Hello Scandal fans! Last week, we saw that Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) was raised to play the political game the way the Venus and Serena Williams were raised to play tennis. Little did we know that was the tip of the iceberg. Let’s hope the relationship between her and President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) aren’t going the way of the Titanic!
So, here’s the breakdown: Shonda Rimes is really making up for lost time on Olivia’s backstory and the history between her and her Dad -B613 Boss Rowan Pope (Joe Morton ) Then we’ve got Fitz, his agenda, and Vice President Sally Langston ( Kate Burton ). Finally there’s, First Lady Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) and Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) conspiracy, Caught in the crossfire of all this are the 26-year-old presidential aid Genie Locke (Samantha Sloyan), locked away in a hole Jake (Scott Foley) and our killer with a heart of gold Huck (Guillermo Diaz). The episode starts out five years prior. Olivia is walking on the subway platform and Huck – the way he was five years ago, homeless and shaggy – yells out, “Dinner with your dad?” She replies, “Every Sunday.” Why they started here becomes apparent later.
At that dinner, her father Rowan Pope (Joe Morton) is trying to make conversation while Olivia is silent and trying not to look at him. What’s going on is Olivia made a deal to have dinner with her father every Sunday if he agreed to pay off her law school student loans. That’s the only reason she’s there. She and dad must not have been talking, because Dad, exasperated said he’d already apologized for sending her away” after her mother died, claiming he’d been in grief. However, he’s asked for a second chance, he knows what he did was “a terrible mistake, and that when someone you love asks for a second chance, you give them a chance. Olivia takes this in for a moment, and then decides to make an attempt.
In the conversation that follows, we find out that Olivia was working for Cyrus Beene , that she “has a boyfriend”. Rowan immediately asks “He he good enough for you.” It’s such a typical dad kind of question. If we hadn’t seen last week’s episode where he said, “You know to aim high higher” that there’s more underneath than. She then asks Rowan how things are at “the Smithsonian and he launches into a discussion about how they are deciding “whether to add another mastodon to fossil mammals.” Well, that answered one question from last week, the museum information Cyrus got on Olivia’s father was correct in so much as it’s what the normal world think he does. When he describes the mastodon as being less known than the Mammoth, but that is had been the more dangerous animal, the metaphor is clear. The world knows who Olivia is. She the tough, unflappable, visible fixer – but if they knew who her dad was they’d see Olivia as just a mild-mannered lawyer! Also, following that metaphor of Rowan Pope as a mastodon makes him…an elephant in the room. I love it!
Once Olivia leaves she gets on the phone with her boyfriend – whom we know. It’s senator Edison Davis (Norm Lewis). She’s walking to the train, and he wants to know when he can meet her father. …This is more or less the relationship we saw her have the second time around. Edison loves her, wants to marry her, but she’s got issues going on that he just doesn’t seem to get. I’m not talking B613. He seems to know that she and her father have been estranged, and yet he’s clamoring to meet him? She’s barely comfortable with her father, yet there’s Edison, barreling on like there’s no real problem.
Look at Liv’s face when he’s talking about making an honest woman of her. She’s says “I love you” – but she’s going through the motions.
The two guys that attack her when she gets off the phone are all into the mugging thing though. Snatching her purse, calling her a bitch, throwing her to the ground – they are all in. What they weren’t expecting was a big hairy homeless man appearing to beat the crap out of them!
So Huck’s been protecting Olivia for a long time. His basic instinct – like Olivia’s is goodness. The two have always had a special bond, and when you think of the fact that Rowan Pope warped shaped this two, it’s no wonder that they’ve been drawn together in this almost siblings relationship. The next time Olivia sees Huck she wants to know how the heck he knows how to do what he did. Reluctantly, he tells her. He breaks down B613 – which is like the CIA on speed – only it operates on U.S. soil. He describes the location as being the A.C.M.E. Limited company, but really it’s called, “Wonderland. The Road-Runner meets Alice: ” Beep-Beep! You’re late! Down the rabbit hole you go!” I love Shonda Rimes!
Naturally, the story sounds insane. To Olivia, it also sounds too crazy to make up. At the next Sunday dinner, this time at her Dad’s house, her father introduces her to “good” wine. Before that, she didn’t have a taste for it. That little bit of information says to me that every time Olivia Pope has a glass of good wine she’s got to be reminded of her father. That’s just…twisted. Dad is upset that Olivia sent him an e-mail about her mugging. The first clue that should have tipped Olivia off about her Dad: he’s more upset that she’s been talking to a homeless man in the subway than the fact that said homeless man rescued her from a mugging. Usually when someone saves your kid’s life, you’re just grateful that they were there. However, Olivia may not realize that. It’s not like she’s any connection to normal parental behavior. Still, Rowan really doesn’t try to steer Olivia away until she asks her father if he’s ever heard of something called B613 explains Huck’s actions and claims about the organization, which is run by someone called, “Command.” Olivia is stubborn though, and reluctantly Dad agrees to have “his friend at the FBI” look into it. and what happened to her.
