Her Biggest Supporter - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 22

Imagine a version of Sleeping Beauty in which Aurora frees herself from Malificent's curse, slays the dragon, and gets her Prince in the end.  Maya Pope feels that Olivia's story has been too much about Olivia needing a dragon to slay.  Half the last three seasons has been Olivia realizing she even had a dragon to slay in the first place.  Then she wavered between trying to remove the dragon from her life or make her peace with it.

Halfway through Season 4, she realizes she will just have to end B-613 and bring a hammer down on Rowan.  Olivia used her Gladiators, always happy to help, she brought Fitz on board, she even tried to get a KGB agent to finally end Rowan's reign over American espionage and her own life.  In the end, she ended Rowan the same way the Feds busted Al Capone:  the money.  And she played a little dirty.

Rowan starts the episode in fine form, at the top of his game, blackmailing Mellie the Senate candidate right in front of Lizzy Bear with Lizzy not even realizing what was happening.  And Mellie, trained for years in smiling through catastrophe as a politician's wife, uses that to try to bluff her way through Rowan's takeover.  Rowan, however, has a red button that will trigger the end of Fitz's career and her dream of a career.

You know all that bad shit you've done?  So do I!

She manages to get away from Rowan, but only after Rowan browbeats her into finding out what exactly Rowan wants.  And while Fitz and Lizzy Bear complete their last-minute veteran strategizing, both seem confident the race is theirs to lose.  Only Mellie looks like she's losing.  With so much at stake, she decides to make Lizzy Bear complicit in her crime by have her provide her the list of names Rowan wants so much.  What names?

Olivia is pacing the lobby of a Federal building while Rosen's attentive and horrified grand jury gets the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from Jake Ballard.  Olivia tells them to expose Operation Remington, as the downing of a civilian airliner after the terrorist had been removed but the bomb hadn't is probably the most shocking of B-613 and Rowan's orders.  The grand jury's reaction is so intense Rosen is already anticipating their indictments.  No one has warned Fitz this is coming.

In fact, Olivia does just opposite.  She calls Fitz, in what is to presumably be the last of their phone chats.  He's on his way to signing his police camera law, named for Brandon Parker, with Clarence watching, where Brandon was shot down.  Fitz is glad he got a law passed that will mean something; Olivia is glad his Presidency will be remembered for more than Fitz's resignation.  She sounds nostalgic for their friendship already as she says good-bye.

She said good-bye too soon.  Huck is panicking as he brings Olivia to the Federal Building's garage where, Jake is speechless, Rosen is openly puking (looking like he's been poisoned for a second, but no), and the jurors are all seated in their bus, presumably going somewhere for lunch or something.  Blood spatter from the massacre is all over the seats and windows and victims.  The entire fucking grand jury is horribly dead.  The entire list of them.

Rosen freaks out.  He survived the cover-up of Project Defiance.  He survived Jake killing James and two whistle-blowers right next to him.  He survived Rowan's attempt to kill him with his own secretary.  Rosen may have the country's biggest case of survivor's guilt.  Ever.  Especially when the stenographer from the grand jury hearing room is killed while walking a dog she never had.  Rosen is finally, fearfully, ready to call it quits.  He can't even keep the grand jury safe.  How could he ever take any of this to trial?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wet my pants

Lizzy Bear and Mellie are having their own panic attacks as the news of a grand jury massacre goes live on TV;  they realize why "Damascus Bainbridge" wanted that list of names.  They've just made themselves accessories to a major homicide.  As the person who got Lizzy Bear into this mess, Mellie has little choice but to roam the White House halls, desperate to explain to Cy.  Cy is barking orders and threats to people, in fine form, until Mellie gives him his emergency of the day.

Cy stops his routine long enough to sit Mellie down in his office and decline to do anything.  Mellie is supposed to be transitioning to being someone else's problem.  Until Mellie mentions Operation Remington, one of "Damascus's" blackmail points.  She has no idea what Remington was, but Cy does, and the realization that Damascus is going for Fitz as well as Mellie puts him in the zone.  He shoos Mellie away, telling her he'll deal with it.

Olivia doesn't know what to do as she paces the corridor outside her office.  Comforting her is useless.  She's angry, she's desperate, she knows that she can't live her own life until Rowan is removed from it.  She is a tiger pacing her cage, wanting her prey but unable to pounce.  So, she decides to visit the one person who's managed to fool Rowan, even if only briefly.

Maya Pope has no desire to be helpful.  She instead tells Olivia that this crusade is entirely manufactured.  Olivia is only trying to end Rowan because she's making a big deal out of everything.  If she would just accept that her parents had priorities other than her childhood, she wouldn't be so worked up about Rowan now.  Olivia is about to walk out on her mother when Maya finally offers something she can use; find Rowan's enemies, and expose Rowan to them.

Cy is making his own visit, confronting Rowan, or, rather, Elijah Pope, humble paleontologist at the Smithsonian, while working on some bones.  Cy wants to be judgemental, but Rowan points out killing the grand jury was as much a favor for Fitz as protection for himself.  Cy can't disagree with this, and also can't turn down Rowan when he demands that Cy shut down Olivia's next attack on him.

Which turns out to be at CIA headquarters.  Holding one of Rosen's remaining banker's boxes of B-613 files, Olivia's plan is to go to Rowan's competition, CIA Director Lowery, she of the horrified shock during Olivia's captivity.  Lowery won't like that B-613 infiltrated her own organization.  Lowery pretends to not believe Olivia's story, but file after file turns out to explain something Lowery couldn't, and Olivia realizes Lowery always knew B-613 was in her organization.  Lowery knew, but she had no idea it was so extensive and when Cy tries to get her to help him cover it up, she resists on the grounds that she feels her toes were stepped on.

So much of Olivia's importance finally makes sense, as well as Cy's desperation that Olivia be killed rather than turned over to any enemy of the US.  Cy isn't successful, at first.  But he plays on Lowery's fears of people more powerful than her, and Olivia and Jake are hauled off to Federal Prison.  The files Olivia brought in are no doubt destroyed while Jake and Olivia stew in separate cells.  Is Olivia reminded of her kidnapping?  She should be, especially when she's brought into an interrogation room facing a video camera, not unlike the one Ian used.

Cy, before confronting either Olivia or Jake, lines Rosen up.  Already scared, Rosen expects Cy to arrest him.  Oh, no, Rosen.  You're too useful.  Cy instead threatens to do terrible things to Abby while going on about pressure points, leading one to wonder, what's Cy's pressure point?  The daughter he never sees?  No, it's Cy's job and access to power.  Cy likes running the country behind the scenes, accountable only to Fitz, serving him and himself and no one else.

Does Rosen go between Jake and Olivia repeatedly, or does he manage to convince Olivia to sign first, then trudge to Jake's prison to spend some time with him?  We know Olivia signs first, mostly because Rosen tells her they'll make Jake and his family's life miserable until she does.  What a reversal.  Rosen was, for so long, the moral impetus to stop Rowan.  Now he's thoroughly beaten and trying to get Jake and Olivia beaten, too.  

Lizzy Bear pops in on Mellie, wondering if that whole conspiracy-to-commit-murder thing has been handled.  Mellie lets her know they're off whatever hook Mellie got them on.  It's not enough for Lizzy Bear, who gently nudges Mellie to tell her of the bullet they dodged by giving Damascus Bainbridge that list.

While Mellie tells all, Cy finishes up the clean-up job; he sends Jake and Olivia home after getting their ironclad vow of silence; he gives Maya a deal she doesn't even have to think about.  She's happy to sign and be released and free and probably out of the country by dinnertime.  Back at the White House, situation handled, Abby tries asking questions, wanting to know just what he's been up to all afternoon on such short notice.  Cy brushes her off.  He swears off having a soul, which is where he's been going ever since getting over his grief at losing James.  

Mellie and Lizzy have done all they can do; Fitz puts the finishing touches on their campaign, which the two look like is already won.  His speech to important backers the night before the election is everything a devoted husband would say, and it's easy for Mellie to think that, at last, she and Fitz could have a real marriage.  Or, at least, a real partnership.  That there's still some affection down there that they could nurture again.

While Fitz congratulates Mellie and heaps praise on her, Rowan has his own congrats for a recovering-from-prison Olivia.  While trying to relax in bed, Rowan lets her know over the phone that she's won, in a way.  Rowan has decided to kill B-613 for his sake.  Yes, an agency Rowan claimed was vitally important to The Republic, without which representative government would fall, can now be dismantled for the convenience of Command.  Rowan's liquidation strategy is to let Not-Virgil do all the work of killing what few agents remained.  This, I assume, includes Russell.  Although, if it did, why bother freeing him?  Why not leave the body for Huck and Quinn to fluff 'n fold?  

