Red, White & Royal Blue

Henry and Alex meet in Paris, share two bottles of wine, and then go up to Henry’s hotel room. Alex is drunk and “forgets that they don’t spend the night,” so he spends the night. Zahra texts Alex, praising him—the media is convinced he and Henry are best friends. Their birthdays are both in March, and Henry manages to arrange a trip to New York to coincide with Alex’s birthday. Cash facilitates their hookup, saying nothing. After that, they go weeks without seeing each other. Henry dutifully downloads Snapchat and between the pictures, they text about everything. However, Henry goes through occasional bouts of depression, though Alex understands he’s grieving during these times.

Henry especially loves talking at length about how, for instance, Bram Stoker was gay, and Dracula “is essentially a work of queer erotica.” It would be great, he insists, if England celebrated its gay history instead of hiding it. Alex has always been aware of the U.S.’s gay history, but he reads up on it carefully now. June seems to take note, but she says nothing—she’s busy working on a memoir. One morning, Zahra notices a hickey on Alex’s neck and reminds him that there’s an approved list of girls he can be seen with during the election cycle—he cannot cause Ellen to lose reelection. After threatening him, she returns to her notes. Both Zahra, and June behind her, can clearly tell Alex is lying when he says nothing is going on and he doesn’t need an NDA.

One afternoon, Alex calls Henry and immediately launches into an interrogation about Henry’s last name (Henry has three, hyphenated). Once their banter about Nixon and sex peters out, Alex tells Henry that it’s okay to talk to him about important things. Henry demurs, but then says there’s been a lot of, as Alex puts it, “Nutso family stuff” happening. The Daily Mail started calling Bea “The Powder Princess” years ago, because of her cocaine addiction. Now, someone spraypainted it on her car. Bea doesn’t care, but Gran does, and so does Henry—in part because the rumors are true.

Bea, Henry says, wanted to be a musician. She studied music in college, and then Arthur Fox died just before she graduated. She started sneaking out to play secret shows and do lots of cocaine, until Gran and Philip basically kidnapped her and sent her to rehab. Alex asks where Henry’s mom, Catherine, was in all this, and Henry says she checked out after Arthur’s death. In any case, Bea checked herself out after a few hours, and then-18-year-old Henry went to her, came out, and told her she couldn’t die because Arthur was gone. Bea cleaned up her act after that, and Pez is the only other person, besides Alex, who knows about that night. With prodding, Henry admits that it feels better to have told Alex.

Henry then shares that he’s only officially come out to Bea—though Gran once told him that he needed to keep any “deviant desires” secret so as to not make the crown look bad. Alex is shocked, but Henry insists it’s just the way it is. Then, when Alex asks, Henry tells him about Arthur Fox, whom Alex only knows as James Bond. Alex describes growing up in Texas, and Henry talks about the guys in college who were interested but immediately turned off by the paperwork. Hours pass, and Alex tells Henry about Liam and that June just lives here to keep an eye on him. Finally, Alex blurts that he misses Henry. He immediately regrets saying it—but Henry returns the sentiment.

Alex is working late, staring at his three files. The first is about gun regulations. The second is about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Alex isn’t even supposed to have the third one, which he calls The Texas Binder. Ellen lost Texas, her home state, when she won the presidency in 2016—the first president since Nixon to do so. The demographic and voting data and projections in the binder, which Alex has secretly compiled and carries to and from work with him, give him hope that she can win Texas this time. As he draws lines on a map of Texas, June calls, angry. Alex was supposed to meet her for dinner more than an hour ago, and she insists she’s going home now. Alex finds her in her room later, where she accuses him of being too involved in politics, like Ellen and Oscar.

Finally, June admits that really, she’s upset that Alex hasn’t told her about Henry, brandishing the magazine with the poster of young Henry in it. She’s known for a long time that Alex likes men, and she supports his relationship with Henry. Out of nowhere, she admits that Evan didn’t break up with her. She’d planned to move to California with him and work at the Sacramento Bee, but she came to D.C. instead because she believed it was the right choice. Alex, she says, doesn’t have to burn himself out trying so hard—he can have Henry and figure out how to be involved in politics in a way that does the most good. Looking at the poster, Alex says that Henry is so good and tries so hard. He admits he’s never said that to Henry, which sends June into a jokingly enraged fit: men have “No emotional vocabulary.”

As Alex and June talk and eat ice cream, Alex realizes it’s a relief that June knows about him. He mulls over the fact that June, it seems, resents Oscar just like Ellen for prioritizing politics over “normal life.” He also thinks she’s wrong and that he can have Henry and a life in politics now. However, he also knows that the Texas Binder is an excellent reason to take the LSAT and go to law school. Maybe he should consider other paths.

Seven people now know about Alex and Henry: June, Nora, Cash, Amy, Shaan, Bea, and Pez. Pez answers when Alex calls during his last week of college. Pez and Henry are driving around Wales on holiday, and after some banter, Pez reveals that he and Henry are planning to workshop philanthropy projects. Henry’s whole goal is to use his royal accounts to pay for the projects, most of which seek to help LGBT youth or fund HIV clinics. The conversation leaves Alex feeling a bit better, and he finally makes it through his last week of college. On the day he graduates, when classmates he doesn’t know ask for pictures with him, he wonders if he should’ve tried harder to make friends.

At the graduation party at the White House later, Alex’s phone buzzes. It’s WASPy Hunter: it’s officially going to be Ellen versus Richards in the fall. Almost immediately, staffers and congresspeople are chatting anxiously. When Alex notices Oscar and Rafael Luna sneaking inside, he finds a spot to eavesdrop in the shrubs, where a window is loose. They argue in Spanish about something that Richards did to Luna. Oscar is trying to convince Luna to do something with that information, but Luna spits that Oscar clearly doesn’t believe Ellen can win and still has feelings for her. Alex understands none of it.

Henry texts Alex, inviting him, Nora, and June to a fundraiser in LA with him, Bea, and Pez (Pez has promised to get them all matching kimonos). Alex accepts, so after lunch with Oscar and then the fundraiser, the six pile into a limo and head for a karaoke bar. Security has already warned the other patrons not to take pictures. The group starts with vodka shots, and as other patrons realize who they are, more drinks come their way. Bea, then Pez, sings, and Alex texts Henry about hooking up in the bathroom. Cash rolls his eyes but watches the door. Then, Henry sings, and Pez and June dance on the table. Bea and Alex dance, both of them marveling at how wonderful it is to see Henry so uninhibited.

An hour later, they go through an In-N-Out drive-thru and head to their hotel suites. Bea tucks Pez, Nora, and June in one, takes the second for herself, and sends Henry and Alex to the third. They tumble into bed, and Henry suggests they have anal sex for the first time. They finally fall asleep at 4:00 a.m. and wake a few hours later—Henry has to catch a flight home. As Alex watches Henry shave and dress, he wishes privately he could watch Henry do this daily. That said, Alex is hungover and might vomit, so he writes off his emotions. They meet Bea, Nora, June, and Pez in the hallway, and Cash, coffees in hand, laughs that “this is the gang now.” Alex suddenly realizes he has friends.