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You guys. I don't even know where to start.
Throughout the episode, we flashback to when Fitz and Mellie liked one another, fifteen years ago, and Flashback Cyrus had a terrible wig. Cyrus was enlisted by Fitz's dad, Jerry, to help Fitz run for governor of California, but Fitz refused to run as a war hero. Fitz and Jerry fought over whether or not Fitz should have joined the Navy in the first place, and Jerry is pissed that Fitz took on black ops missions, which meant Fitz's dad had to create the cover-up. Meanwhile, Cyrus decided to leave if Fitz wasn't going to run, and on the way out, he gave Mellie a lesson in what her role would be if Fitz planned to take a run at the governorship and eventually the White House – basically, she needed to give up her own wishes and desires and handle Fitz.
Later, Jerry got drunk and told Mellie that Fitz shot down the airliner, and says it was because they had intel that there was a dirty bomb on board. And then Jerry totally raped Mellie. Holy shit. The morning, Mellie told the scumbag that she won't mention what happened but that he needed to apologize to Fitz and tell him whatever he needed to hear to get Fitz to run for governor. And then Mellie found out she was pregnant and the kid might be Jerry's and not Fitz's? Wow.
Moving on to present day, Fitz calls Liv and begs her to stop digging into Remington and stay away from Jake. He tells her, "I love you," and Liv replies, "So what?" HOORAY! Instead, Liv enlists the Gladiators to look into her mother's death. They discover that the plane was short one passenger when it left Dulles; they also discover that Fitz's dad was the head of the committee to investigate the plane crash. Abby and Harrison find out that a guy was taken off the plane by Federal Marshals before it took off, and the guy's family think he died in the crash. They track down the guy who drove the stairs for the plane and Jake plans to talk to him to see if he knows anything.
Quinn is still hanging with Charlie. She spies on him, he busts her, they make out. They go on a stakeout date, and Quinn convinces Charlie to let her go in and give the security guard an injection to knock him out. Except Quinn's an idiot and the injection kills the guy. Ugh. I wish it killed Quinn. So tired of her. Anyway, turns out the guy she killed was the stair driver that Jake was going to talk to. And Charlie has the whole murder on tape, and now he tells Quinn that she belongs to B613.
Mellie is publicly giving a tour of the East Wing and talking about china patterns and art to try to rehabilitate her image, but on the side, she and Cyrus are cooking up a scheme to catch Daniel Douglas Langston with a hooker. Mellie tries to tell Sally that her husband got handsy with one of her female aides, but Sally dismisses it immediately. Turns out that Daniel Douglas is into dudes.
Mellie is humiliated when she engineers a photo op with Fitz and baby Teddy and Fitz blows it off. After Mellie has a tantrum in his office, Fitz shows up for a joint interview, and when the interviewer tries to tell Mellie that people think she's crazy, Fitz sticks up for her in a big way. Then he tells her off camera that he meant every word.
Fitz has had his PI tailing Liv, and also compiling a file on her past. Which is how he finds out that Rowan is Liv's father. Speaking of Rowan, he goes into some weird bunker/prison/military installation past about a billion locked doors so that he can talk to…Maya, who's totally alive, if looking a little rough after spending like twenty years in a jail cell.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open with Mellie giving a walkthrough of the East Wing to a reporter, obviously part of her attempt to win back the hearts and minds of the American public after she outed Fitz as a cheater and insulted Josie Marcus on a hot mike. Her chief-of-staff barrels in and asks which china pattern they'll be using for an upcoming dinner, then Mellie leads the cameras into another room to talk about her role in restoring the White House art collection. Cyrus walks in and interrupts and did Mellie inform no one that she was doing this interview, or are these interruptions pre-planned to make her look busy and vital? I'm guessing not pre-planned as Mellie laughs way to long and hard at Cyrus's lame joke about not having time to do his hair and then asks if they can cut. The whole impression is kind of chaotic and like Mellie is trying way too hard.
