Scandal Episode 414: The Lawn Chair

Scandal Episode 414: The Lawn Chair shows Olivia attempting to get back to her regular job in the aftermath of her kidnapping while being challenged by an activist who calls her out for being on the wrong side of an injustice. She is still feeling vulnerable but rather than taking time to heal, she dives headlong into this latest traumatic scene that stems from a police shooting of unarmed Black teenager.

Courtney B. Vance delivers a masterful performance as Clarence Parker, the bereaved father who is determined to get justice for his son who was left laying in the street for the entire episode reminiscent of the incident in Ferguson last year.

Fitz needs to come up with a new VP now that Andrew is incapacitated without picking someone who will pose a threat to Mellie’s future political plans. Cyrus encourages him to make a bold choice, but he wants to pick someone who is going to be a team player and won’t compete with Mellie’s plan to run for office. Fitz says that it’s her turn and Cyrus asks him if he has any idea how difficult it will be for Mellie to make the leap to the oval office. Why let a little thing like experience stand in the way of a bored First Lady’s dreams?

The DC Police  department hired Olivia in the wake of the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Brandon Parker by a White officer. Crowds of angry residents have formed, and the police chief does not want a riot on his hands.

The victim’s body is still lying in the street when his father shows up with a gun demanding to see the officer who killed his son.

Olivia tries to negotiate with Mr. Parker to keep the police from shooting him, but he will not leave his son’s side. A local activist brings the man a lawn chair to sit on and encourages him to remain there since that is the only power he has in the situation.

Olivia accuses the activist, Marcus, of inflaming the situation to try to make a name for himself. She told him that it would be his fault if the boy’s father is killed. “You don’t want justice. You want anger. You want outrage. You want retribution,” Olivia admonishes.

Marcus is not impressed by Olivia’s arguments and calls her out for living in DC but having never visited that neighborhood unless it was to pick up soul food. He lets her know that he knows exactly who she is and brings up the fact that she worked to get the President elected twice.

She tells him he doesn’t know her and that they both want the same thing, but he is not convinced. “You want to put it to bed quietly and go to the Hill and say that you came down to the hood and you saved us. No thanks Olivia. Your black card is not being validated today.” Sir, I am sure that Olivia does have an actual Black card – the kind that gets issued to high net worth individuals.

This Marcus character totally reminds me of Rev. Bullock from Preachers of Detroit (don’t judge me). But I digress….

The officer claimed that Brandon matched the profile of a shoplifter. He said that he stopped the young man who became belligerent and pulled a knife before charging him which is why he shot him. Yeah, because Black boys pull knives on police officers all the time.

Once Olivia realizes that the Police chief is trying to keep the protests out of the news so that he can unleash brutal tactics on the crowd, she joins the protesters behind the barricades.

Huck comes down to the crime scene and tells Olivia that the police have the surveillance footage from the night of the shooting but they have not released it.

Olivia goes to David and tells him that she needs his help. She explains to him that justice is not available to everyone and he tries to squash her comments, but she says that she felt helpless and afraid each day that she was in captivity and asks him to imagine feeling like that every day.

She also told him that Brandon’s father believes that his only way out of the situation is in going to lead to prison or the morgue. And he cannot argue with that.

David issues a subpoena for the surveillance tape which shows the victim reaching into his pocket for something, but it does not show the item. The father allows them to check the body for a weapon and they find a knife. Mr Parker kept repeating that his son does not carry a knife and raises his gun as if he is about to shoot.

Olivia and Marcus manage to walk away from him without being shot, but her hands are shaking, and she is clearly not okay. Ms. Pope is going to have to be checked into the psych ward before it’s all over.

Huck and Quinn discover that the officer planted the knife on the body because he arrested a suspect the previous night but the arrest was never formalized and the man’s knife was never booked into evidence. Brandon was reaching for his receipt when he was shot.

Olivia goes to the confront the officer who launches into this psychotic rant about “these” people and how they disrespect him. “Brandon Parker is dead because he didn’t have respect. Because those people out there who are chanting and crying over his body didn’t teach him the right values.”

Whenever someone starts throwing around “you people” it is always nasty business, and I would bet that he was speaking for many of his real life counterparts. Not all, but enough to create this constant mistrust and hostility.

The officer is arrested and the police department is placed under a federal probe,

Olivia takes Mr. Parker to the White House to meet the President, and he breaks down in tears talking about his son.

This episode was so powerful and emotional because it is loosely based on real events.

Michael Brown was gunned down in Ferguson and left lying in the streets for hours last August. Massive crowds showed up to protest for weeks after the shooting, and the police treated them like enemy combatants.

The similarities end there because there has been no arrest to date.

In the end, we went with showing what fulfilling the dream SHOULD mean. The idea of possibility. And the despair we feel now. #scandal

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) March 6, 2015

Although the Justice Department recently released a report on the Ferguson police department that found a pattern of systemic racism, discrimination and hostility toward Black residents, federal charges will not be filed.

This was an important episode because Ferguson is a deeply divisive issue and unfortunately, it is but one of many stories about Black men being killed at the hands of law enforcement.

As much as I disliked the recent episodes about Olivia being kidnapped and trafficked, I have to give kudos to the writers for getting it right this time.

Olivia is very much a person of privilege living in her own little bubble even as her own father tried to warn her that she would never be one of “them.” So she needed that reality check that Marcus gave her.

Well done Shonda and crew.

Now can we please get our girl some counseling before she completely loses her mind?

Scandal Episode 411: “Where’s the Black Lady?”

