02x04 - Beltway Unbuckled

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Scandal". Aired: April 2012 to April 2018.*
Watch/Buy Amazon


A White House Communications Director leaves to start her own crisis management firm only to discover she has not left the past behind.
Post Reply

02x04 - Beltway Unbuckled

Post by bunniefuu »

Oh, David.

Previously on "Scandal"...

This is bigger than Quinn Perkins.

It's bigger than Olivia Pope.

Maybe someone else wanted Quinn's boyfriend and six other Cytron employees dead?

My name is Huck, and I'm an alcoholic.

I like to drink, let's say...

(Whirs) Whiskey.

The president of the United States had me kicked off the senate intelligence committee and is having my behavior looked into by the ethics committee, and to my thinking, it's because I was reckless enough to talk to you, so now I'm your client pro bono.

Unless you have a conflict of interest.

You're not still tied to the White House, are you?

(Voice breaking) I am not yours.

I don't show up places because you want me.

This is over.

No, no ties.

Really, honey? You needed to spend a few minutes with your girlfriend?

Mellie...

Get over her!

(Door opens)

(Mellie sighs)

(Door closes)

Fitz.

Fitzgerald.

(Sighs)

(Groans)

There are nine other bedrooms in this place besides our room and this nursery.

You are sweating up the baby's sofa.

I will have to have it cleaned.

(Sighs) If I sleep in one of the other bedrooms, the staff will know.

So then they'll know.

Mellie, if the staff knows, then the press will know in under 24 hours.

Good for them.

Really?

You're fine with the press knowing that we don't sleep in the same bed?

Tell the press that pregnancy is making me toss and turn, so you're sleeping in another bed so that I can be more comfortable, tell them that you have been staying up late in bed trying to come up with new ways to keep America safe and Democratic and free, and you don't want to disturb my pretty little head with all that thinking, or tell them that I don't want to spend my nights sleeping next to a man who gets erections in his sleep dreaming of Olivia Pope.

Your choice. I don't care.

(Inhales and exhales deeply)

Relax. I'm kidding. For now.

When do you leave for the G8 summit?

Next week.

Can't you leave sooner?

No.

Why not?

Because I can't leave the country I run just because my wife doesn't want to look at my face.

(Sighs) Fine. Whatever.

(Door opens)

(Door closes)

(Exhales)

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Indistinct conversations)

(Woman) Ooh. Is that fake sweetener?

I'm only asking 'cause my Uncle Dave, he works at a rat lab.

You ever been to a rat lab?

It's basically rats running in cages.

Or not running depending on what kind of chemicals they've been pumped with.

Some of the ones with sweetener, they start out peppy, but...

Then they spit up blood and they die.

But that's just rats.

(Exhales) Yummy-yum. A Danish.

I saw you got your 6-month sobriety chip the other day.

Congratulations.

One day at a time.

It's whiskey, right?

Yep. Whiskey.

Nice to meet you, whiskey. I'm cocaine.

Ohh.

(Pants) Okay.

That was the last time.

Yeah, I think you said that the last time and the time before that.

Also times four through six, but oddly not the seventh time...

Ohh. - So I really should remember what I did there.

I'm thinking it involved pillows.

You don't like my bed, we could always go to your place.

Oh, wait, we can't, because you're a serial k*ller who keeps his victims' bodies immersed in tanks of formaldehyde in the living room.

You watch a disturbing amount of television.

(Cell phone rings and buzzes)

Who is it?
(Rings and buzzes)

My mother.

Do you mind making yourself scarce?

I know it sounds juvenile, but she'll hear your breathing, and then I'll never hear the end of it.

I'll hop on the shower.

(Exhales)

(Buzz)

(Door opens)

(Shower running) (Sighs)

(Beep) All right. Make it quick, Alissa. I'm at Abby's.

No, she refuses to talk about work, and I'm not pushing her on it.

Because I don't want to raise her suspicions, and please stop calling me "007."

Because you're using it sarcastically.

Did you get the phone records?

Great. Let me know when you find anything.

(Beep)

(Sighs)

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)



(Woman) Bye, sweetheart. Anything you need, call us.

(Man) Don't work too hard, honey. (Grunts)

It's not just about studying.

