Scandal Episode 407: Baby Made a Mess

Scandal Episode 407: Baby Made a Mess kicked off a showdown between Olivia and her dad that promises to be explosive because Daddy Pope has warned her several times about crossing him, but she is determined to expose him as the mastermind behind the murder of the President’s son. Olivia arranges a meeting with Tom where he initially sticks to his story about Jake giving him the order to kill little Gerry, but he later admits that Olivia’s dad gave the order. Huck finally gets to see his son who tracks him down based on the IP address in the game that they have been playing online, and Olivia finds out that someone has been stalking her.

Abby’s Abusive Ex is Back

A Republican Senator from Virginia is caught on tape being gross with a hooker and is forced to resign in disgrace, and Fitz backs Abby’s abusive ex-husband Charles as his replacement.  Oh and Leo Bergen is back as Charles’ campaign manager, but there is still no sign of Mustang Sally or Hollis.

Abby holds it together when she meets her ex in the Oval office, but she later pukes all over herself and calls Olivia to bring her some fresh clothes. Seeing Abby cowering under the desk in her office, Olivia asks her what she wants, and Abby says that she can tolerate the situation for the greater good because the party needs Charles’ votes in the Senate.

Olivia can’t get with that and instead takes over the campaign of Susan Ross, a widowed professor who is also running for the vacated Senate seat. Ross’ campaign is pretty lame and despite a makeover, she still cannot get it together so Olivia uses Ross’ adorable 10-year old daughter Casey in the ads, and she is a natural. Cyrus lets Leo and Charles know that the ad is effective and that they better get it together if they hope to win and avoid embarrassing the President on election day.

Abby Gets Her Gun

Charles approaches Abby in a dark parking garage and advises her to call off Olivia, but Red pulls a gun on him and threatens to shoot him in the face. Part of me really wanted her to do it because he was being an azz. Leo still has the hots for Abby and keeps sniffing around to see if he has a chance. She eventually tells him the truth about his client, and he leaks stories to the media about Charles setting up the disgraced former senator which causes the wife-beater to  withdraw his candidacy.

Olivia had been calling David Rosen to try to get into the Super Max prison where Jake is being held, but he has been avoiding her calls. When she finally gets David on the phone, he tells her that he is not going to get her into the prison to see Jake because Super Max “is not jailhousemingle.com.” He may be a habitual loser, but David loves a good zinger.

Olivia Visits Tom

Olivia was trying to get into the prison to see Tom, not Jake and when she does see him he sits there staring at her before telling her how she beautiful she is before wondering aloud what was so special about her to have his President’s nose wide open. Tom told all Fitz’ business from how he went to her apartment in the middle of night after she left and was wailing like a wounded pig once he realized that she was gone, to his desperate failed suicide attempt. Ole Tom must have forgotten the bro code because he spilled all the beans. For a second there, I thought he was trying to push up on her himself.

Tom sticks to his story about Jake giving him the order to kill the President’s son despite Olivia warning him that her father does not like loose ends and will kill him before it’s all over. Tom must have attended the Eli Pope Academy of Wig Snatching because he gave her several earfuls and informs her that she does not have a father because Command does not have a family – he has soldiers.  She tells him to watch his back and walks off.

Fitz Channels R. Kelly

Fitz calls Olivia with an update on Jake after she shut down his earlier attempts at chit-chat because she wanted to know how her other man was being treated. So her lovesick Presidential boo thang calls back with a detailed update about Jake in hopes of arranging a late night visit. Olivia asks Fitz how he is doing and tells him that she knows about his suicide attempt. Rather than breaking down, Fitz skips over that unfortunate bit of news and tells her to come over and prove that she is serious about the possibility of them being together again. Ole dude went from being a sad little boy to R. Kelly in about 60 seconds flat. I think he must have been listening to 12 Play before calling her because he gave her quite a detailed explanation of what was in store for her if she took him up on his offer.

