Edison accuses Olivia of having an affair with Fitz. This has Liv going off on a rant where she doesn’t ever deny the charge. Edison offers to help her before Sally Langston tells the Cabinet that Fitz’s reinstatement letter is a forgery. At the hospital, a doctor details all possible pitfalls that come with a bullet ripping through one’s frontal lobe. She believes Fitz is three weeks away from returning to the Oval Office. That’s not gonna work. Sally Langston’s meeting with the Cabinet is interrupted when the door opens. Everyone rises. Why? Because that’s what you do when the President of the United States, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant, walks into a room.

The idea was to have Fitz make a brief appearance then return to bed. Plans change. Fitz doesn’t believe he can show any weakness. That’s why he attends a military briefing on East Sudan. Fitz starts off strong but struggles to recall the name of the East Sudanese leader he wants to capture. Hollis advises Sally to ride this out until the president falls on his face. This may happen sooner than expected as Fitz plans to answer questions from the press on live TV. Olivia is sent in to talk him out of it. She can’t. All she can do is wipe his brow and kiss his lips. She also agrees with him that what happens at the press conference will be great.

We jump back two years to a time when there were just 35 days before the general election. Fitz is not doing well in the debates with Governor Reston. His numbers are down. Hollis Doyle lets it be known that he can rig the election in order to get their boy into the White House. He’s not joking. Olivia says that’s not an option. She is, however, jazzed about the idea of having her candidate’s politically successful father join the campaign. She tries to convince a reluctant Fitz that his dad can help. Fitz agrees to this strategy if only to get her to stop talking for 20 minutes so they can make love.

“Big Jerry” Grant is a larger than life figure who owns every room he enters. That’s why Fitz has no choice but to step out of his mock debate seat so his dad can show everyone just how an election is won. There’s no denying that Jerry knows how to play the political game. Too bad Fitz is incredibly resentful of him. It could have something to do with the fact that dear old dad repeatedly cheated on his mom. Fitz has a little too much to drink. He calls out his dad and later tries to get intimate with Olivia in an elevator. Mellie catches them in the act. She apologizes to Olivia for the way her drunk hubby tried to force himself on her. Little does she know...