Scandal Episode 411: “Where’s the Black Lady” shows Olivia saving herself from a hellish fate as Fitz, Jake and Huck work to find where she was taken. This episode is much better than the previous week’s offering which was so tedious that I did not even bother to recap it. This title comes from scenes with veteran actress Marla Gibbs who is a friend of the elderly lady who was killed in the last episode. I am still salty with them for killing Big Mamma in cold blood last week because that wasn’t even necessary.

The murdered lady’s name is Lois, and her friend is concerned that she has not been able to contact her, and she knows that Lois gave a spare house key to the nice Black lady who lives across the hall because she helps people for a living — Olivia. This is a pivotal moment because up until then Huck and Quinn were not able to figure out where Olivia might have been taken.

The episode opens with Fitz in the Oval office getting an unwelcome visit from the Secret Service. Apparently ole Randy Andy has co-opted multiple levels of government to get them to watch the President to make sure that he does not search for Olivia. Andrew’s henchman warns Fitz that Olivia will be beheaded if he fails to cooperate by declaring war on West Angola.

Ole Randy Andy is awfully bold in this episode, and I really wanted him to be dropped in the hole with Mamma Pope.

A visibly shaken Fitz is in the bedroom with Mellie who has suddenly decided to come clean about swerving with Andrew again. She starts running her mouth about all their dirty secrets including the stolen election, and Fitz tells her to stop talking since he is being followed and recorded. Mellie always has bad timing.

Fitz demands proof that Olivia is still alive before taking any action, so her captor films her holding up a newspaper and reading a statement. Ole girl requests a glass of water and uses that glass to show her captor’s reflection on camera. I knew she wasn’t just thirsty!

Huck pays Mrs. Ellen a visit at her house after she tucks her daughter in and warns her that he will cut the girl up and make her watch him do it if she does not tell him where to find Olivia.

She seems legitimately shook, but hell, who did she think they were dealing with here? This chick is the child of assassins and rolls with psychopaths. Huck could kill Lizzie and her daughter and have that house so clean that no one would know that she ever lived there.

Lizzie Bear pays Andrew a visit and asks him what he has done and tells him about her late night visitor. Ole Randy Andy basically tells her to man up and get her mind right because he is trying to get into the Oval Office.

Huck pays Lizzie another visit because she did not deliver the info about Olivia. He is sitting next to her daughter’s bed in the dark and muses about snapping the kid’s neck which turns out to be a bluff because he exacts his vengeance solely on Lizzie and left her back looking like she’d received 2,000 lashes. She may as well have stood up and yelled “Give us free!” after he got done with her.

After telling Mellie about the kidnapping, Fitz decides to declare war on Angola but Olivia is not freed because Andrew plans to use her to manipulate the President for the remaining three years of his term. Ian, her captor, says that they will keep her alive until the three years are up and then they will kill her.

Three years? Do they not know whose child she is? Mama Pope will burrow her way from that hole and chew iron bars to get to Olivia. And although he is angry with her, there is no way Eli is going to allow these people to just snatch his daughter up and treat her like some scullery wench without making them pay for it. Liam Neeson has nothing on the deadly Popes when it comes to bringing back kidnapped offspring.

After Lois’ friend tells Quinn about Olivia having a key to the neighbor’s apartment, they go over there to investigate and find the ring that she left behind as a clue. Huck tells them that Olivia wears that ring for Fitz and never takes it off, so he is sure that she had been in that apartment. They also check the WiFi and are able to figure out the last person to have accessed it,  but they are not able to narrow down the location.

Mellie visits Andrew and tells him to give Olivia back to Fitz, but he goes off on some rant talking about how he’s doing all this devilment for them. Mellie takes one for the team and sleeps with him to steal his phones which she turns over to Lizzie who gives them to OPA so that Huck will leave her alone.

Andrew used one of the phones to contact Ian repeatedly, so the crew was able to locate where Olivia is being held and David Rosen uses the DEA to call in a drug raid on the location, but Olivia is already gone by the time they get there.

Realizing that she needs to save herself, Olivia brokers a deal with Ian to have him sell her to the highest bidder. She figures that it will be easier to take her chances on the open market rather than wait around to be killed.

Olivia reprises the hype man role that she played for Cyrus when he was about to quit in disgrace and asks Ian if he wants to remain a highly paid babysitter or try to gain some real power for himself. “Do you want to be a babysitter or do you want to be a boss?” she asks.

I can appreciate them trying to show Olivia saving herself, but I am not here for Black folks being auctioned off in 2015 – and during Black History month at that. Seriously? Is that the best that they could come up with for this storyline? I am side-eying this whole situation right now. Picture me glaring with my arms folded like that lady in the background of that infamous photo of Angelina Jolie and Amy Pascal.

What woman would come up with that plan? She had to know that her crew was coming for her, and even if they never found her dying in a cell has to be a better fate than being trafficked. I do not like this at all. I have given these writers a lot of leeway, but this is pushing it.

Olivia convinces Ian to get her cleaned up to fetch a better price, and she calls Fitz from a private jet to tell him about the plan. His excitement at hearing her voice on the phone is short-lived when Ian takes the phone and says that he is going to sell her to the highest bidder.

• While this episode was more interesting than last week’s, the ending really ruined it for me. I find nothing clever or cute about this situation and there really was no need to go that route.
• Are they going to have her sold off to some wealthy sheikh and added to a harem?
• What is Mellie getting out of all this? Fitz does not love her, and neither does Andrew.
• On the plus side, Mamma Pope is in the previews for the next episode, and you know that she is not going to allow any modern-day slavery to happen on her watch.

Scandal Episode 408: The Last Supper

Olivia has completely torn her drawers with Daddy Pope in Episode 408: The Last Supper, and he washed his hands of her after she tried to manipulate him in order to take him down. Formerly Smelly Mellie gets her groove back again with Vice President Andy who is having a secret affair with Mrs. Ellen, and Cyrus’ paid boo thang may not be totally in it for the money after all. Also, Huck is spending more time with his son which is not necessarily a good thing. This episode made me a lot more sympathetic to Daddy Pope because he is Olivia’s father and she seems to have no loyalty to him whatsoever. Yes he’s lied and killed, but he always had her best interests at heart – can she say that about either of her boyfriends?

