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Liv finds out that Fitz allegedly shot down her mom's plane, so she says she can't work for him. Liv drunk dials her dad and asks if he gave the order to have her mother's plane shot down, and he says no but refuses to answer more questions and says she should leave the past in the past.
Liv isn't going to do that, so she asks Jake to find more evidence to support his claims about Fitz. Jake reaches out to an old contact to get the flight recordings. When she meets him to hand them over, she brings a gun and some security (hired by the White House) kills her. Fitz goes to Olivia's apartment to try to convince her again to join his campaign; she blows Fitz's mind when she reveals that her mother was on that plane that he (allegedly) shot down. But Fitz still won't tell her if he did it.
Liv decides to work for Josie Marcus and tries to help her raise money, but no one wants to donate because Josie's so inexperienced. Liv can't convince Josie that she can't always be likable if she wants to be elected, but she does discover that Josie has a temper. So Liv purposely pisses her off before a big national interview and it works.
Sally Langston is laying the groundwork for her Presidential campaign. She plans to use the religious right for support but Cyrus has his fingers in that pot too, and finds out what Sally is planning. Mellie and Fitz have dinner with the Langstons and Sally's husband gets a little handsy with Mellie, so now Mellie and Cyrus have more ammunition.
Quinn bought a gun and she's practicing at the shooting range, getting tips from Charlie. Who is still (again?) working for Rowan, and Quinn is his assignment.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Flashback Liv (and this is deep flashback – Liv is twelve) listens to music on her headphones and eats Froot Loops while her mom, Maya, (played by the fantastic Khandi Alexander, great casting) bustles around the kitchen and promises to call as soon as she gets to London. Maya finally stops bustling and takes a moment to look in Liv's eyes and say she loves her. Liv returns the sentiment. Then Maya hugs Liv tightly and whispers, "Goodbye baby." So did she know she wasn't coming back? She seems pretty happy. Maybe she's a good actress. Maybe she was just leaving Rowan and meant to send for Liv later. All I know is you don't cast Khandi Alexander for a role that's only going to appear via flashback, so dollars to doughnuts that Maya is still alive somewhere and will probably pop up right before the show goes on winter hiatus. That's speculation, not a spoiler.
Cut to present day Liv, sitting in her office, staring into space while the Gladiators plus Jake minus Quinn (my preferred configuration) argue outside about whether they should interrupt her. Huck and Jake say no. Harrison and Abby report that both Josie Marcus's office and the First Lady's office have been calling all day, both wanting an answer, and they need to take one of them as a client, if only for the money.
Liv stomps out of her office, right past her super spy guards, and into the elevator. They ask where she's going and Liv spits out a speech about how it sounds ridiculous that the President secretly shot down a plane and killed her mother, but only her father and the President know the truth. She can't ask her father because then Huck and Jake and maybe she would end up dead, so she's going to the White House to ask the President. When no one protests, Liv closes the elevator door and heads out on her mission.
Political shark Leo is meeting with Sally Langston and her husband about her potential Presidential run. The husband, Daniel Douglas, takes his leave and Leo wonders if voters will see him as the charming frat boy or the emasculated potential date rapist. Sally says that her husband is an asset in that he can work a crowd like no other but he's an obstacle because "he's been known to trip over his own two feet along the way." And fall into the pussy, perhaps?
Leo gets down to brass tacks, and says that they need to shave off the religious right from Fitz's base before Sally resigns. He plans to get some pastors to go on cable news and express dismay at Fitz's penis problem. Sally says that Cyrus will send her out to appease the base, but instead, she'll appear at megachurches and quietly make the case for her own Presidential run. So that's settled.
Oval Office. Fitz and Cyrus are looking over some papers or some other bit of actorly business when Mellie flies in, breathless, and reports that Liv is on her way over, and surely she wouldn't come in person to turn down the job. Cyrus is really uncomfortable with welcoming Liv to the team, given the public and private history, and compares it to a Greek myth although he can't remember which one. But they all agree that Liv wins elections. Mellie tells Fitz he's welcome and he raises his eyebrows at her.
Then Liv comes in. Mellie is all flighty and gracious and I don't like this Mellie at all. I miss drunk Mellie and bitter Mellie. Anyway, Liv doesn't even look at Cyrus and Mellie and asks to speak to Fitz alone, so they quickly vacate. Once they're alone, Fitz takes a few steps towards Olivia, and she backs up and puts a chair between them. Fitz says he's surprised, happy and grateful that she's there. And then he has the balls to say that he wants them to start over. Liv isn't hearing that; she asks him if he flew air support for Operation Remington or if he was somewhere else, on another mission. Fitz suspects that this is really coming from "[her] boyfriend, Jake." Jealous, much?