Not-Virgil then gets to torch the boxes of B-613 files stolen at the mid-season finale.  Yes, those finally make a brief appearance until they're up in smoke.  Didn't Not-Virgil realize that Rowan wasn't going to stop liquidating B-613 until Not-Virgil was dead too?  The guy is walking away without a care, making it easy for Rowan to shoot the last person who could ever testify against him.  Free of his pesky criminal past, Rowan is just going to ride things out as his original identity, Elijah Pope.  Old, doddering paleontologist at the Smithsonian.  It's a nice retirement, if you're willing to kill for it.  

Olivia promises her father that she'll get him, somehow.  Rowan almost laughs at her, telling her that there's no more B-613 and no more Command to ruin.  He tells her she won, but she doesn't feel like a victor.  He gets to leave a trail of dead bodies and retire to his museum. Olivia assembles Huck and Quinn, more to commiserate than anything else.  Quinn points out that they have one last bit of evidence; the 2 billion dollars Huck stole during the original shut-down of B-613 a season ago.  Huck complains that he found it after so many digital re-routes that it's impossible to say where it really came from.

That sounds like a dead end.  But, Olivia has learned how to turn a problem into a solution.  That money could have come from anywhere.  So, she'll decide it came from the Smithsonian.  And that Elijah Pope, humble, doddering paleontologist, embezzled it.  

Eli Pope tries to bluff the cops who show up to arrest him for embezzlement.  But, like he said before, he's just some anonymous old guy now.  Or, rather, a garden variety crook.  So, Elijah Pope is stewing in a holding cell when Olivia and Jake show up to let Elijah know that now they have won.

Eli scoffs at their confidence; he thinks he'll be out soon.  But, Olivia reminds him that now, he's nobody.  With no agents remaining to spring him, or high-level status to slip him away.  Now, he's just like the guys crowding the benches in his holding cell.  Eli Pope realizes that the Last Man Standing has no allies.  It's wonderful watching him freak out as Olivia strides away, a life to live.

Mellie has her own big, life-affirming win tonight, too.  Fitz watches, satisfied that he helped make this happen, that his and Mellie's partnership produced something for a change.  Lizzy ruins it, accidentally at first.  But once Fitz sees the photograph of Command, smiling next to Mellie, he needs to know all, and Lizzy is perfectly willing to tell him every cringe-inducing detail she knows.  Fitz is horrified, all while Mellie is fifty feet away telling everyone that Fitz is her biggest supporter.  Like a proper supporter, he manages to smile big for the cameras.  He even manages to hug Mellie.  The crowd is totally fooled.  Mellie is totally fooled.  

Quinn interrupts Huck's solo reverie back at Gladiator HQ.  For some reason, she's been to the morgue to see the bodies of the jurors; she recognized the "style" in it.  And she demands an explanation from Huck- why would he do it?  This grand jury was going to free him.  Except that he was already free- he killed to protect that immunity he got from Rosen.  Huck tries to use his family as an excuse.  Quinn, almost in tears, tells Huck that he can't possibly go back to his family, not as what he's become.  He's a killer, practically an animal.  She breaks down as she tells him that she can't pretend he's okay anymore.  She can't even pretend he deserves to live.  Huck, beat down, with no friends left and only hoping Olivia doesn't find out how low he's sunk, ends up agreeing with her.  We don't see if she pulled the trigger on the big gun she's pointing at him.  We don't know if they find a way for Huck to live.

Mellie has given her victory speech, and now, the only thing left is for a quiet, three-way toast in the Oval with Cy and Fitz.  Cy, loving a winner no matter what, enjoys the job prospects of maybe being in the White House for another eight years in the not-so-distant-future.  And Mellie wants Fitz to comment on her being President.  Fitz is calm as he informs Mellie he wants her nowhere near the Presidency.  He doesn't want her near him, not after what she's done.  Not after who she helped.  

She doesn't know it, but she helped the man who killed their son, and she doesn't even know why that grand jury was marked for death, does she?  It's not so much that she did it, but that she didn't know anything that would have explained why Damascus Bainbridge wanted that list, yet helped him anyway.  It's a little hypocritical from the guy who invaded West Angola for his former mistress, but it's what we feel, so it's okay that Fitz feels this way, now, too.

Mellie can't believe it.  This was supposed to be Victory Night.  And Fitz is now trying to make her feel like a bad girl.  She tries to explain what she did- she was trying to protect them both.  Fitz can't believe how easily she crumbled to blackmail.  And how weak she seems right now.  And he can't live with her.  Not for another minute.  Mellie tries to reconnect to him; he won't even let her touch him.  She can take her Senate seat.  It was a parting gift.  But that's the last of Fitz's help.  That's the last of him.  She can go to Virginia.  That's where her life is now.  She doesn't argue. She doesn't shout.  She doesn't erupt.  She just disappears from the room.  Leaving Fitz with Cy.  

Does Fitz know how much Cy did today to shut down Olivia's crusade?  Did he maybe call Rosen, who would have known what the grand jury was hearing?  Fitz does know that Cy, somehow, covered everything up.  Without telling him.  It's like Project Defiance all over again- dirty deals done behind his back on his behalf and he's supposed to be grateful.  And it's the same people doing it.  And it's too much.  Fitz quietly fires Cy.  Ah, so this was Cy's pressure point.  And it hurts him to lose his job, his power, his Fitz.  They guy he spent a decade saying "Yes, sir" to.  Abby tries real hard not to gloat as she oversees Cy turning in his badges.  Cy looks back to see Lizzy Bear moving into his old office.  The woman Cy loved besting is getting his job.  I bet that's a pressure point, too.

Mellie looks sad, but calm as she carts a suitcase out.  She doesn't look like she particularly needs to ever return.  As Mellie leaves home, Olivia returns home, thinking she's going to celebrate with Jake.  But he can only stand in her hallway.  He points out that their quest is over.  And that she's now safe and sound at home, no worries about her father.  Rowan can't hurt her now.  Is Jake's part in her life really over?  Olivia doesn't want to believe it.  But, Jake insists that the man she loves is now hers for the taking.  And he loves her enough to get out of her way. 

Where will Jake go?  And, will there be good cheeseburgers and beer there?  We don't know.  Jake looks like a man whose life gets to start now, probably somewhere far from Olivia.

Fitz is alone in the residential wing.  The house is quiet.  And dark.  And Fitz, for the first time since Mellie left briefly in Season 2, is alone.  But, this time is permanent.  This time, he's going to get used to the solitude, drink it up, maybe even enjoy it- oh wait, he's not alone on the balcony.  You know, from the moment Nina Simone starts to sing about the sun coming out, that Olivia and Fitz are now going to let themselves be happily in love.  Olivia looks happier and more relaxed than she's looked in years.  She looks like she knows she's no longer being watched, and judged.  And now, neither is Fitz.  Which makes this time, finally, right for them to have their moment.  And for us to leave them to it.

At this point, Fitz is surrounded by:  Olivia, Abby, David Rosen, Lizzy Bear, and Susan Ross.  Is this new team, acquired over the course of a Season, a signal of a better President to come?  Of a better Fitz to come?

Where's Jerry, Jr.? Did Mellie leave her baby with Fitz?

Did Maya get away soon enough that Fitz can't put her back in prison?  Does Fitz even know she's loose?  Does Olivia?  Will that be a fun episode in Season 5 when they find out?

Huck! Are you still alive?!?!?!?!?

Charlie?  How 'bout you?  You still there????

You Don't Get to Die - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 21

There are times, watching Scandal, that there shouldn't be a case of the week for Olivia to handle.  Olivia is trying a massive effort to bring down B-613 and her father for good, and she really doesn't have time for these things.  But, the show has this one touch with reality- those cases that you and I feel are a distraction pay the bills.  They also show how unbeatable Olivia is at her job and how unbeatable her father is at his job.

Today's case provides Rowan with a chance to spy on Olivia, and foil her kidnapping of Russell.  It also provides a way for Mellie to prove Cy right while advancing her campaign for Senator.  And it also provides one of the bravest moments I've seen on television. In. A. Long. Time. Think back; you've probably seen everything the universe can throw at someone on TV.  But have you ever seen an abortion?  Olivia holds Martinez's hand as the vacuum tube is switched on and starts sucking the embryo out.  Martinez lets a tear fall; she would probably have loved to be pregnant by a man she cared for.  Instead, she's aborting her rapist's reminder of how he violated her.

Olivia's treatment of Ensign Martinez, raped and desperately wanting an abortion, is in stark contrast to Russell's new status.  Olivia seems to have bought the apartment next door.  Maybe so it can be her kidnapping HQ instead of someone else's.  It's empty, the only remains of the previous neighbor her old curtains, blowing in the wind and letting golden light shine in on Huck and Quinn's brutal torture regimen.  Who did not cringe in empathy pain when Quinn power-drilled into Russell's kneecap?