Rewind to fifteen years ago in Santa Barbara, CA, where Fitz and Mellie actually liked each other! We know this because they wake up in bed together, naked, and start making out. Big Jerry yells at them from outside the room, telling them to quit fooling around and get downstairs. Do you know how long it took me to figure out why someone named Fitzgerald is called Jerry? WAAAAY too long. It's like I was only seeing the Fitz part of the name, and not the Gerald part. Anyway, Fitz and Mellie giggle and make out some more and Fitz says he's trying to get Mellie pregnant. Big Jerry keeps yelling and Fitz looks annoyed. But he and Mellie were so happy? How did it all go so wrong?
Fitz and Mellie finally traipse downstairs hand-in-hand and meet, for the first time, Cyrus. Big Jerry explains that Cyrus is there to make Fitz into a viable candidate for Governor of California. Funny, I thought Cyrus was there to ask them to help him find a cure for whatever turned him into a werewolf. His hair and beard are supposed to make him look younger, I guess? But they just make him look homeless. Cyrus circles Mellie and Fitz, taking their measure, while Big Jerry explains that, even though they said Fitz wasn't going to run for another three years, another candidate dropped out and the timing is right. Cyrus likes that Fitz is tall with a good head of hair, and his educational background is impressive. He pronounces, "The wife is perfect," which might be Mellie's first experience being "the wife" instead of an actual person but it won't be the last. Fitz still seems confused and a little put off, but Mellie, all smiles, reassures him that it's their first step to the White House.
Back in the present day, stupid Quinn is on another stupid shooting date with Charlie. She's getting better, but I note that all of his shots were center mass. She asks what he's got going on , thinking it's some sexy assassination or something, but Charlie breaks the news that he's working as a PI, trying to catch a cheating husband. Quinn is disappointed; I guess Charlie's ongoing plot to convince Quinn that he's harmless and trustworthy is working.
Olivia, wearing a weird black trench coat with white collar and cuffs, looks like the Flying Nun or something. Anyway, she's getting ready to leave her apartment when the Fitz phone rings. She decides to ignore it, then pauses, then leaves, and then runs back in and answers it. Aw, Liv. Go with your first instinct. Anyway, Fitz is all, "I hope you're okay! I want to know that you're safe!" Liv tells him that it's none of his beeswax, because he is a stranger to her now. She gives a fairly melodramatic speech about how she's surrounded by murderers and men with a body count. Fitz tells her that he can't give her details but there were reasons for what he did, and he concludes, "I love you." Liv gives the best response ever: "So what?" I wish she had hung up, because that was a great exit line. Instead, Liv says sadly that she thought she knew everything about Fitz. He crinkles his face sadly and asks her to stay away from Jake because he's dangerous. Liv says that Rowan is the one who is dangerous, and Fitz is surprised to hear she knows about Rowan. So he doesn't know that's Liv's father. He begs her (pretty forcefully) to stop digging on Remington. Liv hangs up and throws the phone on the table.
Cut to OPA, where Liv and Jake are in the conference room, looking at photos of Liv's mom and the plane crash on the window/pinboard. The other associates arrive and Jake asks if Liv is sure she wants to do this, and she nods. Abby, Harrison, and Quinn join Huck in the conference room and ask what's going on. Liv says that they have a new client to help while Josie works on her stump speech. Quinn squints at the photo and says she looks familiar and Liv drops the bomb: "Probably because she was my mother."
We're back in Mellie's interview, as she shows off the artwork of the East Wing. The interviewer makes a weirdly big deal about Mellie calling California her home state when she was raised in North Carolina, like relax interviewer. But this leads into the interviewer asking Mellie if she feels like she gave up a piece of herself and made sacrifices to join the Grant political dynasty. Look, anyone who is in a serious relationship makes sacrifices both small and large; it's part of joining a team. But men never get asked that question, do they? Anyway, Mellie says that her home is wherever Fitz is.
Which leads us into flashback Cyrus giving a presentation on how he thinks Fitz can win California. A lot of it is dependent on his father's work with farmers and the defense industry. One point to note: Cyrus consistently contradicts Big Jerry, which makes it clear he's working for Fitz and not the old man. They're concerned about how Fitz can win over the large immigrant population, but Cyrus says they don't have to, because they can run on Fitz's war hero record, which will attract retired military and Orange County conservatives. Fitz says he won't run as a war hero, so they'll have to wait and run time. Big Jerry says they won't find weaker competition than this so it's now or never. Fitz asks combatively if his father has heard a word he's said. Mellie tries to play peacemaker but Jerry simply booms, "Son? Do what you're told." Fitz says he won't run on his military experience and leaves the room.