Scandal Episode 408 opens with the love triangle in a bunker, and Jake is letting the President know that they are no longer friends which should have been obvious after he was beaten while cuffed and left to rot in prison. Olivia is caught between their bickering and Jake attempts to stake his claim calling her his girlfriend and talking about their plans to walk off into the sun while Fitz just sits there looking like the third wheel. He later corners Olivia in the hall and begs for a kiss for old times sake. It did not take much to convince Olivia, and that ole petty Fitz did it mainly to make his competition jealous. She needs to get a crucifix and back up when he starts closing in on her because ole girl has no backbone at all where this man is concerned. She was probably still thinking about that raunchy call from the last episode.

Cyrus gets busted hacking The Republican National Chairwoman’s phone and tells Olivia that he knew that Michael was a hoe, but he was a distraction from his real life. He even had nerve to say that Baby Ella cries when she sees him because she thinks he’s a stranger – yeah because he was spending all his free time, and her college fund, on a gigolo. Miss baby said don’t try to get all parental now that your feelings are hurt. #TheseDadsAintLoyal.

Speaking of Cyrus’ boo for hire, he may have some actual feelings for the old man because he only leaked minor info to the woman who hired him when he had access to plenty of damning information if he really wanted to be dirty.

Realizing that he is in big trouble, Cyrus begs Olivia for help and despite her having recently accepted Elizabeth as a client, she agrees to help him. Olivia has Huck check on the evidence their new client has on Cyrus and he discovers many videos of him and Michael getting busy, and I really could have lived without seeing any of it. And it might be my imagination, but Cyrus’ wig looked much better in this episode. It was less greying cockatoo and more Hair Club for Men. He was so upset over Michael that I really did think he was going to be on the next episode of Snapped. 

Vice President Andrew surfaced for the first time in weeks and nearly dies after a car bomb goes off in his vehicle. Mellie runs to him in his office and they rekindle their affair. He later calls her out for ignoring him up until she was ready to resume swerving, but she explained that he chose the vice presidency over her and says that after little Gerry died it was just easier to pretend that he did not exist. She begs him for another chance.

Little does Mellie know that ole randy Andy has another woman — Elizabeth, the one who has been asking for Mellie’s help bringing Fitz back in line with the Republican party’s message. Poor Mellie – even her sidepiece is cheating on her. This may well drive her back to fried chicken and hooch. Mrs. Ellen AKA a Lobbyist Called Slickback is making a lot of dangerous enemies to be a newbie because Cyrus and Mells are likely to join forces and slap that pomade out of her hair.

Daddy Pope calls Olivia after the explosion to make sure that she is alright. She seemed surprised that he called, but he told her that they may fight, but they will always be family and unlike those “boys” he will always be there for her. “I am still your father, and I will be here for you long after these boys have revealed themselves to be who they really are. To pick up the pieces, to put you back together and to remind you of who you really are.” After all that she has nerve to tell him that she has to go and hangs up. He warned her just last week about being disrespectful, but she still is still acting like she was raised on time outs and temper tantrums.

Huck’s son has been spending time at OPA, and when Olivia walks in on them he sends him home to his mother. Olivia asks if Huck’s ex-wife knew about their visits, and he basically tells her to mind her business and asked if she had any work-related questions for him. He should have listened to Olivia because he lets Javi tag along during a stakeout where the boy witnesses a murder, and he runs off in shock. Gee, who could have known that having a child at a stake out was a bad thing.

While the boys are squabbling over the best way to bring Daddy Pope in, Olivia calls him and tearfully tells him that he was right about the men in her life and their true motives. He seems to buy the act and agrees to meet her for dinner where Olivia and her crew are planning to arrest him but they have underestimated this man yet again.  Not only does he kill the snipers and get rid of the evidence, Rowan informs Olivia that she is now on her own.

Before dismissing Olivia, Daddy Pope gives her yet another epic read about the path she has chosen warning her that she may have been blinded by her desires, but she will never be one of them – the people she has chosen over him.

You would have thought she’d learned her lesson during that episode where her mother called her the help and Fitz yelled that he was talking to his wife, but she is still clinging to the idea of wearing the white hat. And while I knew those clowns were no match for Rowan, I never expected him to cut off his own daughter.

• Daddy Pope may be the Devil’s prized pupil, but I do not like how Olivia is determined to bring him down herself. Let someone else do it. Not that they have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting to this man. She is going to fool around and he’s going to let Mama Pope out of the hole again, and no one wants that.
• How is Olivia going to be more loyal to that old weasel Cyrus than to her own dad? After all his dirty dealing, she is still willing to do favors for him yet she is willing to hang her own father out to dry.
• What is Mrs. Ellen up to with Andrew and that dirty cop who was tailing Olivia? I am not buying that this is a simple affair because Andrew is still salty about lots of things including having to give up Mellie to remain on the Grant Presidential ticket.
• Is there a future for Michael and Cyrus? I cannot believe that they are going with that old cliche about the hooker with a heart of gold. And I really did think that Cyrus was going to kill him when he showed up at his house unexpectedly and he told him to bend over.

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 405: The Key

Scandal Episode 405: The Key

Scandal Episode 405: The Key shows Olivia trying to find out what happened to Jake as she works to exonerate her friend Katherine who is likely being framed by a shady character who works for her husband. Huck has been stalking his family and is subjected to an intervention that ends badly, and David is having a crisis of conscience over having used the B613 files to advance his interests at the expense of others including the judge who committed suicide after being blackmailed.