All this trouble, which Olivia assures Russell will be worse than the death she refuses to give him, is to discover the meaning of "Operation Foxtail".  Jake, in Olivia's bed, recuperating to the sounds of Russell's agony, would like Olivia to tell him what's going on.  He'll settle for relieving Huck of torture duty for a while so he and Russell can share a beer and jointly bitch about what a shitty boss Rowan is.  They trade his most stinging barbs with each other.  Rowan's gift is in guilting his agents.  He likes to break them down, and build them back into machines that just want to please Rowan.  Rowan also likes to remind his agents that they really are just pawns in his games.  Let your agents feel they're important to someone, and they just might feel like real people.

Russell is happy to have a pain-free moment to trash talk his boss; but he's still Rowan's loyal soldier.  Does he think the Gladiators have no chance, and wants to stick with a winning side?  Or, does he think Rowan will finally give him some validation?  Jake's attempt to help Olivia cope with yet another boyfriend turning out to be her father's informant is a preview of events to come, and from the most unexpected place.

Susan Ross continues refusing to obey Fitz on principle; she semi-kidnaps Olivia's next client from a Navy aircraft cruiser, so the woman has a chance to actually get some justice against her rapist.  With her alleged attacker a man in command of a huge chunk of the Navy officers that will try him, justice is a slim shot, even with Olivia in her corner at Susan's request.  Who didn't enjoy Olivia readying herself to see Fitz when she saw the Secret Service, knowing she was getting someone much more formidable?

Who didn't enjoy the way that almost every woman on the show rallied to Ensign Martinez's side?  Only Lizzy Bear looked neutral, willing to let the military handle the matter, while every other woman demanded that Fitz Do Something.  Fitz wants everyone to have some faith in military justice; but the female Scandal characters long ago lost hope that regular justice can help rape victims.  Abby detests having to dodge questions when she'd rather personally castrate Martinez's attacker.  Mellie can't believe Martinez would just be left to fend for herself in a system that salutes the guy who raped her. (Remember, Mellie's been raped by a powerful man herself; she knows what Martinez is enduring).

Olivia and Quinn basically have to do the investigative work that Martinez's JAG lawyer, Virgil Puckleberry, doesn't even know how to do.  He shows up to the first deposition, with books he obviously hasn't read, and complaining of an Ambien hangover.  Olivia and Quinn are already convinced that the guy is no help; his incompetent questioning only confirms their first impressions.  Virgil is privy to their strategizing on finding evidence of Admiral Halsy's whereabouts during the crime, and getting Martinez an abortion.  He decides that Naval Traditions have nothing on Olivia and her Gladiators.

In the end, Fitz's secret help to Olivia's investigation, which turns up security logs, and probably some surveillance videos, also helps Mellie's campaign.  While Abby has to pretend to not be involved or on Martinez's side, Mellie and Fitz work out Mellie's position on Martinez's search for justice.  It involves Mellie ditching the idea to rehash her son's death on the same stage he died on, for a speech that links supporting justice for rape victims with support for the troops.  If you support the troops, you need to support justice for military rape victims.  And by the way, voting for Mellie is a way to thumb a supposedly-not-concerned President in the eye on the issue.

So, Cy is right; but, will every advance Mellie makes in her own career be at Fitz's expense?  So far, Fitz is willing to take a hit.  Maybe he hopes that this season's legislative successes will help historians forget about West Angola.  With his next ambition to be the mayor of a small Vermont town, maybe he feels he can afford the political hits.

Mellie is great at describing how she's got to disagree with Fitz, because of course she's right.  She's great at making her political opinions appear to be the values of whatever people she's speaking to.  Their support of her can be a message to a President.  Even Lizzy, in the doghouse for pressing Mellie to play the dead-son card, has to be impressed, using Mellie's success at campaigning to line up her next big donor.  Lizzy wants Mellie to use the energy she just created to wow him into supporting ads that can run until election day.

Olivia and Quinn, saying goodbye to a relieved and happy and vindicated Martinez, say nothing about where the video of Halsey violently attacking one of his subordinate officers came from.  Huck was busy torturing Russell for Operation Foxtail Easter Eggs.  Was Fitz the inside source?  Martinez's JAG lawyer, Virgil, isn't around to praise the Gladiators.  Quinn and Olivia, leaving Martinez in some Naval Office Building that is also the headquarters for JAG, quickly realize why.

Olivia also realizes it was a big mistake, earlier in the episode, to invite Virgil to her apartment for a strategizing session.  Virgil asked why one of her gladiators needed to go to the apartment next door; Olivia's explanation that it was getting some work done that she was responsible for didn't convince Rowan's inside man at all.  We see three discordant images, all made possible by Martinez's case and Olivia's work:  the photo of the real Virgil: the real Virgil's dead body as his impostor readies for the role Jake described earlier; and Russell's rescue.  Despite Russell's assurances that he gave no info, I fully expect Rowan to kill Russell.

But then, I didn't expect Operation Foxtail's target to be Mellie.  Rowan is gracious as he meets Mellie, the big donor she's got to impress for some major campaign cash.  Is his goal to co-opt her?  Or, is she his next victim?  Let's hope You-Don't-Get-To-Die applies to her, too.

A Woman's Place - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 20

Jake was fucking with us!  He's alive, barely.  He'll spend the episode at death's door, knocking.  Even when he's conscious, he'll be at death's door.  The important thing is this:  on Scandal, until you see the body buried or cremated, no one's really dead.

This episode weaves the stories of Mary Peterson, Olivia, and Mellie together.  Jake's bloody body leads to the Russian doctor who will get Olivia to help Mary.  Olivia will give Mellie her campaign strategy, through Fitz.  All three women will try to ease out of the shadow of a past life, a father, a husband.  Olivia and Mellie make it.  Poor Mary doesn't.

It all starts innocently enough, with Quinn starting her day at Gladiator HQ, where she picks up the newspapers Olivia will read, the mail, gets some coffee going, opens up the conference room, finds Jake's bloody mess of a body sprawled on the conference room table...

You know, just a regular day at the office

Huck uses a combination of Karate and CPR to revive Jake.  Huck and Quinn go to Charlie, who always knows the most interesting people.  As well as every creepy and empty warehouse in the D.C. area.  Olivia and Rosen meet the B-613 contingent there, where Olivia announces that this was her father's doing.  Jake is alive, but Rowan doesn't yet know that.  So, they decide to keep him out of the hospital and pester Charlie on when his black market Russian doctor friend will show up.

He does, and he actually doesn't want money.  Once he realizes who Olivia is, and that she can understand Russian, his payment is a favor; go to a former KGB agent he knows nearby, and help her out of a jam.  He's cagey on the jam, and Olivia is horrified that she might help a Russian harm her country to save Jake, but she's that desperate.  While Olivia and Huck leave to help someone code-named Black Sable, Dr. Russian demands that Rosen help him.

Mellie, now in the thick of her Senate campaign, faces her fiercest opponent.  Not the Democrat running.  No, Sally Langston.  Once again her Eagle Freedom Flag show has to highlight Sally practically hissing out her contempt that the First Lady would decide to do anything besides stand at Fitz's side.  She insists that it's a huge conflict of interest for someone representing a State to be sleeping at the White House.  She questions whether it's even legal. She also dares to use the word "opportunist", which, after her display after the funeral bombing, is rich.

Fitz and Mellie are panicking after Sally's tirade.   Especially when Abby and Lizzy look dazed when Fitz wants to know if anyone checked on whether it's legal.  So, now Rosen will be involved in both Olivia and Mellie's stories tonight.

Rosen, on the phone from Warehouse Hospital, confirms to Abby that Mellie would be breaking no law.  Sure, it would be a conflict of interest, and maybe someone should have made a law to keep it from happening.  It just never occurred to any lawmaker that a First Lady would ever want to do something else.  Abby's indignant at that explanation, and Rosen realizes that he better come up with a better soundbite, or he'll have more than rocks from his feminist sisters to worry about.  

He ends up doing a phone interview, once again from Warehouse Hospital, running through the constitutional requirements to run for President.  Which, pretty much should be tipping all of Washington off as to Mellie's eventual intentions.  Since this isn't the TV World, his TMI moment goes unnoticed.  The country has gotten over the legality of what Mellie's doing.  They just hate the conflict of interest.  One could mention that Fitz doesn't set spending; Congress does that.  But, Fitz's administration does write the budget.  One can assume that everyone not from Virginia would be scrutinizing every single penny going to that state. 

