White House Plumbers Episode 4 Summary

This recap of White House Plumber’s Episode 4, “The Writer’s Wife” contains spoilers.

After the absolute disaster of the DNC break-in, which – hilariously and randomly – is presented episode 3Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy each have very different reactions to their predicament in The Writer’s Wife.

To put it short and simple, Hunt is scared while Liddy is pretty proud of herself. It’s not until Dorothy comes home from Paris that things really get going, and the episode’s title lets us know that the focus shifts to someone who’s really smart and capable – and to him, unbeknownst to everyone, something unexpected fate will happen.

White House Plumbers Episode 4 Summary

Even before Dorothy learns that Howard enlisted St. John’s help in destroying evidence, she is absolutely furious that Howard put the whole family in danger with rather flimsy arguments. As she pointed out last week, Nixon will be re-elected anyway, and Howard’s experience during the Bay of Pigs fiasco should have been a lesson.

Needless to say, that wasn’t the case.

The burglars remain silent for the time being, but it’s only a matter of time before they are linked again to Howard and Liddy, which is why the former enlists the services of defense attorney William Bittman, who advises him to accept a deal with the prosecution.

The obvious problem that emerges here is misplaced loyalty. After repeated failures, the government will not take care of Howard and Liddy, although both – at least in Liddy’s case – are initially unwilling to turn against Nixon or any of her co-conspirators.

Only Dorothy sees how ridiculous this is, so she takes matters into her own hands and arranges government hush money payments for her family, the Liddys, and the Cubans. However, this is still a temporary situation, and Dorothy is understandably unconvinced that the Nixon administration will show any loyalty to Howard and Liddy.

The ending of episode 4 of “White House Plumbers” is explained

Despite her efforts to protect him and her family financially, Dorothy is still through with Howard and has been, by her own admission, since the Bay of Pigs invasion. Her motivation now is simply to protect his reputation for the sake of her children, but upon learning that he persuaded St. John to help remove evidence, she decides to leave Howard.

Was Howard Hunt involved in the assassination of JFK?

After a heated argument, Dorothy gets in United Airlines Flight 553where she meets with Michele Clark, a journalist with whom she plans to discuss details of the story, including Howard’s possible involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Previously, Howard had casually used JFK’s assassination as leverage against the White House to ensure he was properly cared for. His real involvement has often been speculated about, and there is some evidence to back it up. So it looks like the series extrapolates that aspect, much like how it made Liddy’s penchant for Hitler speeches a significant part of his personality.

Is Dorothy dead?

Just before she is about to give Michele more details, both of them – along with all the other passengers – perish when the flight suddenly crashes and crashes.

Of course, the timing of this is deeply suspicious and it is impossible to portray the event in a way that does not lead to the conclusion that sabotage was involved. However, this will be one of several topics that next week’s finals will address.

You can stream White House Plumber’s Episode 4, “The Writer’s Wife,” exclusively on HBO.

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