SPOILER ALERT! (stop reading if you don’t want to know what happens in this episode)
The republican candidates face off, a secret is revealed about VP Susan and the race gets a little dirty. Read the recap below!
Mellie breaks down realizing that America hates her and loves Susan but Olivia ensures her that she will get her the oval office no matter what. She goes to the team and tells them that Susan is lying about her “husband” and they’re going to find out why and take her down.
The public has latched onto Susan and David as a couple but Susan isn’t here for it. Elizabeth has multiple interviews lined up for them to talk about their relationship. Marcus is tasked with taking Mellie to LA to appear on Jimmy Kimmel.
Liv, Huck and Quinn look into John Latner, Susan’s “husband”, and find out that there is no marriage certificate and may be lying to either protect her daughter or collect veteran checks. They find out that she hasn’t been collecting checks but John isn’t her daughter Casey’s father and they need to track down the biological father. Liv goes back to Alex to get more information and finds out that her real baby daddy, Ronnie, is in prison. Liv and crew visit him and she breaks the news to him that Casey is his daughter and she knows she had an affair while Susan was with John. She tells him that if he takes a paternity test and helps her he’ll be a free man. Huck doesn’t think Ronnie will talk and tells Quinn that they’re involving an innocent child and potentially tearing a family apart.
In LA Marcus doesn’t believe the mean tweets Mellie is supposed to read are mean enough so he has the producers find more. After a run through the show, fed up, Marcus tells Mellie that her attitude is the reason why she’ll never be president. Marcus comes back and reads the mean tweets he got while running for mayor and tells her that the people need to see someone who’s not afraid to laugh at herself; someone America can fall in love with. She goes on Kimmel reading the mean tweets and the audience eats it up.
News leaks about Edison going into rehab and he tells Rowan that he needs to get his daughter under control. Rowan goes off and reads him for interrupting him and trying to tell him what to do. He tells him not to forget who the real boss is, to keep Liv’s name out of his mouth and he’ll handle it. The nurse who witnessed Edison in rehab holds a press conference and tells the people that it was a lie. Alex confronts Liv about lying but she tells him that he’s the one who didn’t move quick enough to prevent someone from getting to his witness.
Quinn meets with Abby and tells her that Liv is crossing lines she shouldn’t be crossing. She shows her the paternity test and when Liv returns to her office Fitz is waiting for her. He calls her out about leaking the paternity test but Liv tells him Susan lied. He tells her he believes in Susan and he doesn’t want her to be a victim of Defiance. Liv tells him he pretty much can’t use that as an excuse anymore and he tells her they have a chance to let their candidates runs a fair race because they don’t have to be deceitful anymore.
Fitz tells Susan what Liv plans to do and tells her he can make it go away but he thinks she should tell America the truth. She doesn’t want to but he tells her she made a mistake that she should own up to and ask the public for forgiveness. He tells her that if she doesn’t tell the truth it’s because she thinks she needs to do whatever it takes to get to the White House and not to protect her daughter. Fitz tells her that he was not fairly elected to office and after he’s done she can decide who she wants to be.
The next day Susan goes to tell Fitz what her decision is but he tells her that Ronnie hung himself in his cell. Liv sends for Fitz and tells him that she desperately wants to win but she wants to win clean. They both agree to run a fair campaign.
Some takeaways…
- I’m pretty sure Huck had a hand in Ronnie’s death. From his conversations with Liv I just didn’t see him as suicidal. Plus I feel like Huck would think this is better than to publicly ruin a family.
- I actually didn’t even consider that it was Cyrus who got to the nurse but it totally makes sense. Let’s not forget Cyrus is the original king of dirty.
- There are a lot of moving pieces and I’m patiently waiting for the primary results so we can cut some of the fat. It’s kind of hard to care about the democratic candidates while there’s so much going on with the republican candidates. Once we narrow it down I feel like we’ll care more about whoever the democratic nominee is.
Do you think all parties can play a fair game for the duration of the race? Let me know below and on Twitter!
