If you would like to read my review of last week’s episode, click here.
Synopsis: The harrowing events that transpired in Rowan’s basement are revealed, from the moment Quinn was kidnapped to the earth-shattering gunshot that rocked Olivia to her core. (TVGuide)
Writers: Shonda Rhimes, Jess Brownell and Nicholas Nardini
Director: Nzingha Stewart
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 43 mins
“Good People”starts off with a flashback to Rowan shopping at a department store for the perfect suitcase then moments later showing the very pregnant Quinn getting on the elevator, which Rowan abducts her on BY PUTTING HER IN THE SUITCASE. It then jumps to Quinn being chained up in a dimly-lit horror basement where Rowan is keeping her. He explains his plan and that Quinn will be free shortly. Because that’s totally how it went right?
And now we head into a Rowan-centric episode. It really feels like this season is being forcibly prolonged with all of these character-centric story episodes. Back to the conversation between Olivia and Rowan a few episodes ago where Olivia shuts down her father and explains she is in charge. An enraged Rowan heads home, grabs his guns and plans to shoot Quinn, but he hesitates and starts threatening his dinosaur toy like any normal person.
He heads back to the department store, this time to buy a crib. Back at the basement, Quinn demands new clothes, her pregnancy pills and a few other things, but she can tell what the look is on Rowan’s face. Olivia said no. She starts to scream at Rowan, who brings her a bag of clothes and cereal and tells her he bought a crib for the baby then leaves.
Rowan heads to a bar and runs into Marv, the employee from the department store. “This is a surprise.”It’s never a surprise for Rowan, he is up to something. He becomes chummy with Marv over some food and drinks. They bond over their service time and Marv even offers Rowan a 40% discount at the store.
Meanwhile, Quinn is having a breakdown in the basement. She starts hallucinating, first being questioned by Charlie about her abandoning him. A second flashback: this time to Jake warning Rowan about going up against Olivia. He starts building the crib while Quinn continues with her hallucinations, this time of Huck. He tells Quinn to try harder to escape because Olivia has changed and won’t save her. He also reminds her that a crib is for a baby, not her.
While Quinn is losing it, Rowan heads back to the store to use his friend Marv’s discount, this time for a gun. He brings the gun home and loses it on the dinosaur toy he’s been monologuing to this whole episode. Apparently Rowan needs to monologue at least a few times a day or else his head will explode. Turns out Jake has been filming Rowan through the dinosaur and after the latest breakdown, he brings the videos to Olivia. This prompts her visit to her father’s house and we see the same tense situation that happened in the mid-season finale.
In the basement, Quinn continues her trip to hallucination town this time with Charlie, Huck, Abby and Marcus trying to convince her to break free. She uses a bed-sheet lasso to grab a couple of boxes in the room, but they’re empty. Rowan enters the basement, but finds Quinn has broken free. She wraps the chain around his neck and a shot is fired into the air. However, she can’t fight back for long in her pregnant state and Rowan breaks free, injuring his hand in the process. She pleads for her life, but Rowan says that Olivia simply cannot win and he fires a second shot.
Rowan returns upstairs, tells Olivia the news and she tells him they need to bury her to keep the team off their trail. He tends to the huge gash in his hand then heads back down to the basement where Quinn is still alive. KNEW IT. Apparently Quinn used the hairpin to free herself from the chain, but she also heard everything Olivia said about her and after their scuffle Rowan shoots beside her, sparing her life. Quinn demands to be let out, he offers her a glass of wine and the two of them walk upstairs.
As they share a bottle of water together, Quinn calls Olivia a bitch, but Rowan cannot bring himself to call her that. Suddenly, Quinn goes into labour and Rowan is the model of paternal care. He says they don’t need a hospital and they’ll do it the old-fashioned way. As he drugs her she sees the Charlie hallucination then sees bits and pieces of all the hallucinations while Marv delivers her baby. Delivering babies in Vietnam decades ago counts as enough experience right? After delivering the baby, Charlie gives Quinn a smirk and she passes out.
Quinn wakes up in Olivia’s childhood room to Rowan taking care of the baby. She questions the baby and her own health, but Rowan assures her everything is good. He’s stockpiled stuff for her to take care of the baby and Quinn understands why she needs to stay there. She thanks Rowan for what he’s done and calls him a good person. “We’re all good people when someone gives us a chance to be.”That quote really stuck with me.
The episode ends as Quinn finds clothes that would set her up for the next two years she confronts Rowan in the basement where she finds him cleaning up Marv’s body. WHAT. She berates him and takes back her comment about him being a good person. He breaks his silence and says Marv was a good person, his only friend and he killed him for her. Women and children first, that’s the rule. She understands and helps him clean up.
Questions
- How will Rowan and Quinn work together to take down Olivia?
- How will the rest of the team react when they learn Quinn is alive? It seems like Charlie should find out rather soon with Quinn probably walking in on him strangling Rowan.
- Will Fenton do something with his new information regarding Cyrus and B613 or will he prove to be a better man than Cyrus?
- Will Huck confront Olivia with his suspicions?
- Could Huck and Jake team up as they become increasingly skeptical of Olivia? Both have had issue with her, they just need to piece it together.
- Will Abby and David stay together for the remainder of the season?
Overall, this was a good episode. At first I was hesitant because the constant use of character-centric stories and flashbacks felt like a gimmicky way to keep this final season afloat, but this episode really resonated with me. It helped in showing both Quinn and Rowan’s perspective in their related situations with Olivia and how they now have the mentality of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Here’s to hoping that as characters become increasingly aware of Olivia’s action the tension only rises to a big, jaw-dropping finale to this political thrill ride. “Good People” is the first step in the right direction.
Score: 8/10
What did you think of “Good Peopleâ€? Did you really think Quinn was dead? Let me know in the comments below!
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