Bye, Jenny. We love you.

Love you, too.

(Singsongy) Sophomore year.

(Woman) Whoo!


(Remote clicks)
(Man) That's the last time we saw her.

When did you realize she was missing?

Sunday the 18th, 4 days ago.

Jenny always attends the church service on campus and calls us right after.

When we couldn't reach her by Monday, we just knew something was off.

And the police say they're looking into it.

Which they are, but it's clearly not a priority for them, which is why I stepped in.

It's the least I can do for my constituents.

First thing we need to do is get national media involved.

It's not your daughter who's missing.

It's everyone's daughter. That's the way it should feel.

It's the difference between two people looking for Jenny and 300 million.

We'll also need a picture.

And not just any picture, the picture... The one you can't forget because it's the definition of innocence.

And finally, there's the plea.

Get it right, and you're a front-page story.

And, Jenny...

If you're watching this, mommy and daddy love you.

And we will find you.

Promise.

She nailed it.

(Kool & The g*ng's "Jungle Boogie" playing)

(Laughs)

What is it?

Uh, a friend of mine at the "Post" asking if we know anything about the "beltway unbuckled" thing yet.

Must be some scandalous new post.
(Tapping keys)

You been reading this thing?

Mnh-mnh.

So there's this girl, right? She goes out every night and then blogs about it anonymously.

And by "going out," I mean, she screws some politician and then writes about what a bad lay he is.

That's weird.

What?

It hasn't been updated.

She usually updates it at least once a week, and this one hasn't been updated since...



She's the "beltway unbuckled" girl.

Jenny Nystrom? - Someone found out, leaked it to the "post."

She's the one, Liv, the one who's been sleeping around town.

Which is why the blog hasn't been updated since...

(Olivia and Huck) Saturday the 17th.

So the girl we spent the last three days describing as the innocent girl next door...

Has had her hands down the pants of every other senator in town.

You're calling?

Edison to thank him for doing such terrific due diligence.

Senator Davis, please. It's Olivia Pope.

Let the slut shaming begin.

♪ Jungle boogie ♪

I mean, here's a girl, Baines University coed, wasting her opportunities and throwing herself like a... well, I'm just gonna say it... whore at every powerful man in town.

The where, when, who of this...

Where Jenny was when she disappeared, who she was last seen with... It's all in the blog.

We just need to decipher it.

♪ Get down, get down ♪

Thursday was cafe Milano with the solar lobbyist that was Tuesday.

Thursday was "what married Palm State political "has a secret flat near the market "that's well-stocked with nose candy and olive oil?

Quite the combo last night after hours."

Palm State is South Carolina.

Market? I'm guessing eastern market on Capitol Hill.

Senator Baylor??

Out of town. Maybe Randolph?

I'll get the cops on it.

At some point, you have to ask why a girl need this much sexual attention and dr*gs and booze

(Ringing) (Quinn) Thanks for calling. Can you please hold?

Please hold.

Yes, sir. I'm back. Albuquerque airport.

Uh-huh. Wait.

You think you saw Jenny?

Sir, there are a lot of brunettes in Albuquerque.

I'm gonna need for you to be more specific.

(Ringing) No, I can't send you the money first.

What I want to know is, who takes responsibility here?

How was this girl raised?

I mean, where are the parents in all this?




No more tv.

So Thursday was drinks at Saint Ex followed by dinner at the Grill and an after-party and potential but unconfirmed orgy at Randolph's Capitol Hill Townhouse.
(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

Friday was casino night followed by a mellow little cocaine and champagne soiree in the executive suite at the Ritz, which gets us to Saturday.

What did Jenny do Saturday before she disappeared?

Checked herself into rehab, I hope.

Checked all the fancy ones. No dice.

Oh, thank God!

(Quinn) I think I might have found her.

A girl. There's a girl...

Unconscious in a hospital near Newport, Rhode Island.

Matches Jenny's description.

And you think she's okay?
(Cell phone ringing)

Alcohol poisoning, but she's stable.

The hospital's faxing me a photo go identify her. (Beeps)

(Lowered voice) Hey.

Thanks, Bill. I'll be right there.

(Speaking inaudibly)

(Man) Be careful, ma'am.
(Olivia) Thanks.

