Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Political Cannibals
By Tippi Blevins | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 08.19.2012
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Elaine starts out the day feeling a bit down because it's time for her to resign as Secretary of State. To Elaine's surprise, Garcetti refuses to accept her resignation. Having been made fully aware of his current Veep's underhanded nature, he asks Elaine to run with him in two years. In the meantime, she would stay on in her current position. She's stunned, but says they'll discuss the issue right after he gets back from his overseas trip. Unfortunately, in all the hubbub of T.J. coming home, Elaine doesn't tell Doug about the possible change of plans and he turns the letter over to Susan. She promises not to run it until after the formal announcement, but then makes the mistake of showing the letter to Georgia.
Georgia wants to go to press immediately. When Susan refuses, Georgia goes to Alex. Alex sides with Georgia until Susan admits she slept with her source. It's so scandalous that, if discovered, would topple the paper. Alex kills the story, but Georgia goes to their editor-in-chief and claims that Alex is slighting her because they're sleeping together and he doesn't want his favoritism to show. Susan is just so very touched that her cheating dog of an ex-boyfriend did something decent by falling on the sword for her.
Before Alex kills the story, though, Doug flies into a panic. Everyone will know he's the one who leaked the letter and his political career will be dead. He confesses to his mother, whose response is to turn on the famous Elaine Barrish ice machine. Doug blows up at her with 30 years of pent-up frustration and flounces out of town to elope with Anne.
Elaine's day is about to start looking up, though, because Air Force One has just crashed off the French coast. Despite the lack of official confirmation that Garcetti is dead, Vice President Collier wants to step into his shoes ASAP. Elaine talks him into taking less drastic action, but he's already acting like he's got the job. The nation is in shock and there are a thousand things Elaine could be doing, but she decides to crash Doug and Anne's wedding instead. Everyone is so happy and lighthearted! It's smiles all around! Bud is already in planning mode, plotting out Elaine's future run against Collier. She doesn't state outright that she'll run, but her smile suggests she's just as eager as Bud. Stay tuned for the full weecap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Elaine wakes up in the morning and gets dressed as if for a funeral. Gone are the lavender puff sleeves and the skirts that look as though they were made from a motel bedspread. She wears all black and sits down to compose her resignation letter by hand. As she writes about her loyal staff, the scene cuts briefly to Doug returning home to his sleeping fiancée. As she writes about the problems she'll leave behind, the scene changes to Bud and T.J. leaving the hospital amid the clamor of waiting reporters. She writes about the nation's reputation and we see Susan sharing her young niece's very pink bedroom.
We hear the end of the letter from Doug as he reads it aloud later in her office. It talks about not sharing the President's values, which is going to sound strange to the public after they were basically unified over the Chinese sub rescue. Their "parting of the ways," as Elaine puts it, would probably make more sense if we'd actually seen real strife between them. From what little we've seen, Garcetti always ended up going along with her. Plus, did she seriously expect to always agree with the President? Doug thinks the letter is great and goes off to show it to the Under Secretaries.
The little weasel then runs straight to a public park to hand over a copy to Susan. How is nobody noticing this? It's like when Clark Kent frets over people discovering his secret identity as if he doesn't already constantly reveal himself to perfect strangers. They stand around talking about how sleeping together was a mistake. Susan gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodbye, Douglas. You're still a good guy. Even if you betrayed your mom, screwed around on your fiancée... somehow you are still a good guy." Doug stands around looking guilty and dumb as Susan walks away.
Susan goes back to the office and shows the letter to Georgia. Georgia, of course, wants to go to press with it immediately. Susan explains all the reasons why they should wait. Something about credibility and crafting a story and blah, blah, blah. Georgia blinks and smiles and pretends to go along with it.
Elaine meets Garcetti on the tarmac next to Air Force One and gives him the letter. "I'll leave the timing of the announcement to you, sir," she says. They talk about Collier's blackmail. Elaine hears for the first time that Garcetti wasn't involved, as she'd thought. He tells her about Bud beating up the Veep over the news. "My Bud punched the Vice President?" Elaine asks, a little impressed. "Right up in the Oval," Garcetti says. Sounds... dirty. Garcetti doesn't read Elaine's letter, but writes a simple invitation on the back: "Please run with me." He wants her to be his running mate for his second term. He points out that he signed the invite, just in case something hideously contrived should happen to him and she needed proof of his intentions. He playfully "orders" her to think it over while he's in Paris. She watches him hug his wife and son. She smiles like she's already accepted his offer.