Halfway through Season 4, she realizes she will just have to end B-613 and bring a hammer down on Rowan. Olivia used her Gladiators, always happy to help, she brought Fitz on board, she even tried to get a KGB agent to finally end Rowan's reign over American espionage and her own life. In the end, she ended Rowan the same way the Feds busted Al Capone: the money. And she played a little dirty.
Rowan starts the episode in fine form, at the top of his game, blackmailing Mellie the Senate candidate right in front of Lizzy Bear with Lizzy not even realizing what was happening. And Mellie, trained for years in smiling through catastrophe as a politician's wife, uses that to try to bluff her way through Rowan's takeover. Rowan, however, has a red button that will trigger the end of Fitz's career and her dream of a career.
You know all that bad shit you've done? So do I!
She manages to get away from Rowan, but only after Rowan browbeats her into finding out what exactly Rowan wants. And while Fitz and Lizzy Bear complete their last-minute veteran strategizing, both seem confident the race is theirs to lose. Only Mellie looks like she's losing. With so much at stake, she decides to make Lizzy Bear complicit in her crime by have her provide her the list of names Rowan wants so much. What names?
Olivia is pacing the lobby of a Federal building while Rosen's attentive and horrified grand jury gets the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from Jake Ballard. Olivia tells them to expose Operation Remington, as the downing of a civilian airliner after the terrorist had been removed but the bomb hadn't is probably the most shocking of B-613 and Rowan's orders. The grand jury's reaction is so intense Rosen is already anticipating their indictments. No one has warned Fitz this is coming.
In fact, Olivia does just opposite. She calls Fitz, in what is to presumably be the last of their phone chats. He's on his way to signing his police camera law, named for Brandon Parker, with Clarence watching, where Brandon was shot down. Fitz is glad he got a law passed that will mean something; Olivia is glad his Presidency will be remembered for more than Fitz's resignation. She sounds nostalgic for their friendship already as she says good-bye.
She said good-bye too soon. Huck is panicking as he brings Olivia to the Federal Building's garage where, Jake is speechless, Rosen is openly puking (looking like he's been poisoned for a second, but no), and the jurors are all seated in their bus, presumably going somewhere for lunch or something. Blood spatter from the massacre is all over the seats and windows and victims. The entire fucking grand jury is horribly dead. The entire list of them.
Rosen freaks out. He survived the cover-up of Project Defiance. He survived Jake killing James and two whistle-blowers right next to him. He survived Rowan's attempt to kill him with his own secretary. Rosen may have the country's biggest case of survivor's guilt. Ever. Especially when the stenographer from the grand jury hearing room is killed while walking a dog she never had. Rosen is finally, fearfully, ready to call it quits. He can't even keep the grand jury safe. How could he ever take any of this to trial?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wet my pants
Lizzy Bear and Mellie are having their own panic attacks as the news of a grand jury massacre goes live on TV; they realize why "Damascus Bainbridge" wanted that list of names. They've just made themselves accessories to a major homicide. As the person who got Lizzy Bear into this mess, Mellie has little choice but to roam the White House halls, desperate to explain to Cy. Cy is barking orders and threats to people, in fine form, until Mellie gives him his emergency of the day.
Cy stops his routine long enough to sit Mellie down in his office and decline to do anything. Mellie is supposed to be transitioning to being someone else's problem. Until Mellie mentions Operation Remington, one of "Damascus's" blackmail points. She has no idea what Remington was, but Cy does, and the realization that Damascus is going for Fitz as well as Mellie puts him in the zone. He shoos Mellie away, telling her he'll deal with it.
Olivia doesn't know what to do as she paces the corridor outside her office. Comforting her is useless. She's angry, she's desperate, she knows that she can't live her own life until Rowan is removed from it. She is a tiger pacing her cage, wanting her prey but unable to pounce. So, she decides to visit the one person who's managed to fool Rowan, even if only briefly.
Maya Pope has no desire to be helpful. She instead tells Olivia that this crusade is entirely manufactured. Olivia is only trying to end Rowan because she's making a big deal out of everything. If she would just accept that her parents had priorities other than her childhood, she wouldn't be so worked up about Rowan now. Olivia is about to walk out on her mother when Maya finally offers something she can use; find Rowan's enemies, and expose Rowan to them.
Cy is making his own visit, confronting Rowan, or, rather, Elijah Pope, humble paleontologist at the Smithsonian, while working on some bones. Cy wants to be judgemental, but Rowan points out killing the grand jury was as much a favor for Fitz as protection for himself. Cy can't disagree with this, and also can't turn down Rowan when he demands that Cy shut down Olivia's next attack on him.
Which turns out to be at CIA headquarters. Holding one of Rosen's remaining banker's boxes of B-613 files, Olivia's plan is to go to Rowan's competition, CIA Director Lowery, she of the horrified shock during Olivia's captivity. Lowery won't like that B-613 infiltrated her own organization. Lowery pretends to not believe Olivia's story, but file after file turns out to explain something Lowery couldn't, and Olivia realizes Lowery always knew B-613 was in her organization. Lowery knew, but she had no idea it was so extensive and when Cy tries to get her to help him cover it up, she resists on the grounds that she feels her toes were stepped on.
