Barry starts having visions of Emma haunting him as a reminder that he has not avenged her death. He is becoming increasingly suspicious of all those around him, imagining that Daliyah and Fauzi are conspiring against him when both express their disapproval over his banning Al-Qadi from the election. He also accuses Leila of betraying him after she forms a coalition with Al-Qadi; she responds by telling him that they'll always have a connection through Ahmed, who is Barry's son. He ends up taking the revelation fairly well, worrying about how much of Ahmed's life he has missed and how he will make up for that in addition to how he will tell the rest of his family.

Leila approaches Al-Qadi about forming a coalition: If she is elected as president, she will appoint him as her prime minister. Together they work out the foundations of a new government for Abuddin that will give the Islamists a court of sharia law for family and civil issues, and protect the private wealth of Leila's backers. They pitch their coalition as one of peace, but privately acknowledge they are using one another. The quickly overtake Fauzi in the polls. 

Fauzi denounces Barry's banning of Al-Qadi from the election, and Barry doesn't take his friends public statements very well. Fauzi is suspicious when he finds Daliyah at the palace, but accepts her flimsy excuse.

Safiyah tells Leila that a photographer is blackmailing the campaign with pictures of her and Cogswell. Daliyah tells the general, who tails Safiyah to the meet, and then follow the photographer back to his home. When Cogswell confronts him, the photographer tries to explain that he wasn't really blackmailing Leila, but the general doesn't believe him and insists that he show him the computer with the pictures. When the photographer has problems with his laptop and continues to object, things get physical and Cogswell accidentally kills him. Safiyah tells Leila that the supposed blackmailer is dead, then reveals that she hired him in order to scare her sister. Leila is flattered by Cogswells defense of her, and tells him he makes her feel safe.

After the new poll information is announced, Maloof tells Cogswell that the military will never support Jamal's wife, indicating that there will be a military coup if she wins. Cogswell lets him know that in the event of a coup, the US would completely withdraw all of it's support.

After having sex with Mahdiya and having his motives questioned by the Caliphate's council, Ihab agrees to marry the girl. Barry finds out about the wedding from Maloof and Cogswell, and orders a bombing of the ceremony. Unfortunately only Sheik Abdullah is killed, and Ihab rededicates himself to revenge. He consolidates his power among the council by claiming that Abdullah would have named him successor and executing his most vocal opponent in the middle of a meeting. 

After his blog is shut down by the government, Haitham is looking for a new job in Dubai. Sammy is upset to find out that he's leaving, and their argument leads to an accusation that Haitham isn't being his true self. The professor denies that he's a homosexual just because he has sex with men occasionally, and accuses Sammy of being blinded by his American upbringing. He abruptly and cruelly ends their relationship.

Halima's boyfriend implies that he wants to marry her, and also tells her that he wants to lose his virginity to her. He's shocked to find out that she is also a virgin. As they walk to a student union meeting together, their relatively mild intimacy is observed by Kattan.He denounces her to the other students, and she ends up being heckled and called "whore" by those who previously respected her. Her boyfriend is unhappy with her decision to slow their physical relationship; he does not fully understand the pressures and discrimination she faces as a woman. She begs him to stay with her despite her insistence that they take a step back physically.