This week’s Scandal has definitely set the temperature to boiling! Question is, who’s the lobster? They don’t say truth is a double-edged sword for nothing! Maybe some things are better left along? One thing’s for sure, the title, “More Cattle, Less Bull” is brilliant. What’s the translation? There’s a lot more honesty going on in this episode, and that’s going to cause more problems that need handling!
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This recap/review contains SPOILERS for Scandal episode 3×5, “More Cattle, Less Bull.” So, if you’re reading it, I’m assuming you’ve seen the episode or don’t mind knowing what happened beforehand. Are we good? Great!
The opening of Scandal, in retrospect, is full of foreshadowing. Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) is having Sunday dinner with her father Rowan Pope, aka “Command” of B613 (Joe Morton). Here’s the relevant point of the conversation:
OLIVIA
You know what I’ve learned? I’ve learned that accusing you of things means nothing. It leads to power games and moves and you making my friends kill people. So, instead of being the brave, outspoken girl my mother taught me to be? I’m chewing my food. Fulfilling my contract. And when we’re done, I’ll go home and try to immediately forget this ever happened. Until next Sunday – when we do it all again.
ROWAN
How fascinating you think that’s your mother’s legacy, being that everything you’ve become, everything you are, is because of me.
The end of the episode reveals what the secret mission the president was on entailed. Huck (
Guillermo Diaz) and Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) find out that Operation Remington was Fitzgerald Grant – now President Fitzgerald Grant – blowing up a civilian passenger jet airliner with 300 innocent people on it. One of those people was Olivia Pope’s mother. That’s right. Fitz, as a member of B613, killed Olivia’s mother…. It certainly explains how Fitz could have made the decision to kill Supreme Court Justice Vera Thorten when she threatened to reveal the election was fixed. He’s a former B613 – protect the Republic at all costs….
All of a sudden Rowan’s hatred and disdain for Fitz makes more sense. Even more so why he doesn’t want Olivia with him. As sick and evil as Rowan obviously is, he does not want his daughter sleeping with the man who killed her mother (even though Rowan’s the one who gave the order). Now, we don’t have all the pieces yet, but from the opening of this episode it certainly looks like Rowan had Olivia’s mother killed to gain control of Olivia.
There are other possibilities. Rowan could have had it done so it would appear that her mother was killed – again, for the same reason of control over Olivia – and Olivia’s mother is alive somewhere. This would be similar to what Charlie did with Huck. He couldn’t bear to kill him, but he couldn’t have him re-emerge into his old life either. Maybe Rowan thinks he killed Olivia’s mother, but she actually outsmarted him and wasn’t really on that plane. Again, she’d be hiding out for her life. The final possibility is that an enemy of Rowan was able to outsmart him and had Rowan order a hit that killed his wife. That certainly would explain why he sent Olivia away – for her own protection….
However, until we get more information I’m inclined to think Rowan had her killed to gain control of Olivia. That comment he makes about Olivia being who she is because of him shows a level of investment and pride in her – a pride of ownership – that makes me think that shaping Olivia Pope was a definite project. At one point in the episode Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) is upset to learn that Olivia is now the democrats campaign manager:
I gave her a world-class education in the dark arts, I turned her into friggin’ Trident 2, and now she’s out there, locked and loaded, in enemy hands….
Funny how all both “fathers” in Olivia’s life are claiming to be Henry Higgins to Olivia’s Eliza Doolittle. Are they not aware that Pygmalion is a myth?
I wonder if Rowan has some sick idea that B613 is a family business that he can hand over to Olivia when he’s too old to do it? People high on power do usually think in terms of dynasties: the Kennedys, the Bushs, the Clintons…. Maybe Rowan has dreams of the Popes?
So, that’s the framing of this episode, the relationship of Olivia to her father and thus B613. The stories contained within it also focus on family layers, painful truths, and the price of having political ambition – especially for women. As of last week Fitz’s biggest threat to being re-elected is Democratic contender Josephine “Josie” Marcus (Lisa Kudrow) – thanks to a microphone snafu by first lady Mellie Grant (Bellamay Young). (If you missed out on that, click HERE for last week’s update.) Cyrus way of dealing with the problem was to send his intern Ethan (Vanya Asher) to her tiny hometown to dig up “some good old-fashion dirt” on the woman. When Ethan comes back with information that Josie had a baby out-of-wedlock at 15 he’d gleefully told Fitz that he “loves a slutty teenager.” Ouch!
With that seemingly under control, Cyrus focuses on finding a campaign manager for Fitz’s re-election bid. Now, that was an interesting – and pivotal scene.
