Now that we’re three episodes in to The Oval, it’s safe to say that this is exactly what we’d expect from a Tyler Perry drama. It’s over-the-top, juicy, scandalous and ridiculous all at once. The bad characters are just so bad you want to punch them in the face, while the good characters are almost too goody-goody and idealistic to function and, of course, they rely on their faith to carry them through the day. It’s like Scandal meets The Haves and the Have Nots. 

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The third episode of The Oval picks up from Lilly’s husband, Donald, walking in on her shooting  Bobby, the chocolate-y psycho who has been stalking her since the airport. Donald orders his White House goons to take Bobby away. Lilly makes herself look super suspect by asking what’s going to happen to Bobby and expressing interest in wanting to see him. What we do know is that this won’t be making it to the press and that something bad is going to happen to Bobby. 

RELATED: 'The Oval' Episode 1 Recap

Later on, we see Bobby in a basement with — we’re not sure if they’re doctors, but it’s two people wearing scrubs, and they’re operating on him without anesthesia. They could be doctors, but you never know with this show. Donald’s mission is to get everything he can out of Bobby because he wants to “know everything about him from the moment he was born to the moment he walked through their front door.” Lilly is shook because, obviously, she doesn’t want her hubby to know that she cheated, but maybe he should, because he’s not giving Lilly what she needs. They don’t even have sex, and it seems like their marriage is a sham.  

Next we get back to Barry. His daughter, Callie, is still missing. Last week, we watched Callie’s mother and her fellow Ragadooshi cult goons dragging Callie right out of her house — all because grandma Nancy didn’t listen to Barry’s request to keep Callie’s mom away because she can’t be trusted. Barry is spiraling out of control as a result and will stop at nothing to get his daughter back. He went to his gangsta cousin, Picky, to try to find out where Ruth’s cult is and to try to get some help. But Picky tells Barry to be more strategic because while the Ragadooshis are a cult, they’re also gangsters, too, and they ain’t nothing to mess with. However, Barry refuses to listen. He snatches a gun from one of Picky’s homies and demands an address again. Picky gives him an address, but we later find out that it was the wrong address on purpose. Cuz was just trying to look out. 

Meanwhile, Hunter is jumping off with one of his mistresses in the Oval Office. The Oval Office  is soundproof, so it’s the perfect place to do dirt, but Victoria isn’t stupid. She suspects that her husband is up to no good, since he has been missing for a little bit, and when Gayle confirms it out of spite, she goes to investigate. Victoria tries to enter the Oval Office while her husband and his mistress are getting busy, but the secret service agent on duty is not having it. They struggle for a while, which buys Gayle enough time to call her man from the kitchen phone. It turns out, her man is Picky! She wants him to come to the White House, but he refuses because he’s not welcome by her family and would probably have to sneak in anyway because he definitely doesn’t have security clearance. The look on Gayle’s face is priceless when he reveals that his uncle is the White House Butler, though. 

Lilly goes sniffing around to try to find out where Bobby is. There’s a shady secret service agent named Kyle at her house keeping watch. She asks him where Bobby is but gets no answers. Instead, the secret service agent asks her if she has anything she needs to say about this situation, because it doesn’t add up. He basically tells her that he’s trained in picking up non-verbal deception and can tell when someone is lying — not in those words, but that’s the gist of it. Lilly says she doesn’t like his line of questioning. He keeps it cute and smug and tells her that he’s just here for the good of the nation. 

But let’s read between the lines, this particular agent and Donald are very familiar with each other — like, romantically familiar with each other. We’ll get the specifics of their relationship later — not in this episode, but based on the breadcrumbs we’re getting, we know there’s a major revelation coming soon. 

Hunter heads back to his bedroom after his tryst, and Victoria is waiting for him. She asks which one of his side chicks was he dealing with and he tells her to go to bed because all he wants to do is wash the sex funk off. He steps into the shower and issa trap! Victoria laid down some glass or some kind of sharp object that cuts the hell out of Hunter’s foot. 

Don’t get any ideas, y’all!

Anyway, Victoria tells him that next time one of his goons tries to keep her from going into the Oval, or anywhere in the house, really, then it’s about to be a wrap for him. She also tells him that she knows who her husband was sleeping with and plans to pay her a visit. 

Back to Donald and Lilly. Lilly goes back to her room and Donald asks who she was talking to. When she says it was Kyle, Donald gets pissed because, apparently, Kyle wasn’t even supposed to be keeping watch that night. Earlier, we saw Kyle going out of his way to switch with the other agent. Anyway, Donald rushes downstairs and demands to know why Kyle is there and not the other agent. Kyle says being there gives him comfort, which was very stalker-ish, but we pick up on the vibe of their interactions. There is definitely a romantic vibe. Donald is irritated and tells Kyle to go outside. Kyle obliges, but he’s still a stalker. Anyway, Lilly was at the top of the stairs watching this go down, but she rushes back to the bed and pretends to be asleep before Donald comes back into the room. She knows something’s up with him and is probably in denial. Actually, they’re both probably in denial about the fact that their marriage is in shambles. 

Richard finds his son sitting in a car crying ⁠— but also preparing to make more reckless moves in the pursuit of his daughter⁠ — and talks him off the metaphorical ledge. Things escalate when Richard demands Barry give him the gun he’s holding on to. There’s a quick struggle, and then shots ring out and we fade to black. 

There’s no progress on finding Callie, and now we’re also left wondering if either Richard or Barry got shot. We’re also going to have to wait to find out what happened to Bobby, because Lilly is concerned and determined to talk to him again. We already know that Victoria and Hunter hate each other, but Victoria has plans for Hunter’s mistress, and finally, it’s only a matter of time before Gayle gets her Picky fix. 

Tune in next week to see how all these scandalous shenanigans will continue to unfold.