SPOILER ALERT! (stop reading if you don’t want to know what happens in this episode)
It’s the season 5 finale! Does Olivia save Jake? Who will join Mellie and Frankie’s ballot? Like every finale (and episode) I’ve got a few things to say in the takeaways. Check out the recap and my thoughts below!
Tom has tracked down Michael and Ella who are holed in an apartment in Virginia but Cyrus wants to focus on picking a vice president. He asks David what he thinks about being Frankie’s running mate and David asks him what he wants. He tells him that Frankie is once in a life time and he believes he’s cut from the same cloth.
Cyrus returns to the the campaign office to find Rowan there talking to Frankie. Rowan tells him he’ll let Frankie know he staged the shooting if he doesn’t put Jake on the ballot. Frankie asks Cyrus what he thinks of Jake, and while he pictures what he’d really like to say, he lies telling him he thinks he’d be great.
OPA works to find Mellie’s running mate and they zone in on Bill Wagner but he has a little issue; he used to deal cocaine in college. Edison stops by and relays Jake’s message but she doesn’t want to act on it. Huck shows her the article about Vanessa’s father’s death telling her she needs to save him but she tells him she can’t. Huck and Quinn pay Doug Morton a visit giving him a new identity telling him if he doesn’t take it he’ll be linked to Bill Wagner for dealing cocaine.
Abby runs Mellie’s campaign plans to Fitz and he agrees with everything evening hinting that he may still want something with Olivia. Abby calls Liv to tell her he agreed with everything and is about to tell her about Fitz mentioning Vermont when she walks in on him in her office reading the papers that Rowan gave her about Liv’s abortion and he’s pissed.
Cyrus stops by Liv’s house to tell her that Rowan is high jacking his campaign. She tells him to just say no but he tells her he can’t. She asks him what he has on him and after some hesitation he tells her about Harrisburg. Liv is upset because innocent people died but he tells her that some things require great sacrifice. She tells him it’s his mess that he needs to fix but he tells her that if Rowan gets on the campaign Mellie loses and it should be him against her.
Mellie storms into Liv’s office with Fitz convention speech that is all about him. Liv tells her she doesn’t know what to do so Mellie goes to the convention area to confront him. He tells her he’s trying to help her because the best thing he can do for her is talk about himself. If he talks about her then they people will think they conspired on his speech. She calls him arrogant and tells him that every chance he gets he talks about how great he is. She tells him he stood on pretty much everyone’s back to get where he is and she got to where she is on her own. She managed to escape him just like Liv did. She tells him unlike him she wants the presidency, she earned it and she won’t squander it.
Quinn tells Liv that Wagner is safe but it causes her to have an idea. She leaks the information about Wagner’s cocaine pass and tells a freaked out Mellie she has another candidate. Liv wants to clear it with Fitz first and tells him to make sure he’s on board. He tells her he’s a good choice before telling her that he misses her as in talking and listening to her. He asks her if she thinks he listens to her enough and brings up the things Mellie said to him. He apologizes for not listening more and tells her that he’s going to change the speech because Mellie asked him to. As Liv gets up to leave he tells her that he supports her choice (double meaning) and she thanks him.
Liv stops by Rowan’s house and tells them that she told the press that Jake will be Mellie’s running mate. Rowan thinks this is funny but Liv tells Jake all he has to do is stand up and leave with her. Jake stands and Rowan puts the gun to Jake’s head telling her to tell him to sit back down. Liv tells him to shoot him then and tells Jake to go with him because Rowan won’t hurt him because he’s his son. They leave and Rowan tells them to go before he changes his mind.
David gets the call that he’s not going to be Frankie’s running mate while Cyrus tells Tom that things between them are done for good because he’s getting back together with Michael. Meanwhile, Jake is backstage telling Liv that he’s taking his name off the ballot because he’s not afraid of Rowan anymore. He even suggests running away with her but she tells him that she’s not going and tells him to put the tie on. She tells him she hasn’t gone through what she went through to live a mediocre life and neither should him. He realizes she didn’t safe him to safe him but to safe her ticket. He walks on stage with Mellie as Abby tells Liv that Cyrus put himself on Frankie’s ticket. She calls him telling him he used her and after throwing threats at each other he tells her that they’ll just have to see who’ll be the one to get back in the White House.
Meanwhile, Rowan is at home reflecting over everything he’s taught Liv and gloats because she’s become what he wanted her to be.
Some takeaways…
- I mean, it was an okay finale. After all of the hoopla about not seeing what would come next it was pretty predictable. Rowan always has his hand in everything and Liv pretty much became the person he taught her to be. Let’s not forget that Jake’s ass is even on a ballot… I think we know who the winner is here.
- Cyrus being on the ticket is interesting and watching him face-off against Mellie and Liv should be fun next season. Also wouldn’t be surprised if Tom went back to Rowan.
- Fitz finding out about the abortion was blah. Yea his talk with Mellie calmed him down but we got a line that had double meaning and I’m pretty sure that’s all we’re going to hear about it for a while.
- Overall, it was an underwhelming finale. I don’t think it would’ve been as bad if it wasn’t hyped up so much. They previews led me to believe there might be a casualty or two.
Make sure to tune in May 18th to Glam DEETS to hear us discuss the finale. Of course, I’ll be back for season 6!
What did you think of the finale? Let me know below and on Twitter!