Quinn and Olivia are on a stake out when they see the murder of a teenage girl, Faith, who is the friend of the young girl who was killed a couple of episodes ago. She is meeting with the man who was last seen tussling with the victim, Caitlyn, over a folder in an elevator. The man’s name is Kubiak, and he is a shady former DC police chief who has something to hide that he is willing to kill to keep under wraps. He’s looking for a key that Faith likely got from Caitlyn before she died. Quinn figures out that the key that they’re searching for is actually in the dead girl’s body, so she breaks in the morgue to retrieve it. Oh, so we’re just slicing up bodies now Quinn? She needs to spend less time with Huck.

I must have missed the memo because Olivia is suddenly calling Jake her boyfriend and becomes alarmed when he stops returning her calls. Daddy Pope stops by for a nightcap and feigns ignorance of Jake’s whereabouts knowing full well that he signed his death warrant. He claims that Jake reminds him of himself when he was younger and implies that Jake might just be out pursuing other interests. I changed my mind about wanting Daddy Pope to adopt me because that man is ruthless and lies too easily. I wouldn’t be able to rest worrying about what he was planning, so never mind. “What if I’m supposed to be saving him right now instead of drinking wine with you?” she asks. He replied: “Olivia, what could have possibly happened to a man like Jake?” That is not much of an answer, but what can you expect from the grand wizard of deception.

Back at the Oval Office, Fitz demands to know why Jake hasn’t confessed, and Cyrus reminds him that he is B613 and trained to withstand normal interrogation and hints that it may be time to move on to less Constitutional techniques to get him to talk. He also advises The President that the people who work for him need to get some rest which they cannot do so long as he remains in the office. Cyrus offers to walk Fitz over to the residence, but he does not want to run into Smelly Mellie. Cyrus assures him that his lovely wife is probably either drunk or in a food coma from too much fried chicken, but he still refuses to leave the office.

Huck’s Intervention

Huck has been stalking his family and his ex-wife Kim warns him to stop before she calls the police on him again. Huck says that he needs to see his son and promises to stop once he sees the boy. Kim agrees and tells him to come back later that night, but when he returns there is a psychiatrist waiting to see him instead of his son. Huck started choking the doctor while telling Kim that he had told her the truth about what happened to him. I have a bad feeling about this because we know that he does not handle disappointment well. Kim is liable to come up missing.

Olivia tells Huck to find Jake, and he tracks him to his last known location — the White House. Olivia calls The President to ask him if he knew what happened to Jake, and he cannot believe that she is calling him to ask about her boyfriend.  Fitz hangs up on her, so she calls Cyrus who refuses to take her call, and then she calls Abby who informs her that she does not take orders from her anymore. Red, you really need to get over this ugly jealously that you’ve been displaying all season. It’s petty.

Cyrus pays Olivia a courtesy call to let her know that Jake is being held at the Pentagon for killing Gerry and Harrison and James. Olivia says that her father is behind it all, but Cyrus said he watched Rowan get the confession from Tom and that the next time she sees him he will be dancing on Jake’s grave. Okay, but Cyrus you were the one who asked Jake to kill James in the first place! That wig must be on too tight because it is apparently causing memory loss.

 

Olivia confronts her dad with the information she got from Cyrus, and he tells her a bunch of lies about training Jake to watch her and break up her relationship with Fitz and claims that Jake went rogue.

“You wanted to win the election. Jake knew that. He asked you to save him, to be with you repeatedly. He was obsessed with you. He gave you exactly what you wanted. And then he blamed the death of Gerry Grant on your mother creating a barrier that was insurmountable. So that you could never be with the President again. How could you when your mother was responsible for killing his son? What love could survive that? Jake made it so that you had no choice but to leave, to go away forever.”

This man must have ice water in his veins to be this evil without a shred of remorse.

Fitz Interrogates Jake

Fitz goes to the Pentagon to interrogate Jake and reveals that he knows that Jake was on the island with Olivia. Jake urges him to set his ego aside and be logical and had nerve to say that Olivia loves both of them because they wear the proverbial white hat – probably not the smartest thing to say to an angry, jealous man who has the power to end your life. Fooling with Jake, Fitz missed his daily visit to Gerry’s grave causing Mellie to assume that he was with Olivia. After a heated exchange, he yells that he was not with Olivia but was instead working to get a confession from the man who killed their son. He did not want her to find out what really happened, but Mellie says that she is relieved because that means that his death was not random and that he was like a soldier dying for them. Now I was with her up until she went off the deep end and started talking about him dying for their sins to give them another 4 years in the White House. Madam, your son is not the Blood of the Lamb, and I think it’s time for you to put down the scotch.

Disgusted by ole Smelly Mellie’s crazy rant, Fitz tells her to take her booze and her snacks and get the hell out of his office. He also warns her not to mention his son again. His words must have worked because she finally removes the dirty robe and Uggs and takes a shower.

David is Ruined

David had been drunk dialing Abby trying to score some quality time. He was on some ole Freddy Jackson Rock me Tonight stuff, but Red was not having it. So he showed up at her office and tells her all about what happened with Judge Sparks and said that he killed him trying to be Olivia Pope because he was tired of losing.

Filled with righteous indignation, Abby goes to Olivia’s house and tells her that she is poison because she ruined David. Instead checking this annoying broad once and for all, Olivia starts crying and tells Abby what Daddy Pope said about Jake killing Gerry and Harrison. Abby comforts her, and it looks like they may be finally making up after feuding all season.