Did you see Mellie’s face?! I love where this scene goes, and how it really highlights who Mellie is. I’ve said this before, Mellie is less in love with Fitz than what he represents. He’s her legacy, her legitimacy. Mellie’s father was into moonshine (we learned that a couple of weeks back) – so Mellie is likely from the same “deep-fried-twinkie” stock she mocked on the mike. Despite all her talk about having political ambition, Mellie’s thing is being the woman behind the man – or at least having the appearance as such. Fitz’s career is her career – and she’ll do anything to make sure that happens. Anything at all:
So touching, right? The music playing under this ( done by Chad Fischer) sets the perfect emotional poignancy for Mellie’s words. Just remember that Mellie is the woman who convinced the country that she’d had a miscarriage. She’s a woman who knows what buttons to push to get what she wants. She hears the diagnosis of Fitz’s chances for reelection. Then, after listening to Fitz sounding happy and relaxed talking to Olivia on the phone (while he’s hiding in the bathroom), and Cyrus talking about first things first, she know what to do. Fitz needs Olivia Pope in order to win. So she’ll tolerate having Olivia round, hell, tolerate them sleeping together (get on-board) so long as Fitz wins re-election – the rest she can deal with later.
Last season, when Mellie had that amazing monologue about love just being about pretending, I got for the first time that show creator Shonda Rimes has created a character that fits the bill of being pathologically insane. If nothing else, Mellie absolutely suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The sense of sincerity and humility she’s showing here (brilliantly done by Bellamay Young) are easy for her, because it’s about getting Fitz to win. At this point, Mellie’s sense of reality is so warped, I don’t think even she knows what her actual feelings are anymore. Everything she does is connected to a scheme or plan that keeps her where she wants to be – married to the President of the United States.
Speaking of that office, isn’t it interesting that the two other people interested in that office are women? Sally Vice President Sally Langston (Kate Burton) walking into the men’s room to discuss running as a third-party candidate was so metaphorically and psychologically brilliant! I know I’m not supposed to like Sally, goodness knows the idea of someone like her character being a VP in real life scares the heck out of me. At the same time, she’s not a bad person – which on Scandal is pretty unusual. I think that’s why, if things had gone the way Fitz had planned, he wanted to help her rise to power. Despite hating all of her extremist religious ideas Sally is smart, savvy and honest. She holds to her principles, a feat near impossible in Washington. She’s also somewhat reasonable in knowing when it’s time to compromise – like her accepting the Vice Presidency to begin with. Fitz is painfully aware of all his moral failings, and at the time, the idea of turning things over to Sally likely seemed to be best in order to bring back propriety to the White House. I wonder if Fitz will still try to mend fences with Sally by helping to raise her political star? Even if he does, will Sally care? She’s pretty sure Fitz is lying about Jeanine Locke, even though he’s not lying about having an affair in general. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out. Having more of Kate Burton around is always a good thing!
The other woman interested in becoming president is the afore-mentioned Josephine “Josie” Marcus. This woman has absolutely no relation to her character of Phobee on Friends! While the casting may seem out-of-the-blue, Lisa Kudrow’s show Web Therapy (On Showtime) has Dan Bucatinsky (Cyrus’s husband James Novak) as an executive producer! The character is interesting…a woman who had no interest in politics is suddenly running for president?
Olivia described Josie as “a high school senior visiting college for the weekend.” She appears to be very straight-forward. However, she’s a woman who knows how to live with a secret as it stares her in the face every day. For 30 years she’s lived with her daughter as her sister! This is a secret she didn’t want to reveal because it would hurt her sister/daughter, but when push came to shove she did just that.
Granted, Josie made the right decision. At that point the truth was going to come out one way or another. Her actions showed Olivia that perhaps the woman could be the one with her finger on the red button, and Olivia’s respect for her likely just went up (until Josie fired her.) However, aside from the baby issue, the thing that really popped for me is that Josie’s background is in the military. What the heck did this woman do in the military? We know she’s a good secret keeper…. Considering that Scandal is written by Shonda Rimes there’s a strong possibility that there’s a lot more about Josie for viewers to learn about.
One of the questions left hanging this episode is whose campaign will Olivia end up running? After Olivia helped Josie deal with the baby issue she fired Olivia – only to come back the next day to hire her again. By that time, Mellie had made the pitch to Olivia, so Olivia turned it down. I thought Harrison Wright (Columbus Short) was gonna die! (He’s focused on getting clients.) However, we know Huck and Jake were about to tell Olivia that, as a member of B613, Fitz shot done the plane that had her mother on it. Assuming they are able to do so, I don’t think Olivia’s going to want to be running that campaign for him. Being that Josie didn’t take no for an answer – she told Olivia to sleep on it – Olivia could end up working for her after all!
Here’s another issue that came up for me with all this: what Cyrus’s relationship to B613? He’s apparently not a member of it, but knows all about it? He’s been the republican polictical scene since at least JFK – and knows that John F. Kennedy was assassinated for asking questions about the unnamed line-item that is B613’s governmental budget (Love it!). Heknows the ins and outs of the Nixon campaign. Is he a B613 governmental liaison? What is his deal? It seems like every man around Liv is somehow connected to B613. I’m just waiting to find out Harrison is her brother to complete the B613 circle of men!
Speaking of the men of B613 – how about TV’s newest bromance! Jake and Huck together are hilarious! That breaking into Command’s house scene has created a duo I want to see more of!