Liv gains strength and takes a few steps forward, asking Fitz if he's lying about his military record and lying to her. Fitz counters, "Like you did about Defiance?" Oh, I guess we might forgive, but we don't forget, huh Fitz? Fitz goes on to say that he's happy to talk to Liv about how much he misses her (gross) or the weather or anything, but as Commander-In-Chief, he can't talk about a highly classified military operation with her. Liv looks horrified as she realizes that if the answer were straightforward, if Fitz's military record was clean, he would tell her. So this denial means that what Jake and Huck said is true. Liv takes a breath and says decisively, "I can't work for you." I get up off my couch and applaud.
Well, Mellie is PISSED that Liv said no, and she tells Fitz that she "rolled [his] whore up in a rug and unfurled it at [his] feet." That's a colorful image, and also sort of implies that Liv is dead because you don't really wrap living people in rugs, right? Anyway, Fitz thunders that it's done and they'll have to find someone else and Mellie cries that there is no one else and stomps out. Maybe it's because I've never been in a position with any power other than senior class president, but I don't get why these people are willing to ruin the lives of themselves and others over this. Anyway. Once Mellie is gone, Fitz tells Cyrus that Liv knows everything about Operation Remington.
Quinn is trying out her new gun at the shooting range. She's terrible. I know nothing about shooting guns but I do watch a lot of television and I would guess that she's moving the gun all over the place and wincing from the kickback and she's also shooting too quickly to hit her target. But enough about Quinn and her stupid gun because I could seriously not care less about this storyline.
Then Quinn arrives at work and bickers with Huck over why she's late. Finally, Liv walks in and announces that they'll be working on Josie Marcus's campaign. Abby and Harrison are surprised that she didn't choose Fitz, because he's the sitting President, and she knows the lay of the land, and Quinn adds that they had a relationship. Way to make the subtext text, Quinn. Boy, I don't like her. Liv pauses long enough to make them all feel ashamed of themselves and then reminds them that they could be part of history in helping elect the first female President, and concludes, "White hat, people." Oh, like when you worked for the pervy texting Senator? What color was your hat then, Liv? Green? I don't mind people on this show having murky motivations; it's what makes this show great, actually. But it does bother me when they try to pretend like they are heroes for it.
Josie Marcus campaign HQ. Liv and Abby show a clip package of Josie acting like a lightweight: baking pies, joking about housework, and the like. Josie protests that they cut clips to make her look like a cartoon character and Liv explains that the opposition will do the same and worse. Does Josie really not know that? Liv explains that they need to reintroduce Josie to the public and play up her "small town values and military service," and that's going to take real cash from the PACs. Josie's campaign manager/daughter protests that they've already got six million dollars, like that would last more than a week in a Presidential campaign. Seriously, have these people read any of the many excellent books about modern Presidential campaigns? Josie doesn't like the idea of taking money from corporations since her supporters and campaign workers have pledged their support based on her eschewing that kind of money. Liv says that she can run for mayor or be Ralph Nader, but if she wants to seriously contend in a Presidential race, she needs to start making some moral compromises. Liv doesn't say exactly that, but that's what she means.
Cue the funk, as we watch a montage of Josie meeting with big corporate donors from the sugar industry, ocean farming industry, and domestic drone industry. It makes me feel gross just watching, but it's pretty realistic.
Liv comes home to her apartment where Jake is waiting and tells him that she needs more information and more evidence about Remington if she's going to pursue it. Pursue what? Taking Fitz to court and trying him for murder? I don't think that's going to work out. Anyway, Jake understands why Liv needs to know what happened to her mother and jokes, "We're only digging up dirt on the most powerful man in the world. How dangerous could that possibly be?" I like Jake. I hope they don't turn him into a garbage person.
Cyrus and Rowan have one of their secret open-air meetings. Cyrus reports that Olivia knows about Remington, and now she's working for Josie Marcus. Cyrus thinks Liv would use the Remington information to help Marcus if she needs to. Rowan says Liv doesn't know squat, because Jake Ballard doesn't have anything concrete, so Cyrus needs to shut down Marcus and Rowan will shut down Ballard. And by shut down, he means murder, I'm guessing.
Jake meets with a woman named Kate in a diner. Kate has access to the basement files at Langley and agrees to find a particular cockpit recording. Kate has the hots for Jake, of course, but he tells her that he's with someone so he can't come back to her place. Regretfully. As she leaves, we see that some old dude nearby has been listening in.