(Indistinct police radio chatter)

(Sighs)

(Fax machine receiving tone sounding) Here it is. It's coming through.

(Tone continues)

(Whirring)

(Olivia sighs)

(Projector and camera shutter click)

She's got an ankle bracelet with a cross on it.

(Projector and camera shutter click)

(Whirs)

That's not our daughter.

That's not...

Jenny.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Crying)

(Sighs)

That's Jenny Nystrom.

(Projector and camera shutter click)

(Olivia) Where are we?

(Abby) No phone at the scene.

(Harrison) It's a long sh*t to think whoever k*lled her wouldn't have tossed it.

Yeah, but not having it makes figuring out where she was that night a little more difficult.

She was at the state department at a party called "around the world."

She was gonna write about it in her blog.

(Olivia) How do you know?

She would upload her blog entries to a remote server before posting them.

I reset the password. Got access to her files this morning.

(Quinn) Around the world?

(Harrison) It's a benefit banquet all the embassies send their staffers to.

Prime hunting ground for party girls.

How is a 19-year-old on the guest list for a state department party?

If you're young and hot and men like talking to you, you're on the list.

Abby, make some calls.

Find out who Jenny talked to at the party, if she was seen going home with anyone.

Quinn, Harrison, follow up on the autopsy.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

Tell me what happened.

She was filming a P.S.A.

In the east room with some school children.

The one about eating your vegetables?

The one about getting vaccinated.

And then what, Canada invaded?

Is that why I was dragged out of my meeting with the joint chiefs of staff?

Did the children die of mumps before they were able to finish?

Actually, it's worse than that.

He puked on me...

That filthy little runt with the eye patch under his glasses.

Top of my class at Harvard, top of my class at Yale law, and this is what I've been reduced to?

(Door closes)
(Cyrus) You summoned?

(Mellie) This was a $600 skirt.

Stop scrubbing me! It's ruined.

Thank you for your help. I will be fine from here.

Thank you.

(Door opens and closes)

I want something done.

I'm not sure what you...

Excuse me, sir, is there a reason that you're here and not in the oval working?

A child puked on my pregnant wife.

I've rushed to her side to comfort and care for her.

I'm pretending I give a damn.

I can't work with this.

I am holding the sticky hands of children who pick their noses and telling their idiot parents to do their job and immunize their kids.

How stupid do you have to be not to immunize your kid?

Isn't it just natural selection if your unimmunized, snot-nosed brat gets smallpox in the 21st century?

And I have to smile and get puked on?

This is my platform?!

This is what I'm supposed to do all day?!

It's part of the job description.

I want a seat at the table.

You have a seat at the table.

The kiddie table.

I want to be at the adults' table like I was during the election.

Mellie... - Or have you forgotten how things worked back then?

We've all made sacrifices, me as much as anyone.

That was the election. This is the White House.

And in the White House, this is the way things work.

(Exhales)
(Door opens and closes)

I'd say 20 minutes is long enough to fake worry about you.

I want to be heard.

Like Cyrus said, we've all made sacrifices.

I know I have, but I suck it up!

I suggest you do the same.

(Gasping)

(Door closes)

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

Check that out. Windshield.

We also have some contusions and rib fractures from the safety restraints.

That's what gave her the internal injuries.

So you're saying she d*ed in a car crash?

Ah, soil samples from the scene...

(Taps keys) Match soil samples from her lungs, which means they were still breathing when they dumped her.

So she was...

Alive. Totally.

Crazy part? Her internal lacs really weren't all that bad.

She ends up in a hospital instead of a ditch, she probably would've been okay.

(Olivia) Alive?

Are you telling me Jenny was on her face in a ditch suffocating on dirt and slowly bleeding out for five hours?

Any leads at all?

She was definitely at the state department party.

Still don't know who she left with.

I got a guest list.

The glass they pulled out of Jenny's skull was from a 458 spider.

Okay, cross-reference the make and model with the state department guest list.

It's a start.

Are you coming back to the office?

We could use your help.

Soon. I'll be there soon.

(Line disconnects)

(Dial tone)

Hi. Can you tell me, has an Olivia Pope checked in for her chemo yet?

(Monitor beeping rhythmically)

(Verna) Olivia.

