It's all about the bomb. Where is Liv's mom going to use it?
We don't find out until 55 minutes in because the first 54 minutes was a feint.
Liv, correctly believing the bomb is for the president, tells Fitz to lay low with just a few days before the general election. He's competing only with Sally Langston since they got rid of the Democratic candidate in a few minutes last week with a silly story line regarding him murdering his wife's lover. So the country has a conservative Republican against an ultra-conservative Republican now running for president? Does that make any sense in the real world? It's as if Bill Clinton dropped out of the 1992 race at the last second and left America to choose between Ross Perot and George Bush.
But let's remember: this not "The West Wing," which at least made some idealistic attempt at realism. Realism is for suckers. This is a fine and glorious soap opera.
Anyway, laying low is hurting Fitz's chances in Florida and Ohio - as if this were a regular Democrat-Republican battle. So he decides to defy Liv and go to Defiance, Ohio for a rally.
Liv & Co. have no idea where the bomb is. Going to Ohio is like a death wish. And the Secret Service, of course, can't find the bomb.
But Liv is an insurance policy. So she sits on the dais with Mellie and Fitz. Perhaps her mom would not push the button if Liv is on stage.
When the Evil Mom sees Liv is there, she strolls over to Pope's office and meets with Rowan to try to get Liv to leave. Indeed, Liv creates some evacuation excuse (the sprinkler system going off in the basement) so they clear the school out. Everyone's safe!
But Adnan tells Harrison the bomb wasn't at the school at all.
In fact, it was planted at the church where Sen. Hightower's funeral was being held the next day.
Jake, who is now without his precious B613, forces a scared David Rosen to use some facial recognition software to track Maya. He finds out the fact Maya was the murderer of Hightower. Jake informs Cyrus.
Cyrus could immediately tell the president and everyone involved to ensure the bomb gets diffused or at least get everyone out of the church in time.
Instead, he keeps the info to himself knowing Sally Langston got there early. Andrew Nichols is there, too, as well as hundreds of people. But the president, not knowing what's going on, is still working on his eulogy. Cyrus helpfully listens and tells him there's been a delay.
Would Cyrus seriously let that many people die?
Who's the evil one now?
***
In other related or somewhat related story lines:
Revenge is sweet: At the opening of the hour, Jake and Rowan are forced to work together by Liv after Liv pulled the plug on B613. Unfortunately, it was at a crucial moment in time when Jake was monitoring Liv's mom and her "24"-style bomb with an indeterminate target. Fitz also shows up and finds out Liv slept with Jake to get the info to take down B613 without his knowledge. "All it takes to kill us is a good tug and a zipper?" Jake says to Liv. Yes. They find out that some dude named Dominic was involved in getting the bomb to Maya. Who knows Dominic? Rowan. So he pops in to say how much he hates Dominic, who worked with Maya as a terrorist friend/lover.
When Huck brings Dominic to Rowan, Rowan calls Maya that he'll kill Dominic if she doesn't tell him where the bomb is going to be. She says (claims?) she doesn't care. So he kills Dominic and off he goes with one of his classic long breathless speeches: "I've waited a long time to kill that man. I'm sorry when the opportunity arose, it was in your office. Dominic Bell was her partner in everything. They were together long before we met and long after. Dominic Bell told her to marry me, to pretend it was me, to gain access and collect information You have any idea what that does to someone? He took everything from me. I enjoyed ending his life. I'm sorry. I enjoyed it very much."
"He didn't destroy our family," Liv replies. "She took care of that herself. She didn't love him. She doesn't love anyone."
Who to trust? Liv is trusting her dad Rowan because they both want to take down her mom. Jake warns her with Rowan-like speech: "He will reel you in with a trail of warmth and kindness... he will take everything that matters from you. He will break your bones and walk over them. How do I know that? That's what he taught me to do," Jake says. "You think he's your dad. That's a costume, a mask. Once that mask goes off, run!"
Revenge is even sweeter: Later, Maya proves she loved Dominic by stabbing Rowan, who isn't quite dead when Liv returns from Ohio. But he's not looking so hot. We don't see what transpired in the hours between the Ohio rally and her discovery.
Confessions: Jake wants Liv to tell him she felt something for him the night before when she slept with him. She doesn't. Instead, she tells him how Rowan killed Maya's lover in cold blood. She wonders if Maya really loved Dominic. She says she loves Fitz for sure. She felt betrayal sleeping with Jake.
Tension between Huck and Charlie: And Quinn is in the middle, of course. They have two different ideas how to track down the bomb connection. She doesn't pick sides. Huck walks out. He finds Dominic pronto. Charlie and Huck later bicker over how to get rid of Dominic's body so Quinn does it herself. When she returns, Huck is there. She kisses him again, then slaps his cheek again and again. They have crazy rough sex on the hood of a car. I'm sure half the viewers find this scintillating and the other half are thoroughly grossed out.
Icky DNA: Speaking of grossed out, boarding school student Mackenzie Miller sleeps with Fitz's son Jerry to get DNA for Sally Langston's handler Leo Bergen, who guarantees the teen placement in Yale or Harvard - or something like that. (Yah, how easy is that?) Leo tells Rowan it's Jerry's "little man chowder" in a paper bag. Double ick. Sally Langston thinks maybe one or more of the kids is not Fitz's. Dirt to take him down, perhaps.
Mellie gets all sloppy drunk on us: Without Andrew, she is miserable and wants revenge on Fitz for driving Andrew away. 'I want his head in a fire and see him burn," Mellie growls to Liv. "I have kept this secret for 15 years. I have lived this lie for 15 years. All the while, I have watched him walk away from me... It is my turn! He suffers. He hurts. He burns. I'm tired of carrying the cross. Let him pick it up." She lets Liv think Andrew is the father of Jerry. In fact, it's Fitz's dad from the rape she still won't reveal. Later, Rowan and the Gladiators makes it so the DNA results reveal that Jerry is Fitz's dad after all courtesy of a well-placed bribe. Mellie is also drunk on the dais at the re-election rally in Defiance. Go Mellie!
Harrison has a plot line: He figures out where the bomb planners were. He finds the map for Defiance, Ohio but Adnan, his lover/betrayer points a gun on him. So he can't contact Liv. Later, he finds out that the bomb wasn't in the school after all.
Next week, we find out whether Maya can pull of her bomb scheme with Ivan. She set the timer at 60 minutes, the length of an entire episode. Presumably, next week will be close to real time, like a "24" episode!
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