Josie is upset that none of the fat cats have come through with donations, and Liv explains that none of them want to line up behind her if they don't think she's tough enough to fight first Reston in the primary and then Fitz in the general. Josie doesn't want to go negative. She didn't seem to have a problem with that when she was telling Fitz to keep it in his pants on national television. Liv comes up with Plan B; a major interview on primetime with someone big like "Diane Sawyer, James Reston." Didn't they try to convince us last season that James was inexperienced on television, and that's why Mellie chose him for her big interview? Has he become a television star in the last few months?
Cyrus calls Harrison and asks him to drop Josie Marcus as a client. Harrison is like, "That's not my decision to make, sorry." Cyrus knew it wasn't, so he brings up his leverage: Adnan Salif has applied for a visa to return to the US. In case you, like me, had forgotten who that is, it's the guy that Harrison worked for when they both went down for insider trading. Thanks to Liv, Harrison served a minimal sentence while Salif went away for a while, so he's obviously pissed at Harrison, and he's a dangerous guy. Cyrus lets that information hang out there, knowing Harrison will get the message: get Liv to drop Marcus or Salif's visa will be approved.
Fitz calls Cyrus in and wants to know why Cyrus remains so calm in the face of Olivia finding out about Remington. Cyrus explains that it's being handled, and Jake isn't a danger to them, because he knows the consequences of disobeying orders. Fitz isn't happy with the way it's being handled, because he knows what Cyrus is hinting at, but Cyrus strongly advises Fitz to just stay out of it and let B613 handle their business. Fitz neither agrees nor disagrees, but tells Cyrus to go.
Liv is filling her nights productively, drinking wine and watching archival news coverage of the plane crash that killed her mom. You know, real uplifting stuff. That triggers a flashback to an awesomely mustachioed Rowan sitting on the couch watching the news and crying. Young Olivia comes home and Rowan gathers himself and prepares to deliver the bad news.
Present Day Liv gulps more wine and then calls her dad. When he answers, she can't talk at first, but finally asks, "What was the last thing you said to her?" Rowan says that she was leaving and he kissed her on the cheek and said, "I love you." Liv starts crying and asks if Rowan did love her. He ducks that one and asks why she's calling. Liv says that she has a lot of questions for him, but she's afraid he will kill her friends, so maybe they could talk about "how [she] can't form attachments to people because [her] mother is dead and [her] father is that thing that goes bump in the night." Rowan says quietly that he'll answer one question and promises no deadly consequences. Liv thinks for a minute and then painfully asks if Rowan gave the order to have her mother killed. Rowan says no. Well, of course, because she's not dead. Right? She's totally not dead. Liv tries to sneak in another question and asks if Fitz shot down her mother's plane, and when Rowan won't answer, she sobs, "What did you do? What happened?" Rowan calmly tells her that she needs to leave the past in the past, and Liv hangs up on him.
Cyrus and James get ready for the day and Cyrus tries to get inside James's head about his upcoming Josephine Marcus interview. Cyrus encourages him to ask about her baby, but James refuses to discuss his questions. He assures Cyrus that they won't all be softballs. Cyrus goes on to suggest that Marcus might be a lesbian and James calls him "a shameless monster." He's not wrong. So why is he still with him? Also, I still can't believe any network would hire James given the huge conflict of interest that is his marriage.
After James leaves, Cyrus watches a Tea Party leader, who is also a pastor, go on the news and say that he no longer supports Fitz because of his moral failings. Cyrus calls Sally and asks why the religious right is going after Fitz, and Sally agrees with him. Cyrus asks Sally and her husband to have dinner with Fitz and Mellie to discuss re-election strategy, and Sally agrees to that too. She hangs up and tells Leo, sitting at her breakfast table, "Hook, line, and sinker."
Harrison is researching Adnan Shalif online when Abby appears and asks him to join them in prepping Marcus for her interview. Harrison begs off, claiming he's working on something secret for Liv.
At Josie Marcus HQ, Abby asks Josie fake interview questions to help her prep her answers. Josie answers well, but Liv wants her to avoid making jokes and also use the opportunity to attack Reston's weaknesses. Josie doesn't want to do that. Abby asks a question about Josie's legs, and Josie says she won't answer those questions and will just say, "No comment." Yeah, that will go over well. Seriously, is she new? To doing media? Liv advises her that she needs to show her claws, because right now she's too nice, and nice won't get her elected President. Josie is pretty sure it will, because unlike Liv, she's run a Presidential campaign before, right? Oh, wait. It's the opposite of that. Finally Josie explodes and yells at Liv to stop trying to make her into someone she's not. Josie apologizes for her outburst and leaves, but Liv and Abby are impressed; there are those claws they were asking about.
