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This was less an episode and more of a series of scenes wrapping up various storylines, so I'm going to deal with one storyline at a time.
First up, Sally, Daniel Douglas, James, and Cyrus. We open with a flashback to the argument between Sally and Daniel Douglas where all the dirt get laid out on both sides and then Daniel Douglas threatened to leave her and tell everything to the press, so she stabbed him with a letter opener and then called Cyrus. Who comes over to her house, sees what she's done and pukes. Then he pulls it together and calls Charlie and Quinn to clean up the mess, and oversees the doctor declaring Daniel Douglas dead from a heart attack.
Cyrus then tells Mellie the truth of what happened. After the long day, he goes home and realizes that James thinks Cyrus killed Daniel Douglas and Cyrus has the audacity to be upset about this, and yells at James. Mellie offers condolences to Sally while also making it clear that she knows the truth and that she'll go public if Sally tries to run against Fitz. James tries to get David Rosen to dig into Daniel Douglas's death, but David's been burned by James before and refuses.
James comes back to see Cyrus, who gives him a sob story about how they still love each other, and Cyrus isn't any more evil than he was when they got married, and then threatens him with taking their child. So he's kind of just throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. Leo tries to convince Sally that she should still run, and makes it clear that he knows what Sally did and he doesn't care other than he wishes Sally had called him instead of Cyrus. In the end, James says that if Cyrus appoints him White House Press Secretary, he'll stay. Ugh.
Meanwhile, Liv tells her crew to find out what her mother really did so they can have her arrested when she lands in Hong Kong. Quinn misses her chance to kill Rowan when his goons find out where Maya is, so she ditches the syringe and pries out the dental tracking device placed there by Huck. Fitz has Rowan taken into custody to prevent him from doing anything to Maya's plane, and decides to interrogate him himself. Doesn't the President seriously have more important things to do? I feel like Fitz has way too much free time.
Fitz tries to provoke Rowan into telling him…something but Rowan delivers an amazingly scathing monologue about what a waste of space Fitz really is, and suddenly I'm rooting for Rowan. Abby discovers that Maya was born into a radical family and was a spy for hire all her life, and the crime for which she was arrested was stealing classified documents from Rowan.
Jake and Huck track Rowan to the Pentagon, and Liv gets Fitz to let her in to talk to her father. Liv figures out that when Rowan pulled Maya off the plane, Maya told him there was a bomb on the plane so he had it shot down to avoid it detonating over London and killing thousands. Except it turned out that there never was a bomb, and Rowan killed all those people for nothing. That's the big Pope family secret.
Quinn leaves Charlie and goes back to see Huck, who tells her she's betrayed Olivia and all of them and she's not a gladiator anymore. B-O-O H-O-O. As I tell my kids, when you make bad choices, sometimes you have to live with the consequences. Fitz tells Olivia that Maya's plane never made it to Hong Kong; the plane landed in Mongolia, and both pilots and the guard are dead. Maya's in the wind. Jake kisses Olivia, tells her he loves her, and leaves. For good, seemingly. Quinn goes back to Charlie, mostly because she has nowhere else to go.
And then we have the ending scenes, setting up the spring episodes. Some junior engineer who does work for the NSA shows up in David's office with a recording of Sally's phone call to Cyrus. Rowan tells Liv that he can't give her the answers that she wants about her mother. Then it turns out that Jake is the new head of B613, put in place by Fitz. Maya calls Liv and says she'll see her soon, and as she walks away, we see she's in front of the White House.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open with a flashback to Sally confronting Daniel Douglas over the photos of him and James en flagrante. Sally is furious with her husband for betraying her, their marriage, and their future, especially when she was so close to having her dreams realized. Daniel Douglas assures her that no one knows except James and Cyrus, and Sally already said that Cyrus won't go public because it's his husband. Sally argues that James was "poison fruit" and Cyrus will want vengeance, and DD has "released a snake into [their] garden." I would argue that he released his snake into James's garden, if you know what I'm saying. Sorry. Not sorry.