When Olivia finds that Huck is no longer living in the subway station, she’s reminded to ask her father if he ever was able to look into Huck’s claims. Naturally, Rowan’s “buddy at the FBI” has never heard of B613, but did find out that the homeless man had been arrested just the other day. This is beginning of the end, as Olivia gets a glimpse of her father’s dark side. Judging by her meek response, I get the feeling it’s not the first time she’s seen it.
Olivia’s instincts were good – even back then. Huck’s fingerprints were on her bag and she had those prints run through the system. This is when she meets David Rosen (Joshua Malina) who was a public defender at the time. The two had a law professor in common, and so Olivia was able to get David to run the prints through the system. They don’t come up at all. So much for a rap sheet a mile long. Either her father, or the person her father spoke to, is lying. Next, she decides to see if she can find this ACME place that Huck described. She finds them. ACME Limited is right off of “Wonderland Avenue.” Suddenly it all clicks. She frantically pulls out the pen she’s gotten from her father’s place. It has “ACME” stamped on it. Armed with the pen, Olivia confront’s her father. Kerry Washington’s transformations, from daughter, to lawyer, to devastated, to the steel we know as Olivia Pope, is matched by Joe Morton’s performance of being a father and a monster all at once. The sadness in his eyes as he watches the facade of his life falling apart is riveting. INSERT VIDEO Olivia walked away from her dad, but their story isn’t quite over.
The next flashback is Olivia at her father’s house with Edison in tow. She’s accepted his marriage proposal. It’s not all love and romance though. She’ smilingly informs her father that:
Edison has “just been appointed to the Senate Intel committee, the one that makes sure that spies don’t break any laws like disappearing innocent civilians.”
She then sends Edison off to open the wine and “let it breathe.” Once along she demands that he give her back Huck. Dad does. Olivia sees him back in his usual subway spot. However, it’s not without a cost. As she’s talking to Huck she gets a call from her father. Edison’s had a terrible accident. It’s just broken bones, so he’ll survive. Still, he “doesn’t think Edison’s the man” for her, and so when she “gives back the ring” she should “let him down gently.” The hatred Olivia shows for her father is fierce! She agrees to stay away from what her father does, but he’s to stay away from her, because they are over – she never wants to see him again. Mildly, dad says, “Honey, we’re family. We’re never over.
Up until now, that no contact rule has been in effect. How do we know? Quinn Perkins (Katie Lowes) decided to hack into Olivia’s emails – just because she can. Huck is appalled!
Baby Huck is getting out of control! She should not be biting the hand that feeds her. Stop hacking Olivia’s stuff, Quinn!
That’s Olivia’s past. In the present, Olivia is dealing with the fallout from Mellie and Cyrus’s conspiracy to throw Genie Lock under a bus as the person Fitz had an affair with. As you recall, last week, Mellie threw a wrench in Fitz’s plan to come clean about Olivia to the public when she figured out that it was Fitz who orchestrated the leak of Olivia’s name in the first place. She saw it was the first step in his plan to make Olivia and him acceptable and their was no way she was going to let that happen. With Cyrus’s help, she set up poor Genie.
So, the first present day shot is Olivia is jogging. Along comes Tom, the President’s right-hand secret-service guy (Brian Letscher) He’s just out for a jog. He must be practicing for some kind of relay race, because he passes off a phone to Olivia. It’s the President of course. Olivia and Fitz now have burner phones to talk to each other. Nice! (I often wonder what Tom makes of the whole Olitz thing. Does he like Olivia better or Mellie…not that it matters. His loyalty is to the President.) The two discuss that the plan to come clean has to be scraped. Olivia lets him know that Genie is now her client, and that she’ll be going after the White House. Fitz is thrilled – he wants to thwart Mellie and Cyrus.
At first, it seems like the new plan – clearing Genie’s name – is going to work. When Cyrus and Mellie meet with him, Cyrus tells Fitz he has to develop some “Presidential-sized balls” and do a press conference saying that he slept with Genie Lock. Being that Cyrus has Rowan Pope, aka Command, breathing down his neck to have this happen, I can see why he’s a bit testy. Mellie is also determined to have this happen. This after all, was her plan to begin with. Fitz reminds them that he is the President and that he is the one that calls the shots. He tells them they are going to deny that Genie was the one he slept with and offer a huge apology to Genie.
Cyrus and Mellie are not happy!
