Scandal: Baby Made A Mess

In this week’s episode of Scandal, we met Abby’s ex husband, Huck finally saw his son and we learned that the Pope apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Let’s find out what happened, shall we?

BLAST FROM THE PAST

When a senator from West Virginia is shamed after a sex video (of sorts) is made public, Fitz has to pick a replacement. He chooses Charles Putney aka Chip who happens to be Abby’s ex husband. When she first sees him in the Oval Office she plays it cool though very quickly we see that she sheds that facade. She has to call Olivia when she threw up after seeing Chip. We find her crouched down behind her desk crying when Liv walks into her office with a change of clothes for her. She does not want her ex to be the new senator but as she tells Liv, she feels like she has no choice. “What am I supposed to say? ‘Mr. President, the man you publicly endorsed for the senate used to beat the crap out of me’…? The president’s needs supersede mine… We need Chip’s votes. It has to be OK.”

It is not OK so Ms. Pope does what she does best – she starts fixing. She takes over Chip’s opponent’s campaign and tries to turn the plain Jane into a viable candidate. It looks to be working when Leo (yes, that same Leo!) informs Abby that he will destroy Susan’s campaign when it discovered that she wasn’t actually married to her daughter’s father. For Republicans this will be a turning point and a “Yahtzee” move for him. This is when Abby reveals the pain she has suffered as a result of their marriage and we can see that Leo is taken aback. Later we find out that Chip dropped out of the race when it is “leaked” that he was actually the one who set up the Senator’s tape. So in other words, Leo sabotaged his own client. At the end of the episode, Leo and Abby kiss. We’ll discuss the ramifications and what this means in another recap but I will say this was definitely a turning point for Abby being able to confront her ex again.

P.S. Regardless of the disagreements and everything else going on, Liv and Abby have the most stable relationship on this show. Though Abby got a little ahead of herself earlier this season, this friendship is proving to be an anchor for both of them. #Overacliff goes both ways.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Huck is still playing video games with his son, Javier. Huck is invited to the arcade which he accepts. He goes there but doesn’t approach the boy, choosing to watch him from a distance for a while before leaving. At the end of the episode, Javier walks into Huck’s office at OPA. He told him that he tracked his IP address and that he knows that Huck is his father and he wants to know why he left.

I am interested to see where this will go. I have a feeling they will both keep it from the mother and ultimately continue to see each other secretly for a while. Also, I know being Huck’s son that Javier is smart but I am pretty sure that Huck made it easy for him to be found. You find Huck when he WANTS you to find him.

HELEN OF TROY

In the wake of last week’s tease from Olivia, Fitz is determined to find out just what having “hope” means. We begin the episode with Fitz calling her while he is on the balcony in the middle of the night. Before things can get too lovey dovey in that #Olitz way, Liv ruins the mood by asking about Jake in the super max prison. She wants to make sure he is being properly fed and taken care of. Fitz is very irritated by all of this and the conversation soon ends and we see Mellie by the door observing this conversation.

Later on, we see Liv trying to finagle her way into the prison and calls on the help of David Rosen. David is adamant that she cannot see Jake and goes on his typical Rosen spiel when Liv surprises him and says that Jake isn’t the one she wants to see. She finds herself in the prison warden’s office while the guards bring in a prisoner – former SSA Tom. Now for those of you know me, Tom was my FAVORITE Secret Service agent. My FAVORITE. Fitz always made sure Tom was with him when he was with Liv, Tom even let Fitz know about the cameras in the Oval Office when he first got elected. Two episodes ago, remember Fitz referring to him as “My Tom”? I think Fitz really considered him as a friend. The problem is that Tom’s loyalties tie him to B613 before everything else. So as painful as it was, I had to get rid of my love for my beloved Tom.

Anyway I’m getting sidetracked – back to the scene!

I would break down the conversation between Liv and Tom when she confronts him once again but I’m just going to include the scene here. It was just SO good that trying to recap it wouldn’t do it justice.

So Tom just spilled all the tea!

So Fitz went to Liv’s apartment after she was gone to make sure?! Fitz was devastated, you hear me? DEVASTATED! But wait, did Tom say that he got the key from the landlord?! Why doesn’t Liv own this place? And how much did they pay this landlord to keep quiet? Irrelevant details, I know, but I am still interested.

COME OVER HERE AND PROVE IT

Fitz calls Olivia to give her an update on Jake’s day-to day life. During this conversation, Liv brings up the attempted suicide that she learned about from Tom. Fitz is not trying to hear that and deflects, he wants to know what “hope” truly means and questions whether she just said that to try and save Jake. She assures him that she wasn’t and he asks her to come over but she lets him know that cannot happen. So in turn he begins to tell her EXACTLY what he would do to her if she did make her way over to his house.

