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.