SPOILER ALERT! (stop reading if you don’t want to know what happens in this episode)
Rowen is out, Fitz and Liv are in a functioning relationship and Cyrus isn’t here for any of it. I’ve got all of the this plus more in the recap below!
Cyrus is in his feelings (per usual as of late) because Liv is pretty much taking hi spot. Abby meets with Lizzie and tells her that Sally Langston offered to do an interview about her experience in the White House. She tells her she’ll be quiet if she gets a job in the White House. Abby tells Cyrus but he’s not here for it because he doesn’t want Liv to swoop in so he calls in David. David meets with Lizzie and tells her she is breaking the law by talking to Sally. She realizes that Cyrus is behind this and tells him that she’s will indeed do the interview with Sally.
David tells Cyrus he let Abby go because he didn’t have anything to hold her and if he wants to keep her from talking he’s going to have to find another way. Cyrus tells Fitz what’s going on and that he needs to stop her but he tells him that he’s the one who fired her. Cyrus tells him that he should call her and Fitz tells him he’ll take it under advisement before Cyrus leaves. Liv tells Fitz she’d let her go on air; encourage her to talk because she could say anything. Lizzie goes on Sally’s show and she pretty much backs Fitz. Cyrus confronts Fitz about what he did to get Lizzie to play nice and he tells him that he gave her a job as VP Susan Ross new Chief of Staff.
David call Lizzie back in and rips her a new one for going on air and backing Fitz for a job. He tells her that he doesn’t like her because everything about her feels wrong. The get super close to each other as he tells her he doesn’t like her but she tells him he does and they kiss. As they’re making out Susan shows up and is told he’s in a minute but she tells the receptionist she’ll wait but then decides to just go leaving a case a wine coolers.
Following the conclusion of the investigation Fitz publicly apologizes to the American people for what’s been in the media. Abby asks Liv how she got the information to blackmail the judiciary committee but she doesn’t want to lie to her. Cyrus pulls Fitz aside and tells him that Rowan is out of jail. Liv plays like she didn’t know he was out and Abby realizes that she was in on it. She returns home to find Jake in her living room and he’s pissed. He tells her that Elise is dead but puts the blame on Liv telling her she’s the one who killed her because she let him out. He tells her she’s Rowan’s greatest achievement becoming the woman he raised her to be– power hungry, entitled and she doesn’t even know it. Liv tells him to leave (kicks him out) and he kisses her on the way out.
Liv gets a call that OPA finally has a client, Hannah who was raped two years prior. She wants Liv to tell Fitz because she was raped by Frank Holland who is getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom. OPA finds out what she remembers from what happened and Liv goes to tell Fitz about Holland. While they’re talking Jake shows up because Fitz has him looking for Rowan. He hasn’t told Fitz that Liv is behind how he escaped. She asks them what’s the plan and Jake tells her that when he finds him he’s going to kill him.
Liv and Quinn meet with Holland and asks him about Hannah. He calls in his wife who tells them that she came over about a plagerism issue. After she leaves Liv asks him about it but he tells her it’s not true. Liv confronts Hannah for lying to her but she tells her she didn’t, he did indeed rape her.Liv tells her the only thing that matters is what she can prove and the only way anyone will believe her story is if they find other women who he may have raped. The find 21 other women who have the similar stories about how he wanted to “mentor” them, gave them a drink then they woke up to him on top of them. They tried to tell the school but it never went in their favor. The team believes that he had to have used some type of prescription drug and they set out to figure out what he may have used.
Huck finds out that Holland’s wife has a subscription for Oxycontin and he’s been stealing it. Liv goes and talks to both Holland and his wife and tells her about the drugs and rapes. She realizes that the wife knew and she goes into how much he’s helped women. She tells her that no one has ever come forward and it’s her job to protect his legacy.
After not being able to figure out how to make Holland pay, Liv has Marcus find out where he is. He’s doing a live reading and she sends all of the women there to recount being raped by him. The college cuts ties with him and he experiences backlash.
Cyrus confronts Liv about hiring Lizzie and tells her that Fitz is content and Cyrus is now the guy behind the girl. He tells her she pulled off a coup but she tells him that their relationship is what a couple looks like. He tells her that she has the Oval and that’s what power looks like; Fitz isn’t the president she is. She goes into the Oval Office and Fitz tells her that he doesn’t think they’re ever going to find her father. She doesn’t say anything she just goes into giving Fitz orders.
Some takeaways…
- Totally didn’t see the David and Lizzie thing coming. Still processing how I feel about that.
- Cyrus just can’t seem to catch a break this season and it looks like he may have let the Liv power dragon loose. Looking at the previews it looks like that might soon be coming to an end thanks to Mellie (I can’t wait).
- The Hannah story felt a lot like what went on with Bill Cosby. I totally got it, it just played very familiar. It was a decent case, not my favorite of the show but it worked.
Are you feeling the David and Lizzie thing? What did you think about this week’s case? Let me know below and on Twitter!