Sally changes tactics and scolds DD for his "perversion," but DD argues back that Sally knew what she was getting into when they married. Sally denies it, but DD says that she knew in college when she saw DD with "that boy across the way" but she didn't care because she was "Shrill Sally the rich debutante" and "couldn't get a husband" and she needed "a handsome man on [her] arm" who could "put up with [her] aspirations." And DD needed his family to not disown him, so he went along with their sham of a marriage. So DD claims that he put up with all the fish fries and town hall meetings, and he got her to the Vice Presidency.
Sally gasps and sputters and says that DD didn't get her where she is. She rants, "You are the burden that I carry on my back as I make my way to salvation. You are my cross to bear. You are my original sin. You are pretty, and stupid, and you can't make a living to save your life. What you have given me is our daughter, who can't keep her knees together. I suffer YOU! I got myself here. And I am taking myself to the Promised Land! I cannot wait until you meet your maker. I cannot wait until you are charged with your lies!" This entire speech is intercut with Sally stumbling around post-murder, in a stupor.
Daniel Douglas pauses to be sure that Sally is done with her rant and then says simply, "I'm done." He adds that he has the one thing Sally can't buy: a set of balls. So maybe he'll find a nice boy and settle down, or maybe he'll do a tell-all interview. He turns to leave and Sally grabs a letter opener from the desk and stabs his three times in the back. This leads to the scene we saw at the end of the episode, except this time we see that Sally's face is covered in blood spatter as she calls Cyrus and says that she's committed a sin. You know, despite all that Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf-style arguing and, you know, the murder, I kind of want a spin-off of Sally and Daniel Douglas in college. Unfortunately, the perfect person to play Sally the college co-ed is Liza Weil, and she's already been on the show in another part.
Cyrus walks into the Veep's residence after greeting the two Secret Service agents stationed outside. As he surveys Sally's handiwork, Sally mechanically chants, "The devil came in. The devil came in. He made me do this." As Sally continues creepily talking about how she judged her husband and only God can judge him, Cyrus flashes back to exactly how he set this scene up to happen, from realizing that DD was gay, to putting James in a compromising position, to showing Sally the photos. So Cyrus pukes in the bathroom, and we get to see the puke in all of its, well, not glory. He swallows some water from the sink and then stares at himself in the mirror, his eyes revealing that he's just now realizing the enormity of what's happened.
Liva and the gladiators are back at OPA. Liv orders them to find the file on Marie Wallace so that they can have her arrested when she lands in Hong Kong in twelve hours. Once Abby and Harrison leave, Liv asks Huck where Quinn is. Huck stares at a map on his laptop screen and says that Quinn is at B613, and she's still moving, so she's alive. Liv seems surprised that Huck put a tracking device on her. Why is Liv surprised by anything Huck does at this point? We flashback to Huck shoving a tracking device in Quinn's tooth hole, although she promises she won't run. Huck is a terrible spy. You never tell the person that you've installed a tracking device, much less exactly where it's located. Come on, dude. That's spy 101.
Meanwhile, Quinn is making her deal with Rowan. She gets the tape of her killing the security guard, and she will tell them about Maya/Marie. I'm going to go with Marie, for the same reasons I go with Rowan. Anyway, Quinn prepares to stick her deadly syringe in Rowan's hand, but just as she's about to stab, a goon comes in and tells Rowan that they tracked Marie to a small airstrip. Rowan tells Quinn that her information is now invalid, so the deal's off. After he walks out, Charlie tells Quinn that the upside is that Rowan didn't make Charlie kill her. Yes, that seems like cause for celebration.
Quinn goes into the bathroom alone (seriously, Charlie is the worst kidnapper ever because he lets her go places alone all the time!). She can't find an alternate exit, so she takes the battery out of her cell phone and dumps it along with the syringe into the toilet. That must be one powerful toilet if it will suck down a syringe AND a cell phone battery. Mine clogs up if my kids put in too much toilet paper. Then she dismantles a paper towel dispenser and uses a long thin rod to pry the tracking device out of her tooth socket. That hurt to watch! She dumps the tracking device into the toilet too and flushes everything.
