Alex is going off book
Its last-ditch effort time in D.C. Rourke and Co. are on to them, and they need to act quickly.
(The biggest tip-off?
Longtime friend and honorary Haas family member Felix trying to break into Clays personal emails.)
Credit: Giovanni Rufino/ABC
Maxine, who emerges as an enthusiastic Mrs. Smith this week, is on board.
Unfortunately, Maxine proves the easiest person to persuade in this episode.
The only person who thinks theyre making headway is Ryan.
She expects his resignation.
(She will not get his resignation, at least not this week.)
He wants her to come to his side.
His team needs a hero, he admits.
And (2) Maxine denies Clays plea to elope that night on the way home.
Back at the bunker, Ryan feels confident that Alice is flipping.
Shelby is on board as well.
The only person who is vehemently opposed is Alex.
She thinks Ryan is getting played, but Ryan wont hear it.
As Clay sends Ryan off into the night, he pulls Shelby into his office.
He admits that hes had feelings for her and asks her to help him.
He wants to be with Maxine, and he needs anything between him and Shelby to be squashed.
Shelby, panicked, asks if she can quit the team.
He says no, because they are adults, but she can make him hate her again.
(How fun for Shelby!!
Be hate-able to the Haas family all over again!)
The plans she comes up with is to fake-sleep with Caleb.
He is obviously on board, because it keeps his brother and ex-girlfriend apart.
They accidentally run into Clay the next morning, and Clay buys it.
When Clay leaves, very uncomfortable, Caleb tells Shelby that his work here is done.
He plans to return to school.
Anyway, while this fake tryst is going down, Ryan finds himself in major trouble.
When he gets to the meeting spot, a reporter from theWashington Postjumps out at him.
As Ryan escapes, he gets a text from Alice.
Its a .gif of a chess piece falling.
Alex was right but we sort of knew Alex was right, right?
Thats not all that went wrong, either.
That information was used in the dead of night when someone sneaked in and hacked their computers.
Clay accuses Ryan of being complicit when he calls it an inside job, but Ryan is equally mad.
He admits he got played.
The newscaster says that drafts for her impeachment are underway.
Weve lost, Clay says.
Of course, Clay hasnt known Alex as long as we have.
While the rest of the group is wallowing, Alex and Owen have begun their own off-book mission.
Alex will take Maxwell Fletcher up on his offer, they decide.
Before she heads up his driveway, she and Owen have a pretty intense send-off.
Owen is nervous; so is Alex.
Owen admits that the last time he handled an asset it ended pretty poorly (Germany… remember?
), but Alex reiterates that she trusts him more than anyone else in the world.
Maxwell greets her warmly and leads her inside.
With only a few episodes left in the season, I wonder where this setup might lead us….