Back in present day, Mellie is complaining to Cyrus about how she has to act all domestic to rehab her image, and wonders why she has to apologize when Fitz had the affair. Cyrus agrees it's not fair, but it's how it works, and then they turn their attention to picking out an escort who will appeal to Daniel Douglas Langston. Cyrus's picks are too trashy, but Mellie finds the perfect candidate. Cyrus will make sure that Sally is out of town at the reception where the escort will appear. Mellie is going to put doubts in her mind about her marriage. These two are a formidable team of evil.
Cyrus finds Mellie in a hallway and asks her to go to a dinner in Iowa on the President's behalf; she agrees. Then Cyrus tries to avoid James in the press room, but James follows him into the hall and whines about why he didn't get the Mellie interview. Cyrus says it wasn't his call but James whines some more about how his job is on the line for this. Cyrus doesn't care, because he's a terrible husband and evil. Then again, I have little patience for James. Then again, I didn't marry him.
Over at OPA, Liv has just filled everyone in on who her father is, and that he gave the order to have the plane shot down. So what Liv wants to find out is if he was trying to kill her mother specifically or if she was collateral damage. Liv takes a moment to warn them that her father is dangerous and poking this hornet's nest could put them all in the line of fire. They all instantly agree to work on it. But Liv has held back one piece of information to make this as dramatic as possible: that the pilot who shot down the plane was Fitz.
After the meeting, Quinn find Huck in his office and wants him to admit that she called something weird going on with Liv's father, and insists that she's not just an adrenaline junkie, but that she has good instincts. Huck has no comment, and still shuts her out. Good. Shut her out of the office, why don't you?
The Gladiators are researching. Abby discovers that the flight was cleared for takeoff but then didn't take off for another twenty-seven minutes and was never listed as delayed. Quinn found out that there was one person missing from the manifest who was supposed to be on the plane. They offer up some reasonable explanations for the discrepancy, but Jake points out that Congress investigated the crash, and the head of the committee was Big Jerry. That's… probably not a coincidence.
Flashback Fitz has a Scotch. Big Jerry walks into the room and says he'll have one too. In one of my favorite moments of the episode, Fitz just looks at him like, "Seriously? You can't pour your own drink? The drink cart is RIGHT THERE," then rolls his eyes and gets up to pour the old man a drink. Big Jerry immediately starts yelling at Fitz about how he had to join the Navy against Big Jerry's wishes. Fitz says he wanted to fly planes, but Big Jerry think he was trying to prove he was a man and running away from his legacy. Big Jerry adds that Fitz shouldn't have signed up to fly black ops missions. Fitz complains that he aced flight school but because of his father, they had him "raising flags and shaking hands." So he signed up to be able to fly planes, and then he was given an order. Big Jerry thunders, "GRANTS DON'T TAKE ORDERS." Fitz says he won't campaign on a lie. Big Jerry spits that he had to call in a lot of favors to cover up the plane Fitz shot down, so now he owns Fitz, and it's time for call in that chit.
Before Fitz can respond, Mellie runs in and says that Cyrus is leaving. Neither man responds, and Fitz says again that he won't run on a lie. Big Jerry says that without his war record, Fitz has nothing to run on other than being a Grant. And he's not as smart or as interesting as Big Jerry. Mellie flinches as Big Jerry continues to run down Fitz's deficits, and adds that he made Fitz, and he can destroy him. Big Jerry concludes, "So you'll do what you're told, and that's an order." Fitz parrots back his father's words: "Grants don't take orders." Heh. Good one, Fitz. Man, his dad is a grade A asshole, isn't he? Who talks to their kids like that? Mellie is stunned as the two men walk away, still arguing.
Back in present day, at OPA, Abby brings Liv up to date on their investigation, including that Big Jerry was the head of the committee that investigated the crash. She adds that they're tracking down people at the airport that day, who might have seen something useful. Liv looks sad, so Abby tells her that she's going to hug her, and then does. Liv is frozen at first, but seems to appreciate the gesture of comfort, given all the shit that she's gone through lately.