So much of Olivia's importance finally makes sense, as well as Cy's desperation that Olivia be killed rather than turned over to any enemy of the US. Cy isn't successful, at first. But he plays on Lowery's fears of people more powerful than her, and Olivia and Jake are hauled off to Federal Prison. The files Olivia brought in are no doubt destroyed while Jake and Olivia stew in separate cells. Is Olivia reminded of her kidnapping? She should be, especially when she's brought into an interrogation room facing a video camera, not unlike the one Ian used.
Cy, before confronting either Olivia or Jake, lines Rosen up. Already scared, Rosen expects Cy to arrest him. Oh, no, Rosen. You're too useful. Cy instead threatens to do terrible things to Abby while going on about pressure points, leading one to wonder, what's Cy's pressure point? The daughter he never sees? No, it's Cy's job and access to power. Cy likes running the country behind the scenes, accountable only to Fitz, serving him and himself and no one else.
Does Rosen go between Jake and Olivia repeatedly, or does he manage to convince Olivia to sign first, then trudge to Jake's prison to spend some time with him? We know Olivia signs first, mostly because Rosen tells her they'll make Jake and his family's life miserable until she does. What a reversal. Rosen was, for so long, the moral impetus to stop Rowan. Now he's thoroughly beaten and trying to get Jake and Olivia beaten, too.
Lizzy Bear pops in on Mellie, wondering if that whole conspiracy-to-commit-murder thing has been handled. Mellie lets her know they're off whatever hook Mellie got them on. It's not enough for Lizzy Bear, who gently nudges Mellie to tell her of the bullet they dodged by giving Damascus Bainbridge that list.
While Mellie tells all, Cy finishes up the clean-up job; he sends Jake and Olivia home after getting their ironclad vow of silence; he gives Maya a deal she doesn't even have to think about. She's happy to sign and be released and free and probably out of the country by dinnertime. Back at the White House, situation handled, Abby tries asking questions, wanting to know just what he's been up to all afternoon on such short notice. Cy brushes her off. He swears off having a soul, which is where he's been going ever since getting over his grief at losing James.
Mellie and Lizzy have done all they can do; Fitz puts the finishing touches on their campaign, which the two look like is already won. His speech to important backers the night before the election is everything a devoted husband would say, and it's easy for Mellie to think that, at last, she and Fitz could have a real marriage. Or, at least, a real partnership. That there's still some affection down there that they could nurture again.
While Fitz congratulates Mellie and heaps praise on her, Rowan has his own congrats for a recovering-from-prison Olivia. While trying to relax in bed, Rowan lets her know over the phone that she's won, in a way. Rowan has decided to kill B-613 for his sake. Yes, an agency Rowan claimed was vitally important to The Republic, without which representative government would fall, can now be dismantled for the convenience of Command. Rowan's liquidation strategy is to let Not-Virgil do all the work of killing what few agents remained. This, I assume, includes Russell. Although, if it did, why bother freeing him? Why not leave the body for Huck and Quinn to fluff 'n fold?
Not-Virgil then gets to torch the boxes of B-613 files stolen at the mid-season finale. Yes, those finally make a brief appearance until they're up in smoke. Didn't Not-Virgil realize that Rowan wasn't going to stop liquidating B-613 until Not-Virgil was dead too? The guy is walking away without a care, making it easy for Rowan to shoot the last person who could ever testify against him. Free of his pesky criminal past, Rowan is just going to ride things out as his original identity, Elijah Pope. Old, doddering paleontologist at the Smithsonian. It's a nice retirement, if you're willing to kill for it.
Olivia promises her father that she'll get him, somehow. Rowan almost laughs at her, telling her that there's no more B-613 and no more Command to ruin. He tells her she won, but she doesn't feel like a victor. He gets to leave a trail of dead bodies and retire to his museum. Olivia assembles Huck and Quinn, more to commiserate than anything else. Quinn points out that they have one last bit of evidence; the 2 billion dollars Huck stole during the original shut-down of B-613 a season ago. Huck complains that he found it after so many digital re-routes that it's impossible to say where it really came from.
That sounds like a dead end. But, Olivia has learned how to turn a problem into a solution. That money could have come from anywhere. So, she'll decide it came from the Smithsonian. And that Elijah Pope, humble, doddering paleontologist, embezzled it.
Eli Pope tries to bluff the cops who show up to arrest him for embezzlement. But, like he said before, he's just some anonymous old guy now. Or, rather, a garden variety crook. So, Elijah Pope is stewing in a holding cell when Olivia and Jake show up to let Elijah know that now they have won.
Eli scoffs at their confidence; he thinks he'll be out soon. But, Olivia reminds him that now, he's nobody. With no agents remaining to spring him, or high-level status to slip him away. Now, he's just like the guys crowding the benches in his holding cell. Eli Pope realizes that the Last Man Standing has no allies. It's wonderful watching him freak out as Olivia strides away, a life to live.