Honestly, I thought Jake had blown it – and I’m not ruling out that he did because I find it hard to believe that Rowan did not realize he was there. He certainly knew his hard-drive had been accessed, and he ends his conversation with staying if Huck – and Jake – leave him alone he’ll leave them alone. In other words, if they keep peeling those onion layers to find “the truth” they can expect a whole of tears…. Still, watching Huck and Jake bicker is a lot of fun, so perhaps it will be worth any consequences.
Besides, Huck has needed a real buddy. With baby Huck it’s a different thing. He’s inadvertently been her mentor, plus there’s the whole undercurrent of the HuckleberryQuinn romance. Jake frames just why he’s good for Huck when snaps at Huck for rushing him:
“Look, I understand the stakes here, I’m a spy too.”
This appears well on its way to becoming an ongoing joke. In another scene Jake snaps on Huck by asking if he’s sure he was in B613! Classic bromance buddy fare. On top of the B613 connection the two are united in loving Olivia: Huck as brother, Jake as a lover. Loyalty to Olivia and understanding what it means to have gone through the training and hell that B613 was is the most Huck has had in common with anyone. Considering what’s going on with Quinn, Huck’s definitely going to need a friend, and goodness knows Jake’s got his own romantic woes!
What is going on with Quinn? For one she’s feeling really alone. Huck has completely frozen her out, and worse, he’s shared his concerns with the team and now they have too. Quinn has to feel betrayed knowing Huck told about the drill.
It starts in Red Springs, Montana, where Olivia has sent the team to deal with Josie’s secret baby issue. Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield) is sitting in the back with Huck while Quinn is up front with Harrison. What? Harrison and Abby are always paired together! Poor Harrison has to listen to Abby on the phone talking to David Rosen (Joshua Malina) about the great sex they’d had, while Huck is on the phone with Jake. When Quinn asks who he’s talking too, Huck won’t tell her. Then in the hotel room everyone seems to be ignoring her. gives everyone but her an assignment. When she asks what she’s supposed to do – since she’s the only one not given an assignment there’s a nice shout out to Scandal fans! ( Thank you, writers! )
Harrison: Baby Huck-it. Help him track down the nurse.
Unfortunately Huck is too busy trying to encrypt Rowan’s files to be bothered with that, and freezes Quinn out, again. That’s when she goes to Harrison and he tells her he knows she, “went all, ‘drill baby drill’ ” and that she’s grounded. Quinn is devastated. In part because, once again, she’s the baby, the gladiator that’s not quite part of the team….
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Quinn learns she’s been grounded.
Once they’ve shut down Cyrus’s guy from exposing Josie’s secret the only task she’s given is to return things to the store. That turns out to be a big mistake. The store won’t take the stuff back – even though Quinn says they’re returning it better than they got it. All she can get is store credit. What would a small town general store in Montana have that would be of interest to Quinn…?
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Yup. Baby Huck’s bought a gun, so now hell breaking loose can’t be too far away. Considering that the President want to get rid of B613 and the one time a President tried to do that he was assassinated, I can see all kinds of problems occurring. Wouldn’t Quinn be the perfect Lee Harvey Oswald patsy for B613?
In the meantime though, love is trying to bloom on Scandal. Abby and David are trying to be a “normal” couple. In that spirit, David invites Abby to the White House Correspondence Dinner. Abby says yes, but then lies about still being in Montana to get out of it. David catches her in the lie and is furious! However, when he gets back from the dinner Abby is in his apartment. (Locked doors are a waste of time with Abby. I still want to know how she acquired that skill!) She’s wanted to surprise him at the dinner, but just…couldn’t.
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David already knows why. He saw that her abusive ex-husband – former Virginia Governor James Putney was there. He understands, but says she just needed to tell him. That’s what normal people do – granted he knows they aren’t exactly normal. That’s putting it mildly: a gladiator and the U.S. Attorney General? Then again, there was that couple where they were campaign managers for opposing presidential candidates….
Comparatively speaking thought, Dabby are Ozzie and Harriet (or Lucy and Ricky…) compared to the love life of Olivia Pope! There’s little question that Fitz and Olivia are soul mates.
This is one of the best Olitz scenes ever! You heard me. Even though it doesn’t involve Fritz using his “superpower” or anything sexual, it shows their deep connection and understanding of each other. Unlike the earlier seasons this is a scene that shows it’s not just lust – but love.
Yet, Olivia also has feelings for Jake. She does guys. I mean, you don’t look at a man like this:
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Sorry, but that’s Olivia looking at Jake….
…without some kind of romantic leanings going on. In a perfect world this wouldn’t happen because Fitz would be single and available to Olivia all the time. Plus they both wouldn’t have such complicated pasts and secrets. Since the world – especially the Scandal world – is far from perfect, Olivia’s life and heart do have the space for more than one paramour. Jake has the advantage of not being married, of knowing who her father is – and now he’s going to have the advantage of not having killed her mother.
Oh Shonda Rimes (sigh), you do love to make things complicated. Of course, that’s why we watch! Next week promises to be even more Scandalous! Is Olivia going to run the Democratic campaign after all? More importantly, does that mean she’ll be choosing Jake over Fitz? What do you think?
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