That makes Quinn's little dot disappear from Huck's GPS display, which he reports to Olivia. She realizes that Huck tortured Quinn (although he protests that he was following interrogation protocol since Quinn was working for Rowan and Charlie). Olivia knows that Quinn won't reach out to them now, so she orders Jake and Huck to go find her at B613. Aw, just let her go, Liv. She's outlived her usefulness.
As Rowan is driven away in his town car, he tries to call "Centcom" (I guess that's who he works for?). But before he gets far, his passage is cut off by two SUVs, and he's extracted and cuffed, and taken to one of what is apparently dozens of basement interrogation rooms in DC. He asks what this is, and Fitz walks in and announces that Rowan will be staying there until Maya Pope's plane lands and she's hidden somewhere that even he can't find her. Fitz sits down and says that since they have free time, they could have a little talk. Fitz is the President, so it's amusing to me to see him always one step behind Olivia and Rowan and everyone else in terms of information. Also, as President, should he have SO MUCH free time? He's always running off and trying to deal with Olivia's problems. Shouldn't he have legislation to sign or congress people to meet with or judges to appoint or foreign leaders to dine with? Or he could, you know, pay attention to his children once in a while.
Fitz unleashes a barrage of questions for Rowan: Why have him shoot down the plane? Why keep Maya in prison for twenty-two years? Why lie to Olivia and say her mother was dead? Rowan will only respond, "That's a matter of national security and it's above your pay grade, Mr. President." In other words, put your dick away, because mine is bigger, so let's call off this charade of a contest right now.
Quinn marches purposefully down a hallway with Charlie behind her, but before she can even make up a decent lie (she is also a terrible spy), Charlie says that they have a client. It's Sally! Charlie and Quinn have been hired to clean up Daniel Douglas's murder scene. Meanwhile, Cyrus tells Sally their cover story – that Daniel Douglas died of a heart attack. Sally thinks that she should face justice, but Cyrus argues that she only need ask Jesus for forgiveness and then go on to serve her flock by eventually becoming President. He begs Sally to give him her sin and let him clean this up. Sally gives the barest of nods.
Abby and Harrison meet David Rosen as he walks into his office for the day. They're interrupted by a young woman named Shelby Ross, but Abby smoothly dismisses her and follows David into his office. Once inside, she reminds him how she asked him to get their innocent client off the no-fly list, and says that now maybe that client is not so innocent. David goes on a long diatribe about how Abby is his girlfriend and he puts parts of his body inside parts of her body (I think we all know what girlfriend means, and also, gross). Harrison is suitably disgusted. David just asks for a little honesty and professional courtesy. Abby says she just wants to see Marie Wallace's case file, and David hesitates for one second before agreeing to e-mail it to her. I am starting to hate their relationship. I used to root for them to get together, but if Abby keeps using their relationship as leverage to get stuff, it's going to get even more annoying.
Liv asks Huck and Jake for an update. They tell her that someone took Rowan, but it happened off-camera so they don't know who just yet. But they know it was a professional job. Liv tells them to find her father and Quinn and stomps out. Jake follows her and tells her to cut Huck some slack. Liv tells him to stay out of it, but Jake says he knows it's hard to find out her mother is bad, but that doesn't make Rowan the good guy, because he's not a good guy. Jake reminds her of what Rowan did to Huck, and also to Jake, and yet they are going to try to save him because that's what Liv wants. Jake chokes up as he says that Liv wasn't the only one to lose happy memories. That's part of why I root for Liv and Jake to get together; he's one of the few people who tells her when she's being an asshole.
