Listening
The finale of The Politician brings a decent conclusion to this season as it sets things up for a third one quite nicely. With more twists along the way, it resolves most of its big plot points and offering up some great scenes between our characters in the process. The season 2 finale of The Politician starts with Astrid and Alice living and working in a farm with other pregnant women. This strange place makes them do some unusual tasks like milking sheep and counting kernels. One night, Astrid talks to Alice as she doesn’t think she can be a mother. Alice agrees to go with her and they live at the strange farm. Meanwhile, both teams practice playing games of rock paper scissors. While Dede is having trouble and always losing against Hadassah, Payton is focused and doing well. At the same time, Astrid and Alice arrive in the abortion clinic. Astrid reveals that she doesn’t want to have children and Alice tells her she still loves Payton and doesn’t want to do this without him. Dede and Hadassah head into a bar to get some drinks and are surprised to find Payton there, playing the piano and singing rather well. After his song, Payton joins the women at their table who compliment him on his singing. Both side agree that they have run a great campaign and Payton recognizes that they fought for some important causes. He surprises them when he explains what his plans would be if he won before dedicating a song to them; they have done more to make a man out of him than anyone else in the world.
The day of the decision has arrived and as both teams are about to come head to head for the rock paper scissor game, Dede decides to address the press. She tells them that as a politician, she has developed the ability to listen and has heard that the young people are angry and want changes. More young people have voted this time and some for the first time thanks to Payton Hobart who has inspired them to get out and vote. She is listening too so she reveals that she is conceding the election to Payton. In the evening, Alice comes to congratulate Payton. She envies him as he knows who he is and tells him she wants to go back to Harvard and study medicine. She is sure that she loves him though and wants them to have a family. He then takes her to dinner and promises to make tonight about her. A few days later, Georgina facetimes Dede as she has decided to run for president and wants her to stand as VP. She promises to bring Hadassah as her chief of staff and explains that she will probably set her up to succeed after her term as she knows that Dede is not done with governing. Before giving his acceptance speech, Payton relays his doubts to his team as he tells them he won again because his opponent dropped out. However, they tell him they counted the votes from the box and found that he won. He then goes to give his speech where he explains that he has found out a lot about the people who have voted for him. He acknowledges what Dede has achieved and promises to work as hard as she has. Together they will overcome the challenge of climate change and if he doesn’t hold his promise, he asks them to vote him out. We then jump forward two years later as we learn about the changes Payton has implemented which includes an all-electric city bus fleet, a bill requiring high rise buildings to use solar panels and a fast track permit approval for offshore wind operations. We also see that he has a son named Archie and that McAfee is engaged.
After Alice arrives from taking the board exam, he tells them to celebrate as he is running unopposed to be re-elected. His team is surprised as they thought he would put forward a new campaign to run for governor or the US senate. He tells them that in the last two years, he has realised that a meaningful life is not all about ambition but to stay devoted to the cause they believe in. He wants to carry on and they all cheer for two more years and to his mother, who is about to be elected as president. While out jogging in Central Park, Payton is surprised when he sees Dede. She congratulates him and cuts to the chase regarding her reason for meeting him; once his mother is done with her term, she has promised that Dede will be able to run. She then asks him to run with her as VP when she does. As he thinks about it, he sees River running and smiling at him. He then turns around and smiles at Dede as the episode ends. While this season closes in similar fashion in last year’s finale, this final episode still offered up a fun and enjoyable slice of drama as we see Dede admitting that Payton is the right fit, accepting that it is the younger generation’s turn to make a difference. This was certainly brought on by her interaction with him in the piano bar, which was one of the strongest scenes in the episode. It was also quite emotional to have Payton sing again. Things are looking good for Payton at the end of the episode as he seems content with his life. However, Dede brings him a golden opportunity which sets the scene for next season. This will certainly bring an important chapter in his life as he will be heading to Washington. Overall, this season has been as entertaining and full of twists as the first and even if the plot has had some similarities, the drama remains worth checking out and easy-to-binge.