Cyrus and Mellie are pretty upset. However, as soon as Fitz leaves, Mellie gives Cyrus a folder. Once the two stop snipping at each other, Mellie informs him that in the folder are all the days she was away from the White House. All Cyrus has to do is match them to dates that Genie worked late with Fitz and it will look like an affair. Cyrus happily says that Mellie is evil.
Olivia of course finds a way to counter this problem. Genie has instant messages on AOL to a friend on the server that prove she wasn’t alone with the president. What Oliver didn’t expect was Mellie getting to Genie and convincing her to take a payoff to lie about having an affair. Genie has her friend delete the messages off of the server. Five minutes before the big press conference, Olivia finds out.
If that isn’t enough, prior to this press conference, Liv’s dad showed up at Pope and Associates. (Thank goodness Huck wasn’t there!) The two went into her sound proof office and pantomime having a light fun conversation – they’re really having a huge fight! Her father is supposed to stay away from her work. He’s there to tell her that if Fitz doesn’t go on national television and say Genie was the woman he had an affair with, Jake Ballard will be killed. Liv bluntly points out there’s no way to know if Jake is still alive. Smiling brightly, dad tells her she doesn’t, but she should ask Huck. She does and Huck tells her about “The Hole” – and barely holds it together while doing so.
Olivia is in love with Fritz – but she cares for Jake. We’ve been watching her go down to the morgue checking on John Doe’s fitting Jake’s description throughout the episode. Besides that, Jake disobeyed her father thinking he was saving her. She blames herself for his predicament. (Granted, if he hadn’t tried to save her, he’d be dead…maybe. Her dad could say anything.) This is why she called Fitz and begged him to get Jake away from B613 – for her.
Fitz isn’t thrilled, but he tries. He goes to Cyrus, who tries to deny knowing anything about B613 – because the President isn’t supposed to know about B613 in order for there to be plausible deniability. The president has no say over what B613 does, but Fitz really needs to go with the whole Genie thing.
This sets up another of those “the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing” situations. Olivia got Genie to admit the whole payoff scheme while she was recording it on her phone. If her talk didn’t convince Genie to tell the truth, she had the proof to skewer Genie. The question is, does she want to? Save Genie, Jake dies, save Jake, Genie’s entire life is ruined – because of her and Fitz. As it turned out, Fitz – in doing what Olivia asked him to, takes the decision out of her hands.
Fitz is all swagger – but he did exactly what Rowan Pope wanted. He has no idea that Olivia was told that was the only way to save Jake. So he gets to feel like he manipulated B613, but he’s the one who’s been played. Genie is shocked and devastated, but I lost sympathy for her when she decided to listen to Mellie. She should have realized something was up when Mellie told her she knew Genie hadn’t slept with the President.
However, what I want to look at is Vice President Sally Langston. Kate Burton as Sally is just outstanding! In lessor hands she could easily become a caricature, but instead is a complex and interesting character. This season I am really intrigued with what happens with her and Fitz through all of this. I have to back pedal to “It’s Handled” to really put all this into context.
Fitz really meant what he said to Sally. He wanted to do what was right. Sally felt that truth, and went with it. In a later clip Fitz tells Sally he wants to help her rise to the top of the party as he gets himself out of this. He meant that also. He certainly doesn’t agree with Sally’s ideas, but from where he sits, Sally is the one with a true moral center – despite her homophobia and racial prejudice. (It’s ironic, that Sally’s ability not to spout off on all her personal beliefs are shown in the moment that she’s doing just that.)
The problem for Fitz, he’s violated his ideals so many times, and controlled by too many people, to have a prayer of being able to do what he really wants. The angry emanating from Fritz when he says he had “Genie seven ways till Sunday” isn’t really for Sally. It’s the frustration of not being able things the way he’d like, be the kind of President he’d like to be, marry the woman he wants to marry. As Sally digs into this – because you know she will – I wonder what she’ll find? Will only see the ways he’s lied and betrayed the country and his wife, see that he’s a man who’s committed murder – or will she find the broken man hidden away, the one with the ideals and goodness that the political world and life has been hammering to bits? If so, will B613 let her live long enough to help him….
Speaking of living long enough, Olivia has two major shocks before the episode ends. The first is because of Quinn. Quinn did not stop hacking into Olivia’s stuff. Quinn needs to learn to not bite the hand that feeds her. She’s broken a major rule of being a gladiator!
I don’t know what to think…I feel awful for Huck. I’m hoping someone kicks Quinn butt for this! I also I hope Huck doesn’t go back to be a part of B613….
The other thing that happens: In the middle of the night, a badly beaten, barely alive Jake is left on Olivia’s doorstep.
Now what? With Olivia and Fitz being unable to be together, and whatever is in that folder about Fitz, I have the feeling that Jake and Olivia may be getting a lot closer this season. The good news? This is Scandal. Things change in an instant!
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