Sally, in her bathrobe, stands and stares at dead Daniel Douglas lying peacefully in their bed. Cyrus rushes in and says that the doctor is on his way, and they can't let him get a close look at Daniel Douglas. Sally doesn't respond. She's practically catatonic. Cyrus tries to get her to snap out of it (why doesn't he slap her? You know he'd like to). The doctor comes in and Cyrus nervously says that Sally called him when she woke up and Daniel Douglas wasn't breathing. The doctor listens for a heartbeat and then says that he'll need to undress Daniel Douglas for an exam. Cyrus tries to prompt Sally to do something to prevent this from happening. I'm distracted because the doctor looks like a chubbier, balding Brian Williams. The doctor starts to pull back the blankets and unbutton Daniel Douglas's pajamas while Cyrus silently works himself into a full boil panic. At the last second, Sally snaps to and yells, "No, don't touch him! Don't you touch him!" She shoves the doctor aside and throws herself on Daniel Douglas's chest. Cyrus pulls the doctor aside and asks if they can skip the rest of the exam because they all know what happened. Do they? The doctor agrees to report that Daniel Douglas's heart stopped a few hours ago. Well, that was easy. Then again, after all the specials I watched about the JFK assassination a few weeks ago, I'm not surprised to see that people are willing to take shortcuts to save elected officials a little discomfort and/or embarrassment.
Mellie lets herself into Cyrus's office, all a-twitter about the news that Daniel Douglas is dead. Mellie thinks this means Sally has to call off her campaign, then notices the Cyrus is drinking at 7 AM. I'm more impressed that Mellie is in full First Lady drag at 7 AM. Cyrus quietly tells her to sit down and fills her in on the truth of Daniel Douglas's death. Cyrus is more introspective than we've ever seen him as he says that he and Mellie are the devils that came into Sally's life. Mellie argues that Sally snapped but Cyrus can't be deterred, and laughs that he and Mellie can quit doing bad things, because this was the worst thing they could ever do. Mellie grabs the drink out of his hand and tells him to pull it together. She sighs and asks if he used Olivia to clean it, and Cyrus says that he didn't, because he knew she'd tell Fitz.
Mellie has something to tell Fitz: Daniel Douglas is dead. She leaves out the rest of the story, and offers to go and give their condolences to Sally in person since Fitz is so busy illegally detaining American citizens in the basement of the Pentagon to appease his girlfriend.
Fitz returns to the interrogation room and scolds Rowan for taking Liv's mother from her when she was twelve years old. And while we're talking about Liv as a child, let's move right on to the sexy stuff, because that's not jarring. Fitz says he's screwing Liv (his words) and he would love to tell Rowan about how she tastes (his words) and that she's quite talented (his words.) And look, I know it's a ploy to get under Rowan's skin but it's gross and disrespectful to the woman Fitz claims to love. If you are a woman, how would you like it if your partner talked about you that way? Even as a means to an end? It feels gross, is all I'm saying.
So Rowan comes back with a speech that I have to quote in it's entirety. QFT, as the kids say: "You're a boy. You've been coddled and cared for, pampered and hugged. For you, it's always summertime and the livin' is easy. Daddy's rich and you're momma's good looking. You're a Grant! You got money in your blood. You. Are. A. Boy. I'm a man. I have worked for every single thing I have ever received. I have fought, and scraped, and bled for every inch of ground I walk on. I was the first in my family to go to college. My daughter went to boarding school with the children of kings. I made that happen. You? Cried yourself to sleep because Daddy hurt your feelings, because Papa banged his secretary, because it hurt to have so much money. You spoiled! Entitled! Ungrateful little brat! You have everything handed to you on a silver platter and you squander it. You're given the WORLD and you can't appreciate it because you haven't had to work for ANYTHING. So now you've decided that the one thing that you want is my daughter. MY child. MINE. What I made. What I created. You can talk about what a great lay she is to try to get a response from me all you want, but guess what? I am actually quite literally above your pay grade. Which means that I know that you believe that you are in love with her."
Fitz interrupts, "I do love her." Rowan continues, "You LOOOOOVE that she is a door marked exit. You love that she is your way out. Because if you are with Olivia Pope, you don't have to fulfill your father's dream of being President. If you are with Olivia, you no longer have to be your father's son. An apple never falls too far from the tree. You are always going to be Senator Grant's disappointing boy, Fitz. She is always going to be the formidable Olivia Pope. Don't use the person that I made to make you into a man. You're a boy." Fitz says Rowan doesn't know anything about him. Rowan concludes, "Sadly, BOY, I know everything about you. You disappoint me as a suitor for my daughter's hand."