Fitz goes back to the Pentagon and tells the men guarding Jake to stand him up. “Did you kill my son?” He growls before punching the hell out of Jake who is still denying any involvement in the murder. They go on like this for a few minutes while Jake taunts Fitz and tells him about all the things that he did to Olivia during the two months that they were on the island because we all know that’s what The President is really mad about right now.  Fitz literally beat the blood out of that man, but he was still laughing and gloating over having done the deed – repeatedly – with the President’s former boo thing. Jake, it’s been nice knowing you, but I think this is the end for you. Tell James that we said hi.

• Is Fitz going to kill Jake himself? I knew that he would punish the man for being with Olivia, but I never expected him to get his hands dirty.
• Who is going to bring down Daddy Pope? As much as I have enjoyed his character, he is doing too much this season. All this lying and manipulating has got to catch up with him soon, and there is a long list of people who want revenge for him ruining their lives.
• Is Tom already dead, or is he just in the hole being tormented? If Tom is still alive, he just may be the one that finally reveals the truth about Rowan.
• Where was Cyrus’ gigolo this week? Did he finally use up all of James’ insurance money and have to wait until his next paycheck to get broke off again?
• Is Smelly Mellie finally getting herself together? There have been a couple of false starts, so I don’t want to get my hopes up only to see her back on the couch funky and drunk.
• When is Shonda going to hook up one of these COGIC milliners with a contract to provide white hats to the show? It’s a recurring theme, and that lid that they got for Olivia last time was pitiful. I’m envisioning something like this:
  

  I could totally see Olivia rocking this

 

And they could totally get a black cap to cover Cyrus’ dreadful toupee.

Scandal Episode 404: Like Father, Like Daughter

Scandal Episode 404: Like Father, Like Daughter shows the chickens coming home to roost for Daddy Pope and Jake, and the last 5 minutes nearly gave me a heart attack with a twist that I saw coming but was not ready to witness. This could be the beginning of the end for Jake so we may as well start planning his funeral now. I’ve got $10 on the casket spray. Oh and it’s also not looking good for that ole two-faced Tom.

The library must have been open late because everyone was getting read tonight!  Cyrus got Abby, Olivia got some evil blackmailers and Fitz hit Smelly Mellie with the read of life that left her needing a shovel to pick up her face. That man said he had been sitting around singing “I Won’t Complain” for long enough!

Karen Grant Wilding Out

The Grant family continues to deal with the emotional fallout following the murder of Gerry, and this time First daughter Karen is the one in trouble. She ditches her security detail to go a rave 500 miles away from her school and calls Olivia for help when she is too wasted to find her way out. Olivia and Quinn go rescue her while Huck kills the cell phone service to the building so that no one would be able to upload any pictures or video to the Internet, but they soon realize that they have bigger problems because Karen made a sex tape with two young men and does not know their identities! The girl was so high that she could not even walk out on her own, so Olivia and Quinn had to prop her up.

Cyrus is basking in the afterglow with Michael telling him about how sprung he is and being downright affectionate. I guess $2,500 must buy quality action for his nose to be so wide open. His post-coital bliss is interrupted when Olivia calls to tell him to get the President on the phone because his daughter is auditioning to be America’s Next Teen Porn Star. Those crazy kids did something known as the Eiffel Tower, and while I refuse to Google it myself, I hear that it’s really a thing — who knew?

Back at the White House, Fitz goes from being worried about Karen to nearly snatching her up after she gets sassy with him about her exploits. Upon hearing that she took drugs, her concerned dad asked if she was raped, but Karen tells him that he is lame and wonders why he assumes that the boys took advantage of her. Olivia saves her by sending her off for a barrage of STD tests. You’re welcome bratty First daughter.

Fitz asks Olivia to find the boys and kill that tape before it gets out which means that she and her team have to be back in the White House with Abby and Mellie neither of whom are real happy with OPA right now. Also, they are trying to keep this from Mellie who is back to being sad and unwashed on the couch. Abby spots Huck and Quinn in the hall and starts harassing them about being there until Cyrus tells her to mind her business. She accused Cyrus of making her feel small by constantly siding with Olivia but he told her that it was not him but her own jealousy that was doing that and advises her to get her life. “You are not Olivia, you will never be Olivia, and hating Olivia for your own shortcomings will not change that fact.”  Get Red together Mr. Beene!

Daddy Pope meets Tom on a park bench and asks why Jake Ballard is still alive. Rowan warns him that he best handle it or be next on the hit list. Poor Tom. See what happens when you dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight? Right after Rowan leaves, Jake shows up and tells Tom that even if he does kill him he will be the next to die since Command cannot afford to leave any loose ends that could tie him to the President’s son’s death.

Olivia meets Fitz in the White House to let him know that they have identified one of the boys in the tape when he starts asking her where she went when she left town. He assumed that she was alone, and she does not correct him claiming that she needed some time alone. He says that he is sorry about her mother and she tells him not to be sorry because her mother did a terrible thing and ruined them. Girl, you don’t even know the half of it.

David Rosen is basking in his positive press coverage when Jake shows up demanding that he release the B613 files if Command kills him, but David says no. Jake asks for the files back and David says nope again because those files would bring down the government. Jake grabs him and nearly snaps his neck like a chicken bone before David gives him the key to the files.

Smelly Mellie Gets Read

Mellie sees Olivia in the hall, grabs her and demands to know what she is doing in “her house”. Olivia fixed her with a withering gaze and tells her to go ask her husband. She almost went all Marie Wallace on the First Lady because you know Mamma Pope did not raise a punk. My girl backed her up with one look.

Mellie assumes that Olivia is there for a rendevouz and goes off on Fitz for bringing her there. He told her that Karen called Olivia because she got in trouble and that Mellie should be glad that she was on it. Mellie makes the mistake of saying that she is the mother, this her family and she is the one who holds everything together and Olivia needs to go. She says she will fix it, and he needs to stay out of the way. If she wants to fix something, she might want to start with a bath and then move on to that bird’s nest on top of her head.

