We meet Fitz and Mellie's older kids for the very first time. Jerry and Karen well-adjusted, sweet kids who would put "The Cosby Kids" to shame.
Well, no. They're resentful and sullen.
Can you blame them?
They are in the White House for an image-building interview with a prominent journalist, which is the closest to the primary story line tonight.
It's also an episode which reminds Olivia she is not No. 1 in Fitz's life right now no matter what she wants to think. All she has is her job, she has to remind herself.
Amazingly, she isn't seen downing copious glasses of wine - though she certainly would have the right given her situation.
Anyway, here are the nine most notable happenings in tonight's episode:
Our parents suck! Jerry is so hateful of his cheating dad that he created an anti-Fitz website and purchased T-shirts supporting Fitz's Democratic opponent. Then Karen finds out her mom is getting it on with the VP candidate Nichols and goes nuts on her mom.
Cyrus loses it: He knows Jake had something to do with James' death. He knows it. He attacks Jake in the Oval Office just because. He has to be held off by Fitz. What the heck is he doing working right now in his state of mind?
Tongue licking 101: Charlie has a good sixth sense. After Quinn tells him about Huck's unpleasant visit to her apartment, she leaves out a crucial fact: Huck kissed her. She is protecting Huck - and herself. Charlie wants to off Huck. She says no. She still has feelings for her former mentor. This quarrel is made sort of amusing by the fact they do it while kidnapping and torturing some dude named Demetri, at one point splattered by blood. Later, Jake tells Quinn to meet with Huck to find out what he wants. Huck wants her out of B613.
Then Quinn gets to business. She notes how Huck licked her cheek before he pulled her molars out. Then how he stuck his tongue in her mouth last week. So she decides to do the same to him - minus the molar extraction. "Yah--that's how it goes," she says. Ick. Double ick. Triple ick.
Charlie smartly moves into Quinn's place without telling her so he can keep her safe and watch over her. He's not a dolt.
Jake tells Fitz who's boss: "I'm not your bitch." Jake decides whether they go to war. He decides who dies. Not the prez. "This is not your game, Mr. President. And you're not getting your ball back." Later, Jake threatens Rowan for prowling. Rowan tells him he's alone. Jake's tart response: "Thank you for reminding me that when I decide to kill you, I will do it all by myself."
Fishing for piranhas: The Gladiators are trying to figure out where B613 is funded and are having trouble finding the money in the budgets. Rowan, told by insiders what she's up to, warns his daughter Liv that checking into B613 is dangerous and could threaten her life. B613 alum Huck says the same thing to Liv: "You don't take down B613." Later Rowan decides to tell his daughter where the money is coming from: every department. How is that possible without anyone noticing? Only Shonda Rimes knows. Liv wonders why he decided to tell her after all.
Mommy dearest: Maya wants Liv to butt out of her dealings with Adnan. She makes Rowan seem like a saint in comparison. "I'd rather be a traitor than what you are, Livvy, cleaning up other people's messes, fixing up their lives. You think you're family but you're nothing but the help and you don't even know it." Adnan, Harrison's former beau, is now in cahoots with Mommy Dearest Maya but is (supposedly) having cold feet. She goes to Harrison to try to get a deal and immunity. David Rosen gets her immunity.
Harrison has a story line! Adnan sleeps with him but for ulterior motives. She knocks him out at the firm so she can nab some killer info about the prez for her terrorist employee off Liv's computer. (Is it really that easy? And why is her laptop just sitting at the office? Plus, wouldn't Adnan worry someone else might pop by, even late at night?) She shows off her findings to Maya and Ivan, the evil ones. But Jake is watching, thanks to info from tortured Demetri. But instead of attacking them immediately, he decides to see how things play out.
Best friends no more: When Fitz finds out his ol' buddy Nichols is sleeping with Mellie, he punches him in front of others. How rich! Fitz expects Mellie to tolerate his philandering and he gets mad when she does it to him. Then again, finding it out from his daughter an hour before a live interview probably wasn't the best reveal on earth. He later meets up with Mellie and asks her when the affair started. After Jerry was born, she became cold to him, he says. We know it was because Fitz's dad raped her but she has kept that secret from Fitz. It had nothing to do with Nichols, who she had spurned at the time. Fitz blames her for the death of their marriage: "You killed us! I spent 10 years with a wife who wouldn't let me touch her."
Feeling like the help? Maya's words echo in Liv's ears when she interrupts the argument between Mellie and Fitz. "I'm talking to my wife!" he explodes to Liv. To Cyrus as she readies to just leave the White House: "Tell me I'm not the help!" He is still mourning. He says he needs her to not just put that family back together but "the whole damn country." Cyrus is in no position to do it. So when she returns, Fitz tries to apologize to her.L But she tells him to to focus on fixing his family, not their relationship: "I can't afford to fail at my job because it's all I have left." He heeds her command. He takes Mellie's hand. She still hasn't told him the truth, though. But he somehow fixes his family enough to get them through the interview.
Ratings: The show continues strong numbers: 8.8 million viewers and a 3.1 rating among 18-49 year olds. Those are the best numbers of the night, not counting the NCAA basketball games.
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