Stupid Quinn hides in some bushes and stakes out Charlie as he stakes out a client in a motel room. Because he's an actual spy and not a wannabe like Quinn, he spots her and walks over. He throws her a coat because he figures she's cold. Quinn didn't even have a believable cover story in case she got busted (she's seriously the worst at both spying and life) so she stammers, "I was…I was…looking for…" and Charlie grabs her, slams her against the wall, and kisses her. Then he walks away and says if she wants to hang out tomorrow night, call him. Ugh, Quinn. You are a dummy.
Mellie stands in the hallway of the West Wing, holding giant baby Teddy whose hair is weirdly wet and slicked down. Sally walks by, and Mellie collars her. Sally says Teddy is getting big and in my second-favorite moment of the episode, Mellie dismissively says, "He's huge." I don't know why I love that Mellie hates her baby, but I kind of do, maybe because she's so transparent about it. Anyway, Mellie says that one of her staffers claimed that Daniel Douglas got "a little handsy" with her, but it's handled and she won't talk. Sally says quickly and firmly that the staffer is lying to Mellie's surprise; she was thinking this would stir up doubts in Sally's mind, I guess. Before they can talk further, the interviewer comes back to continue Mellie's interview, and Sally takes off.
This part of the interview is apparently going to feature Mellie taking Teddy in to play with Fitz in the Oval Office. Mellie is making a lot of noise about how this is a nightly occurrence, no matter what else Fitz has on the schedule, and he would be really upset if they didn't show up. As Mellie escorts the camera crew in, the admin tries to warn her, but Mellie (kind of manic now) ignores her and opens the door of the Oval – and finds it completely empty. We see Mellie's disappointment, but a second later when she turns and faces the cameras again, she's got a big smile as she says the President is very busy.
Flashback to Mellie chasing Cyrus down the driveway, trying to convince him to stay since this is just a small family argument. Cyrus claims he gets enough family drama at home WITH HIS WIFE (emphasis mine). I'm less shocked that Cyrus has a beard and more shocked that any woman would marry a man with that beard. Cyrus says he's there to get Fitz elected, and it's Mellie's job to hold his hand and buck him up. Mellie counters that she's more than just a wife; she's a partner in a law firm. Cyrus tells her that she'll have to give all that up if Fitz runs, and Mellie says she plans to do charity work. Cyrus hesitates and then offers up a free tip: if Fitz is going to be a career politician and make it to the White House, then he will be Mellie's charity and full time job. He walks away, and Mellie thinks it over, and then promises that if Cyrus comes back in the morning, Fitz will be ready to work. She will take care of it. So that's where Mellie decided to put everything she ever wanted and dreamed of for herself aside and become part of the Fitz Political Machine. It was the first step in a series of terrible dominos falling that led to the broken and amoral woman she has become.
Cyrus is in his office talking to Amber, the escort they hired to entrap Daniel Douglas. Mellie bursts in and wants to know where Fitz was, and complains that she's doing this whole interview for him and his re-election so he needs to meet her halfway. Now she's worried that he won't show up for their joint interview tomorrow. Cyrus says it's on his schedule, but Mellie wants to know if he will show up, meaning will he be present and help sell the charade of their marriage. Cyrus sighs and says he doesn't know. Mellie looks stricken, realizing that everything she has sacrificed may have been for nothing.
Abby and Harrison interview the gate agent from the plane that was shot down/crashed. She explains that they had a full plane, but then one of the flight attendants called back to the gate and said that a Federal Marshal was taking someone off the plane. Abby looks at Harrison in disbelief that this little factoid wasn't mentioned in the investigation of the flight. The agent says she told the NTSB investigator, but it must not have been important in the grand scheme, because the news reports didn't mention it. Abby asks if she saw the passenger being removed, and the agent says it was way out on the tarmac, at night. But she does remember his name: Omar Dresden. I'm really surprised that Rowan didn't have this woman killed already. She knows too much.
Abby and Harrison report their findings back at OPA, including that Omar Dresden's family thinks he died in the crash. Liv thinks someone had to see what happened, but the gate agent couldn't see and everyone else on the flight is dead. Huck says he'll find out what other flights were on the tarmac at the same time, and Liv tells Harrison and Abby to seek out any other airport employees who were there and may have seen something. Stupid Quinn is too busy taking phone calls from her boyfriend Charlie to help out, and they make plans to get together.
