VO: When we last left our hapless heroes, Jake was busy being turned into the world’s biggest pincushion by Olivia’s banging buddy.
KC: That was a shock.
VO: I can’t help but wonder if Randall is really, really bad at his job, because he should’ve made sure that Jake was dead before leaving him.
KC: How’s he miss every major organ? Why didn’t he stab Jake, like, in the head or something? Isn’t he a professional?
VO: I really think he’s an intern. How long was he left on the table? How much blood does Jake have in him? Was he healing up like Wolverine?
KC: Yeah he must make his own extra blood, because damn.
VO: And now Mellie is running for Senate. She’s just sweet and light, grinning like a pageant contestant, and then Sally comes in and stabs at her line with a icepick. I kind of also bristled at the “First Lady is a privilege, but not a job,” line also. Not for the same reasons that Sally is bristling (but she’s got a very good point regarding the resources used for a “privilege”), but more the idea that for work to be considered worthwhile, you have to get paid to do it or that being a wife and mother isn’t work, the whole idea that keeping a house together, raising a family and working in partnership with another person isn’t work because we don’t get a paycheck for it. Yeah, it might be an identity, but there are aspects of it that are WORK.
Hell, we can pay someone to do some of those parenting aspects for us and I’m not knocking those of us who do. I’m just saying that this dismissal of the First Lady’s position as a figurehead because she doesn’t get paid iis kind of insulting.
KC: I dunno, I interpreted Mellie’s line a little differently. That First Lady is a title but it’s not an actual duty unless that woman takes it on as such. When HRC took on health care reform as First Lady, people were not congratulating her for using her platform as First Lady to push policy issues, they were saying “stay in your lane.” I interpreted it as saying the First Lady may have responsibility, but not to advance policy. And that is true.
VO: You’ve got a good point, but also Lizzie should’ve tested that line more.
I am glad Charlie is still alive. And he found a street doc, which makes me laugh at how affiable he is with Charlie. It’s a nice contrast to how tense everyone else is.
Charlie just fanboyed over Black Sable. I am cracking up.
KC: I’d love for Charlie to have his own show, he’s one of my favorite characters. He is so into his job.
VO: Huck saying Russian spies are cold inside cracks me up. Pot, have you met kettle?
KC: Huck’s not cold, he’s crazy!
VO: I love that Black Sable isn’t some hot Russian chick but a grandmother — I think it plays out perfectly with the time she was recruited and history.
KC: Totally. I liked her character too.
VO: How the fuck did Lizzie not research if there was a conflict of interest for a sitting First Spouse to run for office? Is there law on that? I really want to know now. For once I agree with Fitz and his whole exasperated, “HAS ANYONE CHECKED?’ line.
Poor David and how frazzled he is regarding everything.
KC: This is when this show annoys the hell out of me. Why wouldn’t anyone have checked this from jump? David is right to be frazzled.
VO: Weirdly I like Charlie interacting with all of OPA — he brings some weird crazy energy to the scenes. His “BLOOD!” as Rosen’s on the phone made me laugh.
KC: I think he’s unofficially a part of OPA now and I like it.
VO: Rowan knows his daughter so damn well. I like that because that’s exactly what she’d do.
KC: She is truly her father’s daughter.
VO: Russell was an intern wasn’t he? Because the man acts like an intern.
KC: Maybe he’s new to B613? He seems like a new recruit.
VO: They really have shitty hiring requirements if that’s true. This season is all about Olivia trying to bargain with people who can’t be bought. It’s interesting to watch her react to it.
KC: Excellent point. She’s operated on the idea that everyone has a price and she’s often dumbfounded when she finds people who are motivated by something other than money or power.
VO: Abby’s point about sending a man in for Sally is valid, given the knowledge about audiences and voters and stuff. Sometimes you’ve got to play dirty to get the overall goal. I just love Cyrus’ face of “OH HELL NO.”
KC: Or just life. When men make comments about gender, they’re seen as “objective.” But I dunno about Cyrus. I don’t think he’s right guy for this.
VO: Good grief Randall is stupid. At least he’s got a nice body.
KC: He’s just new to the spy game.