I thought I said no visitors. (Coughs)

Actually, that was my rule, but only because you hired me to keep your condition secret.

As your friend, however, I think you need all the support you can get.

Yes, and as a supreme court justice, I know that as soon as I go public, I'll have half the country rooting for my demise.

While the other half prays for your recovery.

Don't you have somewhere you have to be?

No. I have some time.

I'm serious.

Aren't you supposed to be fixing someone or saving someone right now?

Why isn't that phone of yours ringing or buzzing or dinging or whatever it is blueberries do? - I turned it off.

You've learned nothing from me over the years.

What is the one thing...

Never turn off my phone.

Exactly. Then why the hell is...

Verna, you're getting chemo.

My phone is off.

(Monitor continues beeping rhythmically)

(Inhales deeply) I must be dying faster than I thought.

There are nine 458 spiders in the D.C. area registered to these owners.

(Abby) All men, it turns out, because women don't have embarrassingly small sex organs they need to compensate for.

Read us the names and we'll check them against the state department's guest list.

Yuri Grechko.

Grechko. No.

Brian Turner.

No.

Yashiro Kyoto.

Mnh-mnh.

Philip Lemley.

Mnh-mnh.

Sebastian Overby. Alexander Lavich. Kenneth Morse.

Wait. Lavich.

Alexander Lavich. He on the list?

Mm-hmm.

Call the police. I'll call Liv.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

They bring Lavich in for questioning yet?

He's there now, and get this...

The night our girl goes missing, Alexander Lavich drives his car into a tree.

He tells police he's the only one in the car, but the site of the accident?

Less than 50 yards from the ditch they found her body in. Liv, this is our guy.

I'll tell the Nystroms they can stop holding their breath.

Hang up. Now.

What's the matter with you?

I've been trying to reach you.

Your cell was off. We have a problem.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking) Alexander Lavich...

41, cultural attache at the Kurkistani embassy.

And with diplomatic immunity, virtually untouchable.

We can't challenge it, his immunity?

I don't know, go to a judge, get it revoked?

The Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations mandates that all diplomatic agents have full immunity from the jurisdiction of the local courts, which means they can't arrest him, they can't try him.

He can't even be held or questioned.

The only way we get him is if Kurkistan revokes his immunity, and the only way they do that...

Is if the president of the United States makes them.

Where are you going?

Out.

Are you gonna keep your cell on this time?

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Cyrus) You can't be here.

I wouldn't have come if I didn't need a favor.

You want Fitz to call the Prime Minister of Kurkistan and ask to waive Lavich's diplomatic immunity. - Yes.

No. Politically impossible right now.

I can't go into why, but...

You need access to Kurkistan's airspace in case you want to att*ck east Sudan.

(Sighs) I just left a meeting with three staffers who think Kurkistan is next to Morocco.

God, I miss you. Also, you can't be here.

A young girl was brutally left to die...

Yes, dead girl, v*olence, m*rder, people are bad...

I'm feeling emotions.

The only reason I allowed you through those White House gates is because he's on the hill right now.

You can't be here. He's not doing well.

He's struggling, he's suffering, and seeing you will make it worse.

I've gotta keep his mind in the G8, so you have to go before he comes...
(Door opens)

(Sighs deeply) (Door closes)

Before he comes back and sees you.

I could be running Harvard right now.

I had the job. I turned it down.

Mr. President...

I'm here about Jenny Nystrom.

What happened to Jenny Nystrom is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to her family, but we are not asking Kurkistan to waive diplomatic immunity.

We can't, and you know we can't because you're smart and because you used to work here.

So I'm not sure why you came to the White House.

Did you show up here to awaken my conscience, make me see the error of my ways?

'Cause I'm awake.

I see the errors, thank you.

(Bag rustles)

(Door opens)

(Door closes)

(Man) Over here!

How long were you seeing the girl?

(Woman) Did you know she was still alive when you left the scene?

(Man) Are you gonna issue a statement?

You want a statement? Here's my statement.

(Click) You got the man elected, for God sakes.

He is the President of this country because of you.

He owes you.

There are strategic considerations.

Oh, please, Olivia.

A 19-year-old girl is dead, and we know who k*lled her.

There's your strategic consideration.