Fitz has had enough and unleashed all the saltiness that he’s been storing up since their son died:

“I have dealt with drunk Mellie and smelly Mellie, and screw everything to hell Mellie and crybaby Mellie and eat everything that is not nailed down Mellie and I have not complained, but I will not put up with whatever righteous history-rewriting Mellie you have going on right here right now. You are not the mother – not since Gerry died. You have mothered no one. You hold nothing together. You pick up no pieces. You are sitting around in booties and a dirty robe eating chips and getting drunk at 11:00 a.m.”

She had nerve to reply that Karen really takes after him by making a sex tape. Is that is the best she could come up with after that magnificent wig snatchage? And she must have forgotten that Karen busted her on her knees with Andrew not long ago. You can climb down off your high horse madam because your dirty drawers are showing,

Fitz Makes a Move

Karen was able to identify one of the boys by a tattoo, and Quinn tracks him down at his fast food job and makes him talk. He tells her about the other guy, a rich kid from Bethesda whose parents, the Morgans, want to be paid $2.5 million for the videotape. Liv takes the deal to Fitz who is angry, but Olivia advised him to pay them off to spare Karen the embarrassment of having that tape released. He goes from outraged dad to lovesick puppy in less than two minutes. He closes in on Olivia and asks her if she missed him. “Don’t ever leave me like that again. I almost didn’t survive. I almost died without you. Didn’t you miss me?” He moves in for a kiss and she blurts out that she did not go away alone which totally ruined the mood. He backed up and tells her to just say that she went with Jake. She does, and he had nerve to be upset about it. He tells her pay the Morgans and storms off. So the married man is upset that his mistress has a sidepeiece of her own. Cute.

Olivia meets with the Morgans again but this time they are asking for another $500,000 for expenses, and she goes off on them. She takes their pictures and promises to ruin them by leaking their pictures to the tabloids to assassinate their character by claiming that their son set up Karen to blackmail the President. Then she makes them sign papers and they scram with nothing other than a verbal smackdown.

Smelly Mellie goes to Karen and tells her that she understands her pain and that she is going to get one free pass because she is still grieving for her brother. But she warns her that she can’t have any more screw-ups because she is the daughter of a famous man.

The Jig is up for Tom

Fitz ordered an investigation of the Secret Service to find out what happened with Karen’s security detail, and the Inspector General finds a discrepancy in Tom’s schedule. The records indicate that he was in Maryland at a military base when he was supposed to be at the White House in November — the jig is up. Tom calls Jake in a panic, and he tells him to just tell the truth because he has evidence that will clear him. Ah Jake, have you learned nothing after all that time in the hole?

Jake shows up to the White House with his files but Fitz walks out and tells him he will be right back. He then heads over to watch Tom being questioned. Tom says he was acting on orders and was about to spill the beans when in walks Daddy Pope. Tom asks for a lawyer and then asks to speak to the President, but Rowan does not budge. He presents Tom with the evidence showing him at the facility where the bacterial strain of meningitis that killed Gerry was taken and demands to know who gave him the order.

Daddy Pope plays the hell out of Tom telling him that when he leaves the room no one is going to be on his side and that he needs his help. Tom lies and says that Jake gave him the orders. Rowan leans in and gives Tom a meaningful look just before he is cuffed and lead away. Meanwhile Jake, who was already at the White House, was lead off by a group of men.

• When will these characters learn that Daddy Pope always wins? That man is a wizard of deception and Jake sealed his fate last week during that dinner when he laid all his cards on the table. Hey, it was fun while it lasted.
• Did Fitz knowingly set Jake up for running off with his boo thing? Or does he really believe that he gave Tom the command to kill his son? While Fitz is petty enough to ice the guy just for being with Olivia, we all know that Daddy Pope is very persuasive. Fitz just might believe him.
• Will Smelly Mellie get it together for her children’s sake? Not only is Karen wilding out, but according to Fitz baby Teddy thinks that the nanny is his mother because Smelly spends no time with him.
• What’s next for David Rosen? Those B613 files were his ace in the hole, and he really did rely on them the last couple of times he was backed up against the wall. Will be go back to being a loser? Or will he find another way to step up?
• Although I do not want to see Fitz and Olivia together, those two do have undeniable chemistry. He is mad now because he found out that she was with Jake, but he’ll get over it just like he did before. But she may not forgive him for killing Jake.

Scandal Episode 403 Inside the Bubble

 

Scandal Inside the Bubble

Scandal’s third episode shows things improving nicely for the Grant White House. The court upholds the President’s gun control bill, Mellie snaps out of her grief and Cyrus gets his groove back even if he does have to pay for it. Alas, you know in Shondaland nothing is ever what it seems.

Inside the Bubble is where new Attorney General David Rosen finds himself after his passionate defense of the President’s Gun bill lands him in the President’s good graces. It’s a short-lived glory because despite his convincing arguments one of the judges, Sparks, indicates that he is going to overturn the law causing Fitz to have a meltdown about how he has given up everything for his job and it has to mean something. Desperate for a much-needed win, David blackmails Judge Sparks securing the victory along with his place in the President’s inner circle. David is all like Call me D.J. Khaled cuz All I do is Win ….for now.