Sally and Daniel Douglas prepare to attend an event. As Sally helps her husband with his bowtie, she gives him a little speech about how well things are going with her pending campaign, and how they will be under additional scrutiny so they need to be careful about who they "frequent with" and make sure it reflects their family's values. In other words, keep it in your pants, dude. Daniel Douglas says he gets it, just like he got it when Sally brought it up before.
In flashback, it's night now and Big Jerry has clearly been drinking all day. He delivers a sloppy speech to Mellie about how he's a decent father because he never beat his kids like his old man did to him. That's a pretty low bar, dude. He's also upset that Fitz judges him for sleeping around, since his wife never knew so who cares? You know, it's interesting to find out how Mellie and Fitz became terrible people but I kind of want to know what the fuck happened to Big Jerry to turn HIM into a monster. Maybe in season eight, they'll get to that. Mellie placates Big Jerry and assures him that they'll get this disagreement straightened out so they can launch Fitz's campaign.
Big Jerry thinks for a minute and then tells Mellie about how Fitz shot down Flight 522, adding that they had "rock solid intel" that there was "a dirty bomb on board." Mellie, shocked, brings up all the innocent lives lost and Big Jerry says they would have died anyway, once the bomb went off in London, plus other people, plus it would have started World War III. Then Big Jerry goes off on a rant about why they had to cover it up, which transitions into his favorite subject: Fitz is ungrateful and too sensitive. Mellie stares into the fireplace, trying to incorporate this new information into her worldview, while Big Jerry stares at her face and then tells her she's beautiful. He grabs her leg, and she tells him to stop. But he doesn't stop. He's a big guy, and he's stronger than her, and fueled by alcohol, and if I thought he was one of history's greatest monsters before, after he rapes his daughter-in-law, it's confirmed. Jesus. Poor Mellie.
Now. There's been a lot of debate online (and probably offline too, but I'm a hermit who never leaves the house or talks to other adults AKA stay-at-home mom) about that scene, and whether it went too far. Some felt that it was a transparent attempt to redeem the character of Mellie, and get us on her side, and that a serious subject like rape shouldn't have been used so lightly. But here's the thing: I was already on Mellie's side. I don't presume to be inside Shonda's head (it's very busy in there), or the other writers' heads, but to me, it seemed like they wanted viewers to know that Mellie didn't just make small sacrifices for the sake of Fitz's career. She gave everything. She gave it all. She didn't just give up her successful law career, her right to privacy, whatever hopes and dreams and hobbies she had before Fitz came along. She gave up her dignity and perhaps her soul so that Fitz could be elected. Was that the right choice? Was it the choice that you or I might make? That is certainly open to debate. But when we question what motivates Mellie to push so hard for Fitz to remain in office, despite how shitty their marriage is, and despite how he treats her, this is why. Because if he isn't President, then why did she do nothing about the rape? Why didn't she report it, or tell Fitz? If she becomes less than the driven Mellie we've come to know, then it was all for nothing. That's my take, anyway.
Current day Mellie paces in the Oval Office, drink in hand, waiting for Fitz. When he finally arrives she says that she's exhausted from running around with the camera crew, trying to make America fall in love with her again, since they hate her because Fitz had an affair. Fitz sighs and asks what's wrong now. Mellie goes on a rant about how Fitz didn't show up for the photo op, and he left her hanging like he always does, and she's tired of doing everything herself. Fitz tells her that they shouldn't pretend to be something they're not. Mellie grits her teeth and growls, "If you knew the sacrifices that I have made. The things that I have given up and the pieces of myself that I've given away for you, and you treat me this way? You declare war on me. And you shame me. And you make me beg for scraps when I have done nothing but fight for you!" Mellie takes a breath and says quietly, "You don't have to love me. But we are in this hell together, and the flames are burning both of us with equal intensity, baby, so the least you could do is be my friend. Just a little bit." She starts crying here. "The least you could do is show up! Show up for me!" Begging now. "Show up for me, Fitz! Instead of being like some…stranger." Jesus. Give her the Emmy now. Fitz, to his credit, seems affected by his wife's speech.