Well, HO-LEE SHIT, if Rowan doesn't have Fitz pegged. That speech is exactly everything about why Fitz bugs me, why I will never root for Fitz and Olivia to be together, and it leaves me wondering if the writers know something I don't about what this show is supposed to be about. Because if they can put those words into a character's mouth, even a "villain," they clearly believe them about Fitz on some level. It gives me hope that at some point, Olivia will realize that she's better than Fitz, and ditch his sorry ass. Thank you, writers.
Olivia is pacing in the OPA conference room when Abby enters and hands her the file on Marie Wallace. Abby gives her the thumbnail: Marie was born in London to Marxist Liberation Front parents. She fell off the grid at sixteen, then popped up under various aliases in Paris, Germany, Tunisia, Somalia, etc. She came in the US in 1972 as Maya Lewis, soon to be Maya Pope, but her contacts knew her as Marie Wallace. And her mission was to steal high-level secrets from people like Rowan, funded by anti-American groups. Liv is disgusted, but Abby tries to be helpful and says that Marie didn't kill anyone. Well, except for the doctor when she escaped from prison. That's the one we know of, anyway. Abby, ever the optimist, suggests that maybe the twenty-two years in prison was Marie's time served. Yes, let's let anti-American terrorists with multiple aliases just roam free in the world! Because she's clearly turned a new leaf since she came clean to Liv about her true identity. Except she didn't, and she's still a terrorist, and shut up, Abby.
Cyrus arrives home where James is watching the news. Cyrus says he was hoping to get to James before the news broke. He walks toward James, who backs away, fearful. Cyrus realizes that James thinks that he killed Daniel Douglas, and then he gets MAD! Like what right does Cyrus have to be MAD that James thinks he's a killer. Remember when he almost had James killed by Charlie? Or when he did have Amanda Tanner killed by Charlie? So why is Cyrus shocked that James thinks he's capable of murder? Anyway, Cyrus turns it all on James and says that James wants Cyrus to have killed Daniel Douglas because of his "inner tween." Cyrus acts like a real dick about it. So why are these two still together? They clearly don't respect one another and hate one another. I don't get it.
Sally, still in shock, is meeting with Leo. He's trying to set up a plan for getting her campaign back on track, and says she can run as a brave widow. Sally's not into it, and they're interrupted by Mellie's arrival. She basically kicks Leo out so that she can have a moment with the Vice President. Her opening gambit is that they're taking care of everything: "the funeral preparations, the ceremony…the coroner." Sally realizes that Cyrus told Mellie everything. Mellie advises her to get some rest and stop taking in visitor, especially people like Leo. The subtext is that Sally needs to drop the idea of running against Fitz, or Mellie and Cyrus will use what they know. Man, Mellie is good. She manages to get that point across clearly without ever saying anything overt about Daniel Douglas or the campaign. Sally looks both resigned and exhausted and terrified.
Quinn is freshly showered in Charlie's bed, and she tells him that she needs to go home and get underwear and her driver's license. Strange priorities. Charlie says she can't go home while Huck is on her trail. Quinn is still in shock that her normal life is over. Charlie says that Quinn was never meant to be normal, because she has skills and instincts that very few people have. Charlie thinks she's spectacular. He tells her that he'll let her leave if she wants to, and then advises her to sleep on it. They spoon on the bed and Quinn still looks terrified. I'm starting to have a tiny, little bit of sympathy for her. I still think she's a dummy who did this to herself, but it is a shitstorm. But I also kind of don't care about this whole storyline.
James goes to David Rosen to convince him that Daniel Douglas was murdered. James has zero evidence other than a hunch and some coincidental timing. David pulls out a quiz from when he used to be a teacher; the student filled in every answer space with a drawing of a penis. David reminds James that the last time he investigated something that James was sure was a crime, the election tampering, David ended up as a teacher of imbeciles and nothing came of it. So he's not exactly clamoring to go off on another one of James's wild goose chases. Except it wasn't a wild goose chase last time, and it's not this time, but David doesn't know that.