Mellie decides that she should confront Sally and her ugly condemnations personally; Fitz and Lizzy shake their heads.  Cy texts from the couch, completely uninterested.  Abby ends up suggesting that a man should face Sally.  She hates suggesting it, and we hate hearing it, but she's right to point out that when a man stands up for women and their independence, people listen.  And, what better man to go at Sally than her arch-nemesis, and fellow widower, Cy.  Their spouses died from the fallout of their affair; wouldn't Cy love the payback?

No, he would not.  Fitz's yes-man bellows out that whatever Lizzy has on Fitz, Cy will deal with it.  The irony here is that Cy will be sent out to defend Mellie's right to a Senate career, but he can't see why Fitz would ever be helping this along.  He's shocked that Fitz just wants to be a good husband.  Fitz wants to make good on the deal he made her.  And Fitz bellows right back at Cy to do the interview.  

It turns out, that Cy almost enjoys himself.  Sally devotes a whole segment to interviewing him, trying to get his goat in a few ways.  She says that Mellie's marriage vows preclude her doing anything but being First Lady.  Oh, Sally, don't make Cy remind you that you were VP while married.  She invents a term, "Mother of the Nation", as Mellie's job.  Cy, who hates bullshit behind closed doors, swats that away.  "Mother" is something one is; it's not a job.   The Nation doesn't need Mothering.  Virginia needs a Senator.  Sally tries to goad Cy by reminding him of his own, past wishes for elected office; Cy looks wistful for a moment.  But, he's made his peace with the fact that his place is as the enforcer everyone's afraid of.  With Sally's needling survived, he simply brings up dead Daniel Douglas.  This ends the interview right away, and Sally's attacks.

Olivia and Huck, anxious to meet Black Sable, former KGB Killer Extraordinaire, can't believe that it turns out she's a middle aged grandma.  Black Sable calls herself Mary Peterson, tells people she's from Wisconsin, and bakes cookies for her grandchildren, who she raises since her husband and daughter died in a drunk driver accident.  

Olivia and Huck sit rapt as Mary describes how poor she was as a child in Russia; it involves a starved brother and no shoes.  Apparently, the KGB lured her with the promise of footwear and an education.  And, a life in America.  The only catch is that she had to kill people.  And she was good at it.  Her fellow Russians, despite Huck's advice that they're dead inside, still managed to fear her.  But, when the Cold War ended the kill orders stopped coming, and Mary assumed she'd been retired.  She got a life.

Now, that life is threatened.  Literally.  By someone who knows who she was and where to leave her a kill order.  Olivia is almost relieved; Mary doesn't want to go back to killing.  She hardly could at her age, I might add.  And, Olivia and Huck are happy to help.  

Huck tracks Mary's would-be handler down; he's one Costia Pastanak.  He pretends to be a butcher, which gives him a chance to slice up meat with an impressive cleaver while Olivia tries to negotiate with him.  But, Costia's firm.  He grew up just as poor as Mary.  His town was so awful that the Communists sent their enemies there to die of cold.  Costia is a Russian patriot; and he's got no sympathy for anyone who won't serve.  Mary will serve Mother Russia or die.

Rowan, meanwhile, meets with Russell, who tells him Jake is dead.  Rowan knows this isn't true, because there was no angry phone call from Olivia about it.  When Russell can't get Olivia to meet him, or even talk long enough on the phone to track her, Rowan gets the bright idea to simply shoot Russell in the arm.  Russell looks hurt that Rowan thinks he's more use shot that hunting Jake.  But, like most of Rowan's plans, it works.  

What part of, "You're just a pawn to me" don't you understand?

Olivia and Huck take a quick break from saving Mary to charge into Russell's hospital room.  Russell's got just the story to convince Olivia to destroy Russell's phone and have Huck drug Russell so they can bring him to the last place he should be;  laying right next to a barely alive Jake Ballard.

While Russell is enjoying Warehouse Hospital, Olivia tries to convince Mary to simply kill Costia herself.  First, it wouldn't solve the problem; Russia might just send another handler.  Second, Mary's had time to reflect, since a drunk crashed into her husband and daughter years ago.  Murder doesn't just kill someone; it crushes their loved ones.  Maybe she had a good reason to take the job- would any of us refuse it?  But, she can't go back to it now.  All she can do is pray to a god she only kind of believes in, desperately hoping she's forgiven for how many lives she ruined.

Olivia needs Rowan and Costia off her back.  So, she decides to solve both her day's problems.  It's a great plan; she offers Costia her father, giving him the burner phone Rowan gave her days ago, and tells him that Rowan's a much better kill than anyone else.  Costia gets the kill of his career; and he gets Russia to forget all about Mary.  It's almost like a breakthrough in American/Russian relations that will never be in the history books.

Olivia's only mistake is informing her team of what she's done in Russell's presence.  When he turns over, he realizes that he knows Olivia's next move, and his target is right next to him.  Russell doesn't get to kill Jake, as Jake moves around, setting off alarms on his medical equipment that bring everyone running.  But, Russell does manage to sneak away in the excitement, find a phone, and tell Rowan.  Bad boy!

The Gladiators are sitting tight, including, for now, Dr. Russian.  They're waiting for Huck to confirm that Costia killed Rowan.  And while they wait, Olivia takes her really unwanted phone call from Fitz. The affair's been over, she's totally disappointed in him as a person, but she's the only person who knows how to turn Mellie's candidacy around.  She tells Fitz to play up the conflict of interest.  Who wouldn't want a Senator who literally talks to the President every day, alone?  Keep in mind, Lizzy's idea was to leak that Mellie and Fitz are practically separated.  So, Mellie would have to campaign as damaged goods.  Lizzy's in a box; she doesn't know yet how to turn a problem upside down like Olivia does.

Fitz asks her if she's okay.  Olivia could have used this chance to tell him about B-613's eventual grand jury; she doesn't.   Fitz tells her he's trying to crawl out of the hole he dug in his marriage.  He may not love Mellie, but he can at least keep his promises to her.  

It works; Abby, Fitz, and Mellie are ecstatic. Lizzy's going to have a successful candidate.  Only Cy is disappointed.  He moans to Abby that this is the end of Fitz's presidency.  Who's going to take seriously a man who's wife can needle stuff for her Senate seat out of him?  Fitz and Mellie are about to find out that sexism can ruin men. too.

Olivia, still waiting for the news that her father is dead, sits between Russell and Jake.  Which, is awkward.  Especially, considering that Russell is fake-sleeping and can hear Olivia's tender words to Jake about she feels so useless to him right now, when he's been able to move heaven and earth to save her.  And, she finally agrees with him:  they should never have left that island.  Will they ever go back?  Find another B-613 slush fund to support them in tropical bliss?  

When Huck has no info, Olivia gets spooked, and decides the best idea is to go right into danger all alone.  She gets there to see Mary Peterson and her grandkids shot in the heads.  Her case turned into a disaster.  But, just to show her who called the shots, she hears a phone ringing as she's about to get in her car and drive away.  A phone ringing from her trunk.  Costia is dead, too.  Just so Olivia will know it was Rowan.  She picks up the phone, worried that Rowan is right behind her; but that's not Rowan's style.  He'll kill everyone around her, not her.  He'll isolate her until he's all she's got.  Which, he basically tells her before she hangs up on him and dashes back to Warehouse Hospital.

Why does my dad have to suck so much????

There, everyone can hear, including Russell, that Olivia is forcing them all to give up on B-613.  There will be no grand jury.  Rosen tries to fight her on it.  But without Jake, the case is weak.  And Jake is in no condition to testify.  Especially not with Dr. Russian leaving in a snitfit over dead Mary Peterson.  Jake still won't last without medical care; they need to take him to a hospital.  Once Jake is there, the whole thing needs to be called off so Jake will be safe in a real hospital.  Olivia verbally beats down everybody, even Rosen, over this.  She's angry that her father won; but Rowan confirms to Russell later that she made the call.  She handled it for him.

Rowan's quite pleased with the whole thing, but tells Russell that he's not done.  There's a big shindig coming up, something called "Foxtail", and Rowan wants to make sure that Olivia doesn't change her mind on anything.  For now, Russell's going to move in with Olivia, at Olivia's request, and be her lover.  It's all very creepy when Olivia meets Russell in her bed later in a beautiful silk/lace negligee, ready to make him forget all about his arm.  No one wants her to spend a night pleasing Russell.  

So, it's great that that's not her plan.  While Russell has closed his eyes, imagining something as per Olivia's sexy request, Olivia pulls out a nasty-looking gun, probably the same one Jake gave her a half-season ago, and points it hard at Russell's forehead.  She wasn't as scared and helpless after that phone call from Rowan as B-613 thinks.  She realized that the only person who overheard her plan and would have gone to Rowan was Russell.  Doh!  Never be the only one who could have snitched!

And now, she's heard about Foxtail.  And she wants Russell to know that his life is about to get painful.

It's Fifty Shades of Turning the Tables!

