Episode 136 Recap: "Checkmate"

At the Cryer mansion, a stunned Jim is trying to make sense of the scene that just happened in his office. He calls Celine back into the room and accuses her of sending Carlos to work as his intern. When Celine denies it, Jim demands to know what Carlos wants. Celine insists he just wants to spend time with his father, but Jim is convinced this is somehow about money.

"It's always about money," he says.

"Go to hell!" Celine screams. "It's not about the money, you stupid man. It's never been about the money."

Across town, Hanna comes home to find Candace still on the couch. Slightly more sympathetic toward her daughter, Hanna takes a seat and explains that she doesn't think Quincy killed her grandson. Candace is skeptical, but Hanna says she feels it in her spirit.

"I believe that boy hustled you out of that $50,000, and he used your son to do it as his trump card," Hanna says, "but I don't believe he killed that baby."

"Then where is he?" Candace says.

"I don't know," Hanna says. "But I'm going to find him."

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Jim heads into the campaign office, where he tells a confused Maggie to fire Carlos from his intern job. Jim offers no explanation, but Maggie agrees. Maggie moves on to the announcement about their run for the governor's office, when Veronica sweeps in. After Veronica delivers a few barbs at Maggie, Jim and his campaign manager leave the troubled couple alone.

David tries to convince Veronica that nothing happened between him and Maggie, but Veronica doesn't believe him. Furthermore, she says that she'll continue to keep Jeffery's car as her playing piece and that David isn't allowed to come home. Despite their discord, however, Veronica wants to keep up appearances. She says she'll stand by him for the announcement and expects him to join her for a dinner party at the Cryer estate that night.

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Later that night at the Cryer mansion, Veronica has invited Melissa, Jeffery's date from the other night. Wyatt sees his friend dancing to his mother's tune and suspects it's about the hit-and-run car. He pulls Jeffery aside and thanks him for enduring it to cover for him.

As the evening goes on, David notices Veronica coercing Jeffery to sit near Melissa and hold her hand, and he bristles at his son's discomfort under duress. David asks to have a word with him outside.

Alone with his son, David sees that Jeffery is willing to suppress his own feelings and ruin Melissa's life out of fear of his mother, and calls Veronica out to join the family conference. When Veronica and David begin to argue over their son, Jeffery tells them that he's fine dating Melissa.

"You can't live your life falling on your sword to protect everyone else," David says. "It will suffocate you and make you miserable because of the constant sacrifice."

"And that," Veronica says softly, "would be a reference to me?"

Exasperated, David goes inside, leaving an emotional Veronica outside with her son.

Inside, Amanda waits and is clearly fidgety. Then her guest arrives: Quincy enters the Cryer home, and trouble follows close behind. Katheryn keeps her calm, introducing everyone in the room. Quincy takes special note of Jim, asking him whether he's "that judge."

"Yes, I'm that judge," Jim says sarcastically.

Quincy's esteem in the room drops further when Amanda proudly states that he was just released from jail for murder. When Jim starts in on his daughter, Amanda's rage erupts.

"What, Moe?" she snaps, using her new, unsettling nickname. "If he can date someone that's all wrong for him, then I can certainly date someone that's all wrong for me!" What's unclear is whether Amanda is referencing her new beau or Jeffery with his increasingly squeamish date.

Jim, having had enough of these games, suggests that he and Quincy speak alone in his office. Once inside, Quincy rounds on him for sleeping with Candace and demands to know where she is. When Jim says he doesn't know, Quincy pounces, wrestling him to the ground.

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Hearing the scuffle, the other guests burst in and pull Quincy off Jim. Quincy runs out the door, Amanda and the rest of the party hot on his heels. Outside, Quincy tells Amanda that his father has been sleeping with her friend Candace, and with that, the ex-con gets into his car and drives off.

Jim insists that Quincy is lying, but Amanda isn't buying her father's story this time. Crying, she retreats back into the house in disgust. Jim turns to David and orders him to find all the information he can on Quincy.

"And if he was in prison for murder, how the hell did he get out?" Jim thunders.

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At the Sarandon Hotel, David walks into the bar and finds Maggie drinking a glass of wine. He orders a drink and apologizes on Veronica's behalf, but Maggie isn't in the forgiving mood. Instead, she starts questioning David about his rocky marriage and clearly troubled son under pretense of teaching David to be unreadable. She claims that when David insists his relationship with Veronica is fine, she can see all the physical tells that show he's lying. Eventually, the conversation veers toward Maggie's feelings about her client, causing David to take a step back.

"For the record, I am happy with my wife," he reiterates.

"That was better," Maggie says. "You're getting better at covering the lie."

Upstairs, Maggie makes another attempt at luring David into her bed, reminding him that the adjoining door between their rooms is still open. Once in his own room, David calls Veronica, who pointedly doesn't pick up. Finally defeated, David considers the adjoining door, slowly opens it and walks through.

Back at the Cryer mansion, Katheryn wakes to find Jim next to her.

"What are you doing in this bed?" she says flatly.

"I'd be sleeping if you didn't snore so damn loud," Jim says just as his cell phone buzzes. It's a message from Candace apologizing and asking him to come downstairs—she's on his front lawn. Jim heads through the quiet house to the front door, where at first he sees a deserted lawn and driveway. Out of the darkness, a group of thugs run up and jump Jim while a black car pulls up. Jim hollers threats at the men as they force him into the car's trunk and drive away.

Inside the house, Amanda is also awake, gun in hand. She sings "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe" in the lowest of whispers while she flits back and forth, back and forth between her mother's and Wyatt's respective rooms, each time pointing the gun at them as they sleep. As this game continues, Amanda sings faster and faster, now putting the gun to her own head as she darts between the rooms. From outside the mansion, we hear Amanda burst into laughter just before a shot rings out.

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