Abby, Harrison (remember him?) and Olivia are at OPA, trying to figure out why Rowan had the plane shot down if he knew Marie wasn't on it, and why he wouldn't just retrieve whatever files she stole when the plane landed. Olivia says, "Maybe it was more than just files."
Jake and Huck are trying to track where Rowan was taken. Huck lost the car in a blind spot on the feeds and can't figure out where they could have gone. Jake knows, since they are right in front of the Pentagon. He calls Liv and tells her.
Liv calls Fitz and says she knows he has her father and she needs to talk to him. She begs, so of course, Fitz relents. I thought he was just going to pass Rowan the phone but that wouldn't be as dramatic as a sitdown, so suddenly Liv is sitting in front of Rowan, who glares at Fitz. Liv lays out her theory: that there was a bomb on the plane, that Marie told them that when they pulled her off and interrogated her, so Rowan decided to kill the people on the plane and spare the many more people who would have died had the plane exploded over London. Liv realizes that it doesn't make sense, because her mother was a gun-for-hire, not a true believer, so she wouldn't have boarded a plane that was going to blow up in mid-air. Rowan just stays quiet and lets Liv figure it out. Liv realizes that Marie lied; there was never a bomb on the plane, and she got Rowan to kill all those people for no reason. Liv wants Rowan to admit that he got fooled, just like Olivia did. Rowan barely nods, and tears fill his eyes. Liv stalks off and tells Fitz to have Marie arrested the second she gets off the plane. So who has the most power in this room? I'm guessing Olivia, since she can apparently order around both her father and the President.
Fitz uncuffs Rowan, and he tells Fitz that B613 is not an individual so "cut off the head of the snake and another one will grow in its place." I don't think that's how snakes work, but I'm not a zoologist or anything. Rowan asks for his coat and tie back, but Fitz and his goons just leave.
Charlie wakes up and finds Quinn is gone. Gone where? Back to OPA, where she walks in and finds Abby, Harrison, and Jake just milling about in the hallway. They all freeze when they see her (how much do they know?) but she ignores them and goes to Huck's office. She tells him that she came back, but he says that he's not sorry for hurting her and making her talk. He adds that if it wasn't for Olivia (should be if it weren't for Olivia, let's get on board with the subjunctive, Huck) he would have killed her, peeled off her skin, etc. He tells Quinn that she betrayed them, and she's not a gladiator anymore, and Quinn leaves. Oh, Huck is the head of HR now? That…actually fits somehow.
Cyrus is putting on pajamas when James and his elaborately knotted scarf return home. Cyrus asks tiredly what happens now. He doesn't want to fight, and James can't go to the police without evidence, and James can't leave with Ella because he doesn't have a job or an income, and Cyrus will use his legal connections to make sure he gets sole custody. James should hire a good lawyer yesterday and sue for spousal support and child support. Cyrus is emotionally abusive. James should go to a woman's shelter. Telling your partner they can't leave is abusive. Anyway, Cyrus continues the manipulation by saying that he still loves James, and he's the same man that James married even if he didn't realize he was marrying the devil, and he hopes that James will honor their marriage vows. Ugh. Cyrus finally admits that he's afraid, and he wonders what happens now. If he led with that vulnerability, I might have more sympathy for him. Anyway, Cyrus says he'll give James time to think about what happens now.
Olivia returns home where she gets a call from Fitz, who tells her that Marie's plane never made it to Hong Kong. They found it in Mongolia, empty but for the three dead bodies of the pilot, co-pilot, and guard. Yeah, Marie doesn't have any blood on her hands, Abby. She's like a newborn lamb. Dummy.
