The episode marked the first appearance of Khandi Alexander as Maya Lewis, Olivia Pope’s mother, a role that would become pivotal throughout the rest of the season.

Olivia reminisces about the last time she saw her mother alive. In the present she goes to the White House to ask Fitz about his involvement in Operation Remington. When Fitz refuses to tell her about Operation Remington she decides that she will not work on his re-election campaign and instead accepts an offer from Josie Marcus.

At Josie Marcus’ campaign headquarters Olivia and Abby try to persuade Josie that she needs to shed her homemaker image and launch a series of attack ads in order to secure big donors. When Josie refuses, Olivia and Abby set up an interview with James Novak. Right before the interview they show Josie video from an attack ad from Reston’s campaign leading her to show a more dominant aggressive side in her interview mentioning her years of military service and criticizing Novak for his language couched in sexist remarks.

Meanwhile Olivia asks Jake to gather more proof of what happened during Operation Remington. He tries to use an old contact to secure the airplane’s black box and narrowly avoids being assassinated by a member of B613, saved only by a member of Fitz’s security team. Olivia reaches out to her father in an attempt to find answers but is only able to ascertain that he did not give the order to kill her mother.

Cyrus, upset at Olivia for abandoning Fitz’s re-election campaign, contacts Harrison and asks him to get Olivia to drop Josie Marcus as a client, threatening that otherwise Adnan Salif, a former associate of Harrison’s, could re-enter the country. Harrison asks Huck for his help in denying Salif’s visa application. Cyrus, after learning through Harrison that Olivia is still campaigning for Josie Marcus, issues Adnan Salif a visa to re-enter the country. Cyrus also discovers that Sally is planning a bid for presidency.

Upset at being frozen out by Huck, Quinn takes to a shooting range where she is discovered by Charlie who gives her tips on improving her form. Unbeknownst to her Charlie is working under the orders of Rowan Pope to bring Quinn into the fold of B613.

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Wikipedia