Olivia and Fitz have had their ups and downs on Scandal. She rigged a presidential election for him. He shot down a plane that presumably was carrying her mother. You know, typical couple drama. But this latest twist, with Fitz arresting and beating up Olivia’s new boyfriend for allegedly murdering his son, could be the worst.
Is there still hope that Olivia and Fitz will find their way to Vermont and live happily ever after? This episode, which also involves a former president’s death, answers that question. And if you’re still hoping she ends up with Jake, don’t bother, because even Jake is Team Fitz.
The President Is Dead
Former president Edward Cooper is dead. He’s basically Ronald Reagan, right down to a failed assassination attempt by a guy named Leonard Carnahan.
Mellie plans the funeral with Cooper’s wife, Bitsy, who is essentially an old lady version of Mellie. She’s tough, sarcastic and tells Mellie that she was the one who did all the work behind the scenes for his philandering husband, but all history will ever remember is that she was the wife of the president. This hits Mellie close to home. However, Mellie takes Bitsy’s lead and decides to take a more proactive role in shaping her husband’s policies. I’m sure Fitz won’t mind since he’s too busy being a lovesick teenager to focus on leading the country.
Elsewhere, Olivia is called to prison by the would-be assassin who claims he’s innocent and the bullet in the now-dead president’s head will exonerate him. Huck and Quinn are both huge conspiracy theorists who agree that the government probably set Carnahan up, so OPA agrees to get the bullet and prove he didn’t try to assassinate President Cooper.
Unfortunately, the bullet proves that Carnahan IS the assassin. Yes, he’s a psycho who just wanted the credit for assassinating the president, and since there were so many conspiracy theories, getting that bullet was the only way to do it. He lied to Olivia’s face and she believed him, which is not good for Jake.
Is There Hope for Fitz and Olivia?
Now that Abby and Olivia are BFFs again, Abby strolls into the Oval Office and demands that Fitz tell Olivia about how Jake is doing. It’s one hell of a ballsy move, but then again, Shonda Rhimes loves having subordinates yell at their superiors (watch the early seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, when the interns routinely went off on the residents).
This insubordination works, because that night Fitz pays a visit to Olivia’s apartment. He gives her the evidence against Jake and calls Abby a bitch, which causes Olivia’s inner feminist to go off. She wants to see Jake, but Fitz refuses. Eventually Rowan convinces Fitz that letting Olivia see Jake is for the best.
When Olivia sees Jake, she’s horrified that his face is so bloodied and bruised. He calmly tells her about a secret bank account he has for his mom and that he knows she won’t believe him that Rowan set him up because she’s going to choose Fitz over him in the end, and he’s OK with that. Jake is a sad, broken, pragmatic man who knows he’s been defeated and is trying to concede gracefully and honestly.
Fitz agrees to hand Jake over to Rowan, who gloats to Jake about being victorious. But Olivia goes to Fitz and begs him not to hand Jake over to Rowan. She says that doing this will ruin any hope of them ever getting back together. Fitz immediately fixates on the fact that apparently Olivia thinks there actually might be any hope for them at all. She tells him that there’s hope and Fitz seems very pleased that the Vermont dream is still alive.
He agrees not to hand Jake over to Rowan and instead sends him to a super-max prison. Rowan is not pleased and confronts his daughter. She smiles and says that she has weapons that Command doesn’t. I’m pretty sure she’s talking about her lady parts.
Backdoor Surprise
Cyrus continues to fall in love with his super sexy gigolo, but Michael has other plans. He reads Cyrus’ e-mails and feeds the information to RNC Chairwoman Lizzie, who spreads the rumors that Fitz is planning to close military bases.
Cyrus asks Abby to find out who the leak is. She does and tells Cyrus that he might want to check his own “backdoor” because the culprit is his new male companion. I love it when Abby gets to win and Cyrus has to eat a big plate of crow.
OPA Busywork
-Huck spends the entire episode playing online video games with his son, though he poses as a fellow kid.
-Quinn spends the entire episode putting the key she found in Faith’s body into every locker in Washington D.C. until she finds which one it opens. Inside are a bunch of photos of Olivia, so I guess Caitlin’s murder is somehow connected to her.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
