If the show couldn't get any more intriguing and surprising, "Beltway Unbuckled" pulls out all the stops to throttle us some more. So how does the bombing in California concern Olivia? Well, David Rosen continues to investigate and in his pursuit of truth turns up a connection to a Texas Oil tycoon with an office in DC (the great character actor Gregg Henry with a plum part, laying on the country charm and slick pitchman personality). Oh, and if that wasn't juicy enough, Abby has become lovers with David and listens to his theory about the case! It doesn't stop there, though, as a Supreme Court judge (dying of cancer) and even the First Lady could be involved somehow! A politician from another country is responsible for death of a young woman and Pope represents her parents who wish for him to pay for leaving her to die instead of taking her to a hospital to recover from injuries that weren't fatal. Huck tries to convince the dead girl's father not to take matters into his own hands when it appears the President cannot talk the criminal's country into lifting immunity. Olivia and Fitz must endure what appears to be a definite end to any sort of potential future together and that agony is so evident on their faces and on their persons
Washington and Goldwyn are such good actors, that their misery, that aching to be together and the inability to do so is so palpable. The increasing rift that exists between Fitz and the First Lady is further and further widening. I'm curious how great a gulf will exist in this marriage as the show continues! For the greater good of lying to the country that the Presidential marriage is a-okay, seeing the episode take us into the real goings-on of this relationship is fascinating to watch! Senator Edison David (Norm Lewis) is still under investigation by the White House for "sharing intel" with Olivia, but perhaps the President will find it in his heart to call off the dogs. Meanwhile, Abby's frustrations with Olivia's "wall of silence" are infuriating her and any attempt to learn anything that is tormenting her remains concealed. Also Quinn is herself discouraged with why Olivia is so tight-lipped about her secrets regarding why she was rescued from the death penalty and criminal case regarding the bombings. The great secret continues to get dangled over the viewer like a forbidden fruit we want to bite into but can't reach. Fitz' yearning for Olivia (and vice versa) doesn't just stop even though both agree to "call it off" which is just too much a part of the show's appeal. No show I have seen in some time confronts the issue of love being unabated due to the demands of career like this one. That two people must endure separation when they want so badly to be in each other's embrace is quite a dramatic piece this show thrives on. We know they want to be an item but as we have seen in the soap operas of time, love unrequited is a lynchpin of good melodrama. Can Olivia (and should she?) keep her people at such a distance and hold onto her secrets? Does her treatment of Abby push away an important piece of her successful team? What is the big picture regarding the company bombed? Lots still unanswered...the cliffhanger if done right, can be a mastered artform in itself. "Scandal" has learned this all too well.
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