You Knew What You Were Getting - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 19

Well, it's the homestretch of a Scandal season, and even the mid-season finale showed our characters' attempt to "bring down" B-613", so that's what the show is starting to focus on.  But there's still some other plotlines that need either tying up or starting up.  Mellie's run for the Senate has to go public; and we need to see Marcus officially join the Gladiators.  He's a White Hat, after all.

We must also start racking up bodies as B-613, aka Rowan Saving the Republic, reacts to any threat to its existence, past existence, or non-existence.  Rowan's gone underground, his agents are scattered, yet he can always muster up someone to break up The Gladiators' attempts.  Since actor Scott Foley has confirmed it, and it was on the preview for next week, it's not really a spoiler to discuss the death of Jake Ballard.

Is this a bad time to compare Rowan Pope to Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger, from Game of Thrones?  Their main difference is that Rowan likes to think he's keeping "The Republic" together by killing anyone who could The American People to lose their faith in their leaders, while Baelish is happily tearing Westeros apart and killing the people who could keep it together.  Baelish wants to be the only one left and take a crown for himself.  Rowan wants to keep out of public altogether, and keep The Republic together at the expense of his own daughter's sanity.  But they both are willing to scheme, ruin people, and kill, no matter the body count.  Baelish is obsessed with guarding and teaching Sansa, all while using her.  Rowan wants Olivia's affection and success, even if he has to kill her lover's child.   Both Sansa and Olivia are well aware of these men's obsession with them; and do whatever they can to mitigate, and fight for whatever scraps of autonomy they can get.

I guess the main difference between them is that Baelish doesn't lie to himself.  Rowan really believes he's saving "The Republic" when he orders an airliner shot down, or covers up the murder of the VP's husband; Baelish relishes the chaos to come when he engineers the murder of Joffrey, or betrays Ned Stark.  Rowan will never let the American People debate what danger they're willing to live through for a just and open government; Baelish doesn't care what kind of government anyone else in Westeros wants.  They're alike in that they both have major chips on their shoulders that they alleviate through their work.  And they're still the most efficient and effective schemers in TV history.  Before I type a whole book comparing them, let's get to saying good-bye to Jake.

We start with Rowan who is looking fit and trim and ready for some amazing speeches while sipping wine with his daughter.  And his daughter's new lover, who's drugged and tied up on the floor.  Well, what else was Rowan supposed to do?  I know, the obvious answer is "not involve him in the first place", but this is Rowan, and Rowan needs to remind Olivia that she's got no secrets from him; and that he can fuck with her any time he wants to.  So, Russell is out cold on the floor while Rowan insists that this B-613 crusade by David Rosen totally has the wrong guy, and he'd like Olivia to handle it.

Olivia says no.  Olivia enjoys saying no.  It's not handled.  So Rowan plays the Fitz card, which reminds her that bringing down B-613 has the potential to get him truly impeached for a really super high crime.  Olivia plays it tough, but Rowan can see that she's hurt by Fitz's past and current crimes, and that they're not an item anymore, and he loves telling Olivia that he told her so.

Rowan also confidently informs Olivia to call him when she's decided to represent him and get this mess buried again; after all, what good is justice in a Republic that's falling apart due to just how awful it's elected (an unelected) leaders turn out to be?  How will she protect her friends in the chaos exposing B-613 would cause?  Rowan's so sure that exposing B-613, and ultimately, destroying it, would also destroy this nation.  But then, he adds to the list of things that he thinks the public should never hear about. Has anyone ever told this man to stop digging?  And, in the end, he doesn't think Olivia will hang her own dad out to dry.  No matter how poisonous the apples and the tree, they're still not far from each other.

No one drinks wine with you like I do

He won't leave though, without a very gracious compliment on the wine and some last sips of it.  A guy's got to have his priorities, and Rowan needs to show Olivia that he's totally sure she'll never betray him.  Although, at mid-season, he was literally berating her for doing what he now is sure she'll never actually do.  But his confidence and his knowledge of everything she's been up to, including the new locks on the door, rattle her enough to doubt her own resolve.  And once he leaves, she proves him right by giddily convincing Russell that he just drank too much, sang some songs, and passed out.  She's already covering for Rowan.

Interspersed with Olivia trying to decide if justice for her Gladiators will make up for ruining Fitz forever, is the rest of the cast trying to move forward and resolve the tragic end of Brandon Parker, shot five episodes ago by a cop who thought he might have a weapon.  Fitz has made Brandon's dad, Clarence, a promise, to make sure this never happens again.  And, what better way to do that than to make sure every cop in America has a camera to record all stops?  Marcus united a neighborhood to demand justice until the truth came out, and plans to keep on doing that by becoming the mayor of D.C.  He's a lawyer with a Georgetown degree, so, he's not just a pretty face with a bullhorn.

Marcus' biggest flaw is his penis.  It just can't help being inside the current mayor's wife.  She's happy to accommodate him, but not okay over getting caught.  So, when they're having a tryst in the mayor's mansion, which, apparently has gone unnoticed by a completely missing staff, and someone enters the house, Mrs. Mayor sends Marcus into a closet (haha, he's in the closet, we get it).  It turns out not to be Mayer Verrano coming home, but some masked murderers who repeatedly stab her, quickly grab some jewelry, and leave her.  And leave Marcus with the murder rap.

Marcus calls Olivia, knowing that she fixes problems.  But, what he doesn't know is how.  Huck, Quinn and Olivia try to decide exactly how they're going to make Marcus a ghost in all this to his horror, and then silent acceptance.  Huck and Quinn are a little too business-like as they carry out Operation Fluff-n-Fold.  It's not a laundry service.  It involves hammers to break bones and joints, so the body can be folded into a carry-on suitcase and wheeled out.  Then, it's just bleach and elbow grease everywhere, and Marcus is home free!  The show assumes that Huck has taken out the numerous security cameras the mayor's mansion would have recording everyone who's come and gone.  Huck and Quinn are going for a Missing Person look, so Mrs. Mayor's body will disappear somewhere, never to be found.

And Mayor Verrano will go public with his missing wife, playing the part of dutiful, concerned husband.  It's kind of like Gone Girl on steroids.  Everyone involved knows she's dead, including her own husband, who had her killed while she was making sweet love to Marcus to remove him from all future elections as a murderer.  So, when there's no body to incriminate Marcus, Verrano has his tech goons plant some emails in his wife's inbox, supposedly from Marcus.

The cops haul him in for questioning, and it's a little weird that a lawyer submits to a completely illegal detention with no representation.  Maybe that's why he called Olivia.  Olivia doesn't just verify that Marcus can leave; she makes sure that the Captain of the precinct knows that if the DC cops ever publicize that he was questioned, that she'll make a royal fucking stink about Marcus' totally unconstitutional detention.  He was never arrested; never read his rights, and the cops hoped maybe to just bluff their way to a confession from someone they've never liked.  Olivia has the Captain's attention on the floor with all his other cops around him, throwing every screw-up his department made back at him, until he agrees that Marcus was never at the precinct.  Olivia makes a point of rapid-firing every statement she makes, every question she demands an answer to, so the whole precinct knows she's on to them.  Even Marcus is happy to admit he was never there.  And, when she walks out, with a free Marcus, he can't help smiling to himself at how lucky he is.

It's when Huck and Quinn figure out just who Mayor Verrano actually hired to kill his wife that Marcus realizes what he was getting when he hired Olivia.  He's one of the few clients who's never lied to them or hidden things from them; it's his honesty that gives the Gladiators their case's twist at the end.  Exposing himself as an adulterer will ruin his potential career.  Rather than turn in the killer, the Mayor's driver, Marcus opts for using what he knows as leverage to get the wife-murdering Verrano out of the race, and make himself the mayor-elect.  Marcus, who may or may not have really loved Mrs. Mayor, regards Verrano like he's pond scum as Olivia declares the terms of the deal in the back of a limo.  Presumably, Verrano's limo, with Mickey the murdering driver privy to the conversation, too.  Marcus can't believe that our elected leaders are even worse than he knew.  Verrano can't believe Marcus is so worked up; it's his muttering that his wife had it coming, that does it for Marcus.  Verrano doesn't even feel guilty; while Marcus has been nagged by the fact that Mrs. Mayor was horribly killed because of him.

It's kind of like when you chose a career over marriage, only more illegal

At the press conference, Verrano does his part.  But you know when Marcus starts talking about Martin Luther King, that he's going to go public with everything.  And, he does.  Olivia, still loyal to her client even though he just can't go through with the deal, whisks him away.  To, presumably, a more congenial police precinct where he tells them what he knows.  And, hopefully, not how he hired Olivia and her Gladiators to cover up Mrs. Mayor's murder.  Maybe he lets Verrano's goons take the rap for that.  If Huck and Quinn did a great job, which they presumably did, no one should ever charge anyone at OPA with obstruction of justice.

