‘Scandal’ Recap: Bow Down To Joe Morton
Oh, boy. Rowan was back, and he was incredible. With a glass of wine in his hand, he taunted Olivia over the B613 investigation. Olivia adamantly refused to help him and, boy, her resting sass face was on fire.
Rowan laughed in her face. He wondered if her hatred for him was so great that she’d be willing to destroy Fitz (Tony Goldwyn). Um, never. Fitz was the person who would lose the most if Olivia brought down B613. Olivia didn’t exactly fawn over Fitz, prompting Rowan to wonder what had happened. No matter how great they seemed, all men were exactly like Rowan, according to Rowan himself.
‘Scandal’ Shocker: [SPOILER] Deserved A Better Death
Someone give Joe Morton another Emmy, please. He is simply sensational.
I don’t know about all men being like Rowan, but he got it right about Olivia. As much as she hated it, Rowan knew his daughter, and there was nothing she could do about it. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Poison though it may be,” Rowan said. Someone print that out and put it on a bumper sticker, please.
During their little chat, Russell was tied up and drugged on the floor. Welcome to the family, I guess? Rowan told Olivia that she had 48 hours to end the investigation. Gulp.
Olivia went straight to her merry band of justice seekers about Rowan. Jake (Scott Foley) wanted to take the helm on taking down Rowan. David (Josh Malina), Quinn (Katie Lowes) and Huck (Guillermo Diaz) weren’t exactly jumping at the opportunity, though.
Meanwhile, Fitz and his White House crew were working on getting the Brandon Bill passed after Brandon Parker’s tragic death from a few episodes back. Marcus Walker, the activist, was now running for D.C. mayor. Olivia got a call from him, and he needed some big help. He was staring right into the dead eyes of the mayor’s wife!
‘Scandal’ Recap: Blood, Sweat & Tears
As expected, Marcus and the mayor’s wife were sleeping together. After believing it was her husband coming home early, Marcus hid in the closet. It was actually intruders! They killed Natalie, and Marcus watched the entire thing.
At this point, Marcus had a decision to make. He chose to let OPA take the reigns and save him. Good choice. Quinn and Huck teamed up for the clean up. It was insanely gross but kind of cute watching Huckleberry Quinn work together. Is that, like, OK? It was cute until Quinn and Huck broke Natalie’s bones so she could fit in a suitcase. Marcus was still in shock over everything. He wondered if his current predicament shocked Olivia. With a completely straight face, Olivia said, “No.”
The next place Olivia found Marcus was at the police station. She was furious. The police weren’t exactly on Marcus’ side after the Brandon Parker incident. Olivia took this opportunity to verbally annihilate the police over their lack of conduct. It was epic.
Over at the White House, everyone was just waiting on Susan Ross’ vote on the Brandon Bill. She may not seem like she’s on the ball, but she’s got spunk. She refused to vote on the bill until she had read all 1,200 pages of it. Yes, really. Where were you when I was in college, Susan? She was being pretty annoying about it, much to Cyrus, Fitz and Mellie’s (Bellamy Young) dismay.
Cyrus decided to get David to answer all the questions Susan had. Unfortunately, he poked a bear. Mellie was sent in to help clean up the mess. Susan called Mellie’s bluff. She knew Mellie’s only concern was getting ready for her senator run. Regardless of her plans, Susan wasn’t backing down.
‘Scandal’ Recap: Sassy Susan Strikes Again
Amidst the drama, Olivia and Jake shared a sweet moment. He told her that she could always call him if she needed to talk. How sweet! Given what happens later in the episode, this hurts.
Back to the case of the day, someone had hacked into Marcus’ email and sent the incriminating emails to Natalie. The IP address of the sender was coming from the mayor’s office. Yep, the mayor’s trusty driver Mickey had done the murderous deed. Olivia worked out a deal between the mayor and Marcus. The mayor would resign, and Marcus would take his place. When Marcus got up to accept the nomination, he blurted out all the bloody details of the murder!
Fitz was the final guy to be sent in for the Susan Ross situation. He basically threatened her. If she didn’t vote on the bill, she would likely suffer. Sassy Susan was not having any of that. “I am not here to be you lapdog,” she proclaimed. This got to Fitz. Susan and Fitz teamed up to re-work all 1,200 pages of the bill. They are much better people than me. #Lazy
In order to give themselves time to work it all out, Mellie announced her senate run. Praise!
‘Scandal’ Recap: No, No, No, No, No!
Jake answered all of David’s questions about B613 — even ones about Operation Remington. Jake was shocked that David kept pressing him on the subject, but he admitted that Fitz was the one to shoot down that civilian airline.
As Olivia left David’s office, she was shaking. She knew the trouble she was getting into. But her rage over her father had consumed her. She had to feed the hunger. She called Russell for one heck of a booty call. It was serious sexy time. I’m not going to say that it rivaled Olivia and Fitz’s moments together, but it was pretty damn close.
At this point in the episode, we were back to square one. Rowan was back at Olivia’s ready to hear what she had to say about the B613 investigation. Olivia said she was moving forward with taking down B613. Jake, Huck, Quinn — they all deserved justice for what B613 had done to them.
Even though she cared about Fitz, Olivia wasn’t going to step aside this time. She had to do what was right. Rowan was proud that Olivia had now become a respectable opponent, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. During the team’s vow to take down B613, Jake and Olivia shared this look with one another. It was as if they knew this might not be the right choice, regardless of the white hat they were now wearing.
In the show’s final moments, Jake headed back to OPA after getting a text from Olivia. It was a trap. Suddenly, a hooded figure attacked him in the office. When Jake finally got off the mask, IT WAS RUSSELL. Before we had a chance to think, he stabbed Jake and left him there to bleed to death. Russell is one of the bad guys, and I did NOT see it coming.
WHAT!? SEND HELP NOW. Is Jake REALLY dead? I mean, looking back at the promo for next week, the answer is probably not the one we want to hear.
If that’s the case, rest in peace, Jake “Baby Eyes” Ballard. You were a good soul at heart. You loved Olivia unconditionally, and I won’t forget that. You knew that Olivia would never love you the way she loves Fitz, but you loved her anyway. Now excuse me while I mourn in a pool of my own tears.
HollywoodLifers, what did you think of tonight’s Scandal?! Is Jake really dead? (He sure looked like it.) Let me know!
— Avery Thompson
Follow @avery__thompson