Flashback to Mellie, after the rape. She walks into the bedroom she shares with Fitz, who is sleeping. She is stunned and disheveled. Fitz wakes up and asks where she's been, and she lies that she was on the phone with her father. Fitz wants her to come to bed, but she wants to take a shower first. She can't even look at Fitz's face. She takes his hand and he pulls her into the bed, spooning her. As Mellie struggles to keep from sobbing, Fitz rambles on about how he wishes his father would apologize and be on his side, just once. Fitz adds that if his father would apologize, he would run for Governor. Mellie sees a light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel.
Present day Mellie is making apologize to her interviewer, because Fitz can't make their joint interview. That is, until Fitz walks into the room and cracks a joke, and they start the interview with Mellie looking surprised as hell. During the interview, Mellie is asked about the hit on her popularity, and she says she doesn't read polls. The interviewer summarizes that nearly half of the American people question whether they want Mellie representing them at all. Good, because she wasn't elected and she doesn't represent them. Mellie coldly says that's not what the polls suggest, and the interviewer says she claimed she doesn't read polls. Gotcha! The interviewer says that a third of Americans question Mellie's sanity, and wonders how Mellie justifies the decision to go on television and air her marital dirty laundry in front of the world.
Mellie loses her composure as she tries to parse through the lies and half-truths and come up with a palatable answer to that question. After an uncomfortable pause, Fitz says that voters are barking up the wrong tree. The interviewer says that the question was for Mellie, and Fitz says that it wasn't a question, it was an attack, and any attacks on his wife go through him first. Fitz then says that he's the one who had the affair, and he should be the sole carrier of the blame, not Mellie. He adds that he made the mistake, he's apologized for it, and he's trying to move on. He takes Mellie's hands and says they're both trying to move on, and they ask the American people to try to do the same. That was super convincing if we didn't know that he told Olivia like yesterday that he loves her. Poor Mellie is eating it up with a spoon, though.
At OPA, Liv stops in the conference room for another update. I know this is a device to give the audience updates, but it's starting to feel like Liv just sits in her office, staring at a picture of Fitz and waiting for everyone else to do the work. Anyway, they've located the guy who drove the stairs (Michael Bluth?) and Jake is scheduled to go by his workplace tonight to interview him. So that should turn out well.
Cut to Charlie and Quinn's weird date, where they're staking out some office building where Charlie claims he needs to steal a file. They've been waiting for the guy to take a bathroom break, but he hasn't, so now Charlie pulls out two syringes and shows Quinn. She gets all horned up at the thought of injecting someone with a sedative, and begs Charlie to let her do it by saying that Huck let her torture someone once. Charlie hands over the syringes but not before making out with Quinn in their car to seal the deal. She is gross. So is he.
Quinn walks into the building with Charlie on the phone giving her advice. She claims she has to pick up a file on the fifteenth floor, so the guard tells her to sign in. When he goes to hand her a pen, she stabs him in the hand with the syringe and then stares at him with a look of creepy ecstasy on her face until he passes out. She picks up the phone and tells Charlie that it's all clear, but what's that? Charlie's not there? And the security guard is not so much sedated as dying, with bloody foam coming out of his mouth? It's a set-up, Quinn, you dummy. The security guard hits the floor so Quinn rolls him on his back, all the better to choke on his own fluids. And then she runs out of the building. She doesn't wipe away fingerprints or destroy security footage or anything. She is TERRIBLE at this.
Flashback Mellie comes downstairs to breakfast the morning after the rape to find Big Jerry sitting at the table, eating breakfast. She joins him, and once their waiter is gone, Big Jerry says that things got a little out of hand last night. Mellie tells him curtly not to mention it, because she won't. She continues that they should talk about how when Fitz comes downstairs, Big Jerry is going to tell him whatever he needs to hear: how proud Big Jerry is, how sorry he is for being a bad father, and he doesn't have to run on his military record. Big Jerry thinks for a minute and tells Mellie, "You are an asset." Mellie says forcefully, "I am his wife." Fitz walks in and says they should get going, but Mellie says sweetly that they should stay for breakfast, especially since Big Jerry wants to apologize. So there she is, the Mellie that we know. Mining her own personal horror to gain political power.