Olivia's not so lucky with Russell; when she calls him over to her apartment for another booty call, he appears.  But, not for booty.  He's decided not to buy Olivia's story of drunken singing and debauchery, after all.  And he's tired of calling her Alex.  For some reason, this conversation has to happen in Olivia's doorway, perhaps revealing how precarious their relationship is at this point.  But, Olivia solves it all by letting Russell, and us, know that Olivia has a complicated life that Russell doesn't want to be a part of; Alex is simple- she just wants Russell.  Russell needs a little extra convincing, but it's not long or much effort before he's carrying her to her bedroom, his clothes off, and Alex's legs wrapped around his waist.

I'm not Russell, or Fitz, but I'm here for you

Cy and Fitz are so-damn-close to getting the Bodycams For Cops Everywhere Act passed through the Senate.  Somehow, the bill has gotten the 60 Senate votes to go up for a vote, but not the 51 votes needed to actually pass.  Maybe math doesn't matter on this show.  They come close due to some leaked fakery, courtesy of Lizzy Bear, who uses her knowledge of her fellow Republicans.  Cy, relieved that his job is done, can't wait until African-Americans all switch their registrations to "Republican", an alignment not seen since the 1930s.  So, when an early childbirth of Senator NewMom blows everything up and they're down to a tie-breaker again, it's time for VP Susan Ross to do one of her actual job duties: breaking a Senate tie.  It's like civics class, but with the inevitable twists of Shonda Rhimes.

Twist number 1 is that Susan Ross is not Cy's little gopher.  She's the Vice President. And, when he Vice President has agreed to be a guest moderator at a spelling bee, she sees it through.  Because, the children.  It's only when onomatopoeia is spelled correctly that she'll leave.  Cy tries escorting her to the Senate to vote; but she's not voting on anything 'til she's read it.  Give her the 1200-page bill, some coffee, some red pens, and post-it notes.  She's got some political asskicking to do.

Cy tries to rush Susan along, but she's not happy with the bill she's been reading.  She's got "questions", which sound more like serious screw-ups in the bill that will cause unholy hell later.  She wants to talk to a lawyer.  So, Cy ushers in the nation's top-ranking lawyer, David Rosen, to shoo the pigeon away from the monument.  But, this is no ordinary pigeon.  This is one of those lifetime-city pigeons, and she knows how to stand her ground and get a few crumbs.  David Rosen has to grudgingly admit that he fed the pigeon some crumbs.  If you need someone to run roughshod over the perennially smart and tenacious Susan Ross, Rosen is not your guy.  He admitted to Susan that the bill has flaws.

Susan explains the bill's main flaw:  the federal government would give local police departments grants to buy body cams, train cops on not treating black men like criminals and keep records on police killings of minorities.  Susan explains that the federal government then doesn't do anything to actually force police departments to do this.  She explains, to a childless David Rosen, that it's like telling her daughter Casey, who would never need telling, but still, telling Casey to clean her room but assigning no consequences if she doesn't.  Fitz isn't telling police departments to do anything.  He's giving them money, asking nicely, and hoping for the best.  Which, Susan can tell you, never works on typical ten-year-olds.  Unlike her Casey, who would never need asking or bribes.  But, the nation's police departments need more than asking nicely and bribes.  They need checking up on, and they need accountability and consequences if they don't produce the body cams, training, and reduced killings.

Fitz and Mellie are going to need to sideline their discussion of when and how to announce Mellie's Senate run, and personally nudge Susan to vote for Fitz's great victory against racial injustice and personal promise-keeping to Clarence Parker.   Mellie tries the soft approach; Susan gloms on to her, since she's a lawyer.  But, Mellie has to admit to not having read the bill she wants Susan to vote for.  Wow, what Presidential material.  So, Susan takes the opportunity of having caught Mellie at being a really bad executive to point out that she knows Mellie needs a softball VP to not compete with her own Presidential plans.  And, Susan's willing to not spoil Mellie's dream.  But, unless Mellie's got answers to her "questions", Mellie's not going to cajole Susan into doing anything.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still here for you, Olivia

So, last but not least, Fitz comes in to bluster his way through.  It's been over 24 hours.  Susan is mildly disheveled but still going at it.  The room is a mess.  But then, the bill is a mess.  Susan, however, is still sharp.  And she calls Fitz on his bullshit.  She demands his attention by reminding him that he knew he was getting an honest VP.  See, Langston and Davis may have been scheming criminals, but they were always willing to sell out if they had to.  Susan is second only to Marcus in honesty this night, and all along.  But, an honest VP has no reason to sell out.  An honest VP will call you on your bullshit.  An honest VP won't rest until the President rolls up his sleeves, takes marker to a whiteboard, and re-writes a 1200-page bill.  Neither of them are lawyers.  But, one of them is a professor who's really good at making stuff sound important even if it's just common sense law-giving.  And, one of them is a guy who's been to the rodeo before, so he knows just how to get the totally re-written bill through the final vote without anyone realizing they're voting for something new.

We cut right to Mellie, balloons, lots of red, white and blue and lights as she announces her Senate run.  Was she worried about not getting center stage?  Well, Fitz gives her the job of taking center stage, and keeping everyone's focus on her.  Everyone will be so fascinated by her platitudes about Virginia, Freedom, and America, that no one will notice that Fitz pulled a fast one on a Senate that didn't actually want to change anything.

Fitz and Marcus learn not to compromise in pursuing what's right.  I'm not hopeful the lesson will sink in with Fitz, especially not if Operation Remington comes out, which Rosen's questioning of Jake reveals so you know it will come out.  Fitz will run for the nearest rock to hide everything under, producing the obviously rigged report from his own father covering his tracks that we learned about last season.  Marcus might learn permanently, especially when Olivia backs him up.  Sure, he spoiled the deal she'd worked out.  But, clients are allowed to change their minds.  And Marcus is definitely allowed to choose his own self-respect.  This show routinely pits characters' self-respect vs. what they want to accomplish in politics, and Olivia quietly informs Marcus how this one cover-up would have led to a lifetime of them.  Marcus may be over in politics now due to his honesty.  But, if he was dishonest time and time again, he'd finally be done eventually.  This way, he can be honest from the start.  And, he can transition to her Gladiators.  It's just what White Hats do.

Marcus' stand, despite paying the price, teaches Olivia something.  Throughout the episode, we've been seeing her with her Gladiators, or with Jake, resolutely looking like she's having second thoughts.  Jake tries approaching her, telling her that he'll be there to cushion the blow when her father is ruined, when Fitz is ruined.  Maybe Marcus' self-sacrifice is enough to remind her that she's got to stand up for what's right, too.  Maybe she's looked at all her compromises, and realized they're about to catch up with her, too.  Maybe she's more determined than ever to make sure her father is brought down, and Marcus' example taught her the sacrifice will be worth it.  Maybe all these realizations keep her going when her father reappears, and she has to disappoint him.

Rowan decides not to be disappointed at all.  Olivia is finally the adversary he's been waiting for; someone who's also willing to lose what she holds most dear, her dream of life with Fitz in Vermont; to go up against him.  Finally, someone who's decided not to waver!  Rowan can't wait for the war to begin.  In fact, he can't wait so bad that he has one of his agents lure Jake to Gladiator HQ so they can have a rollicking fight throughout the office, rolling on the floor and over furniture.  Jake manages to get the mask off, revealing none other than... Russell! And, Russell is in no way ambivalent about this.  Rowan didn't force him into this.  Russell is eager to show Rowan how not-special Jake is.  It involves a lot of stab wounds.  One is reminded of Mrs. Mayor's death at the beginning of the episode.  One wonders if Huck and Quinn will go with a Fluff-n-Fold.  And, one wonders how much he loves playing Alex's boytoy so Rowan can keep tabs on Olivia.

The Other Shoe Drops - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 18

For once, an episode about dads that actually doesn't focus on Fitz's shitty dad.  One dad tries to do right by his son, even if it tears the son apart.  Olivia has to untangle that mess.  One dad left his wife and daughter for another woman.  That little daughter became the First Lady.  One dad reappears after a well-earned vacation, eager to know what his daughter's employees and lover have been up to.

There's very little interplay between episode's threads; Congressman Reed's case this week, which Olivia takes, is almost there just to get Olivia out of bed so she can kick Franklin Russell out.  With a name like Franklin, no wonder he left that off and just stuck with Russell last night.  Russell seemed fine with a one-night stand; Franklin is just too needy.

Gotta' go!