I'll make an appointment with him.

I'll tell him I'm ready to support his weak-kneed solar policy.

Edison, you're being investigated by the ethics committee for discussing intel with me.

They're not gonna let you past the guard gate.

The president has de-friended you.

Now is not the time for you to be the public face of this or anything else.

A couple of grieving parents, on the other hand...

(James brown)
♪ can't pass the people ♪
♪ can't pass the, hit me ♪

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(People speaking indistinctly)

Peter Nystrom says he's not going anywhere until the President gets involved and insists that the Embassy of Kurkistan waive Alexander Lavich's immunity...

The embassy is adamant that Mr. Lavich's immunity protects him from any further investigations, and they're not wrong. According to the rules...

Now it's just a game of chicken.

Look, I feel like a jerk out here waving my arms at the White House like a crazy person, trying to get the President's attention.

Heck, I even voted for the guy.

But I'm here because Jenny deserves justice, and I've run out of options.

(Shouting questions at once)

Our forward bases will receive daily fuel shipments out of Kurkistan provided they don't get skittish, which we can't afford.

In the event we're forced to engage with east Sudan, we'd like to avoid putting the boots on the ground.

If, however, the initial battery of air strikes isn't enough to make...
(Speaks indistinctly)

We do have the 172nd drilling for the possibility...
(Continues indistinctly)

Jenny is innocent.

She was a good kid and a good daughter, and... I think if I can just talk to the President father to father, i just hope he would understand and try to help.

(Sighs) That's it.

Thank you.


It's smart. It's brilliant. The optics, the staging...

She's taking my playbook and throwing it in our faces.

She has the moral high ground here, Cy.

An American girl was m*rder*d, and those parents deserve justice.

The better half of me wants to toss that son of a bitch in prison, immunity be damned.

Sir...

The political half of me knows I can't.

Keep your pants on.

(Protesters chanting) We want justice!

We want justice!

(Man) Day three of the Peter Nystrom vigil, and still no response from the White House.

But growing support from Americans who are pitching their tents in solidarity, turning this now into a major standoff where on one hand you've got the President of the United States digging his heels in over foreign policy and on the other, you've got an innocent young woman who the American people desperately want him to fight for.

(Protesters chanting) We want justice! We want justice!

(Shouting and chanting indistinctly)

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

David, I'm not asking for a tour.

I'm just saying, I have cookies... delicious, "you'll be my sl*ve forever once you eat these" cookies.

And if you're home tonight, I can...

You have plans tonight. Right.

By "plans," you mean peeling the skin off your latest victim.

No. I get it. Forget I asked.

(Cell phone beeps)

(Huck) There artificial sweetener in that?

(Sighs) People and their secrets.

Between this one and Olivia, it's like we're living in the Soviet union.

Hell, I'm an open book.

What about you, Huck? What's your secret?

Artificial sweetener makes rats spit up blood.

That's not true.

There are whole studies that say that's not true.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Inhales sharply)

Every call made to and from Quinn's ex-boyfriend in the three weeks leading up to the expl*si*n.

Wow. And several pieces of popcorn.

Uh, Jane got a popper. I think she's trying to bond with me.

(Inhales sharply) So how's it going with the ginge?

Abby. Her name is Abby.

She seen your apartment yet? Did she see that wall?

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Doorknob rattling)

(Knocks)

Oh, steamy out there, right?

I'm schvitzing.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

O.M.G. You like her.

Oh, will you...

I am simply using her for information.

Uh, no, you're using me for information.

You're using her to get laid, and you totally like her.

Word to the wise, 007, if you really like her, do not let her see that wall.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

Manzani's pizza, Manzani's pizza, Manzani's pizza, ooh, T.J.'s Fried Chicken.

Oh, yay. Special occasion.

You're gonna want to skip to page eight.

That's where things get interesting.

A D.C. area code.

That Quinn's ex-boyfriend Jesse called 11 times the week before he d*ed.

David Rosen.

Glad to finally meet you.

I always keep an eye out for legal talent.

A man in my position can't have too many lawyers, unfortunately.
(Chuckles) No offense.

None taken.

Sit. So what can I do you for?

Well, I wanted to ask about Cytron, a small software company in California.

Sorry, my friend. Name doesn't ring any...

