At the end of “Beltway Unbuckled,” we witnessed the start of a secret meeting with energy tycoon Hollis Doyle, Supreme Court Justice Verna Thornton, First Lady Mellie Grant, White House Chief of Staff Cyrus Beene and Washington’s favorite fixer, Olivia Pope. They are discussing the David Rosen situation. They’ll all be looking at prison time if he finds the connection between Cytron and Doyle Energy. In order to stop Hollis from “freelancing” without them, Olivia assures the group that she’ll take care of David.

Governor Reston of the great state of Maryland returned home to find his wife, Joan (guest star Brenda Strong of Desperate Housewives fame), being raped by their contractor. So he shot the guy dead. Reston calls Olivia for help. These two have a rather acrimonious past. It seems Olivia derailed the governor’s bid for the White House when she got Fitz elected president. The U.S. Attorney assigned to the case promises to be discreet since Reston is such a respected figure. The governor’s spokesperson defies Olivia’s advice by declaring her boss a hero for killing the man who was harming his wife.

The team digs into the contractor’s background. Abby finds the guy’s hair all over the governor’s house. This wasn’t a rape. The contractor was having an affair with Joan Reston, who panicked when her husband walked in on them and cried rape. The governor says he has no idea his wife was being unfaithful to him. Still, he doesn’t want her to go to jail so he asks Olivia to see if there’s any evidence of the affair. If there isn’t, maybe it would be best to have the world keep thinking of him as a hero.

Joan lets Olivia know that her husband changed after he lost the election by a mere 4,359 votes. Reston’s obsession with the defeat is what led to her having an affair. In other news, David learns he can have his job back as long as he’s done obsessing about Olivia Pope. He’s not sure he’s going to take it though because he has a meeting at the Griddle Café with a former Cytron employee. This ultimately turns out to be a dead end. So, David returns to work. His first order of business is to arrest Governor Reston for murder, as there is proof of an affair. Joan can’t let this happen. She offers to tell the truth that she lied about being raped.

As Reston addresses the public, Olivia finds compromising photos of his wife and the contractor. As it turns out, the gov knew about the affair all along. Reston had planned to kill his wife and her lover. He’d then turn the gun on himself. But his wife yelled “rape” and the opportunity to be a hero was too good to be true. Olivia knows she’s been played. As for Governor Reston, he gloats about the murder because he knows attorney-client privileges prevent Olivia from doing anything. The guy’s approval ratings are through the roof and this somewhat demented fellow is satisfied to finally have an understanding of what it feels like to win.