Congressman George Reed has needs too; but he's going to pay Olivia well to fulfill them, and it means possibly getting justice for his long-wrongly-on-death-row dad.  It's not clear what Olivia sees in Reed Sr. that convinces her so strongly, so quickly, that he's innocent of shooting his teen daughter's former teacher/lover.  It's hard to understand how Reed, Sr. got on Death Row; everyone agrees that the killing was totally understandable, and the shooting victim's other former teenaged lovers are happy the asshole is dead.  The guy's ex-wife was probably also happy he's dead.  It's impossible to confirm, though, since she's recently died of pancreatic cancer.

Notice I never told you that I didn't do it

Congressman Reed's mystery is almost too easy to solve; who else would Reed Sr. protect by lying, if not his only remaining family member?  Reed Sr. has wanted his son to forget and move on; but as soon as Olivia has it figured out, her move on Reed Sr. is to demonstrate all the ways his son has not moved on while his dad faces death for his crime.  It's eerily similar to Congresswoman Josie Marcus taking the fall for her daughter.  Except that Olivia can, and does, convince Reed Sr. to let his son confess to killing the poor girl's exploiting lover.  Reed looks almost relieved as he offers his hands to the cops to handcuff.  Reed Sr. looks like he has no idea what to do next as he's handed his old belongings and re-enters a world he was happy to leave behind.

Reed Sr. claims that he's been dead since his daughter took her own life.  And, it's hard not to become  a stone when you use your daughter's dollhouse to reach her where she's hung herself.  What will he do while Reed gets used to prison life?  It will be a while, but by using resigning his seat in Congress and his voluntary confession as leverage, Olivia should be able to get him easy time, and revive his reputation when he's eventually freed.  But how will these two face each other, years from now?

Lizzy Bear has her own client's past to untangle; Mellie, it turns out, is the child of a broken home.  Her father left her young to take up with another, much poorer, much less polished woman.  The new marriage produced a much poorer, less polished sister named Harmony.  And these two have never gotten along.  The personal and class resentments, no doubt, built on each other over the years.  Which makes them easy for Lizzy Bear to spot while interviewing Harmony as part of vetting her candidate's family.  Mellie chafes under the extra scrutiny a candidate's family will get; but Lizzy Bear convinces her to devote some time to making nice to Harmony, because the woman is itching to air Mellie's dirty laundry, when she's not making soap from local animal fat.

Cyrus gushes like a schoolgirl, complete with the most malicious whisper ever heard in the White House, over how much refereeing Harmony's eventual shitstorm will sour Fitz on ever helping Mellie run for the Senate.  Abby listens to Cy like a neutral employee, and dishes on the whole thing herself to Olivia, who sounds like she almost wishes she was there.  Almost.  It's nearly as much fun watching Fitz and Mellie argue like five year olds over his attending dinner with Harmony and Mellie.  One man with no patience for other people's problems with two women who have nothing but problems between them.  Cy is giddy as he relishes the ruins of Mellie's Senate campaign.

Harmony may not have a pantsuit, but her strappy high heels and neckline aren't that scandalous, really.  It's not like she waltzes in like a Vegas showgirl or something.  Even so, feminine yet power suited Mellie really doesn't want to touch her own sister.

I am totally not trying to guess if they're fake

Mellie just can't help suggesting her sister change her shoes before she leads her on the awesome White House tour.  In front of Cy and Lizzy Bear, the two would rather die than start fighting; but fighting in front of Fitz during dinner is totally fair game.  Harmony wants to talk about her soap business; Fitz wants to politely pretend to listen.  Mellie wants to halt the whole thing because even family must call Fitz "Mr. President".  I think someone's been First Lady a little too long.  I think Harmony's been wanting to pull all of Mellie's hair out for some time.  The women screech it out over who was worse during their childhood; Harmony for existing, or Mellie for keeping Harmony from her father's relatives.   Two girls who fought for their father's attention have never hated each other more.

Fitz tries to lecture Mellie for her inability to keep her temper with someone she hates; guess what a big part of the President's job is?   Mellie officially informs Fitz that he's got to transition to First Husband; he's got to be the one who defuses the tensions in social situations so she can get to the horse dealing and hooch swallowing; that's going to be his job, eventually.  Wait, I thought he was moving to Vermont, eventually.  Does Mellie know this?

Would Mellie even need Fitz, eventually?  Wouldn't she be considered brave and better off by the American People for divorcing her kind of alcoholic, philandering husband?  Wouldn't it be considered a sign of political independence?  I suppose Fitz would have to accept the hit to his public reputation, which could cut into his mayor of Small Town, VT fantasy.  For now, their new dynamic means that Fitz is the one who smooths everything over with Harmony.  It's not as masterfully done as Mellie's first political wrangling with Jerry Sr., but it does the trick; Harmony goes from wanting to ruin Mellie to wanting to really hug her.  Cy looks on in bewildered fear as Fitz promises more personal miracles to come on her Senate campaign.

Now we get to the good parts of the episode; namely, the ones that involve Charlie.  I mean, Jake.  Jake's always been able to scare Rosen silly, despite the fact that he's always left Rosen alive.  Remember James' murder?  If Jake wasn't going to kill Rosen then, he's never going to.  Or, at least, we should all have remembered that.  Despite the raiding of B-613's offices and chasing away of Rowan, the agency appears to be so alive and well that Jake and Rosen must dicker about bringing it down.  What is there to bring down anymore?

Turns out, quite a bit.  Jake's acrobatics in Rosen's office aren't so much to scare him as place a bug on a desk that no one will miraculously never find.  It leads to three agents/witnesses being killed in a bloody mess on Charlie's watch.  They all had extensive dirt on Jake, and the intention was to lure him into testifying; instead, Charlie finds Jake in the not-so-safe apartment.  Charlie tries to shoot, but Jake launches onto him immediately.  At first, the two try to duel like pros, but it becomes an awkward tangle of B-613 agents on the floor trying to get the gun while one of the witnesses crawls uselessly on the floor.  Someone shoots the last remaining witness to death in the scramble before Jake manages to stagger out the door.

Rosen is horrified by this easily predictable mess.  Charlie immediately moves for killing Jake like a rabid dog; Huck instantly agrees. Quinn tries debating them over it; Rosen just dejectedly slinks away.  Huck declares that Jake has lost his humanity. He looks sheepish while he describes Jake's supposed state, as if he knows too well how savage Jake has become.  Quinn reluctantly agrees, but she's totally on board with killing Jake later that night when they make their first attempt.  Huck and Quinn quickly figure out that Jake is actually in Olivia's building, sending them scurrying to Olivia's.  Olivia has actually invited Franklin Russell back, and really can't be interrupted to meet her new neighbor.  Since Lois has passed away, Jake has somehow passed a background check and moved himself and his gun in.  

Huck and Quinn realize that there's just no fixing the mess when Jake implies that if he feels too threatened, he'll just kill Olivia.  It's important to note, that through all of this, Huck and Quinn have firmly rejected telling Olivia.  Anything.  She still doesn't even know about the investigation.  Let alone the immunity agreements, the testimonies, the dead agents, and Jake's melt down.  

It's the next morning when Charlie arrives with coffee for Huck and Quinn.  The three stare blankly ahead until Rosen joins them.  All three former B-613 agents have decided to completely give up; there are no more agents to use for leverage; if there were, who would ever agree to testify now?   And how long would it take for Jake to wipe them all out?  Who's to say he still won't?  Worried about their lives, they reject Rosen's call to push forward and tell Olivia.  Rosen is convinced Olivia would want to know.  Huck and Quinn are convinced they don't want her to know and that she can't handle the fallout from all of this.

The Not-So Fantastic Four

Charlie's goodbye is touching.  Is he really leaving the show for good?  His handshakes and gentle good-bye kiss say yes.  I'll miss him.  No matter what, he never lost his bonhomie.  Everything was just another job to be handled, never a disaster to grieve over.  He was born to be a B-613 agent.  He'll spend his life as a private investigator, maybe. Does he have a possible future as a Gladiator?

Rosen just can't give up.  He's going on about white hats.  Neither he nor anyone else ever bothered to wonder how Jake knew where to look for the B-613 agents earlier, so of course the bug is still there and Jake is still listening, presumably from Lois' old apartment, to hear that Rosen has hit on a new leverage for Jake; the murder of James Novak.  It was a chilling killing, precipitated by the murder of the VP's husband.  Rosen insists to Huck, in full hearing of the bug that's still there, that he's going after Jake for it.  It could bring down Sally Langston to boot, so why not?

Well, because Jake says no. In the parking garage.  Rosen has decided that the safest place for whatever files he wants to use against Jake is with his secretary, Holly.  She's ever helpful and hoping Rosen will take care of himself when Jake approaches, gun pointed at Rosen.  Rosen dutifully steps away as he's told, to find out Holly was also carrying, and now has her gun firmly pointed at Jake.  Jake wasn't listening to Rosen's office to find the agents and kill them; he was listening so he could hear B-613's plant in the Attorney General's office, Holly, plot to kill those agents right from Rosen's office.  Jake quickly kills Holly and tries his best to assure Rosen that bringing down B-613 is still on.

