In it fourth episode of the new year, and one of the season's most heavily promoted, Olivia Pope finally returned from her kidnapping ordeal.
Titled "No More Blood", last night's episode of Scandal was written by Heather Mitchell and directed by Randy Zisk. It was a pretty good hour on the whole, with a ending that took me by surprise.
Picking up immediately where last week's episode ended, it was revealed that the winner of the auction turned out to be the Iranians, however they didn't walk away with the prize as Olivia manipulated both the buyers and kidnappers into disbanding. Fortunately, a second auction had a much more friendlier winner, with Henry Ian Cusick reprising his first season series regular role as Stephen Finch.
This was a nice surprise, although the rumor mill had been working overtime leading up to the episode. I enjoyed Finch a lot in Scandal's first season, and the hole he left has never quite been filled. He was the only character based at OPA who was in a stable relationship, and his style resonated with me well.
The events that led to Olivia's return played out nicely, and were full of quality drama and raw emotion. One of my favorite scenes in the hour was Cyrus daydreaming his anger-fueled resignation. Jeff Perry has had an exceptional couple of weeks as the character has come out of the shadow of the storyline concerning Olivia's kidnapping.
It was great to see Joe Morton return as Rowan Pope also. I can't say I missed the guy after a very intense 2014. Morton hasn't lost his touch though, with the famously long lines of dialog again a feature of his performance. Like Maya Pope who returned last week and again last night, I'm pleased nothing more than words were spoken by the pair.
Though Mellie didn't concern herself with Olivia's whereabouts anywhere near as heavily as she did last week, she had plenty of things to keep herself occupied. After being blackmailed by Andrew, Mellie turned to his weak link, Elizabeth, to act on her behalf and seek revenge. A visibly concerned Elizabeth made the trip down to OPA HQ where she asked Huck to sort it out. After Andrew was suitably secured, Huck administered a drug that caused Andrew to have a stroke. Though not dead, one would have to wonder whether Andrew would rather be killed than live with the embarrassment of being a newly disabled man.
Portia de Rossi had another terrific episode, as did Guillermo Diaz. How Huck manages to get back on track now that Olivia has returned will be interesting to watch. Also of interest was seeing Jake try to talk some sense into Huck regarding his B613 ordeal. It's a sign the pair may grow closer together in future episodes, which is something I'd be up for seeing.
After authorizing the rescue mission for Olivia despite advice to the contrary, when Fitz visited Olivia's apartment in the last scene. Olivia's reaction really has to be seen to be believed, but there was an element of satisfaction in watching Olivia take Fitz to the cleaners as she laid out the sacrifices she has made for him. Everyone has their own opinion on who was right and wrong, and it's a heavily debated topic among fans, so I'll leave that to you in the comments below.
While Olivia is now back, I'm betting good money that PTSD is inbound, as we saw glimpses of that as she was being debriefed. How Kerry Washington steps and delivers this new set of emotions will no doubt make for great television as we get deeper into the back half of the season.
Scandal takes a week off as How To Get Away With Murder occupies 2 hours of primetime from 9|8c to 11|10c next Thursday for its 2 hour season finale. The promo for Scandal's next episode looks fantastic though, with ABC touting it as the most powerful episode of the season.
Thanks for reading! Please do share your thoughts and theories in the comments below, and follow Scandal's ratings on my TV ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com/scandal.
