As the fifth episode of Anatomy of a Scandal begins, Kate Woodcroft (Michelle Dockery) surprises Ali (Liz White) with a late-night visit. Ali expected her to crack before now and wished she had just gone to the judge. Kate doesn’t think that would’ve proved anything. Ali says she was tutorial partners with his wife and knew him. Kate claims that was Holly and not her, but Ali isn’t sure about that. Kate knows she should’ve talked to the judge, CPS, or even Angela. She believes it is too late for that now. Ali tells her that her voice on the phone earlier reminded her of when she found her in the loo at uni after the assault. Ali suggests she is being mean to herself by carrying the burden alone and she doesn’t like it. She reminds Kate that she never told her who it was.

Kate insists it doesn’t matter, but Ali says it does. Ali knows it was a Libertine so she thinks it was Tom Southern. She is her best mate and doesn’t know why she can’t tell her. Kate eyeballs the picture of James Whitehouse on the newspaper. Ali asks what possessed her to take this case and try to prosecute her own rapist. Kate doesn’t think anyone was qualified like her. Ali isn’t sure how she looks him in the eye every day although Kate admits she has avoided it so far. She won’t be able to avoid that today. Ali asks if this is a sackable offense. When Kate says yes, Ali tells her that she has screwed up this time. She warns Kate that she’ll have to screw up brilliantly today.

Sophie (Sienna Miller) lies awake next to James (Rupert Friend) before remembering someone banging on her door at the university. Young Sophie (Hannah Dodd) lets James (Ben Radcliffe) inside as he says something terrible happened. The boys were carrying on in Alec’s room and somebody brought heroin. He mentions that he got Tom out of there, but Sophie stops him because she doesn’t want to know. She is just glad that he left. After she calls him a good friend, he admits he feels like he can trust her with anything. She says he can. James believes Sophie could be her alibi. She asks why he’d need an alibi. James confesses he thinks he screwed up big time. When James wakes up in the present and checks on her, Sophie says she just realized it was the same night.

She says dancing and Alec’s accident were on the same night. While James gets ready for court, he remembers the night in question and running into Holly. As Kate rushes to work, she runs into a guy and thinks it is James. She apologizes and continues on her way. Emily (Amelie Bea Smith) tells her mother that she doesn’t want to go to school because she wants to watch daddy call that lady a liar. Sophie says Crown Court is not for children. Once James joins them, Emily asks why that lady would call him a liar. Sophie suggests she must be confused. Finn (Sebastian Selwood) questions if the lady is a bad person. James says they all know how this story is going to end since they have the utmost faith that the jury will see the truth.

James and Finn say that they’re Whitehouses so they’re always going to come out on top. James spills coffee on his shirt, curses, and rushes off to change. As they ride in the taxi, James asks his wife to tell him that everything is going to be okay. She does. They arrive and push past the media to enter the courthouse. Once inside, Angela (Josette Simon) offers James a coffee. He admits one is his limit and shouldn’t want to see him shaking. She believes otherwise because his certitude won’t serve them today. James is adamant that he didn’t rape her. She describes him as a modern man, a Conservative, and a feminist. Angela says what has shaken him to the core is the fact that any woman could misread and misrepresent what happened in that lift.

He is instructed that this is what the jury needs to see. Angela tells him not to underestimate Kate, let her catch him off-guard, or stray from the main issue. Sophie watches as Kate walks by and enters the courtroom. Angela tells Kate that she heard that the old bird who made up stories about James from their university days hasn’t given up. She keeps pestering the cops to locate the girl. Kate thought she was dead. She offers to check with the officer. Angela reveals the cops keep telling the old bird to piss off.

Moments later, James is sworn in and Angela begins questioning him. She asks how he reconciles his affair since he is a family man. James admits it was wrong and the worst thing he has ever done. When asked why he let it happen, James says they were deeply attracted to one another. Although they both tried to resist it, there was a charge there from the beginning. He denies having an affair before because he loves his wife and family. He says there is no hierarchy in his office. Instead, it is about working together so he’d adopt the best idea from the most junior member. People have to feel safe and the boundaries have to be respected for the working environment to thrive.