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Now I generally try to keep my hoochie tendencies under wraps, so I am not trying to backslide in 2014 thank you very much. Shonda and them are going fool around and have a bunch of women out here making reckless decisions and bad choices.

As if it was not bad enough that Fitz is making mash calls, Cyrus is still laying up with his gigolo like he doesn’t have a toddler at home wondering her daddies went. Abby warned Cyrus about Michael’s intentions, so he tested him with a small detail about a US carrier being sent to intervene in Angola. Fitz ordered them to send out the USS Truman, but Cyrus told Michael that it was the Roosevelt and waited to see if that news would be leaked to Elizabeth AKA Mrs. Ellen the RNC chairman. Just when he thought that he’d found true love, Cyrus hears Mellie talk about the USS Roosevelt going to intervene, and Cyrus realizes that Michael really is playing him. He didn’t confront him about it — he just looked very sad as Michael says “I know all your weaknesses now Cy.”

Daddy Pope Gives a Final Warning

Olivia comes home to find her dad in her apartment, and he lets her know that he does not appreciate her going to see Tom and meddling in his business. She tries to put him out, and he tells her that she better watch how she speaks to him and launches into yet another epic read about how everything that he does has been to protect her and the Republic. “When I strike, it is precise, and it is for a reason. You do not interfere, you do not get in the way. You never, ever choose one of them over me again. I won’t have it. Is that clear?”

Olivia proves that she really is her father’s daughter by paying a prison guard to stab Tom making him think that Rowan was trying to kill him. Tom is shook and tells her what really happened. Olivia recorded Tom’s hospital confession and plays it for Fitz, and they go get Jake out of prison.

The winter finale is  next week, and Scandal’s writers are sure to leave us reeling in shock. The preview for next week shows Fitz saying “No hard feelings” to Jake who he has beaten bloody and thrown  into jail under false pretenses. Jake seems to agree, but how can he really be expected to just overlook what his former friend did to him?

• Do Olivia, Fitz and Jake really think they can take down Daddy Pope? She is only still alive because she’s his daughter, and he already warned her that she will not win against him.
• Is Marie Wallace going to be released from the hole? Because she is about the only person with a chance of going up against Command and living to talk about it. I say release the Kraken!
• Are David and Abby really done now that she is drinking bourbon and playing kissy face with Leo Bergen? I feel bad for David and hoped they would get back together.
• Get your chin straps for your wigs and prayer shawls ready for next week because it is sure to be a doozy.

Scandal Episode 402: The State of the Union

The State of the Union

One week into the new season of Scandal and clearly the State of the Union is not great. Mellie is crazed with grief, Abby is power tripping, Huck is still crazy, Quinn is not worth discussing and Olivia is still torn between two men. This week’s episode was slow, and Mellie and Cyrus were the ones who saved it from being a complete bore.

The episode opens with Jake and Olivia jogging in a park when he informs her that he got a hotel room so that they can have booty calls. He claims that he has things to do can’t be sitting around waiting until she’s ready to drop the drawers and says that she can just call him up when she’s ready. Olivia says that she doesn’t do booty calls and I think we can all agree to just let that slide for the sake of moving the plot along – we know better.

Calling in a Favor

Olivia spots Cyrus on a park bench where he pretends to care that she did not call him to say she was back in town. He had the nerve to tell her that she looks like crap meanwhile he looks like he has an old ferret pelt on his head. Check your mirror sir. Olivia knows his game and asks him if they are even still friends. Cyrus asks for a favor and  threatens to blackmail her when she tells him that she does not work for the White House anymore. He must have forgotten about his own numerous skeletons and the fact that her father will eliminate him on a whim.

 

He needs her to babysit a feuding couple, the Elliots, who are supposed to be the President’s guests at the State of the Union. Theirs is a celebrated love story, but the truth is that they hate each other, and Cyrus is counting on Olivia getting them to play nice just long enough to show up for the speech.

