Just when you think Scandal is going to zig, it zags. In this episode we see the fallout from Sally exposing Fitz and Olivia’s affair. Throughout the entire hour, everyone tries to cover it up and it works. Everything is back to normal. Until Olivia utters the title of the episode, “Yes,” and takes control of her own destiny.
The Secret Is Out
Following Sally Langston exposing Fitz’s relationship with Olivia, everyone reacts differently. Fitz orders David to find the person who leaked the photos. Abby is confident Olivia will Pope her way out of the situation. Liz is angry. Olivia runs away to focus on her work.
Vice President Susan Ross is a tad disillusioned that Fitz is only thinking of his own feelings and not the people who voted for him. And Mellie offers to help by denying this silly affair if Fitz will stop trying to divorce her, but Fitz turns her down.
Abby gets frustrated being the press secretary because Fitz refuses to comment on the story. She gets some unexpected advice from Cyrus to “Be the adult” and force the president into submission. She gives a statement about Fitz and Mellie dealing with this as a team to take control of the story.
After a pair of guilt trips from Susan and Abby, Fitz agrees to do what Olivia clearly wants, which is to stay out of the spotlight. He brings Mellie back to the White House and arranges an interview for them to deny his affair with Olivia. Everything is fixed and they can all go back to normal.
Or not! Because after Olivia comes out of hiding, she’s surrounded by members of the press asking if she’s the president’s mistress. “YES,” Olivia proudly declares in the final moment of the episode. I guess she’s decided to run into the hurricane this time.
Who Leaked the Photos?
Fitz thinks Mellie is responsible as payback for the divorce papers, so he turns David loose on her. He finds out that the leak came from Mellie’s personal computer, but can’t find any evidence that she downloaded the photos.
However, Abby is able to piece it together, figuring out that Liz North leaked the photos and framed Mellie. Instead of using this information to get her fired, Abby blackmails Liz into working with her. Abby now has some power, but seeing as how she’s taking lessons from Cyrus, she’s probably just his newest puppet.
Olivia Takes a Case
To distract herself from the scandal, Olivia goes back to work tracking some punk named Gavin (played by Big Head from HBO’s Silicon Valley) who’s accused of killing his rich dad. Olivia and Jake find him, but he’s able to escape at a diner after causing pandemonium by telling the patrons about the president’s alleged mistress.
Back at a motel, Olivia has an existential crisis over the scandal. She admits to Jake that she’s scared. They have a beer and spoon for a bit in a platonic way. The next day they find Gavin again and he confesses to killing his dad.
Elsewhere, OPA is back in business with Huck on the team because Jake claims to have “fixed” him, but Quinn (and I) don’t beiieve this at all. This doesn’t seem to matter at all as Quinn and Huck end the episode by sharing a drink at a bar and bonding over how incredibly messed up they both are.
(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.