Olivia drops by her dad’s house to say hi and he invites her to bring Jake over for dinner. Jake is not interested in dinner because she is not his girlfriend, as he keeps reminding her, but he tells her to let him know if she is up for any other activities. Boom chicka waa waa. This new Jake is a cheeky monkey, but I like it

Mourning Mellie Comes up for Air

Mellie is strangely invigorated by a story about a newlywed bride who is accused of pushing her husband off a cliff. Everyone is assuming that the woman is guilty, but Mellie is determined to prove her innocence and throws herself into the case. She is looking and acting like her old self for the first time since her son’s death, and Fitz orders Abby to give her whatever she wants when she starts acting like the defense counsel. Mellie’s rebirth is short-lived because some tourists come forward to vindicate the wife, and that was the end of that. She is soon back on the couch in her pajamas and Fitz has to apologize to Abby for being a jerk when she tried to warn him that his wife was being weird.

Jake hems Charlie up to confirm that Daddy Pope killed Adnan and Harrison and is prepared to torture him, but Charlie offers to tell him everything he wants to know in exchange for one night with Quinn. Ick. Now I do not know what he expected to happen, but she winds up putting him in a chokehold after telling him that she is not interested. She stays there all night and is disgusted when she gets back to the office the next day and no one even realizes that she was gone. She reads them off and tells that’s how Harrison wound up dead – because they were distracted. Actually he wound up “dead” because Columbus Short lost his mind and Mother Shonda had to regulate.

Mrs. Robinson and the Cloud

Olivia gets a call from an old law school friend whose stepdaughter has gone missing. Her friend Katherine is married to a high-powered lawyer who is currently out of the country, and she is trying to locate the daughter without involving the police. The girl has gone missing before so good ole stepmom doesn’t seem too worried, but it turns out that the girl didn’t just run away because they had a fight about college like Katherine originally said. Huck finds a sex tape that the stepmother made with the girl’s 17-year old former boyfriend and a voicemail from the girl that confirms the real reason for their fight. Huck had a laptop and may have gotten the video from its cloud storage.

Huck does not find out about what really happened until after  Quinn had already located the girl at a hotel and Olivia told Katherine where to find her. Olivia offered to have Quinn bring the girl back home, but the stepmother insisted on going to get her on her own. And by the time Olivia realizes what really happened, the girl is dead and she immediately suspects that her friend killed the kid to keep her quiet. Katherine denies any role in the girl’s death, and Huck finds elevator footage showing the girl in an altercation with a man who is trying to take a folder from her. They cannot determine his identity, but they suspect that he may be the killer.

Papa Don’t Take No mess

 

Jake decides to accompany Olivia to her dad’s house for dinner, and when she excuses herself to take a call, he tells Rowan that he knows about him killing Harrison after he learned the truth about how little Gerry was killed and warns him that he better pack up and leave town before Olivia finds out. Daddy Pope jumps up with a knife and tells Jake that not only is not going anywhere, he will be standing over him when he dies. So much for polite dinner conversation.

After a couple more flirty encounters, Cyrus seals the deal with his new friend who charges him $2,500. Cyrus pretended to put up a fight talking about how he doesn’t pay for sex, but the gigolo informs him that the money is for discretion and suddenly that makes it alright. For $2,500 ole dude should have painted the house, cleaned the gutters and raked the leaves. I hope Baby Ella has a college fund while he is out here procuring services at that rate.

At the end of the episode, we see Katherine being arrested for her stepdaughter’s murder, and David learns that Judge Sparks committed suicide. David dug up an old hit and run case where the judge killed a mother and child but was never charged. I really enjoy how they are finally letting David experience some wins even if he is playing dirty. He is finally using those B613 files that Jake gave him, but is he going to become just another heartless manipulator? It has not worked out that well for the others – just ask Cyrus.

• Will David keep blackmailing folks now that he’s driven one person to suicide? Or is his newfound power too irresistible?
• Is Olivia friend’s really guilty?  Or was she set up by someone else who knew about her predicament? And how dumb is she to have uploaded a sex tape to the cloud. These freaks are going to learn their lesson about that one of these days.
• Just when is Daddy Pope going to off Jake? Because you know those two cannot peacefully co-exist and when he sat up in that man’s house and told him to shut up, I was very afraid for him. Jake, you in danger girl. I was sitting here like this while he was spouting off 
• Why was Olivia not wearing a scarf when Huck rolled up on her in the middle of the night? I know good and well her hair would not be laying that flat if she was just sleeping on it all loose like that on a regular basis.
  

  This is not the hair of someone sleeping w/o a scarf

• Is Cyrus going to figure out that he’s getting tricked?  His nose is wide open right now and he is about to wind up in the National Inquirer. The old Cyrus would have peeped this guy’s game from the first time they met and sent him packing with the shadiest of takedowns this side of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
• I am very happy to see Olivia not running back to Fitz and getting back to fixing stuff for other folks. And I want her to have a real relationship with her dad which means that Jake has to go. It was fun while it lasted, but this girl needs parental guidance and her mother is not available at the moment. She’s also an unrepentant terrorist, but no one is perfect.

 

 

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.

 

Scandal Episode 401: Randy, Red, Julia and Superfreak

Olivia chilling on the Beach

Scandal is back!

Season 4 of Scandal opened up with Jake and Olivia relaxing on a beach with him being very attentive. Apparently he had been  listening to some 90’s R&B because he was all like “All I Got Is 15 Minutes,” and suddenly Marc Nelson is relevant again. Ole Jake is still sprung and is really feeling himself in this episode.

We knew this idyllic scene could not last. They ordered a shipment of wine that was delivered by boat, and the captain handed her an envelope containing an article about the death of Harrison Wright. So, it’s really a wrap for Columbus short and they didn’t even take long to settle it. Olivia, now known as Julia Baker, is surprised to get the mail since no one knows her location and the sender did not include a return address.

Olivia returns to DC to bury her friend and finds the OPA office empty and full of old mail and periodicals about the second Grant Administration. Quinn is waiting for her and gloats about how she tracked Olivia to the Island based on her fondness for rare wine. She updates Olivia on what happened with her two other former employees neither of whom is glad to see their old boss.