Okay, so it's time to wrap things up and set up what will happen when the show returns in February! First: Jake. He tells Liv that if Marie comes up for air, they'll hear something. Olivia says that her father doesn't have a short memory, and someone will have to pay for the interrogation in the Pentagon. Jake tells her not to underestimate the President and then sweeps forward and kisses Olivia. Man, I am rooting for these two. Which is weird, because in all the years I recapped Felicity, I was as anti-Noel as you could get. Jake tells her that he came to say goodbye, and whatever happens , he wants Olivia to know that he loved her and he still loves her. And he leaves.
Charlie is watching TV and eating takeout when Quinn returns. He can't believe she came back; he's thrilled. She kisses him. Oh, Quinn. I also feel bad for Charlie, the poor mook. I mean, murderer.
DC is preparing to attend Daniel Douglas's funeral. Leo is with Sally. She tells him to leave because people might see him there and get ideas. He points out that people are empathizing with her now, but in two weeks, they will be gone. And also, the Grant administration, especially Cyrus, will use her grief as political capital and also to keep her in the Vice President's office. Leo tries a new tactic, and says that Daniel Douglas would want her to run for President and is probably up in heaven right now telling everyone that Sally's going to be the first female President. Sally unravels as Leo talks about her late husband and finally just yells, "He's in HELL!!!!!!" Fantastic. She continues, "He is a Sodomite. He was a Godless sinner, and he deserved what he got." Leo looks delighted, and he thinks for a minute and then says, "You killed him. And you called the WHITE HOUSE? I am your first call, Sally. I am always your first call. You kill somebody? You call me." Man, we may have found someone more evil than Cyrus. And yet somehow, I like Leo. Maybe because, as far as we know, he's not married.
Remember that young woman who was in David's office at the beginning of the episode? The one Abby brushed aside? Well, she's back. She walks into David's office and takes the battery out of his cellphone because she says there's a new technology that lets the NSA hack into your phone and record what's happening in the room. She wrote the code for it. And she has something for David. It's a recording of the phone call that Sally made to Cyrus saying that she committed a sin. Oops.
Olivia calls Rowan while she has her nightly wine and popcorn. She wants to know if Rowan hid Marie away for all those years because it was his job or because he was trying to protect her from who her mother was. Rowan doesn't answer, but he tells Olivia to come by his place tomorrow night for dinner and they'll talk about his job at the Smithsonian. Olivia protests, but Rowan tells her that she'll never get the answers that she wants from him. She sighs and says, "I'm sorry to hear that."
So Rowan's heading back into his office at B613, ready to resume his duties. He doesn't notice that all of the hallway goons are giving him weird looks. When he enters his office, there's someone new behind his desk: Jake. I did NOT see that coming. Jake excuses everyone but Rowan from his office, and tells Rowan that he's Command now, effective immediately. Rowan's not having it, but Jake throws his own words back at him, the thing about cutting the head off the snake. So now Rowan knows that Fitz was behind this move. Jake concludes that if Rowan would like a job, he's welcome to take the aptitude test, but if not, he'll be escorted out. Rowan leaves, and Jake calls Fitz and says, "It's done." Fitz promises that they'll make a good team. Will they?
Cyrus and James lay awkwardly side by side in the smallest bed ever. At first, I thought they pushed two twins together. Is that even a full? Can't Cyrus afford a nicer bed? Anyway, James says that he wants to be named White House Press Secretary. If Cyrus does that, James will stay. Cyrus asks if James will still love him, and James sighs and says, "Don't push it." Cyrus agrees to the deal. Why would James want to be Press Secretary? That seems like the worst job. I guess you get a lot of TV time. And James will be terrible at it, given how poorly he ad-libbed in the times we've seen him conduct interviews.
Olivia is drinking more wine at home in her white pajamas when her phone chirps again. She answers, and it's Marie, wearing the most fantastic leather gloves and white coat. I guess we know where Liv got her fashion sense. Liv wants to know where her mother is, and Marie says she just wanted to hear Olivia's voice, and she'll see her real soon." Marie tosses the phone in a nearby garbage can (she learned about burners real fast) and then struts off, and we see she's standing in front of the White House. Wow. I have NO idea what will happen when the show returns in February, but I can't wait.