Even though it was Kalinda who found him and Diane who pulled the trigger and Cary who agreed to the deal and "Peter" who added the wire, somehow all of this -- Colin Sweeney -- is Alicia's responsibility. Because he likes her, and because she's Alicia, she has to, because somebody has to.

Attraction and repulsion are actions of the exact same, universal force. David Lee is a viper, and her protector, both; Celeste is her enemy and her very first friend, both. Everybody's so complicated, but not Colin Sweeney: He just likes her. Is there such a thing as a True South? That's Colin. He's her anti-Big Dipper. How could she not like him? I don't see how you couldn't.

I would love him, if I were her. Somebody has to.

DONNA BRAZILE

"I like him." Hey, so does Donna Brazile. "He has a good story." Donna does not disagree. "Prison, wrongful conviction, back from the dead. He'd make a good keynote. He speaks well." Sure thing, Donna agrees. I could look at her all day long. So then?

Donna: "I just don't want him to blow up in our face."

Well, Eli is aghast. Blow up how? Blow up when? And when it comes, it comes from a strange direction.

Brazile: "His marriage."
Eli: Treads carefully.
Brazile: "I'm hearing they live apart. And if I'm hearing it, the Republicans are hearing it, too."
Eli: "If they were hearing it, they'd use it."
Brazile: "No, they would do what we would do. Release it the day before he speaks."

When things happen, they'll happen fast.

Brazile: "And when he runs for governor, they will use it. They will use all of it -- not just on him, but his wife, too."
Eli: "Please don't blackball us. I desperately want to come to the Ball! How about I promise you that they will stay together?"
Brazile: "That's an effed-up promise to make. Are you sure?"
Eli: "I will burn that house down to make sure they stay together."
Brazile: "Then we'll consider him for keynote. Eli, I like him. He's a thoroughbred. But I just can't risk... Risk."

SWEENEY

Ten minutes left in the Yard, and Sweeney randomly goes for it with such gusto that even Cary gets a little scared -- "I want to know about Garfield Park," he blurts -- and there's a bit of a chicken game between Alicia and Cary about whether he's going to rescue Colin, but then Colin goes for it: "I need your help. You know what they did, they took my company from me! I have money, and I want the man who did this dead. Gerald Drescher. He used to be my vice president, until he stabbed me in the back. How much would it cost?"