This post contains spoilers from The Residence episode 7 from this point forward.
In the previous episode of The Residence, Patrick Doumbe took the stand at the congressional hearings and dropped the bomb about seeing someone dragging a body on the second floor of the White House. We also know after episode 6 that Cordelia Cupp is on her way back to D.C., having left her beloved birds behind.
The Residence episode 7 opens with a sequence of White House housekeeper Elsyie Chayle (Julieth Restrepo) speaking tensely on the phone the morning of the state dinner. She lives a modest life with her daughter in their apartment and takes multiple buses to work. On the bus, she takes another stressful phone call.
The opening sequence takes her through the day, including moments we have seen and those we haven't. She's cleaning a bedroom and asked to leave by a Secret Service agent. She gets a phone call when back in the laundry room and leaves to knock on someone's door. The next thing we know, she's walking out of the room and into the secret staircase in terror. She's also holding a large metal candlestick holder. A.B.'s lying on the floor with broken glass around him.
Cordelia's back in D.C., and she's excited to hit the ground running by questioning Doumbe, but Edwin and Dokes break the news that he won't talk after his immunity expired with the hearings now suspended. But Dokes reopened the case and they have full support from Hollinger, who's begging her to solve the case.
The Residence episode 7 recap
Back in the White House, Cordelia resumes her investigation by taking note of the changes that have occurred in the house since she left months ago. She notices a pop door at the end of the hallway on the third floor, and it's the secret staircase that connects the second and third floors. She's checking it all out and running through every detail of the case in her mind.
Cordelia reunites with Jasmine, who has settled into her role as the head usher, complete with a fully redecorated and designed office with no traces of A.B. She asks about A.B.'s journal, but no one has seen it, but that's sure to become important soon. Lilly has taken over the house with her influencer-esque changes. Jasmine informs Cordelia that the keys she took off A.B.'s body didn't belong to him. They instead belong to Bruce the engineer.
Bruce has been tirelessly redesigning the president's shower because he prefers the pressure intense and the temperature super hot. He claims that he had no issues with A.B., but they didn't get along, mostly because A.B. didn't show Bruce appreciation for miraculously fixing the president's shower. Bruce was also frustrated for being called in on the night of the state dinner.
Initially, Bruce denies that he was on the second floor, but he finally admits to being in the Yellow Oval Room. However, he claims that he was checking other rooms because of the plumbing issues in Tripp's room. He also admits that he saw Lilly on the second floor, and she claims she was searching for A.B. twice. The first time, she saw him arguing with Elsyie in the Yellow Oval Room, and she returned to find him again and saw Bruce.
A romantic entanglement turns suspect
Like Bruce, Elsyie denies being on the second floor, but she's of course lying. But Elysie gets glowing reviews from everyone on the staff, so that's interesting that she's somehow involved. When Cordelia originally questioned Elsyie on the night of the state dinner, she said she didn't see anything on the second floor, which Cordelia thought was odd at the time. Finally, Elsyie opens up.
She was cleaning a room on the second floor when a Secret Service agent pulled her out because no one was allowed on that floor. When she returned to the third floor, A.B. called her to meet in the Yellow Oval Room, where he yelled at her for not getting the Lincoln Bedroom ready, which she couldn't do because of the mandate about the second floor. A.B. also confronted her about lying when applying for the job about past arrests and charges for crimes. He tells her to finish her work and talk to him in the morning.
Elsyie refuses to talk about the lie regarding her past, but reveals that Bruce talked with her on the second floor. She was still tense after her conversation with A.B. and in the heat of the moment said, "I am going to kill him." She claims she said that about her ex-husband, who she believes is trying to set her up by calling A.B. with that information. Bruce claims he let her be but turned back to check on her and saw her running out of the Yellow Oval Room with the candlestick. He peered into the room and saw A.B. dead.
Meanwhile, Elsyie's side of the story changes things up. As she tells it, she returned to the room to try and smooth things over with A.B. but found him lying there dead. She kneeled down to check on him and accidentally touched the candlestick, which is likely the murder weapon. Out of fear, she took the candlestick with her. Bruce and Elsyie both accuse each other of killing A.B. Elsyie claims Bruce later told her, "I took care of it." They haven't spoken since.
But here's the kicker! Bruce and Elysie are romantically involved, which Cordelia realizes based on the matching Pantheon ceiling pendants on Bruce's keychain and Elsyie's necklace. He's been in love with her for 516 days. Their relationship grew during the stress of the March 4 terrorist attack that had a group of White House staff members staying put in the residence. They kissed the day of the state dinner when Elsyie gave him his keychain.
Cordelia runs through the options of what this all means, who's lying, who could have killed A.B., and who's covering up for the other. Even though Elsyie and Bruce are the current leads, nothing and no one's out of the picture just yet. Right before the season finale, The Residence is heating up for the big reveal, and the suspence couldn't be higher!
Watch The Residence only on Netflix.