Elaine sends Bud on a mission; Douglas gets upset with Elaine; TJ hits rock bottom, steals from Margaret, gets caught,a nd gets help from Douglas (twice!); and Susan gets more information for her story.
Well, talk about alot packed into a little bit of space. Let's start with Elaine and Bud and then move to the brothers.
After last weeks tryst, Elaine decided to send Bud to Iran to negogiate for the release of the hostages. When she went to get the president's blessing, her choice did not sit well with the VP who proceeded to act like a little kid and tell the papers where the *SECRET* meetings were being held. Wow, can we just say serious hissy fit? Now, it is possible that he was acting under the orders (or a "suggestion") from the president, but still... Either way, that was extremely stupid and tacky. Luckily; after Oman pulled out due to the publicity; Elaine managed to persuade the Turkish ambassador to allow the negogiations to take place in his country. All she had to do was agree to go on a date with him.
I have to say that I loved Bud's method of negogiating. He used Susan as a fake presidential envoy and managed to get the Iranian president to release the hostages in exchange for the President coming to his funeral and Bud saying some kind words about how he was "the Hero of Iran". That was impressive thinking on his feet, I must say. I am also glad that Susan had the sense to play along and keep her poker face up for most of the time. I was not as impressed with his sleeping with the one reporter on the plane. <sigh>
One interesting storyline took place in 1997 just after one of Bud's affairs was revealed to the press by the woman he slept with (who worked for and was fired by Elaine). He adamantly denied the affair and Elaine threw a centuries old Ming (I think) vase at his head. Sidenote: that makes this one of the more expensive tempers in history I would think! Ok, back to the point. Elaine decided to hold a press conference to back her husband up and he admits that the affair happened, so she basically does an in-house separation, reasoning that when he became president, the fact that they were married was a vow between her and the American people. Not entirely sure how that works. I understand not divorcing him until after he is done being president, but her reason here seemed exceedingly strained. I do think that Douglas is right. She loves Bud entirely too much. Like an abused spouse will often go back to their abuser, she goes back to Bud regularly. She does need to break from him completely, which is difficult because of their sons.
Speaking of Douglas, he did not react well when Elaine told him that she was going to run for office. He was very concerned that trying to take on a sitting president was not going to work at all. His biggest concern was for the family. TJ has been having a rough week with the news of his attempted suicide coming out and his parents refusing him money for the night club. Then his partners in the nightclub told him that they only wanted his name. Then, to top it all off, he stole a check from his grandma. So we have an addict being told that he is basically useless. Not a good time to be adding the pressure of a campaign. Douglas was also worried that Anne would get really upset and leave him because she doesn't like the political life as it is. And on top of that, Douglas figures out that Elaine slept with Bud and he goes through the roof. While I understand his reactions, I am not sure what he did was the right thing. Going to Susan to reveal that Elaine will be running is not a smart move.
I feel so bad for TJ. He is trying so hard to hold things together and his parents won't help him. I am glad that Douglas helped him and loaned him the money. Unfortunately, Margaret figured out that TJ stole the check. But, she handled the whole thing rather well. She got calmly upset at him (without raising her voice) and told him very seriously what would happen if he did it again. This is a wonderful relationship and I hope TJ doesn't screw it up. He needs her support and I hope he doesn't alienate her somehow.
Until next week!
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