Vo: At least the whole battle between Cyrus and Sally led to the great scene between Kate Burton and Jeff Perry. The whole argument between those two have a lot of bite, which I love. And that rant I had before — Cyrus’ counterargument while I would agree that being a mother is more than a job, I also find his argument a bit too much of the placing value on something simply because they’re getting paid.
Also they’re neglecting the biggest point — it’s a question of ethics. True Mellie can run for Senate, but is it ethically right? I’d argue against it. Hell, even Cyrus’ question regarding Daniel Douglas is insulting — if Sally was the president, Daniel Douglas SHOULDN’T BE WORKING. The influence that employer could have over the executive wing is unsettling to be honest.
Yeah it might be legal, but as we’ve seen with Citizens United, that doesn’t make it right.
And now I want fried chicken.
KC: I love their chemistry. And it’s a very different relationship than they had on Grey’s. Running for office while your spouse is president isn’t ethically correct, I agree, but I think the idea that spouse and parent becoming the center of a woman’s professional focus, while its never asked of men is the point I was getting from the argument. Is it really the conflict of interest that people bristle at or that Mellie’s identity is something other than homemaker? There’s a difference between “work” and a “job” also. Cy is right, people get paid for jobs. Labor, often important, crucial labor, is often unpaid. And who gets paid for their labor and who doesn’t usually falls along gender and racial lines.
But lets talk about Cy’s moment of realness. He is bitter, he does feel like he’d be a better Senator than Mellie. He’s right too.
VO:I think that’s the thing for me — it’s more that the argument about ethics got caught up in the legalities and then a sexism issue that I feel like is separate from the question as to whether a spouse should have a job while their partner is president. I agree with you that men never get asked about this and I agree about labor vs jobs, but that’s not the point of the questions. To be honest, I think the sexism argument is more of a dodge and shield for the ethics questions, distracting voters from the question of not if it’s legal, but is it ethical? This is where I feel like both Sally and Cyrus are dictating the parameters of the argument, framing it on sexism, when it should be ethics.
To me, there’s nothing hinky about Mellie wanting to do more, be more. What’s hinky is her running for office while Fitz is still president and I disagree with Cyrus that a First Husband wouldn’t be asked those questions, because I feel like those questions haven’t come up because of the history, if that makes sense. We don’t know if Sally would agree to Daniel Douglas’ getting a job while in office because she’s not president (and he’s dead thanks to her).
So I guess overall my whole thing is the ethics issue. Also Sally is totally right. If Cy could run for Senate, he’d run Mellie over with a truck to get there. The man is thirsty for power.
I am really starting to like that Russian doctor for just how matter of fact he is.
KC: Yeah, he should be in a Luc Besson movie.
VO: For a moment I thought Randall was stupid, then I realized that Rowan was smart.
KC: Or both.
VO: I have this weird idea that Olivia is eventually going to have everyone in the bunker — Kim, Javi, Fitz, Mellie, Abby, Lizzie, etc.
Did Lizzie just give the Grants a way out of their insane horrible marriage? Why wouldn’t Mellie go for it? Oh yeah, the president’s dick is gold.
KC: Also walking away from this marriage, even though its long dead, has got to be rough. Mellie’s not a quitter.
VO: I feel Mellie, but this gives a better out than what they were dealing with before. But I don’t know if people would go for a divorcee’ Senate candidate.
Holy shit Olivia — she needs to teach Lizzie some shit in how to spin a campaign.
KC: Yeah she’s more of a political animal than a spy/strategist.
VO: DAMN ROWAN! I’m not surprised he did it, but I’m surprised he did it. I can hear Twitter screaming from here.
KC: That made me sad.
VO: “She was barely in B613 — she barely qualified for the health plan,” Dammit, now for the Office webseries, I want Charlie as a character in it, because he’s hilarious. And him in the business casual golf shirt for some reason makes me laugh.
KC: Charlie is a treasure.
VO: Mellie is laying on the pageant queen thing so thick.
KC: She’s good at it too.
VO: Olivia is about two minutes behind her dad, but she makes up for it in pistols. However, I was expecting her to pull a Inglourious Basterds and strangle him.
KC: This is the most badass thing she’s done in awhile, TBH. Very Alias.