Scandal lives up to its name with this episode all about a dirty tell-all book full of kinky sexual secrets from some of D.C.’s most powerful men. And the author? A character played by Girls star Lena Dunham, of course.
“It’s Good to Be Kink” is full of Dunham-style feminism, which is essentially Slut Pride, women who refuse to feel shame for loving sex. But more interesting than that, Jake and Fitz are BFFs again, Olivia gets back on the horse (so to speak) and Huck does a very bad thing. Or a very good thing, depending on how you feel about Lena Dunham.
The Saga of Kinky Sue
Leo gets his hands on a book proposal full of scandalous sex stories involving 17 prominent government officials, including Leo himself, aka the Dust Buster. Abby is furious at him and asks Olivia to handle it.
Olivia confronts the author (a woman named Sue played by Girls star Lena Dunham) and intimidates her, but it backfires. Sue stands up for her right to be a promiscuous woman and delivers a long-winded speech that sounds like the personal mission statement of Dunham herself, empowering women who others call whores.
The Search for 16 Kinky Men
Sue wants $3 million to trash the book so Olivia decides to track down the 16 men in the book other than Leo to get each of them to chip in. After stealing the manuscript (with an assist from Charlie as a decoy date whose nail gun kink scares the hell out of Sue), OPA goes to work.
Hilariously, one of the men turns out to be David Rosen (from his depressed, substitute teacher days). Abby seems to attract supremely kinky men. Olivia gathers all the kinky guys to discuss the payment and while Leo is on board, David refuses because it’s extortion and he won’t be a part of a criminal act.
Sue Gets Handled
Instead of paying her, Olivia learns that Sue is just angry because her old boss at the EPA sexually assaulted her (assuming she was into it because of how kinky she is) and then fired and blackballed her when she turned him down. Olivia helps Sue take down her old boss and get a new job, so everything works out well.
Not so fast. Throughout the episode, Huck is desperate for David Rosen to give him an immunity agreement for testifying against B613. If Sue’s book comes out, David will have to resign and Huck’s immunity disappears, as do his dreams of going home to be with his wife and son.
Huck and Quinn go to Sue’s apartment to settle up when they hear her being attacked by one of the kinky men who doesn’t want her to ruin his life. Quinn talks him down and Huck gets him to leave, but then Huck slices Sue’s neck himself, killing her.
Huck babbles that he had to do it because she would’ve talked and he needed to protect David’s job. Huck’s descent into madness continues, but Quinn helps cover it up from Olivia while Huck successfully gets his immunity agreement from David. So it all worked out for the best, especially if you’re like me and hate HBO’s Girls.
Olivia’s PTSD
Inspired by Sue’s book, Olivia tries to pick up a guy at a bar for anonymous sex, but when she goes to the bathroom to freshen up she has a flashback to the bathroom when she was kidnapped. However, after Sue’s death Olivia gets back on the horse, meets the same guy in the same bar and this times brings him back to her place for random sex.
In the Oval Office, Jake and Fitz have reverted to their original roles, with Jake keeping an eye on Olivia to make sure that she’s safe and reporting back to Fitz.
Abby and Cyrus
Abby gets on her feminist soapbox for a rousing monologue about how every article about her talks about clothes and make-up and the fact that she’s dating Leo. This infuriates her because she’s a smart, accomplished woman, but the media can only define her in terms of her relationship to a man while the same does not apply for men.
Because of this unfair gender bias, she prepares to resign as press secretary if the book comes out. However, Cyrus offers to pay the full $3 million to protect Abby, though really it’s to get dirt on powerful men. Olivia can’t believe it and neither can I. Has Cyrus forgotten that he’s marrying a male prostitute? That’s way more scandalous than any of the crap in Sue’s book.
Mellie for Senate
In her quest to become president, Mellie decides to start by running for the Senate in Virginia. I guess picking Susan Ross as the vice president had two purposes, because Mellie is running for Susan’s now-vacant seat. Mellie gets some help in the form of Elizabeth North, who offers her services as a ruthless campaign manager.
Next week on Scandal: It’s a big, gay, Republican wedding at the White House.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
