This episode is even more explosive than the 7:52 episode.
Starting with Olivia taking a swim, as she comes out of the water to find Jake standing on platform waiting for her. Next scene he’s at her front door and she reminds him “there are laws against stalking”. She immediately calls Fitz at the White House to demand that he stops having her followed. They engage in a power struggle phone conversation with each other. Fitz tells her that he indeed can have her followed. She hangs up and then Fitz calls Jake on the phone and tells him to maintain his post, right there with Olivia.
Meanwhile Cyrus is at the White House managing his crisis with Mellie. Cyrus storms into his own office to find his husband, James, anxiously sitting there waiting to tell him about a job offer he can’t refuse. “…I could be the next Anderson Cooper…” Half paying attention -Cyrus reluctantly agrees and dismisses his husband.
At Pope & Assoc., the Gladiators huddle pouring over the surveillance video trying to figure out who attacked Huck. Huck emerges from a different room and they tell him that what they’re doing while he was “shaking off the crazy”.
Cyrus briefs Fitz on Millie’s position and then storms through the secret tunnel to let the First Lady know her options.
“Stop stomping your feet, stop holding your breath and acting like a child and start acting like the First Lady of the United State of America!” he yells at her.
She fires back, “Tell Fitz that he has 36 hours to convince me, in person, that he regrets the unfortunate choices he’s made and that he wants to recommit himself his wife and children…he has 36 hours.”
Cut to Cyrus walking back through that same secret tunnel now on the phone with Olivia. In this moment he is negotiating the love triangle between The First Lady, The President and his Mistress. Talk about being messy! Olivia reassures Cy that she is not dealing with the President any longer. “…I’m not going to meddle in his life and I’m certainly not going to meddle in his marriage”, she claims.
Lie.
She hangs up and looks at her peers. They look as though they overheard her conversation but in fact they wanted to disclose to her their discoveries from the video surveillance. Letting her know that they believe its Charlie. Suggesting that Cyrus (having hired Charlie) may be the mole and tried to kill her!! The gladiators go into full swing digging up details on Charlie and his incoming phone records, possibly from Cyrus.
Biting nails!
Cyrus advises the President that he “… won’t be President if you don’t handle the incoming nuclear winter that is your wife…” Fitz dismissively tells Cyrus “explain the concept of mutual assured destruction to her”. Wow! Basically if she ruins him he will ruin her.
Fitz takes a moment and then he calls Olivia and asks her to come see him at the White House. She arrives at The Oval Office, snatches of her fabulous white gloves, and greets him with a harsh “what!” A woman scorned indeed. He pleads and claims his love for her yet again. She fires back at him “What do you want?!” Fitz says very matter-of-factly, You. She walks into the off-camera corner of The Oval Office, and tells him with a broken voice,
“We are over”. -Olivia
“We are never going to be over. I am never going to be over you”, says Fitz.
“Your wife is at the White House and she is about to explode and if you don’t get her back your time as President is over, and you’re worried about getting your Mistress back?!” -Olivia
“How many times have I told you that you are more than that?” -Fitz
Then she delivers her best line of the whole season.
“I am not a toy you can play with when you’re bored or lonely or horny…I am not a fantasy. If you want me, EARN ME! Until then, we are done.”
The writers could have easily ended the season there. Whew! I don’t care about the rest of the plot at this point. I just want to stay in this moment of her standing her ground and owning it! Earn Me! Yes Olivia, finally.
Cyrus now tries to convince Mellie to back down and tells her that she will have little to no political leverage if she goes public with the affair, and how he will release all her dirty secrets if she does. She rips up the paper and says, “I want what I asked for. Nothing less”. Cyrus, stressed out, has a moment and then snaps and jumps up. End scene.
Huck tells Olivia that Cyrus ordered the last woman that was sleeping with the President to be killed, and that he wants Olivia to stay alive. Tears well in her eyes. Cyrus tells Mellie, “what if I could get rid of Olivia Pope?” Cyrus plants a fake call to Jake for him to leave Olivia and come to the White House for a quick meeting with the President. Cyrus shows up at Olivia’s but Jake is still there. Jake confronts him and doesn’t let him into her apartment. Jake is redeemed, for now. He saved Olivia, but from Cyrus?? The twist and turns are taking us for a ride!
Jake and Olivia share a kiss and she tells him she’s not in deep with the President.
Another lie.
Cyrus and James share a kiss. James makes amends since Cy has given his blessing for James to take the new position as an on-air journalist, in a suit. Cyrus advises the President that he has less than two hours before his wife goes on air making the affair public to the country. He tells Fitz, “…she’s not thinking like a First Lady, she’s thinking like a Wife, like a woman scorned, she’s thinking like a person who’s heart has been broken one too many times…She’s a credible threat right now sir.”
And we all know a broken hearted wife is far more dangerous than anything we can imagine! Tell him Cyrus, you sneaky dog. Cyrus says, “you give for what you love. Go get her, because time is running out”. A moment of clarity happens for Fitz. You can see it on his face. A quiet confidence. He takes heeds to Cyrus’ words and leaves The Oval Office. Next scene, he’s at Olivia’s place. He did NOT go to his wife!
Fitz tells Olivia that she believes he would never choose her. So he’s going to prove it to her, by sitting and watching the time run out on his marriage!! He demands her to sit with him and watch him chose her! Lawdy have mercy. Mistresses everywhere are cheering in unison. Wives are cringing. And all of
us innocent bystanders are clutching our pearls to see what happens next! They watch the clock together. Mellie preps her interview and watches her clock on the mantel. My heart actually hurts for Mellie as she watched the clock knowing that her husband had not chosen her in this defining moment. Can you imagine? Oh my word.
Once the clock strikes 9pm, the top of the hour, Mellie goes live at primetime to announce that her husband has been having an affair, live on national TV. Olivia jumps into Fitz’s arms crying, kissing him and they share a night of love-making. Jake peeks into Olivia’s apartment with his cameras, watching the President and Olivia make love, and he watches Charlie then enter the apartment, devilishly smiling.
What?
The First Lady starts her live interview, being conducted by none other than James, in his newly-appointed position as an on-air journalist. Cyrus learns of this, and once again, he is running for dear life through the secret tunnel and screaming on the phone to stop the interview, which he now sees with his own eyes, his husband betraying him by breaking this story, and sees Mellie cut him with laser-sharp eyes, and she rocks the nation with her announcement
What?
Oh my. I was done at Earn Me! And now we have all this other scandalous mess to sort through. Yes, I love a little mess from time-to-time. Final scene is Fitz and Olivia in the shower together, and Olivia wasn’t wearing a shower cap. It’s settled, she loves him.
Jamilah B. Creekmur is a Mother, Entrepreneur and Author of the popular memoir: ‘Raised By The Mistress’. She’s the former Acting-COO of AllHipHop.com. She’s been featured in Black Enterprise, Essence, VIBE, Heart & Soul, The Baltimore City Paper, BET.com, GlobalGrind.com and also noted as a ‘Top 40 Emerging Leader Under 40’ by Diversity Magazine and countless other media outlets. She’s also a tenacious believer in love. Twitter: @JamilahCreekmur or visit her website www.JamilahCreekmur.com.
