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| Photo Credit: ABC |
“Disgusting!” You can't say Abby's
not succinct. The object of her missive is boyfriend Leo Bergen, now
known to her—and soon to the world if she doesn't stop it—as the
Dust Buster, a pseudonym bestowed upon him by Susan Thomas (Lena
Dunham), a 20-something chemistry grad and author about to publish a
manuscript detailing her sexual escapades with a multitude of D.C.
power players.
But let's play catch up first. “It's
Good To Be Kink”revolves around Sue's book and the anticipated
fallout, but what raises the episode rise above a Scandal spin
on Fifty Shades of Grey is the way it manages to both
wring humor out of its salacious premise and transcend it, using it
as a jump off to cover topics like gender politics, sexuality and
women in positions of power.
As was hinted at by her word of choice,
Abby has discovered Leo is one of the men immortalized in Sue's tome
(a list that includes dudes given such exotic aliases as Agent
Orange, Thruster and The Doctor), and goes to Olivia to ask her to
put the kibosh on the book.
Olivia goes to Sue's place and
unleashes her standard “I will destroy your miserable little life
if you don't do what I say because I'm Olivia Pope and I eat basic
bitches for breakfast,” speech, and Susan seems like she'll roll
over and keep quiet. Of course, you don't have Lena Dunham as a guest
star for her to only appear in one scene, so it's not a total
surprise when she shows up at OPA's offices. What is surprising—and
if I may add, fist pumping (sorry Liv)--is the way she flips Olivia's
threats of destruction into examples of how she's lost her essential
Popeness. Pouncing on the insinuation she'll be called a whore, Sue
criticizes Olivia for wagging her finger at her for airing powerful
men's dirty laundry, ignoring the fact Sue's dalliances with these
men are not just their stories, but her tales to tell as well.
More than the thrill of telling off a
woman who she deemed was once so badass other women got a contact
high from being in her vicinity, Sue wants money. And we're talking
millions. As she says, “Olivia Pope don't come cheap,” and if
whoever is trying to crush her publication glory can retain Liv's
services, they damn sure can shell out $3 million in hush money. Most
all of the guys are ready pony up, until David Rosen (David Rosen),
named The Doctor in Sue's book, pulls rank and says neither he nor
other lawmakers will participate in extortion.
The episode also highlights how
sex-related scandal affects the perception of men and women in vastly
different ways. When Leo mocks Abby for preemptively writing her
resignation letter (being that she was personally involved with two
men the book, which would--unfairly--call into question her personal
choices), he dismisses her concern, saying at worst she'll have to
endure a few jokes but will ride it out. In reality, he's talking
about what would happen to him if
he were in her position. In one of the hour's strongest scenes, Abby
reminds him they live in a world and political climate where her
weight, clothes, makeup or lack thereof are deemed equally important
as evaluating her job performance, where every article written about
her trumpets the fact Leo is her boyfriend as proof she can land a
man, while she's barely a blip in pieces written about him. “What
affects you, affects me,” she says.
But
back to Sue. “It's Good To Be Kink,” weaves her one-off story
into the ongoing plots, like the B6:13 expose, pretty seamlessly.
After it's revealed David's the good doctor, he knows his days as
attorney general are numbered, which would mean no full immunity for
Huck once he testifies to his many dastardly deeds. And well, you
know what happens when Huck starts to angry whisper.
At
first, it looks like Huck won't have to unleash the beast to ensure
Sue's silence. Picking up on her quip her story was “all she had
left,” OPA dig and find Susan was fired from her previous job after
reporting sexual harassment by her boss, who pushed for sex after
learning of her reputation. Olivia gets a legal case going and
secures several job interviews for Susan, and all appears handled.
However, after Quinn and Huck rescue her from a knife-wielding
lawmaker nearly exposed in her book, Huck, utterly convinced she'll
talk, slits her throat.
Later,
treating David's “not guilty but guilty” speech like white noise,
Huck signs his immunity papers and says he's going home. Hmmm, on one
hand I want to feel happy for him, as Huck is clearly a broken man.
And his logic's not completely off—it's been 50 years since JFK was
killed and there are still having women come forward claiming to have
had affairs with him. But I don't know, something about him
compartmentalizing slitting someone's throat so he can go home to
play happy family man doesn't sit right with me.
Susan blunt attitude towards her
sexuality also rubs off on Olivia. Speaking of Liv, I guess my call
that she was finding her way back last week was premature. True,
she's getting out a little more, as in coming into the office. But
her nights consist of poring up glass after glass of wine, the gun
she keeps on her at all times sitting beside the bottle. However,
getting a mouthful from Susan and reading some of her manuscript
seems to inspire her on a quest to get some. She flirts with a
handsome stranger (Brian White) at a bar, and is on her way to some
good sex, but a resting her hands on the counter of the ladies' room
makes her flashback to her time at the torture camp. Scared and
shaken out of her wits, she runs off.
Save for her inner
circle, no one really seems to grasp just how bad a shape Olivia's
in. Or worse, like Cyrus, they really don't seem to care. He acts
like a real asshole when Abby submits her resignation letter and
fills him in on Susan's book, coldly telling her he'll add it to the
list of things he has to get done. Later he meets up with Olivia,
filling her in own the latest White House dish (Mellie's senate run,
Jake and Fitz becoming BFFs, Ethan's continued uselessness) only in
an effort to woo her back, even though Liv says she's moving forward.
He appears to have a change of heart about Abby, bringing a suitcase
with $3 million dollars in it, presumably so Olivia she can pay off
Susan. However when she says it's been taken care of, his true
motivation come to light: he wants to know who the men are so he can
have dirt on them for down the road.
“This
town,” Olivia says, shaking her head and walking away. Later,
after learning of Sue's untimely demise, and be sorta lectured by
Quinn she has to let sleeping dogs lie since Abby was their client
(and essentially got what she wanted) she gets done up and heads out
to same bar. There, she meets the same stranger, but this time she
takes him home, ordering him to take his clothes off as she sashays
to the bedroom, clutching two wine glasses in her hand, flashing a
wide, sexy smile as the door closes. Now our
girl is finding her way back.
Next week: a gay
Republican wedding!
Other Thoughts:
--Lena's Dunham wig was horrendous.
That is all.
--Huck on Susan typing up her
manuscript on a typewriter “That's old school. Respect.”
--Tens across the board for musical
choices this episode, though given the subject matter it'd be hard to
screw up.
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