Susan meets with Doug in the park again to give him the bad news. He knows this means his career and family relationships are basically over. Since he's really the only one who could have given Susan the letter, suspicion will naturally fall on him. He probably should have thought of these things before starting on this road, but whatever. It's plot-necessitated stupidity again. Susan offers to lie and say someone else gave her the letter, but Doug has enough guts left to turn her down.

T.J. tries to leave the townhouse, but his mother's security agent has been given orders to keep him inside. T.J. tries to reason with Nana, but she snarks about him trying to score some drugs, so he snarks back about her being a hypocritical drunk. They have a tearful heart-to-heart about T.J. needing to make a choice or fight for his future or whatever. I was sympathetic to his storyline, but I'm kind of over it now.

Doug tells his mother that Susan is writing a story about her presidential aspirations. She has the donor list, the poll data from Jubal... and the resignation letter. "I'm the source," he says. "I thought that another run would destroy this family and I didn't think you had a chance of winning." He says once they got the poll numbers, he tried to put a stop to the story. What they never really explain is why he thought a successful run wouldn't also destroy their family. Did he just not care once he realized he would get to be White House Chief of Staff? Elaine is flabbergasted. "Everyone will know it came from you," she says. "Tell me. Just how, exactly did you think this would end?" He gets kind of shouty and desperate about how his worst nightmare is letting his mother down. It's like he and his brother both somehow got frozen at age 14 or so and just never really advanced beyond that. Elaine gathers herself up and gets back to work. "You should go," she says. Doug pouts about getting "the famous Elaine Barrish ice-out" and flounces out of her office in a whirlwind of butthurt. Elaine stares at his retreating form like, "What the shit just happened here?"