Wait. That the company that young girl blew up?

Case the government screwed the pooch on?

Now that was a slam dunk right there.

Whoever lost that thing is about as a sharp as a sack of wet mice.

That wasn't your case?

Afraid so.

Ouch.

In any event, according to phone records, Jesse Tyler, one of the young men who was k*lled in the expl*si*n, made 11 calls to your company in the week before he d*ed.

You need to speak to my I.T. boys about that.

Heck, they nerd-talk all over the world...

India, Hong Kong, Malaysia.

These weren't calls to your I.T. department.

Well, they weren't calls to me.

I don't know about that software stuff.

My grandkids can't even teach me how to use my telephone.

Well, actually, they were calls to your head of security, which is confusing, because Doyle energy doesn't have a contract with Cytron.

Never has.

Now that is a mystery.

So would it be possible to talk with your security head?

Absolutely.

Just come back with a warrant or subpoena or whatever it is you boys over at the U.S. attorneys office normally get, and then all those lawyers of mine I was talking about...

They can advise you on what they'd need to see.

I hoped he and I might speak more informally.

Well, now he wouldn't be much of a security head if he didn't keep things secure.

Thanks for your time.

Pleasure.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

You know, you really don't have to stay.

I'm good.

Liv, you don't have time for this. I watch the news.

You're going for broke in Lafayette square.

You're poking a bear. With that protest across the street from the White House...

You're poking a bear.

I'm doing what I have to do to get Alexander Lavich's immunity waived.

You try so hard to get that man to walk away from you.

Have you ever stopped to consider how painful it's gonna be if you succeed, if he actually does walk away?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

We worked on the general election together, and I'm not stupid.

And we've been through far too much together to pretend.

And you're pushing him away because you think it's the right thing to do, as if right and wrong are fixed.

And if you succeed in pushing him away...

Liv, I've seen you two together.

You breathe in sync.

You have a very active imagination.

You are poking a bear.

Please stop.

Please.

Well, at least turn your phone back on. (Beep)

Verna, I really don't think that we...

(Cell phone alert chimes)

(Chime) The White House.

(Chime) I see why you turned your phone off, to keep my active imagination in check.

(Chime)

(Beep)

Hi.

Hello, Olivia.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

Let's talk about us, you and me.

Mellie, I certainly don't want to...

If we lived in Kurkistan, we would've been married off at the age of 12 to pay a debt or buy some livestock or to feed the mennonough to keep growing opium in the fields.

And after our weddings, our husbands would b*at us and r*pe us and force us to bear their children before we were done being children ourselves.

And we wouldn't vote or drive or have voices or rights of any kind.

I wouldn't want that for my daughter or myself...

Or you.

So when some self-important goat herder from that crappy little wasteland thinks he can come here to the United States of America and treat one of our bright, young, college-educated women with less dignity than a dog run down on a country road, I take exception.

What do you want, Mellie?

Your story, that protest... It's starting to die.

The crowds get smaller every day, and my husband's administration is refusing to engage.

It would be a great help to you if the first lady of the United States took a stand on this, wouldn't it?

Why am I here, Liv, at a protest that I've already covered?

Because I told you it would be worth it, and if I say it's going to be worth it, it's worth it, so turn on your camera, stop complaining, and decide how you're gonna thank me.

Olivia...

Camera on.

(Indistinct conversations)

(Camera shutters clicking)

Mr. and Mrs. Nystrom, I just want to say how sorry I am for your loss.

I have two children, and as you can see, I'm about to have a third, and I just can't imagine the pain you must be going through right now.

Would you mind if I joined you for a bit?

(Reporters shouting at once) No, no.

No questions at this time.

I'm not here in any official capacity.

I'm not here as first lady.

I'm here as a mom, a mom who is horrified that our legal system has fallen woefully short in getting justice for Jenny Nystrom.

(Man) Mrs. Grant, why isn't the White House doing more?

The woman's a political genius.

Which one?

Huh?

Mellie or Liv?

Both. They both are.

(Laughing)

Mr. President...

(Continues laughing)

Mr. President.

(Continues laughing) I'm sorry. Sorry.

(Inhales deeply)

I'm the leader of the free world, I'm arguably the most powerful man on the planet, and I am being brought to my knees by my wife and my...

