By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Friday, March 13, 2015
This was one of those "set up" episodes for bigger things to come so there isn't too much in the way of juicy dialogue and very little Mellie. But it was a quick and easy episode to swallow.
Two major developments: Huck blabs to Attorney General David Rosen about B613 after his wife Kim hands Rosen some of the color-coded files about the secret group to Rosen she had been keeping. (Why he left those files with her is beyond me!) Huck is torn. If he denies it all, Kim would never forgive him. But by talking about it, he opens up Kim and his son to mortal danger as well as himself.
If anything, Huck's longest monologue ever about life in the hole is actually a pretty riveting two minutes.
Later, an inspired (or revolted) Rosen tells Jake he's moving forward to try to take down whatever is left of B613. .
Yes. B613 is back and more annoying as ever.
On a more comedic front, Senator Susan Ross - the one with the goofy laugh - becomes vice president.
Sure, she is a single mom with almost no experience, seemingly less than the likes of Sarah Palin. But she is earnest and totally lacking in that power-hungry ambition. This clears the way for his wife to be president.
The Senate is about to balk over Ross's appointment because of Fitz's quickie, inexplicable West Angola "war" he started to save Liv. Liv has to come into the White House and tell Fitz to go before the Senate Democrats and plead for forgiveness. He does it - for her and for Mellie. Magically, Ross is in!
If only it were that easy in the real world!
On a side note, Leo Bergen is back to advise the White House to help prep Ross. And Red is dating him now. Leo harangues poor Susan and she almost quits. Red fires Leo. Liv comes in and saves the day to convince Ross to stay.
And somehow, Red firing Leo turns him on. They stay together.
Moving on...
The most compelling story line had nothing to do with White House shenanigans.
Liv is going through PTSD big time. She walks around her apartment brushing her teeth with a gun in her hand. Then she sees her former neighbor's friend Rose trying to figure out what happened to Lois, the older woman killed by the kidnappers of Liv three weeks earlier.
Lois has disappeared, Rose says. Liv, feeling guilty, vows to find her. She has the Gladiators track Lois' dead body down. Rose tells Liv that she and Lois were long-time lovers but were separated by circumstance for four decades. When Lois' husband died, the couple reunited - but chose to live separately.
Olivia understands this forced separation by circumstance (Fitz, anyone?). She truly feels for Rose and makes up a story about how Rose just died on a park bench in Georgetown by the river of an aneurysm and passed peacefully, quickly. As she says this, as Rose mourns her lover, Liv imagines her own time on the beach with Jake and moments with Fitz and how things for her can never be the same either.
It's effective story-telling: using another persons' story to tie in with the main character's feelings and emotions.
Olivia, at least, gets rid of the wine-stained cushion that reminds her of the kidnapping. She settles in for some red wine and popcorn and probably a movie like "Primary Colors" or "All the President's Men." Or maybe "The Notebook."
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