Rosen's not so relieved; Jake outright tells him to just roll with Jake's supposed betrayals, because that's how Jake works.  He'll appear to hang you out to dry to smoke out your enemies.  Don't worry, Jake's got this.  

Yeah, but who's got Jake?

Olivia has her own heart to heart with Huck.  Turns out, Jake's taken over Lois' apartment so he can make sure Olivia hears everything from his wiretapping herself.  And, she lays into Huck for telling her nothing, for insisting on telling her nothing.  She could've handled knowing what they were up to.  She feels betrayed, while Huck looks like a puppy caught peeing on the rug.  

And, it's a good thing Jake prepped Olivia for what's coming.  Because it's here.  Franklin Russell is the worst boytoy ever.  Who brings the woman's dad for a booty call?  The guy seeing Olivia Pope, that's who.  Rowan is back!  In a way that reveals he's still the boss of the world, and maybe even the Solar System.   And he's here to ruin more than Olivia's love life.  Ah...... the speeches in two weeks!!!  I'm already loving them!!

Tolerably Ever After - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 17

Cy's wedding is all about him.  Literally.  The episode makes a point of telling us that this marriage should go about as well as his last two.  But, it's Cy who decides that maybe this marriage won't suck so bad, or end so disastrously.  Why?  Because it's his only marriage that doesn't involve lying to his fiancee.    It's his only marriage that doesn't rely on totally unrealistic expectations.

Cy flashes back to his previous marriages as the rest of the cast works their way through a quickie White House wedding.  Dear ABC production team: you did your best.  But, there's just no making Cy look young.  Ditto for Fitz.   Olivia flashes back to the hallway she tried escaping Ian out of, coupled with images of Fitz (Run! Run away from Fitz! That's what the dreams, mean, Olivia!), while she removes obstacle after obstacle to Cy finally marrying Michael.  

Between Michael's constant infidelities and Cy's contempt, the wedding barely happens.  And, it's disturbing how quickly Team Wedding can go from moving mountains to make the wedding happen to keeping Cy's reputation intact if it doesn't.  It's also disturbing how many disastrous catastrophes Leo can rattle off to Abby when he's only half-awake.

Did the Jonas Brothers die?

The most pivotal scene isn't actually a flashback, and it's not even really a surprise.  Team Wedding arranges a swanky dinner for Michael, Cy, and Michael's parents, where Cy plans on publicly dumping him so all of Washington will congratulate Cy and vilify Michael.  But, Cy just can't follow through.

By the time it happens, we've seen how Cy's earlier marriages were based on outright lies or half truths.  He lied to Janet about loving her and being straight.  He honestly loved James but lied about keeping their jobs separate.  Each marriage made him feel more and more like a monster, like a power-hungry machine incapable of feeling anything anymore.  Nothing affects him now, until he sees Michael's parents berate him into crying over his salad.  Michael looks five when he realizes his parents only support his wedding and marriage for the money.  Cy spent most of his life hiding his sexuality to avoid the pain of straight people rejecting him.  As a Republican, he's probably spent very little time among the gay community, so Michael's almost breakdown at the table is more like a wake-up call.  About half of America wants to see this wedding fail.  So, he'll make it work, goddammit.

The episode's highlight, besides the flowery White House shindig Mellie throws to boost her political independence from Fitz, is finding out how Sally Langston is faring.  Quite well, it turns out.  She turned her almost-win for the Presidency into a lucrative TV deal that puts her on primetime TV (what channel? Fox News?).  She's not making policy, but she's in everyone's homes nightly.  That's probably worse.  Sally, who killed her husband for cheating with another man, is dead set against Cy marrying Michael.  And she's willing to pay handsomely for anyone who can prove Michael and Cy aren't really in love.

When Team Wedding discovers Michael is a serial cheater, even after signing the marriage contract, it's up to Olivia to shut down the expose that will feature Michael's current lover.  And, it's up to Abby to face a hard truth from Leo; he doesn't separate his job from his personal life.  If Abby dishes on White House gossip, Leo will use it at work.  Especially if it's to help a wildly popular politician who might run for President again.  Using Leo as her campaign manager, of course.

Olivia, meanwhile, tries dangling a very prestigious Secretary of State position in front of Sally to get her silence on Michael's affair.  Sally sends her off with a lecture about how much more fun and profitable it is to simply inflame the mob.  She spent her life courting constituencies; now politicians must court her.  Who'd go back to public service?  In the end, Michael also provides the means of shutting Sally down; turns out, her dead husband was a client.   More than once.  Michael turns out to be a liability and an asset.  He's unfaithful, but how many other clients of his and their spouses will behave rather than be exposed?

I get more power, and no responsibility!

Cy spends most of the episode ruminating on how he lied to Janet and James because the two of them were useful in his career.  It's painful for him; Janet was an escape from possibly getting AIDS by "playing raquetball"; James was his one true love.  He couldn't be honest with either, despite the othes' wonderful qualities that attracted him in the first place.  Janet's dumping of him, in a gorgeous walk-in closet she's been getting drunk in, is particularly searing.  Cy has just gotten Fitz elected Governor of California, and plans on his own Congressional run.  He's got the wife.  He's just run a successful campaign for someone else.  It's his turn, dammit.  Only, it's not. It's Janet's.  Without a wife, Cy will spend his life getting Fitz to power, so he can be the one who makes Fitz's policies happen.

The flashbacks with James are in their early days, with James rightly worried that his career in journalism will suffer.  Cy reassures James on their wedding day, only to go ahead and start using James for Fitz's political gain even before they've left for their honeymoon.  And, did he really think James wouldn't find the tie he stuffed in the luggage?  We know how the rest goes; James loses respect for Cy as a human being, then gets killed trying to get justice for Sally's murdered husband.  Cy loses his shit on national television, to the point that Fitz has to save him.  Cy should, really, never, marry anyone else.  He knows it.  It's hard to blame Michael for acting out.  He's got to live with Cy.

Cy just won't put Michael through any worse than he's already been through.  He and Michael decide to go through with it, mostly because it's a business arrangement, to preserve Cy's job and Michael's good name.  But, it's a secretly honest one.  They both know the other's weaknesses.  They both know there's no love.  But, if they can stick it out for a few years, they'll both be able to put their past mistakes behind them.  Cy needs someone to stir some human feelings in him sometimes; Michael needs someone who can teach him it doesn't matter what the world thinks of him.  Michael starts the day totally despondent, waiting for the wedding like a kid suffering through detention.  It's interesting to see how he becomes like a child when in pain.  But, Cy's honesty helps him realize he can go out there, enjoy himself, and make his homophobic parents earn every cent Lizzy Bear is paying them.

Let's shove our gayness down their throats

The wedding gives Mellie a chance to assert her independence from Fitz.  She gets to clearly support same-sex marriage; while Fitz and Abby can barely make out what to call his complete apathy for the whole issue.  The wedding gives Mellie a chance to delight in doing what only seventeen other First Ladies have done.  And it gives her a chance to show Lizzy Bear that she's in charge.  Lizzy Bear can't believe that Mellie's flouting the party, and Lizzy's direction.  Mellie makes it clear that Lizzy follows.  That Mellie makes decisions, and Lizzy makes those decisions work.  Will Lizzy stay on the job? She's spent the season as a loyal, committed Republican.  Mellie's always been more conservative than Fitz; Lizzy working for her isn't just about having a job; it's about supporting a candidate her party will actually like.  Is Lizzy committed enough to the Republican Party to keep working for someone who so clearly hates her?  It's almost like watching Cy berate Michael, and seeing how humiliated Cy makes him feel.  How much of it will Lizzy take?

Olivia has her own demons to defeat in this episode.  She's plagued by dreams that alternate between Fitz's Un-Greatest Hits and running to that Red Door of Fake Freedom.  Is her subconscious telling her that running away from Fitz is about as realistic as those Red Doors that led to more captivity?  Or is her subconscious just telling her to grab a gun and run like crazy from Fitz?  Does she dream of Fitz's ring, a gift to her on Cy's wedding day, because Fitz gave her Doux Bebe to remind her that she can never really get away from him?

Come on, it's Fitz.  Of course he did.

He tells her the ring will always be a symbol that she's okay, Fitz doesn't need to worry about her.  So, when he catches her not wearing it before the wedding, it disturbs him.  Has she dumped even the sign between them that she's still the Olivia he fell in love with?  Is she no longer in love with him?  Olivia wearing the ring again, while standing in the sun at Cy and Michael's wedding, reassures him.  And, knowing Fitz's arrogance, it will, no doubt, convince him to make another play for his Vermont fantasy.