Just watch this clip!

Let me tell you something! I see why Liv cannot resist this man. It’s not even about what he said for me, it’s the sound of his voice. Fitz’s voice is like heathered silk – it’s smooth and refined but its gravelly and occasionally desperate. I don’t know about you all but that man can tuck me every night! Liv was playing, after he hung up on me I would have grabbed my purse and politely made my way to The White House!

COMMAND

Rowan, of course, finds out about Liv going to see Tom and is livid. Olivia walks into her apartment to find him waiting for her in the living room. Let’s just pause for a second to talk about something very important here. Liv HAS TO GET BETTER SECURITY!! I mean, this is getting ridiculous. Everybody just walks up to Olivia’s place all willy-nilly – no buzz from the doorman, no call, no nothing! This is Olivia Pope, ladies and gentlemen – better security measures should have BEEN in place. Huck, get on this ASAP!

Back to regular scheduled programming: Rowan is upset that she is still worrying about Jake’s case. He berates her and commands her to never disrespect him. “I have spent a lifetime keeping you safe from harm. A lifetime worrying about your fate. A lifetime making sure that the path in front of you is clear of debris.” In essence he tells Olivia that she is severely trying his patience. As his daughter, she’s never been fully obedient but now I feel like he’s seeing her as just being outright rebellious and he is not having it. At one point he moves to cup her face and she flinches a bit and moves back. This was very telling and while I think she was indeed afraid of him in that moment, the conviction to bring him down fully set in.

In reference to both Fitz and Jake, Rowan commands her – “You never ever choose one of them over me, again.” So what does Liv do? She chooses both of them!

Tom is later stabbed in prison which we find out is ultimately Liv’s doing. She turns Tom by making him think that Command he believes so much in has ordered his death. This is a distinctive turn for Olivia. She has always done whatever’s necessary for justice but this was different. This move really proved that she is much more like her father then she is willing to admit. When she brought the taped confession to Fitz with the truth, there was something different when she told Fitz how she really got it. And it was a very slight “something” but it was there nonetheless.

We end the episode with Jake being brought into that secret safe room (from the season premiere of last season) where Liv and Fitz (together!) are waiting on him – to begin plotting on how to take down Rowan.

Shall we begin the countdown on the demise of Papa Pope? I think we can but let’s push the deadline wayyyyyyyyy out. They will ultimately take him down but it will not be quick and by no means will it be easy. It will take a lot of resources (including Mama Pope who will be back soon!) and meticulous planning. Rowan has always been 5 steps ahead so they are going to have to put this plan into overdrive. With Mini-Command (Liv) though, the showdown will be epic!

A few questions before we adjorn:

Are the other members of OPA in danger?

Will Fitz tell Mellie the whole truth about their son’s death?

What does this mean for Jake? Remember he told Liv that its okay if she didn’t choose him?

What does this mean for Olivia and Fitz now? #TeamOlitz membership aside, they’re tangled in a mess. Let’s think about this: they both still think that her mother is dead (presumably by an order given by Fitz) for a crime that she didn’t commit THIS time. Fitz also has to deal with the fact that he let Rowan take him for a fool AGAIN. Liv has to come to terms that her father killed with her best friend.

Let’s just dream about that house in Vermont and worry about the rest later. Yes, I tend to have a one track mind when it comes to them but you all will deal.

P.S. Huck and Quinn finally told Olivia about her being followed. I’m pretty sure this plot won’t start to unravel until the second half of the season. The obvious question: who’s behind it? I’m thinking it has to be a new character because no one who we’ve seen before comes to mind that would have the power to do that virtually undetected until now. It’s definitely been going on for a while. Once I took a better look at the images, one scene immediately popped into my mind. Remember the middle of the last season when Liv and Fitz were getting a little bold about their relations? There was a scene where they kissed right in front of the window in the Oval Office, we got a wide angle shot of that from outside of the window and then heard the shutter of a camera. At the time I thought it was going to be a reporter or her father who would make the pictures public but it wasn’t the case. We never saw anything regarding that so I put it out of my mind. Now that I think about it though, I’m pretty sure she was being watched at that time. I wonder if that is an image that will surface as we start getting more clues about who is behind this?

Am I looking into it too much? Probably. But that’s me – I need different theories to keep me sane.

I can’t find the clip in question but if I do I’ll update the post with it.

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Natalya

Natalya is an Account Manager by day and an editor and author's assistant to passionate creatives by night. When she is not adding to her enormous book collection or stationery supply, she is catching up on her favorite television shows.

Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.

You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.