The Assassination of Payton Hobart

**"The Assassination of Payton Hobart"** is the sixth episode of the first season of *The Politician*, and the sixth episode of the series overall.

## Summary

As Payton confronts hard truths about his ambition following an election day bombshell, he reconnects with a former ally - and becomes a target.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Payton and Astrid wait for the election results. Astrid, knowing she was losing, decides to pull out of the race at the last minute, making Payton president but only by default. It is a hollow victory and one that the other students don’t take too kindly to.

Infinity heads off to visit Ray, the lab technician whom she blackmails into paying for a motel room and whatever she wants. Infinity then confronts her grandmother and asks her how her mother died. As it happens, she found her mother’s records and saw that she had lead poisoning, which she suspects her grandmother of doing. She then blackmails her into paying for a Paris trip.

Payton approaches the school board with his first proposal to ban plastic straws, but it doesn’t go well as the board shoots his idea down. Dusty invites Ricardo for dinner soon after and convinces him that Payton is the reason Infinity is not around anymore. She goes on to say Payton has been poisoning her mind and suggests having him killed.

With school pressures weighing him down, Payton confides in his mum about feeling depressed. He tells her that it’s all Astrid’s fault because now he doesn’t have a mandate and he wanted to make the world a better place. She gives him some sound advice after listening to him – try to enjoy life and bring music into it.

As Payton fails to convince the board to accept one of his proposals again, Skye talks to McAfee about wanting to get rid of Payton and be president herself. Payton then confronts the principal about never agreeing to his proposals, so she reveals that if Astrid didn’t drop out, he would have lost by two votes.

Payton has dinner with Infinity soon after and asks her for help to enjoy the last few months of school. They then both audition for the school musical and get parts. When Ricardo finds out that Infinity is going to be in the play too, he also decides to get involved. The play is about John Hinckley Jr., a man who attempted to kill President Reagan.

During lunch, Payton and Alice want McAfee and James to sign a non-disclosure agreement that will make sure they never discuss any confidential information that could be detrimental to Payton. If they do, they would need to pay 5 million dollars. Reluctantly, they sign the agreement.

McAfee gives Payton a cupcake to cheer him up and he later gets very sick. This leads him to become paranoid as he thinks someone is trying to assassinate him, just like other presidents in the past. He accuses McAfee because of the cupcake and she replies that Skye did the icing and may be the one responsible. She later confronts Skye who gets angry and denies it. After this accusation, Skye breaks up with her and heads home to get rid of the rat poison that she has stashed away.

Brigitte, the stable woman, comes to see Georgina and asks to leave with her. She refuses, telling Brigitte that she made a commitment to her son, but also looks very torn about this decision. During rehearsals, McAfee talks to Payton and admits that she had a love affair with Skye, and apologizes for not telling him. After Ricardo plays his part, Payton confronts him about using a BB gun during the musical. Just as he leaves, Ricardo shoots him in the back.

Ricardo then meets with Dusty who asks him if he shot Payton. He replies that he did with his BB gun and used pellets covered in possum bacteria. She gets angry as she wanted to shoot him with a real gun however he replies that this should give him sepsis and will eventually kill him.

The next morning, Payton wakes up feeling very ill. His mum comes to check up on him and they share a touching moment together. She tells him she is in love for the first time in her life and wants to give it a try. Just as he tries getting up, he collapses on the floor. While she calls the emergency services, we see Brigitte waiting for Georgina but when she fails to turn up, she leaves on her plane.

## Cast

### Main

* Ben Platt as Payton Hobart
* Zoey Deutch as Infinity Jackson
* Lucy Boynton as Astrid Sloan
* Bob Balaban as Keaton Hobart (credit only)
* David Corenswet as River Barkley (credit only)
* Julia Schlaepfer as Alice Charles
* Laura Dreyfuss as McAfee Westbrook
* Theo Germaine as James Sullivan
* Rahne Jones as Skye Leighton
* Benjamin Barrett as Ricardo
* Jessica Lange as Dusty Jackson
* Gwyneth Paltrow as Georgina Hobart

### Guest

* Martina Navratilova as Brigitte
* Natasha Ofili as Principal Vaughn

### Minor

* Alveraz Ricardez as Officer Kellen
* Tracy S. Lee as Vicki
* Karen Brundage as Olive Garden Woman
* Courtney Taylor Burness as Hostess (Karen)
* Adam Wang as Mr. Anselm
* Jordan Wall as Ivy
* Andrew Patrick Ralston as Dean Lawrence
* Nathan Howard as Damien
* Richard Wharton as Thomas
* Doreen Calderon as Librarian

## Trivia

* In Spanish the episode title is also called and translated to "The Assassination of Payton Hobart: Part 1", while in English there is no number in end of the title.
* Despite never mentioning plastic straws before, that is what Payton chooses to make his first initiative. His second is to make some of the drinking fountains eco-friendly.
* This is the first mention of Infinity's mother and her tragic death.
* It is revealed that Payton lost the election by only two votes.