Mellie has her own big, life-affirming win tonight, too. Fitz watches, satisfied that he helped make this happen, that his and Mellie's partnership produced something for a change. Lizzy ruins it, accidentally at first. But once Fitz sees the photograph of Command, smiling next to Mellie, he needs to know all, and Lizzy is perfectly willing to tell him every cringe-inducing detail she knows. Fitz is horrified, all while Mellie is fifty feet away telling everyone that Fitz is her biggest supporter. Like a proper supporter, he manages to smile big for the cameras. He even manages to hug Mellie. The crowd is totally fooled. Mellie is totally fooled.
Quinn interrupts Huck's solo reverie back at Gladiator HQ. For some reason, she's been to the morgue to see the bodies of the jurors; she recognized the "style" in it. And she demands an explanation from Huck- why would he do it? This grand jury was going to free him. Except that he was already free- he killed to protect that immunity he got from Rosen. Huck tries to use his family as an excuse. Quinn, almost in tears, tells Huck that he can't possibly go back to his family, not as what he's become. He's a killer, practically an animal. She breaks down as she tells him that she can't pretend he's okay anymore. She can't even pretend he deserves to live. Huck, beat down, with no friends left and only hoping Olivia doesn't find out how low he's sunk, ends up agreeing with her. We don't see if she pulled the trigger on the big gun she's pointing at him. We don't know if they find a way for Huck to live.
Mellie has given her victory speech, and now, the only thing left is for a quiet, three-way toast in the Oval with Cy and Fitz. Cy, loving a winner no matter what, enjoys the job prospects of maybe being in the White House for another eight years in the not-so-distant-future. And Mellie wants Fitz to comment on her being President. Fitz is calm as he informs Mellie he wants her nowhere near the Presidency. He doesn't want her near him, not after what she's done. Not after who she helped.
She doesn't know it, but she helped the man who killed their son, and she doesn't even know why that grand jury was marked for death, does she? It's not so much that she did it, but that she didn't know anything that would have explained why Damascus Bainbridge wanted that list, yet helped him anyway. It's a little hypocritical from the guy who invaded West Angola for his former mistress, but it's what we feel, so it's okay that Fitz feels this way, now, too.
Mellie can't believe it. This was supposed to be Victory Night. And Fitz is now trying to make her feel like a bad girl. She tries to explain what she did- she was trying to protect them both. Fitz can't believe how easily she crumbled to blackmail. And how weak she seems right now. And he can't live with her. Not for another minute. Mellie tries to reconnect to him; he won't even let her touch him. She can take her Senate seat. It was a parting gift. But that's the last of Fitz's help. That's the last of him. She can go to Virginia. That's where her life is now. She doesn't argue. She doesn't shout. She doesn't erupt. She just disappears from the room. Leaving Fitz with Cy.
Does Fitz know how much Cy did today to shut down Olivia's crusade? Did he maybe call Rosen, who would have known what the grand jury was hearing? Fitz does know that Cy, somehow, covered everything up. Without telling him. It's like Project Defiance all over again- dirty deals done behind his back on his behalf and he's supposed to be grateful. And it's the same people doing it. And it's too much. Fitz quietly fires Cy. Ah, so this was Cy's pressure point. And it hurts him to lose his job, his power, his Fitz. They guy he spent a decade saying "Yes, sir" to. Abby tries real hard not to gloat as she oversees Cy turning in his badges. Cy looks back to see Lizzy Bear moving into his old office. The woman Cy loved besting is getting his job. I bet that's a pressure point, too.
Mellie looks sad, but calm as she carts a suitcase out. She doesn't look like she particularly needs to ever return. As Mellie leaves home, Olivia returns home, thinking she's going to celebrate with Jake. But he can only stand in her hallway. He points out that their quest is over. And that she's now safe and sound at home, no worries about her father. Rowan can't hurt her now. Is Jake's part in her life really over? Olivia doesn't want to believe it. But, Jake insists that the man she loves is now hers for the taking. And he loves her enough to get out of her way.
Where will Jake go? And, will there be good cheeseburgers and beer there? We don't know. Jake looks like a man whose life gets to start now, probably somewhere far from Olivia.
Fitz is alone in the residential wing. The house is quiet. And dark. And Fitz, for the first time since Mellie left briefly in Season 2, is alone. But, this time is permanent. This time, he's going to get used to the solitude, drink it up, maybe even enjoy it- oh wait, he's not alone on the balcony. You know, from the moment Nina Simone starts to sing about the sun coming out, that Olivia and Fitz are now going to let themselves be happily in love. Olivia looks happier and more relaxed than she's looked in years. She looks like she knows she's no longer being watched, and judged. And now, neither is Fitz. Which makes this time, finally, right for them to have their moment. And for us to leave them to it.
Where's Jerry, Jr.? Did Mellie leave her baby with Fitz?
Did Maya get away soon enough that Fitz can't put her back in prison? Does Fitz even know she's loose? Does Olivia? Will that be a fun episode in Season 5 when they find out?
Huck! Are you still alive?!?!?!?!?
Charlie? How 'bout you? You still there????
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