With Olivia out of the White House, it seems she can’t help but still care and get sucked back in. So, just as Scandal seemed to be wrapping up the series, it seems we still have some more twists and turns in the final few episodes. In “Air Force Two,” the plane with Cyrus and David gets hijacked on its way to a digital piracy summit. While making tough decisions, Mellie doesn’t know who she can trust. And Olivia pays a visit to her mother.
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Hijacked!
Cyrus prepares for his speech at the Al Smith dinner, something he is really looking forward to, as it’s his turn to shine. However, he finds out just days before that Mellie needs him to go to Lisbon with David Rosen and some staff to attend a digital piracy summit. Jake will take his place at the dinner which Cyrus is livid about as he fears Jake wants his job as vice president and this is the first step toward getting it.
Reluctantly, he boards Air Force Two, but after takeoff, the pilots lose control of the plane, and they lose communication with the White House. Cyrus realizes that the hackers must have hijacked the plane using a virus from someone’s cellphone or electronic device. His assistant realizes that she probably brought it on, as her laptop went missing for a little bit a few days before the trip, and then suddenly appeared back on her desk.
Cyrus only trusts David on the plane, so he tells him how he thinks Jake is behind the hijacking as a way to get rid of him. The pair takes the assistant’s laptop to a lieutenant and ask her to try to get a message and a copy of the virus to QPA. Cyrus is certain that they’ll be able to figure out how to hack the virus and save the plane.
Becoming a Hero
Meanwhile, back on the ground, Mellie struggles with who to trust and what she should do. Jake says they need to scramble some fighter jets and get ready to take down the plane, which has now turned around and is headed back to DC. He fears it’s now become a weapon instead of a hijacked plane. Mellie can’t believe he’d want to shoot down Air Force Two, and she too thinks that he’s behind the hack as a way to get rid of Cyrus. She banishes him from the situation room so she can make decisions on her own.
First, Mellie tries to reach Olivia, who has turned off her cellphone. Next, she tries Fitz, but she doesn’t want his advice. Finally, she goes back to Jake and asks him if he’s behind the hijacking. He assures her he’s not, and together they decide to keep the jets up in the air and only have them take down Air Force Two at the last possible second.
When everyone on Air Force Two sees the fighter jets, they freak out. Cyrus gathers everyone and gives an amazing speech about patriotism, and how their sacrifice will save thousands of lives on the ground. One of the reporters is able to get a wi-fi signal and she live-streams Cyrus’s speech to her network for the whole country to see. Shortly after the speech, the countdown to when the fighter jets will fire starts. And with just 10 seconds to spare, QPA is able to fix the virus and the White House is able to communicate with Air Force Two again. Everyone is saved, and Cyrus is hailed a hero.
Soft Spot for Mommy
While all of this is going on, Olivia is tucked away with her mother (who is still being held a prisoner by the daughter) celebrating her birthday. After they eat, Olivia’s mother asks why she’s really there. As typical mommy dearest, she pokes at Olivia until she cracks. Once Olivia turns her phone back on, she gets all the alerts and messages about the hijacked plane. Her mother asks her why she cares so much about the people in the White House, when they turned their backs on her. It almost makes you believe that her mother is somehow behind the hijacking. But this isn’t the case.
When Olivia gets home, she sends her mother a package. In it is a long white coat, a one-way ticket to Paris and a bank account with enough money for her mother to live off of forever. She lets her mother go, which shocks her mother.
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Safe and Sound
Once everyone is safely off the plane, David goes to see Abby. She was obviously distraught while the ordeal was going on. She had also thought he was going to propose to her because before he left he made fancy dinner reservations. So, when he gets home safe, she tells him to just propose right then and there because she’ll say yes. However, he tells her that he knows her and all of her quirks and issues. And he certainly knows about her past with her rocky marriage, which is why he’ll never propose unless he wants to lose her.
After the plane lands, everyone, including Mellie, can’t stop praising Cyrus and calling him a hero. So much so, that Olivia thinks something is up. She goes to see him and she flat out asks him why he hijacked his own plane. In fact, she asks why he didn’t just hijack Air Force One and take the Oval already. He plays dumb at first. But when Olivia asks if it’s a premature move, as Mellie will surely be in office for another seven years, Cyrus says he’s not a patient man, which has Olivia very worried that he’s going to do something drastic to become president.
All this time I was hating on Olivia this final season of Scandal. But it seems that Cyrus has been slowly stalking his prey, and with Olivia out of the White House, now is his time to pounce. This move to hijack his own plane and make himself the hero is just the beginning it seems. And he also has Mellie questioning Jake’s motives, which I’m sure will keep happening over and over as Jake has always been a shifty guy. I imagine Cyrus will just keep making these moves until he gets the Oval. But I’m sure Olivia will do everything in her power to stop her former friend.
Did you think the plane was going to be taken down? Did you think that Cyrus was the one behind the hijacking? Are you surprised? Are you surprised that Olivia finally make nice with her mother by letting her free? Do you think this is a bad move? Let us know in the comments below.
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(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