And Olivia Pope.

This is a political nightmare.

Jenny Nystrom has become more important than the entire nation of east Sudan thanks to Liv and Mellie.

They worked together.

I...

(Scoffs)

They worked together.

The women in your life play a very mean game of political chess.

Game over. They win.

(Sighs)

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Tvs playing inaudibly)

(Sighs) How long's she been doing that?

A long time.

Always in circles or is she varying the pattern?

Circles.

If she would talk to someone, let someone in once in a while, maybe she wouldn't wear out so many pairs of expensive shoes.

The hell with it. I'm going in.

Any word from the White House?

(Sighs)

Okay, I deserve to know things.

Since that trial, everything has been a secret.

Everything has been a one-way street, and if you would just... What is going on?

Who are you protecting? What does Quinn have on you that makes you so determined to put yourself at risk?

Don't worry about it.

Don't worry about it? It's all I do.

I worry about it because you won't talk to me, you won't tell me anything.

The trial's been over for weeks.

Everyone's moved on.

I'm done suggesting you do the same.

I now require it.
Move on.

(Cell phone alert chimes)

(Chime)

I need to take this privately.

Of course you do.

Cyrus.

15 minutes. Our old place.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Indistinct conversations)

Hi. Reservation for two. Cyrus Beene.

You're the first to arrive. This way.

(Indistinct conversations continue)

Thank you.

Can I get you something to drink?

Just some water.

(Indistinct conversations continue)

(Sighs)

(Indistinct conversations stop)

(Footsteps approaching)

(Chair scrapes floor)

(Chair scrapes floor)

The United States is declaring Lavich persona non grata and deporting him.

So Lavich is forced out of the U.S.

And has to return home to Kurkistan, where he'll, I don't know, chill for the rest of his life in a giant palace while Jenny Nystrom's m*rder goes unavenged?

It's the best I can do.

Nice. Wonderful.

America's the greatest country in the world.

One of your staffers could've told me this over the phone.

I wanted to see you.

Why? What's the point?

I'm going to the G8 tonight.

You want to hitch a ride on Air Force One?

(Sighs)

Yeah, I didn't think so.

(Sighs)

You must really hate me.

For falling in love with you.

I tried. I made the call.

I asked Kurkistan to withdraw support for Lavich so I could have him arrested.

They said no, so I did the next best...

Can I walk out of here, or will I be stopped by Tom and Hal?

Liv.

(Voice breaking) Where can this go, really?

Other than me joining the Mile High Club with you in Air Force One, how is there any future here?

(Sighs)

Fine.

We're done.

What?

I'm letting you go.

That's what you want, right?

And look, I'll drop the charges against Edison.

The ethics committee doesn't need to look at him.

It's fine.

You go your way. I'll go mine.

I'm married. I have children.

I can't do this.

It's not fair to you or to me or to Mellie or to the country.

I have to be responsible.

Right?

Right.

Okay.

Okay.

Well... you order whatever you want.

It's all being charged to me anyway.

(Exhales deeply)

(Crying)

(Man) Mr. President, do you think you did enough?

(Fitz) I think...

I think I did what I had to do in the face of complicated foreign policy.

Our options were limited.

Did I want to do more? Did I try to do more?

Of course.

I hope the Nystrom family as well as the American people will not consider this a defeat, because it's not.

Despite the circumstances, despite the insurmountable obstacles, we tried.

And now it's important to know when to move on.

So that's what we're doing.

We're moving on.


(Clicks)

(Peter) He's giving in. He's caving.

(Olivia) Peter, the President has done everything he...

I don't give a damn about international law or treaties!

They're nonsense!

They mean nothing!

That man k*lled our daughter!

Where are you going now?

What?

Where are you going?

The hotel. Back to the hotel.

(Zips up jacket) Don't do it.

Excuse me...

Wherever you are going after you drop your wife at the hotel, the hardware store, the g*n shop, the safe in the back of your closet...

Don't go there.

Don't do it. It's not worth it.

He's not worth it. It will feel good for a few seconds, but then it will eat at you for the rest of your life.

Let me ask you, you got kids?

No, sir.

Yeah.

I didn't think so.

