's messes, and commanding B-613 so his daughter could wield her own power one day. And instead, she's crossing him over a nobody from Bloomington, Indiana. But Rowan's overplayed his hand. Olivia thinks maybe she'll be scared, but it quickly passes and she tells her dad that she sees him clearly, as a man who's spent his life becoming more and more evil. Rowan gently cups his daughter's face as he warns her that she can't beat him. When he leaves, Olivia gets to breathe again.
Huck and Quinn decide that it's time to show Olivia The Pictures. She's horrified, and can't believe her staff kept this from her. They were afraid she couldn't concentrate on this mystery. Quinn also fills Olivia in on Winslow's suicide, which will be public very soon.
Cy and Michael are snuggling. Cy is relieved that his new kept rent boy is honest. That is, until he sees Mellie mixing politics with china patterns. Lizzy Bear's scheme becomes evident, although I'm not sure that the same people who really need to see the White House's new china pattern care too much about the USS Roosevelt patrolling West Angola, or Mellie's total support for the wrong aircraft carrier. But Cy does. Because when Michael tells him he knows all of Cy's weaknesses, Cy now knows how right that is. Does he realize how right Abby is?
Well, Leo Bergen does. Maybe he feels stupid for not doing enough research on his latest client. Maybe he honestly feels that violent bullies should be nowhere near the levers of power. Maybe he just wants the chance to canoodle with Abby. No matter the reason, he's leaked to the press how Chip even got close to the special election, by revealing that Chip and Leo leaked the video of Senator Poopy in the first place. Susan Ross will win, hopefully we'll see a lot more of her adorable daughter. Leo gets a drink with Abby in the Press Room, and manages to get in a really decent kiss with Abby. Leo offers her more, but they have a good laugh over how like kids they're acting instead.
Fitz, instead of telling his wife to verify whatever he hears from Lizzy Bear with someone else first, berates her for mentioning West Angola at all. Mellie is totally non-apologetic. She reminds Fitz of all his insults for her, and that she's always stood by her man. She even stands by him when his mistress calls. Mellie leaves him to whatever phone sex he's got planned. She's got work to do.
Huck gets a late night visitor at Gladiator HQ. It's Javi, out way past his bedtime. Turns out that Javi knows what an IP address is, and how to find the physical computer. What's more, Javi knows that Huck isn't just any gaming buddy. He knows Huck is his dad.
Hey kid, how would you like to be a Gladiator?
Tom, to no one's surprise, is attacked by a prison guard, who stabs him badly. Doesn't take Tom long, resting in a hospital bed and alive, to unload everything to Olivia, including Rowan's motivation of personal revenge. Olivia takes a recording to Fitz, who can't believe how stupid he's been. The guy who's told lies for as long as he's been on the show lied to him again! Fitz also can't believe that Olivia admits to setting up the whole stabbing, even making sure that Tom would survive to only metaphorically spill his guts. She has never looked more like a future Command than when she tells Fitz that she handled it. At least it leads to Jake being led to a White House bunker, where Olivia and Fitz have been waiting to say a couple of awkward "Hi's" to him. Come on, guys, at least have a Gettysburger and a beer there, too.
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