One would have to wonder when this mystery group that showed up in season 6 would be taken down on Scandal. And while everyone can breathe a sign of relief that the terror is over, I can’t help but wonder what is next for Olivia and the gang as they pick up the pieces and try to run the country again. In “The Box,” Fitz and Olivia beg Eli to help find Peus as he threatens the country with drones that he’s randomly detonating in major cities.
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A Drone Attack
Shortly after Mellie announces Luna as her vice president-elect, suspicious drones appear in nine metropolitan cities across the country. And while Fitz gets briefed in the war room by his officials, Olivia gets a call from Peus. Of course, he’s behind it. He tells Olivia that she inspired him with her drone stunt, except that his drones are fully armed and ready to detonate randomly whenever he wants. He detonates one in Dallas as they speak, and says he plans to continue to detonate them until he gets Mellie and Samantha, his associate, back.
As Olivia speaks with her father to try and get answers, Fitz orders help in the cities. He also asks that David Rosen issue a search of the Fund for American Renewal, the group that Peus works under, offices. Eli tells Olivia he just wants to run, and he wants her to go with him. She, of course, refuses and says she’s not done fighting.
The Boxes
Jake goes to interrogate Samantha. She doesn’t budge with information, but he figures out that she has a tracker and he digs it out of her neck. He gives the tracker to Huck, who tries to reverse the data to find Peus, but as he gets close, it shuts down. Peus calls Olivia and tells her that she’s annoying him. He then sets off another bomb in Philadelphia.
Fitz is disgusted with the body count as it rises in the second blast. He goes to see Eli, and they get into a heated match because Eli refuses to help him. Fitz thinks that Eli is somehow involved with the group and that him being captured is all part of their plan. Olivia knows this isn’t true.
When David Rosen gets back, he says he didn’t find much in his raid, but he pulls Olivia aside and gives her a folder full of invoices. Apparently the group sent 23 boxes to Eli at the lab. Olivia asks Huck to pull up surveillance footage from the lab. Each time Eli gets a box, he opens it and gets scared. In one video, it’s revealed that each box contains a brick, the same weight every time – between 9 and 11 pounds.
Olivia tells Fitz about the boxes, and he goes to see Eli again. He brings him a drink and he tells Eli he understands how he doesn’t like being in control. After a heated speech by Eli, he finally tells Fitz that he was terrified when he opened each box. He says that the group threatened to put Olivia’s head in a box if he didn’t comply with them or if they thought he wasn’t complying. He was terrified of losing Olivia.
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Another Approach
While all of this is going down, Cyrus manages to earn Fitz’s trust again. He suggests lying to Samantha to get her to talk. Jake heads in and tells her that they have Peus and have offered him a deal if he talks. At first she doesn’t believe him, but after Jake tells her that she’ll be a prisoner forever, she says she’ll reveal information for a deal to set her free.
Jake has David Rosen bring the immunity deal to Samantha to sign, at her request. She reveals to David that her real name is Grace. Then she asks him if he’ll give their relationship a second chance. He tells her he hates her. Then he falters, and she figures out that they don’t have Peus, so she rips up the deal.
Just as Fitz is ready to give up, despite Olivia saying they have to win this, Eli asks for a meeting with Fitz. He first apologizes and then tells Fitz he has a plan to get information out of Samantha/Grace.
Olivia brings Eli down to Samantha’s cell. He turns and apologizes to her, before he grabs a guard’s gun and tells Samantha that he’ll free her if he can be free himself. She agrees, and the two flee. Back at the lab, Peus arrives. Eli says he’s out and wants his freedom back. Peus complies, and as soon as he and Samantha leave the room, Eli makes a call.
The call is to Fitz and Jake. His plan, that he didn’t reveal to Olivia, is gaining Samantha’s trust before taking them down. Jake finds Peus and kills him in his control center. Meanwhile, Eli uses a fossil dinosaur tooth to kill Samantha. As Eli completes his dinosaur replica, everyone at the White House celebrates.
Take It Back
While all the drama is unfolding, Abby is mopey in her office. She lets Cyrus follow Fitz around, and she thinks she’s being punished. Eventually Cyrus tells her to suck it up and earn her way back to the top.
So, I’m pleased that this mystery group is taken down. However, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. The main one being who is this group exactly? Are we supposed to believe they were just some random group that wants to run the country? Who else is in this group, as Peus and Samantha couldn’t be the only ones? And what happens now on Scandal? The only conflict now is getting Mellie ready to run the country.
Are you pleased the mystery group was taken down in “The Box?” Do you think we’ll see more of the group in the future? What do you think the group actually wanted, besides a presidential puppet? Let us know in the comments below.
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(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