Harrison walks into Huck's office looking…kind of terrified. He reminds Huck that he's never asked for a favor before, but he needs one now. He needs Huck to make it so that Adnan Salif can't get into the country. Huck says he can erase his visa application. Harrison says, "Good, because if Adnan Salif sets foot on U.S. soil, I'm a dead man." I'm glad Harrison is getting a storyline and all, but this is kind of boring.
Mellie bitches about having to have dinner with the Langstons, referring to them as "holy hillbillies." Says that woman who was drunk off hooch a few weeks ago. Anyway, Fitz reveals that the Langstons have their own problems, because Daniel Douglas has "a wandering eye." Mellie jokes bitterly that she and Sally have something in common after all.
At dinner, Fitz is giving Sally the hard sell about how great a second term will be for her while Daniel Douglas flirts like crazy with Mellie, who is not exactly rebuffing his advances. Sally notices. Sally's not happy about it. Mellie seems a little more understand of Sally's predicament now.
Quinn is still shooting and still missing the target completely. And guess who just happens to be at the shooting range to offer her some advice? Good old B613 Charlie. Quinn is standoffish but his advice makes sense, and when she follows it, she starts getting head shots. Charlie has slithered off under a rock somewhere before she can thank him.
Quinn visits Huck in his office and after they establish that they're still not friends, she asks him if it's possible to be normal after getting out of B613, or if you're just messed up for the rest of your life. Instead of being worried that Quinn is getting mixed up with former B613 agents, Huck just says it's not a good time and Quinn leaves. Still don't care about Quinn. Hope Charlie murders her.
The Tea Party Pastor who was dragging Fitz down on television earlier is now meeting with Sally Langston and Leo. He imagines he's there for a scolding, but Sally says that she admires his opinions, and Leo reveals that Sally is planning a run for the Presidency.
Time for the big Josie Marcus interview! Candy gives her some last-minute tips that are so bush league, I'm embarrassed for her. They're along the lines of "Remember to smile." She's not going on the local morning show for a segment on sweaters for your pets, girl. This is national television. Liv and Abby are in the corner furtively watching something on a laptop, and when Josie catches them, she insists on seeing it, over Liv's protests. They finally show her a Reston campaign ad that features a feminine hand reaching to open a door, behind which sits the leaders of China, Syria, and Iran. The hand trembles with fear as the voice-overs asks who you want to be opening that door for the United States. Frankly, if someone could get the leaders of those three countries to sit down together in a room, I'd be pretty impressed even if she was nervous about it. Liv says to a visibly angry Josie that she knows it's sexist and below-the-belt, and they'll deal with it later, but now Josie needs to do her big interview. Gee, do you think that was a setup to bring out the claws?
Cut to Josie sitting down with James for her interview. After the roll-in package, James thanks Josie for inviting them into her lovely home and then asks his first question about whether she has the experience to be President. I have to just transcribe her response, because it is a thing of beauty: "There's something my grandmother used to do when I would start dating someone. I would tell her his name and then she would say, 'Oh, what part of town does he live in?' That was her way of asking if my boyfriend was white. Oh yeah, my grandmother was an out-and-out racist. So I know what prejudice looks like. It's not about experience, James. It's about gender. Reston's saying I don't have the balls to be President, and he means that literally. It's offensive. It's offensive to me, and to all the women whose votes he's asking for."
Candy is horrified. Liv and Abby are smiling. James butts in and asks if she's saying that Governor Reston is sexist. Josie continues, "Yes! Yes I am. And it's not just Governor Reston speaking in code about gender, it's everyone, yourself included. The only reason we're doing this interview in my house is because you requested it. This was your idea, and yet here you are thanking me for inviting you into my 'lovely home'. That's what you say to the neighbor lady who baked you chocolate chip cookies. This pitcher of iced tea isn't even mine. It's what your producers set here. Why? Same reason you called me 'a real-life Cinderella story.' It reminds people that I'm a woman without using the word. For you it's an angle. I get that. And I'm sure you think it's innocuous, but guess what? It's not." James tries to take control of the interview back, but Josie wags her finger at him and says, "Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking." Candy wants to stop the interview but Abby holds her back.
Josie concludes, "You're promoting stereotypes, James. You're advancing this idea that women are weaker than men. You're playing right into the hands of Reston and right into the hands of every other imbecile who thinks a woman isn't fit to be Commander-In-Chief." Josie goes on to attack Reston's lack of military service and James's lack of mentioning her service in her intro. Look, a speech like that would probably win a lot of media attention and garner few votes, but I would probably go out and join her campaign that very day, because it's time someone finally stood up and said it.