Huck is now a computer repair guy named Randy and wants no parts of Olivia unless she is back for good. White House Press Secretary Abby is still angry with Olivia for leaving and blames her for Harrison’s death which causes Olivia to tell her to back all the way up and check herself before she wrecks herself.

Back at the White House, Mellie is a disheveled mess walking around unwashed in a robe with Uggs while eating cereal from the box. At first I thought she was just drunk, but she is still mourning the death of her son and everyone is being very patient with her because of it. She doesn’t even bother to get dressed before going to visit Little Gerry’s grave where she lays down on the grass. Poor Mellie.

Mourning Mellie is fresh out of damns

 

Portia Di Rossi made an appearance wearing Hillary Clinton’s old hair and a fierce power suit. Werk Mrs. Ellen! She’s playing the new RNC chairman who is in town to get Fitz to play nice with the party because he has been alienating everyone by working with the Democrats. He is also thinking about nominating David Rosen for Attorney General which is a non-starter for the Republicans.

Portia De Rossi channeling Hillary Clinton

 

Daddy Pope is Back

Olivia meets Daddy Pope for dinner at their regular restaurant. He knew she was in town and ordered her a glass of wine in anticipation of her joining him and gets on her case for coming back. He even had the nerve to say that he was sorry for her loss when she told him that her friend had died. Deadly dad denied having anything to do with it, which we all know is a lie and claimed to have killed Mama Pope at the President’s request. The last time we saw the Notorious MOM she was chilling in the hole, so I am not falling for the okey doke. Nice try Pops.

He’s not really sorry

 

Jake comes back from a burger run to find Olivia moping on the couch about planning Harrison’s funeral.They are interrupted by a young Senate staffer whose female boss may have killed a colleague after a sexual assault at the male senator’s house. The victim says that she met up with her colleague late that night to discuss an Equal Pay bill, but he grabbed her and when she tried to get him off of her, she shoved him,  he fell down and is likely dead.

 

Jake Stakes his Claim

Jake and Olivia are in the sack and she is talking about her new case to the point where he has to tell her to hush up and enjoy the moment. Olivia is not trying to be silenced and starts ranting about how unfair the situation is to the victim because the rapist is getting all the sympathy. She then calls the lawyer representing the Senator and tells him to hold off on making a statement.

Jake knows where this is headed and says that as long as they are in DC she will be tempted by Fitz despite all the knocking of boots that’s been done by the two them – only he was way more graphic about it:  “I’m the one you like to ride. That i’m the one that makes you moan that I’m the one that reaches you in places that he can’t begin to touch.” Sir, it’s only 9:00 pm and this aint HBO. I never really much liked him before, but he is winning me over with this newfound machismo. After he said all that, he got up and strutted off like a peacock.

.

Olivia figured out that the Senator is lying about being attacked and learns that the real victim was her young staffer.  The female senator knew that the guy was a perv and she used her employee as bait to try to have some leverage over him! The staffer overheard the boss admitting what she’d done and accused the legislator of dangling her in front of the old man like a piece of meat.

Harrison’s funeral is a small gathering only attended by OPA staff and Jake because he had no family and was raised in a group home. Toward the end, we see Daddy Pope watching from his car as Jake consoles a weeping Olivia while Aretha Franklin sangs – not sings -“Bridge Over Troubled Water.” I don’t know what Mr. Pope is up to, but something tells me that he was not there out of purely paternal concern for his daughter.

Harrison’s burial with no ushers on duty

Mourning Mellie Lays Down the Law

Mellie is outside looking over the rail of the balcony when Fitz tells her to come in because it’s getting cold. She says that she is not going to jump because she’s not him, and we find out that Fitz attempted suicide after his son’s death. He says he had a bad night and warned her not to mention it again. He also tells her that Olivia is back in town. Mellie says that he must tell her when he sees Olivia to give her time to prepare for sloppy seconds once he comes back home all hot and bothered. Oh and she also mentioned that she stopped waxing, “and it’s 1976 down there.” Yikes. I did not need to know that.

The show concludes with Fitz passing Olivia in the hallway after she finished a press conference with the young senate staffer who had been attacked. She’s decided to represent the girl which means that she is staying in town and is back to wearing the figurative white hat. As she and Fitz pass, neither speaks or acknowledges the other outside of a very subtle hand gesture. Olivia does offer up a faint smirk because she knows as well as the rest of us that those two are never finished and are likely to be locked in a broom closet by the next episode.

Olivia Passing Fitz

 

The season premiere was good and lays the groundwork for a great fourth season, and I have just a few final thoughts.

• How are they going to have a funeral for Harrison but not James? As much work as some of us put into planning James’ imaginary funeral, surely someone could have given us a heads up or at least used some of our ideas.
• Where were the ushers during that graveside service? Olivia and them were about to hop down there on top of the casket and there was no one around to hold them back. That was just irresponsible.
• We never saw the body, so there is a chance that Harrison is not really dead. I’m not saying, I’m just saying. And I’m not the only one speculating.

  Real #Gladiators make sure they see a body. #Truth @ScandalABC #Blockhouse

  — Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014

• What is the deal with Cyrus’ hair? I know that he is still in bereavement, but that hair is downright disrespectful. He’s never going to find another man looking like a greying cockatoo, and Ella will eventually need a new mommy.
• I loved the Julia Baker pseudonym  which has to be a reference to the legendary Julia Sugarbaker who is probably one of Mellie’s matriarchs. I wrote about this last week.
• Is Jake ever going to get tired of being Olivia’s fallback guy? Everyone knows that she thinks the President is her soulmate and will go back to him every time. I just hope that Jake doesn’t turn on her when he finally accepts the truth.