This episode flashes back to how Fitz's (Tony Goldwyn) closet advisors rigged the election so he would win the Presidency, whilst in the present Fitz struggles to return to the Whitehouse and his duties after the shooting. As the action goes back and forth, we can see how deeply invested Olivia (Kerry Washington) was in Fitz and not just his public life either and wanting him to win at all costs. Those costs we saw turned out to be rigging the election. Didn't think she had it in her. Langston (Kate Burton) is ready to tell the people about the letter and that he's unable to do his job when Fitz walks in.
Hollis (Gregg Henry) believes that Fitz will hang himself with a noose of his own making, showing he's unable to do the job. He will be prone to many side effects from the shooting his doctor tells Fitz, including aphasia (no, first Mac Taylor in CSI:NY and now Fitz too.) Which he demonstrates when he takes the meeting with the military advisors and authorizes a SEAL team to take the President of East Sudan. He can't finish his sentence as he doesn't recall his name or the country. Which Langston does so on his behalf though not out of any compassion.
Before the election Fitz is lagging behind ten points and they feel his father, Jerry (Barry Bostwick) should be brought in to help but Fitz is dead set against it. His father is self made, been a governor etc and knows how politics work in comparison to Fitz. Mellie (Bellamy Young) wants him to do just that and wants Olivia to convince him, which she does, but only cos Fitz wants to get down and dirty with her and agrees to make her stop talking about the campaign. Hollis knows someone who can get the vote rigging going but they all need to be behind this. Fitz is at loggerheads with his father and pretty much estranged as he's into "whores" and cheating on his mother as his past behaviour has shown. Well Fitz is no saint and even if he's not cheating with a whore, he is still cheating on Mellie, so the apple hasn't dropped far from the tree.
Leading to the present where Edison (Norm Lewis) works out that Olivia must be sleeping with Fitz and that he's the boyfriend she doesn't talk about. She's his mistress. This riles her up, yes it being true aside, she screams he's being sexist and that he has no choice but to go in and tell them about the letter and it was forged. He asks if there's anything she ants to tell him otherwise he can't help her. She accuses him of calling her a criminal, cheat, a whore, which is what some would say too, ha. Olivia calls Harrison (Columbus Short) telling them they're in trouble.
In the flashback she brings in her team to help with the election as Jerry tells them they need to dig up dirt on Governor Reston (Tom Amandes) otherwise Fitz will lose. Olivia introduces Harrison to Abby (Darby Stanchfield) who tells them he has a meeting with his probation officer and then in walks Huck (Guillermo Diaz) still smelly and long haired. Abby and Harrison go dumpster diving and find pills belonging to Reston, anti-depressants. Jerry tells them to use that in the debate when he talks about the military and not leaking it to the press as Olivia believes.
Fitz is angry at his father and he doesn't want him in Florida, bringing up the dirt on him being a cheat. Then a drunken Fitz comes onto Olivia in the lift and is caught out by Mellie who thinks he's behaved like that cos he's drunk. She reinforces how much they both need Olivia. Fitz is angry that nothing is ready for the debate and Olivia asks him what he really wants. He talks about what they want but no one really knows him, she does cos he's let her know him. At the debate he doesn't mention the drugs, but when asked about a woman's son going to join the military, he talks about his own experience and how he was afraid everyday of not returning home. So as their Commander-in-Chief, he will know this and what it means to be afraid.
He's still down in the ratings and Olivia still doesn't agree to the rigging. Then he gets a call saying his father died from a heart attack after telling Fitz he will "never be a winner" like him. After the funeral Fitz can't cry for him until Olivia asks him what he wants? Cyrus (Jeff Perry) tells her they are the people and they will be the ones who will be voting for the President. She cries and finally agrees to the vote rigging. Well Hollis was quick to jump onto that bandwagon cos he 'll be owed!! SO that's how they all came together.
Think Olivia did that more for Fitz cos deep down she knew he was hurting over his father but also that he was right and Fitz was going to lose bigtime, so he wouldn't be able to live with his father's last words to him. She had to prove Jerry wrong but also cos Cyrus told her how Fitz is really good and they need someone like him running the country.
Edison comes begging for forgiveness and admits he loves her and wants to marry her. Just as Fitz asks Mellie for a divorce cos that's what he wants (now.) There was Mellie thinking things would be different cos cos he'd been shot, well he didn't exactly lose his memory. So nothing much happened this episode aside from Fitz saving himself and being able to stand up in the press conference until the end even Langston had to give in and give him her letter reinstating him. Though she still has ulterior motives and no she wasn't convincing at all when she told him she was worried about the country. She was worried about herself and wanting to remain the first female President for good.
Guess if you think about it, each one of those words in the title could apply to those who agreed to the vote rigging too! ha. Also Hollis was brought in specifically for season 2 and to add more weight to the vote rigging idea since there was no mention of him or the rigging in season 1. Showing it was his brainchild. They needed a bad guy now that Cyrus seems to have moved on from that role in season 1.
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