Cyrus is watching the interview and having silent fits at how James is losing control when his phone rings. It's Pastor Tea Party. Cyrus asks if Sally offered him no gay marriage and no abortions. The pastor says she did, and Cyrus was right: she's running. Cyrus says he likes being married and he's pro-choice, but he can offer the Pastor some new tax breaks. The pastor responds, "The Lord speaks through you, Brother Beene." Cyrus chuckles, "I get that a lot." Oh, Sally. I almost feel bad for you.
Cyrus and Mellie meet in the Oval to discuss how to handle Sally's impending resignation and candidacy. Mellie reveals that Sally has a weakness: she's jealous of her husband's flirtation (and more). Mellie thinks they should use Daniel Douglas's "wandering eye" against Sally somehow. Cyrus is intrigued. Let me remind you that Sally revealed this information to Fitz in a moment of vulnerability, and he just told Mellie like normal conversation. So I blame Fitz.
Jake is doing push-ups in the dark (don't you?) when his phone pings. It's Kate, who has the flight recorder information he requested. They meet in a dark alley (because why not?). The shady older man from the coffee shop is tailing Jake. Kate reaches into her bag to get the information, and the shady older man creeps up behind Jake, gun drawn…and shoots Kate in the head. He tells Jake to check Kate's bag; all that's in there is a gun. So shady dude just saved Jake's life.
Post-interview, the donations are just flowing into Josie's campaign coffers. Olivia praises everyone's good work and accepts a hug from Josie. Candy sidles up to Abby and lets her know that she knows the Reston ad was fake, since Abby's nail polish matches the shot of the shaky hand by the doorknob. Abby shrugs that they needed to make Josie angry. Candy wonders if there's a line they won't cross, and Abby says they'll let her know when they find it. Seriously, Candy. There is no line. I really like the actress playing Candy, who I remember from the first season of Army Wives. I wish they would give her more to do than frown at people.
Harrison visits Cyrus to deliver the news that Liv isn't going to give up the Marcus campaign, and furthermore, he doesn't believe that Cyrus is going to go on record as saying he wants Salif in the country, which is what he'd have to do. As soon as Harrison is gone, Cyrus makes one phone call and gets a new visa issued for Adnan Salif. I mean, seriously Harrison. He works in the Oval. You didn't think he could pull some strings?
Quinn is back at the firing range, doing what my kids would call "playing shooties." She asks Charlie for some pointers, which he is more than happy to offer. There are only like one million other people who could offer gun training, Quinn. While Quinn is busy shooting targets, Charlie calls Rowan and reports that the "seed is planted" and he's just waiting for it to bloom. Rowan is looking at a report about dead Kate and says that Charlie needs to make sure it blooms, because it's important. You know, unlike all those other times that Rowan had Charlie kill people for unimportant reasons.
Shady Old Guy delivers Jake to Fitz in the Oval Office, where Fitz says he's had a security detail on Jake since he found out B613 wanted him dead. Jake wasn't sure if Fitz wanted him alive, but Fitz reminds him of all the missions they served together. Jake wants to know about one in particular and asks where Fitz was during Operation Remington. Fitz yells at him to walk away from this. Jake says this information is his only chance to finally be free from B613, but Fitz thinks Jake's motivations are more Olivia-centric, and tells Jake he's on his own now.
Fitz goes to Olivia's apartment and she lets him inside like a dummy. She's hoping he's there to answer her questions about Operation Remington, but he's really just there to persuade her to join his campaign, mostly so they could have fun sexy times on the campaign trail like they did before. Really, Fitz? Really. Does he really think that they can turn back the clock like that, after everything that's happened? Liv tells him he shouldn't have come and prepares to let him out. Fitz says that there is nothing that Liv could do that he wouldn't forgive, since he forgave her for rigging the election for him. Yeah, he was so morally conflicted about the election rigging that he…killed a Supreme Court Justice?
Fitz tells Liv to leave the past in the past (hmm, just like what Rowan said) and wonders why this is so important to her. Liv recounts the details: someone shot down a plane with three hundred twenty-nine passengers, and they all died. Fitz still refuses to discuss it. So Liv drops the bomb: "One of the bodies in the ocean was my mother. Do you still not know what I'm talking about?" Based on Fitz's facial expression, I don't think he knew that wrinkle. He recovers quickly and repeats his mantra: "I don't know what you're talking about." Liv just says that she was twelve when her mother died, and shows Fitz the door. Damn.