If you would like to read my review of last week’s episode, click here.
Synopsis: Fitz stays in Vermont and hides from the limelight during the first 100 days of Mellie’s presidency, adjusting to life as an ordinary citizen for the first time in years. Eventually, Marcus joins him to begin important work on his presidential library. (TVGuide)
Writers: Zahir McGhee
Director: Scott Foley
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 43 mins
“Day 101” starts off with Fitz returning to his Vermont home for the first time since he left office. He wakes up to a line of staffers waiting for his command, but he dismisses them and exclaims he just wants to be a normal person. He drives himself down to the grocery store and buys some food, after some activation issues with his debit card. He spends his days cooking, reading the paper, watching the local news and eventually goes through some boxes from storage, one of which contains a gun gifted to him by his father when he became governor. Things are looking SUPER interesting for Fitz.
Meanwhile Marcus has been on vacation in Havana, where he is drinking and hooking up with girls. However, he gets bored with it and comes to Vermont where Fitz shows him the land where they will build their future museum. Not going to lie, it’s a pretty awesome spot. While watching the news, Fitz suggests he help Mellie gain some influence for her education bill, but Marcus explains he shouldn’t get involved so she can show the public that she can stand on her on. Then Marcus turns the discussion to where Olivia will fit into Fitz museum. She’s America’s first-ever First Girlfriend after all. Fitz is confused as to why the focus always needs to be on Olivia and suggests they go to a bar.
The two of them open up over drinks about how they are feeling. Fitz says he doesn’t want people to see Olivia as the key piece to his presidency and that she will get as much as Cyrus does in the museum. While watching the local protest, Marcus admits he misses that life and suggests Fitz help out by talking to the mayor, but Fitz doesn’t want to get in the middle of small town politics.
Fitz has a donor dinner where he tells the same golf story for the sixth time and after he treats Marcus like the help, Marcus decides he is better than this. Yes you are Marcus. But Fitz sees Marcus as always victimizing himself and the two exchange insults and eventually start to throw punches. Marcus leaves and calls Mellie who explains this is just a phase in getting close to Fitz and to not leave so quickly because their team has the potential to do a lot of good.
As Fitz goes through the house, he finds Eli Pope hiding in his room with the old handgun. He’s jumpy and paranoid, asking if the house has been bugged. This is not the commanding Eli we know. Eli goes on to explain that Olivia is now Command and she has no limitations like himself. She will push the boundaries until the world is her world. “Who runs the world? One girl.”
The episode ends with Marcus and Fitz making up, but Fitz deciding now that the 100 days are up that he needs to head back to Washington for a bit. However, not before he stops off at the protest and gives his endorsement in the local affair which leads to the monument being torn down. Fitz cares so much. Fitz arrives at Olivia’s apartment when she arrives from the elevator locking lips with Curtis, just like how last week’s episode ended.
Questions
- Will Olivia get a bigger space in the museum? Who else may get a wing?
- How does Fitz think he can convince Olivia to not become a shadow dictator?
- What will the dynamic be between Olitz with their role reversals?
- Who else will Eli Pope try to reach out to?
Overall, this was a good episode. We haven’t had a Fitz-centric story in a while, or really any mention of Fitz this whole season so it was great to see how he was adapting to civilian life. While it doesn’t have the typical scandalous moments or scene-stealing monologues, it slows down the pace and shows us that not everyone’s life is running a mile a minute. Personally, the arc Fitz has gone through for the series has been a good one so if this is the last Fitz-centric episode, then it’s a great cap to his personal arc.
Score: 8/10
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