If another member of Parliament came to him about having an intimate relationship with an employee, he would give them chapter and verse on ways in which one cannot do that. He admits he made a mistake. Angela questions why he let it continue for five months. James explains that it was difficult to stop because they cared for one another and had a lot in common. He tells the jury how they’d argue politics for days and how Olivia forgets nothing. Angela asks about gifts he gave her. James says he sent her flowers on occasion and gave her a special gift for her birthday. The special gift was a platinum necklace with a charm shaped like a key.

He did that as a sign that he valued her. Angela asks for the date of Olivia’s birthday. James says it was the 23rd of July. Sophie has a flashback in the country while talking to James on the phone. He asks her to take a video for him but doesn’t ask them to come home early. Once the call ends, we see that James is with Olivia. Back in the courtroom, Angela mentions the fact that James valued Olivia and gave her an expensive gift as a result. James admits the relationship was serious by that point and the feeling of love might’ve been mutual. He goes on to say it was because they were equally invested in each other.

When he learned that Olivia had accused him of rape, he was gobsmacked and didn’t understand what he was being told. Angela wants him to talk about the morning of October 12. James remembers saying he can’t deal with this crap before walking away from the meeting room. James says Olivia pressed the lift button although she claimed it was him. She called to him to ask where he was going. James thought she was leading him somewhere so they could discuss how to handle the article. At that time, he wasn’t thinking about Olivia being his lover. He genuinely wanted her opinion on the article. Once the lift arrived, he followed her in while expecting to discuss the article’s accusation since it rocked him.

He believed Olivia would put him right, but they didn’t talk in the lift. She looked at him a certain way. After he entered the lift, Olivia reached up to kiss him. Angela asks how he can be sure that she initiated the kiss. James explains that Olivia reached up for his face. After that, they were in sync as he put her arms around her to embrace. James insists they were kissing and Olivia moved his hand down to her bottom.  When asked about wrenching her blouse open, James is sorry to say she is lying. He says she helped him open it because he isn’t the type of man to wrench blouses open. As for the tights, he believed that happened when she tried to pull them down.

He confesses that things were heated at that point and clarifies that they were hungry for one another. He can’t explain the underwear although he suggests it might’ve snagged when she pulled it down. He doesn’t remember a sound of a rip, but says her underwear was often insubstantial. When asked about the bruise on Olivia’s breast, James blames that on an over-exuberant love bite. That had happened before since it was something Olivia wanted when they made love. James hopes it goes without saying that a bruise was not the goal.

Angela turns her attention to the issue of consent. She mentions what was allegedly said about being a prick tease. James argues that they didn’t talk so he never said anything about being a tease. After Angela asks about Olivia saying not here, James remains adamant that no words were exchanged. The only conversation they had was physical. It was impossible for her to say it without him hearing her. Olivia was giving him every indication that it was something she very much wanted. James says she was consenting and insisting. He has never been more certain of anything. Kate begins flipping through her notes since it is her turn to question James.

Sophie watches her as everyone waits for Kate to start. She finally pulls it together and starts by talking about the day of the incident. He confirms the meeting was about to start although he isn’t sure how long they had before it did. He was planning to get his bearings back and not have sex in those few minutes. He wasn’t going anywhere in particular and was just upset because he didn’t think the Times article was fair. While he claims he wasn’t looking for a private place to have sex, Kate reminds him that is exactly what he was doing with his ex-mistress. She mentioned that he was an athlete before asking about wrenching the blouse open. He denies wrenching the blouse open and ripping the underwear.

She is stopped from asking about his expertise in the durability of underwear. Kate asks James whether this was normal for him. He says it wasn’t normal and never happened before, but he admits they had sex in the Commons on two prior occasions. He might’ve expected her to have sex with him in the Commons again although it wasn’t at that particular moment. Kate alleges he was enraged when he entered the lift. He calls it frustrated instead. She states that it was over in a minute and questions whether he was hoping for sex when they entered the lift. James says no. He knew by the way she looked at him that it was going to happen.

James again says she moved his hand to her backside before Kate tries to clarify how small the lift was and how close they were. He is confident he would’ve heard her say not here, but still says she said nothing. James would’ve stopped if she said that. She claims James entered her even though she said not here. She goes on to say that he told her not to be a prick tease. There is a quick flashback of James running into Holly as he seems to remember something. In the flashback, Holly turns into Kate. He imagines he is alone with Kate in the courtroom. James insists he never said that and suggests it might be Kate’s hearing that is suspect. She asks what that word means even though he continues claiming he never said it.