 

Mourning Mellie Makes the Tabloids

Photos of mourning Mellie siting on her son’s grave eating chips are published leading to wide speculation about her mental state. The President will be talking about gun control, and they do not need any distractions because the topic is controversial and his party is opposed to it. Abby did a poor job of defusing the drama during a press conference, yet when Olivia offers her some advice she goes off and tells her former employer that she does not know anything. This broad is really getting brand new this season.

The photos of Mellie sitting on the grave are all over, so Fitz and Cyrus explain that all this chatter is very bad for The White House during a crucial time, and they ask her to make herself presentable and come to the State of the Union address, but Mellie is like nope, I’m not going to be able to do it. Mellie was chilling on the balcony with a fresh platter of southern fried chicken and couldn’t manufacture a portion of a damn if you paid her. Fitz walks off leaving Cyrus to try to reason with the First Lady, but she is not having it. She even tells Cyrus that his grief not the same as hers because she lost her child.

Cyrus may be a shady weasel, but I am tired of the Grants trying to diminish his grief, and so is he. He lets Mellie know that he resents her acting like his loss is less than hers. “A broken heart is a broken heart. It’s cruelty to take measure,” he notes between bites of chicken.

Mrs. Ellen Plays Hardball

Lizzie, the RNC chair, digs up those fake photos of the woman who David supposedly beat back when Harrison made up the whole thing to keep Abby away from him. Although the pictures are fake, Lizzie tells Cyrus that if they do not withdraw David’s nomination for Attorney General those photos will be leaked to the press. David assumes that Olivia is behind it and says that she has no loyalty to anyone and says that is why Abby doesn’t work for her anymore. David bribes a Senator to endorse him so that he can still get the job, but this means that Lizzie is going to have to find another way to get some leverage to use against the White House.

Cyrus is having a drink at a bar when a handsome stranger starts flirting, but he was as nervous as a schoolgirl on her first date. That man had him all flustered and at a loss for words. Okay Miss Cyrus, you have to jump back in the pool at some point.

Sassy Abby gets Mellie together with a rant about how she needs to get on her job and show up to the President’s speech because she is not the only mother to have lost a child. After having initially waved Abby off, Mellie puts on a fierce red dress and shows up for the speech where the President praises her for her strength. She was strong in public breaks down once it’s over and falls out in the floor.

Cyrus Picks Up a Gigolo

Cyrus goes back to the bar to pick up the man who was sizing him up and later realizes that the man is a male prostitute. He tries to resist him but the gigolo wears him down.

Cyrus after finally getting broke off

I knew that man was too fine to be checking for Cyrus’ old butt without some ulterior motive, and we learn that the RNC chair set the whole thing up! Mrs. Ellen, you just got here and really need not start showing out this soon. We have rules and a hierarchy around this camp, and Cyrus is the one who sets folks up. You, madam, are out of order.

Jake really does have some business to attend to and is looking over the coroner’s files on Harrison Wright. He was reviewing the photos when Olivia shows up at his hotel room wearing only a trench coat and boots, and that was the end of that.

I was worried that they were going to send Olivia right back into Fitz’ arms – especially after he asked to be alone with her. I guess as long as Jake is around she can hold off for a few more weeks but those two will be eventually be together again. The fate of the other characters is not so clear.

• Is Harrison coming back to the show? I miss his character, and I have to believe that Columbus Short learned his lesson and would be a model employee from here on out. He would probably organize the office potluck and everything.
• Just where are they going with Mellie’s grief? It’s an interesting angle, and it is making her a sympathetic character, but it’s going to get old after a couple of episodes. And where the heck is baby Teddy?
• When is Olivia going to check Abby once and for all? She’s getting too comfortable spouting off every week, and Red needs not to be so quick to read the woman who saved her.

• How is Cyrus going to react to getting played? Mrs. Ellen and that sex worker better get some new identities and passports because Cyrus is going to sic Charlie on them once he figures out what really happened.