It’s not even 100 days in office and President Mellie Grant is getting things done, mostly thanks to Olivia as her chief of staff. It seems the final season of Scandal promises to be full of Olivia running the country and using Mellie as her puppet, as evident in “Watch Me.”
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Securing Votes
Mellie gets off and running as president as she works to secure all the votes she needs to pass the Vargas education bill, or rather the free college bill. Or rather, Olivia and Vice President Cyrus Beene work to get all of the senators looking to vote against it to change their mind. Olivia blackmails a Senator Michaels with some photos and videos of an affair he’s having, while Cyrus meets with Democratic Senator Diane Greenwald.
Greenwald says she’s voting “no” because she wants the Democrats to pass it, and it’s a Republic White House. She suggests Cyrus vote against it too, and then in four years he can run for president and claim it as his own. Cyrus seems intrigued by this idea, especially since he seems to be taking a huge backseat to Mellie and Olivia.
And in the TV circuit, Olivia makes her case for the bill on a show called The Pryce of Power, with host Curtis Pryce. Sparks seem to fly between the two – and not just over the bill and what it stands for.
Turning Into Papa Pope
Over dinner with her father, Olivia tells him about her work. He warns her that she’s turning into him. He explains that while she think she holds all the power, she will soon realize that some power is missing and she may have to make some tough decisions in order to get all of the power back. She assures him she’s nothing like him.
QPA’s First Client
As Olivia gets settled in her new role at the White House, the members of Quinn Perkins and Associates seem to be lacking something very important – clients. Abby and Quinn press David to see if he knows anyone looking to hire them. He thinks that by changing the name of the company, it might have pushed people away.
As they debate a way to get clients, a woman walks in looking for help. She says her father is a professor away in Botswana on business and he’s gone missing. After some investigation in the missing man, Joshua Stewart, the team figures out that he could be a spy. Quinn brings the case to Olivia, who eagerly takes it.
An Arrangement and a Disagreement
Olivia presents Quinn’s case to Jake (who she is now sleeping with again) as they have an arrangement. After some digging, Jake confirms that Stewart is, in fact, a spy. She wants to formulate a plan to save him, but Jake thinks that if he’s been compromised, which he most likely is, that he’ll turn on the country and spill secrets. He thinks it’s best if they enlist B613 to kill him. She is disgusted at the thought, and wants to get the president involved. Jake doesn’t want to tell Mellie and urges Olivia to let B613 do its job. He tells her it isn’t always easy being Command.
Back at QPA, Huck realizes that Olivia might be getting B613 involved. He goes to see her and urges her to at least bring the body home so his daughter can have closure. She asks Huck what makes him think that she will let that happen. The next day, Jake walks in as Olivia is telling Mellie about Stewart. Mellie wants to try and negotiate with Botswana at Olivia’s urging.
When Jake realizes the meeting with the Botswana ambassador isn’t working, he urges Olivia again to enlist B613 to take care of the job. She, again, refuses. So Jake takes matters into his own hands and fills Mellie in on her other options. Mellie decides she wants to implement Jake’s plan and kill Stewart. Olivia is livid, so she does what she does best and goes behind both Mellie and Jake’s backs. She meets with the ambassador on her own. She threatens the man’s son until he agrees to let Stewart go.
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Overstepping
Olivia interrupts as Mellie watches the strike on the compound where Stewart no longer is, since he’s safe at the U.S. Embassy. They call off the mission, but now Olivia has pissed off both Jake and Mellie.
First, Olivia faces Jake. And surprisingly, he apologizes for going behind her back. It’s surprising to me because all Olivia and Jake do throughout “Watch Me” is go back and forth to try and out do the other one in some weird power moves. Olivia tells him he doesn’t have to apologize, however, she does say he overstepped. And then she puts him in his place, telling him that she made a mistake letting him in her bed. She tells him it’s over and that he should go back to his wife.
Next, Olivia gets yelled at my Mellie. And what happens when people yell at Olivia? She rips into them even harder than they rip into her. Mellie calls the Oval Office her office, and Olivia works for her. Olivia quickly corrects her and says the office belongs to the republic and that Mellie is only renting it for four years. Mellie pushes back again though, telling Olivia that she should never sneak behind her back after she gives an order. And again, Olivia pushes even harder. She first rattles off three things about herself that Mellie needs to know. One is that Mellie should never ignore her. Two is that she is always right. And three is that there is only them, just Mellie and Liv. She adds that Mellie should never listen to a man over her. She tells Mellie she needs to start thinking of Olivia as the boss. If she puts her faith in Olivia, she assures Mellie she will become a monument.
She’s the Boss
Meanwhile, Cyrus, who seems to be struggling in his new role and trying to find his place in Mellie and Olivia’s circus, meets with Greenwald again. And just when you think he will turn against the education bill, he tells Greenwald that her plan of him becoming president has a flaw. That flaw is that free college is good for the country and needs to be implemented immediately, as America shouldn’t have to wait four years for it.
Later on, Greenwald calls Olivia and tells her that her plan didn’t work, as Cyrus seems to be Team Mellie all the way.
And while Olivia is running around controlling the country, talk show host Pryce manages to ask Olivia out to dinner. Instead, after she gets off her high horse with Mellie, Olivia meets Pryce at a bar and gives him instructions of where to meet her at a hotel.
Olivia is on a mission, and quite frankly, I’m not sure I like it. Sure it’s fun to see Olivia really stick it to people sometimes. Or to see her help others. And I’ve often thought that Olivia is pretty badass, but tonight in the season premiere of Scandal, I thought it was overkill. The way she spoke to Mellie seemed out of line. But Olivia’s long speeches always seem to get people to side with her, which Mellie eventually did.
It’s going to be an interesting final season with Liv controlling the country and B613 and maybe even this new guy Pryce. I just hope that with the focus on Olivia in the White House now, that QPA isn’t done for good!
Do you think Olivia has too much power now? Do you think she did the right thing going behind Mellie’s back? Do you really think Olivia Pope is always right? Let us know in the comments below.
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(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