(Footsteps approach)

You did good work for those people.

(Scoffs)

You did good work.

Hard to feel like it, but you did.

These girls...

They come here thinking they're going to change the world, and then they get involved with some man, and everything just...

I thought we were very good together.

You weren't talking about me.

(Chuckles)

Which is awkward.
(Chuckles)

We were good together.

Come here.

Come here.

Everything's gonna be all right.

No, it's not.

Why is Abby the only one who ever questions Olivia?

(Glass clatters) Mm. Come again?

Look...

Look, I'm trying here. Okay? I am.

I am trying to be a team player.

I'm trying to be just another associate at Pope and Associates, but every time I look at Olivia, I think, this woman saved my life, and she won't tell me how and she won't tell me why.

And I know she's done things for all of us, fixed all of us.

But no one asks her any questions.

We all just do whatever she says, and... doesn't that ever bother you?

You know what I think about when I look at Olivia?

My bookkeeping degree.

What?

That's what you do, right, when you're spending eight years in federal prison?

That's what I was facing for insider trading.

Eight years of my life...
(Imitates sh**ting sound)

Wasted if she hadn't saved me.

So the way I see it, Liv's a good person, and if a good person has to do something bad for the right reasons, I'm down... with... that.

So I don't know the hows I don't want to know the whys.

I just come to work every day thankful as all hell I didn't have to earn a bookkeeping degree.

Hmm?

Mmm.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(Tv playing indistinctly)

I don't understand why you have to get gas tonight.

It'll save us time in the morning.

(Woman) ...Embroiled in a scandal this week involving the death of a Baines University sophomore... - Oh, my God!

was found unconscious in a Washington, D.C. home...

(Volume increases)
Police were called to the scene where Lavich was pronounced dead, the victim of what appears to be a freak heart att*ck.

(Huck) Earlier tonight I went out.

I went out hard, drank a lot of whiskey.

I wish I could say I didn't enjoy it, that I felt sick to my stomach, that I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror afterwards, but I can't say that, because it was...

It was perfect.

And that kind of perfection doesn't make me feel weak, it makes me feel strong.

(Exhales)

I looked at myself in the mirror, and I finally recognized that person I once knew so well, that person who went out all the time, sometimes just for fun.

And now that I've seen that person again, I don't know if I could ever go back.

(Camera shutters clicking, reporters shouting at once)

(Man) Mr. President!

(Camera shutters continue clicking)

You gonna miss me?

That was an asinine thing you did today.

Worked out well for me this time, but the next time you cross me...

Careful. You don't want to thr*aten me.

'Cause I might actually get angry.

Now say good-bye to our child.

You never miss a b*at, do you?

(Chuckles)

(Reporters continue shouting at once)

Good luck in Tokyo!

I love you!

(Shouting continues)

(Humming)

Holy... what the hell?

Relax.

I already saw your wall when I broke in earlier.

What are you... You can't just break in...

You... what are you... What the hell?

Is this something, you and me? Is it?

Are you just having fun? Is this just sex?

Or is this real? Or... is this something?

(Sighs)

This is something.

Then we should talk about what's going on with Olivia Pope.

I've been focused on Quinn Perkins.

I've been focused on Olivia Pope.

I've been wrong.

(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

(David) They know things. They're involved, sure.

But the m*rder of those seven people at Cytron software...
(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

It's bigger than them... Much bigger.

'Cause why is Jesse Tyler, Quinn Perkins' dead ex-boyfriend, calling an oil tycoon in D. C...
(Projector and camera shutter clicking)

11 times the week he's blown to bits?

Maybe they were old friends.

Maybe he's related to the guy.

One of the grant administration's biggest donors?

Wake up and smell the cover-up, Abby.

This is a conspiracy.

Who knows how high up it goes?

Sure do you appreciate you making the time, friends.

So what do you think?

I think Oswald acted alone.

I think 9/11 was just a t*rror1st att*ck, and I think AIDS is a crappy disease, not a biological w*apon created by the Pentagon.

I think "conspiracy" is a strong word.

(sighs)

I hear we have a David Rosen issue.

That we do, Livie. That we do.

(Helicopter whirring)

(Sighs)

(Projector and camera shutter click)

(Whirring continues)
Post Reply