In present day, Fitz and Mellie are still being filmed by the camera crew as they prep for the cocktail reception. They're bantering about how everyone wants to give the President a strong handshake, and how Mellie could wear gloves like Jackie Kennedy, who had it easy. Fitz cracks, "Well, not that easy" and then they ask the camera crew to cut that part out. Mellie asks if they have enough footage and the interviewer and camera crew leave Mellie and Fitz alone.
Mellie straightens Fitz's lapels and tells him plainly that he gave a great performance in the interview, going on the attack. Fitz says sincerely that it wasn't a choice, and he meant every word. Mellie looks surprised and smiles at him, and then they grab hands and walk into the reception. Man, he knows just how to reel her in when he needs to, right? Although, I guess he could love Olivia but still want to keep Mellie from being attacked for things that aren't her fault.
At the reception, Cyrus is trying to keep tabs on Daniel Douglas as Amber the Escort puts her best moves on him, but James and his Giant Purple Bowtie keep interrupting him. Cyrus gets annoyed and tells James that he didn't get the interview with Mellie because his integrity took a hit when he did the softball interview with Mellie before, and then he screwed the pooch on his interview with Josie Marcus. Before Cyrus can list more ways in which James sucks at his job, James interrupts and drops the bomb that he got fired. Cyrus, to his credit, at least looks a little sad for his husband, and James, to his credit, just walks away.
Amber finds her way back to Cyrus and reports that she's not having any luck. Cyrus thanks her for her time and sends her away. Mellie and Cyrus meet up and Cyrus breaks the news that Daniel Douglas didn't take the bait. Mellie sighs that maybe Amber wasn't his type. They both sip their champagne and then Mellie catches sight of Daniel Douglas, who is busy giggling and flirting…with James. Well, that explains why Sally was so sure that Daniel Douglas didn't get handsy with Mellie's female staffer. Mellie and Cyrus are thrilled at their success in digging up something to use against Sally.
Fitz, back in the Oval, gets a report from the same PI that was tailing Jake in the last episode. This time, he's doing surveillance on Olivia, complete with a background file and photos, which Fitz leafs through as the PI tells him that nothing out of the ordinary happened this week.
Meanwhile, Rowan arrives at some sort of prison or military installation or both, and shows ID to get through the door.
Meanwhile, Jake arrives to do his interview with the airport stair driver – turns out he's the guy that Quinn just murdered. Oops. He calls Liv to tell her and says that someone is way ahead of them. Liv says it has to be her father.
Quinn hides behind a dumpster somewhere and tries to call Huck, who's not answering. Charlie appears and takes her phone, then shows her the security footage of Quinn murdering the guard. He tells her, "You belong to B613 now. Welcome to Wonderland." Yikes. I mean, she's dumb and all, but this is beyond. Of course, now Huck will have to rescue her and probably get hurt or die in the process, and I'll be pissed off all over again.
Rowan keeps walking down long hallways, passing through many gates and doors, accompanied by security.
Fitz looks through Olivia's file, learning more information about her mother. And then he flips through the other side, with information about her father, who works at the Smithsonian. The PI notes that he had a hard time getting a picture of him, but found one finally. Fitz looks at it and recognize the man he knows at Rowan. He nearly shits his pants.
Rowan enters one final door, which is guarded by someone in military uniform, and goes into a jail cell alone. He sits on a chair and speaks to a figure shrouded in blankets on a bed, saying, "Our daughter's been asking about you." The figure sits up and sure enough, it's Liv's mom. She's not looking so great after presumably spending the last fifteen years or so in prison.
So, fine. You're not shocked that Liv's mom is alive. We all knew that. But wait for this last scene. In flashback, Mellie and Fitz thank all the volunteers who've been helping on the campaign, so it's obviously a few weeks at least after the flashback. Mellie concludes her speech by saying how much she loves her amazing husband, and they look happy and in love. They all toast, including Big Jerry, but Mellie quickly sets her glass down. Fitz notices, and realizes that she's pregnant. Mellie says quickly that it's early yet, and then their nice moment is interrupted by Big Jerry's guffaw from nearby. Fitz says ruefully that if it's a boy, they'll have to name it Jerry. Mellie sort of laughs and then hugs Fitz with a look of terror on her face as the viewers do the math and we all go, "HOLY SHIT, YOU GUYS! Is Big Jerry the father of Mellie's oldest child?" WHAAAAT? I did NOT see that coming. This fucking show.