James describes it as a woman who sexually arouses a man and doesn’t plan on following through. He didn’t say it because it is a foul word that is demeaning, presumptuous, and misogynistic. Kate asks whether a man saying it would be admonishing a woman for not wanting sex. James agrees and continues saying he never used that word. Although Kate knows better, James claims he has never said that word before to anyone. He goes on to say Olivia is lying about that and being raped. He calls it absurd when Kate asks whether anyone has ever told him no. Although Olivia could’ve said no to him, she didn’t in this instance since they were both saying yes. James doesn’t know why Olivia would make the false allegation although it makes him worry about her.

They agree that it won’t help her career. Kate goes over the fact that Olivia continued working for him after he ended the relationship. When he showed that he still wants her like she wanted, she accused him of rape. James knows that sounds unlikely so he suggests Olivia’s goal might’ve been to destroy his career. Kate thinks there are other ways to show her hurt such as telling his wife. He only meant to say that careers hang in the balance in cases like these. Kate agrees that the stakes couldn’t be higher.

James accuses her of painting him as an arrogant man without doubts or qualms. He alleges she wants him to look like a privileged beast brought up to believe he can take whatever he wants. James is adamant that he isn’t that man although he was born into fortunate circumstances and attended good schools. Regardless, he spent his entire career in service to his community, constituents, and country. Kate hopes he isn’t suggesting a lifetime of service entitles him to rape. That angers James as he says he has replayed the events over and over in his head wondering if he could’ve got it wrong. He didn’t. He has also replayed other moments from his past where the sex was unbridled as it was spontaneous.

James was very sexually robust in his youth and he has reflected on that. He can look her in the eye and say that he has never crossed the line. Kate is only asking whether he reasonably believed that Olivia gave her consent. James responds by saying the past informs the present. Once James had gone over what happened in the lift and the past, he is confident he has never overridden the will or wishes of a woman. He has never had sex that was not 100% consensual. He explains that you’re talking about ethics when discussing consent and he finds unethical behavior repugnant. When he asks her if she does, Kate tells him she isn’t there to answer his questions.

She is there to present the case. From the beginning, Kate has made it clear that Olivia didn’t want to have sex with him. James quickly denies that and that he called her a prick tease. Kate knows he can’t admit it because that word shows that he knew full well she didn’t want to have sex with him. Olivia wouldn’t give him what he wanted so he forced himself on her and that is why she accused him of rape. James says he is not a rapist. He screams that the word rape and his name have nothing to do with each other. Kate and Angela finish questioning James. He eyeballs Kate as he walks back to the dock. Meanwhile, Krystyna (Violet Verigo) works with Emily and Finn at home while the kids wait for their parents to return.

James and Sophie jump into a taxi outside the courthouse. He asks her to forgive him for saying he loved her because he needed to make the relationship sound real. When asked whether it was advice from Chris or Angela, James says it was his instinct. He wants her to know it isn’t true. Maggie (Kudzai Sitima) tells Kate how great that was, but Kate rushes out and doesn’t respond. She only asks Maggie to take the items back to the chambers. Kate finds a private place and thinks about everything that has happened. James and Sophie make it home where their kids yell happy anniversary. Krystyna has cake for them as well. Sophie excuses herself and James goes after her.

As she goes outside alone, James goes back for cake with the kids. Kate gets a call from Ali who asks where she is. She is surprised to learn that Kate is still in her chambers. Kate believes she messed up brilliantly today although James did too. Ali offers to bring her company and chocolates. She promises that this is going to end. Once the call ends, Sophie knocks on the doors and enters. Kate is surprised to see her.

 

Anatomy Of A Scandal Review

Anatomy Of A Scandal has been consistently entertaining from start to finish. The acting from the main characters has been solid making it easy to genuinely sympathize with them. I suppose we could complain about Kate being Holly since that is unrealistic, but it does add an extra layer of drama to the show. I’d rather complain about some of the camera work since it is often over-the-top.

I understand that they’re trying to create tension with the odd camera movements, but it might be too much. I am interested in seeing how the series ends. While I wouldn’t call this revolutionary or groundbreaking, it is at least entertaining. The episode scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Anatomy of a Scandal can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work here.