Trama

A government employee shocks Olivia by revealing how high the scandal goes.

The moment Olivia Pope steps into her car in a dark parking garage, she know shes not alone. Someone is in the backseat. Olivia screams for the intruder to get out. He does as she wishes, but not before begging for help regarding a government conspiracy. Olivia guns her car up the garage ramp. She screeches to a halt when the panicked man screams that they know about the late night calls shes been getting from the West Wing. Alarms are suddenly blaring in Olivias head.

Artie Hornbacher is a low-level data entry specialist for the NSA. He stole a program called Thorngate to prove that the government is spying on American citizens. Theres a good chance Artie is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, but Olivia digs into his story just to be sure. As it turns out, the guy is legit. The team assembles in a safe house while Huck hacks into Thorngate. The program self-destructs moments after they see an unaware Cyrus chatting inside the White House. Big Brother really is watching. Everyone!

Harrison and Abby head off to track down a woman named Monica who was on the Thorngate development team. They need this lady to corroborate Arties story until Huck can hack into the NSA to get the program back. Too bad Monica is dead in her apartment from what looks to be a suicide. The black sedan parked outside suggests that maybe Artie isnt paranoid enough. In other news, Olivia meets with a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Edison Davis. These two have obviously known each other for many years. Edison warns Olivia to stay away from the NSA.

As Mellie folds some new baby clothes sent to her by the Queen of England (yes, they are some really fancy baby clothes), she lets her husband know that its nice how the two of them are getting along now. Cyrus has also noticed that Fitz has been happy lately. At least, hes been acting happy. Fitzs exterior mood takes a dark turn once he learns that the NSA may have a whistleblower regarding Thorngate. He gets even more upset upon seeing a photo of Edison Davis meeting with Olivia. Cyrus knows his boss is a ticking time bomb.

Fitz is not the greatest shot when it comes to duck hunting. Still, its an activity he must engage in from time to time for political reasons. This particular hunting trip gets personal as two secret service agents deliver Olivia to the woods. Fitz must first fit her with some proper footwear before they have a private chat. Its the most stimulating, fervor-filled, uncomfortably silent shoe-fitting ever. The Cinderella moment ends when Fitzs fury over the Thorngate situation and Olivias meeting with her ex-boyfriend, Senator Davis, boils over. Rage turns to passion as the two of them kiss hard under a tree. Olivia ultimately pushes Fitz away telling him that its over. Talk about a scene that leaves you emotionally spent.

Mellie notices the difference in Fitz after his return from the hunting trip. She debriefs a couple of Secret Service agents in her own special way to learn that the cause of her hubbys mood swing was another secret meeting with Olivia Pope. Mellie screams at Fitz to get over her now. If he sees her again, she'll blow him away politically. We believe shell do just that. After all, shes a much better shot than Fitz. The hits have come rapidly for the president as he also knows that Cyrus used Thorngate during his late night chats with Olivia.

Olivia believes the only way to keep Artie alive is to go on national TV to expose what the government is doing to its citizens. Fitz wants to launch a legal tsunami to quash the interview. The network is about to buckle to the pressure until Olivia gives its boss a personal sneak peek at what Thorngate is all about once Huck gets everything back online. Too bad the man of the hour isnt ready for his close-up. Artie skips out of the safe house after swiping the Thorngate drive. He hops into the black sedan thats waiting for him outside.

Artie Hornbacher scammed Olivia in order to get her team to decrypt Thorngate. He killed Monica to help with the ruse. Huck tracks down Artie. He turns the guy over to the proper authorities after only hurting him a little. Abby knows Huck saved them on this one. She also knows that she cant keep hurling digs at Quinn after her colleague/former murder suspect tells her to go to hell. In other news, Edison Davis wants Olivia to take him on as a client now that the president has removed him from the Intelligence Committee. Our favorite fixer assures the senator that she no longer has any ties to the White House.

U.S. Attorney David Rosen has some explaining to do when his assistant, Alissa, catches sight of his Beautiful Mind-like research wall regarding the Quinn Perkins trial. So he explains. David knows that Olivia wouldnt have gone to such extremes to manipulate the justice system without good reason. He now believes that someone else may have wanted Quinns boyfriend and his coworkers dead. Someone else may have had a more sinister motive for the murders. Quinn may not be a killer, but someone in her office must know something about a possible cover up. Perhaps David can get the scoop now that hes sleeping with Abby. (from ABC.com)