Gladiators!! Was that a fantabulous episode of Scandal or was that a fantabulous episode of Scandal?! Whoa. So much was packed into this one episode that I’m not even sure of where to begin. This season has thus far been on fire. Publicly navigating Scandal’s biggest scandal--the relationship between Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant--has the show truly living up to its moniker, and the outrageousness that has followed has been great!
At the end of “Paris is Burning” (503), we saw Jake Ballard go to visit Eli Pope (aka Rowan) in prison to alert him to the fact that the Louvre was on fire. Rowan appeared to be surprised to hear this news and mentioned something about a “Lazarus One.” Apparently, Lazarus One is Rowan’s contingency plan should B613 be left for dead. According to Jake, the plan involves the stealing of priceless paintings from the Louvre, planting forgeries as their replacements and then burning down the museum to cover everything up. The real paintings can then be sold for billions to oligarchs and B613 will be up and running again. Like Lazarus.
Rowan, of course, plays at not knowing what Jake is talking about. How could he initiate such a thing from behind bars? He says that because of Olivia, he is behind bars and is in no position to protect the republic.
Yes, Rowan. Let’s blame Olivia for you using your position as America’s shadow protector to exact revenge against all those who go against you. You know, like how you threatened Olivia’s friends should she not bend to your will or how you killed her lover’s son because he offended you or how you tried to kill Jake for not showing you enough respect and gratitude for you allowing him to “have” your daughter. Please do blame Olivia for your current predicament. It’s her fault.
Flash to this Dateline NBC type exposé on Olivia Pope’s life. It’s the beginning of the program and the narrator Francesca Hunter is doling out details about Olivia’s early life. She starts by telling us about Eli Pope who “grew up as an orphan on the mean streets of Detroit” and worked three jobs to put himself through college. He eventually went on to earn himself a PhD in Paleontology. He married Maya, who was a secretary at the time, and they had Olivia. All was well until Maya died in a plane crash and Eli became a single father. Olivia was 12 at the time. Soon after, Eli sent Olivia off to an elite boarding school in Switzerland that is known to have produced a number of influential world leaders and billionaires. Hunter continues by stating that Eli had said to a former colleague of his that he intended to do the impossible, which was to raise a black girl “who felt fully entitled to own the world as much as any white man.”
Though much of the information had previously been shared in episodes 301, 306, 307 and 310, its collation and presentation in this news program type format felt very true to life. It also served as the perfect setup for the narrative that Hunter opted to go with in sharing with her viewers her version of who Olivia Pope is.
From this segment, we flash over to Rowan lamenting to Jake about how his daughter has become “arrogant” and “drunk in her own sense of power.” Um, sir, this is your fault. You taught her to believe that she can be and IS the best. Now you don’t like the results. If Rowan so wishes to blame anyone for the “defect” that is his daughter, he ought to look at himself.
The Hunter segment goes on to state that Eli’s quest to provide Olivia with the best is what has landed him in federal prison for embezzling millions from the government while he was at the Smithsonian. Hunter then asks if Olivia is Eli’s success story, if he had indeed succeeded in seeing that his daughter navigated the world as any white man would? Or did Eli go too far in trying to accomplish the impossible?
You know what had me wanting to point a nail gun at my television? This portion:
“Did Olivia Pope’s manufactured sense of privilege make her feel so entitled to that brass ring of power that she simply took it instead of earning it? Or is she still questing? Is Olivia Pope still seeking to fulfill her father’s dream?”
Still questing? Manufactured sense of privilege? How does one manufacture privilege? Anyway...
We flash back over to the federal prison and Rowan is going on about how Olivia placing him in prison has created a dangerous vacuum that has allowed this situation to Paris to occur. Jake says that he believes that Rowan is trying to regain the power that he lost with the enactment of Lazarus One. Rowan in turn tells Jake that he doesn’t have to regain his power because true power is never lost, and that despite him being behind bars, he still has his freedom. Jake says that because Rowan always leaves a trail, he’ll find out who Rowan is working with on the outside and put an end to Lazarus One. (Why don’t I have all that much confidence in Jake actually accomplishing this?)
Cut back to Hunter’s program and she’s talking about how the next hour of her program will provide more sensational insight, promising to take viewers “inside corridors of power, behind closed doors and, yes, even between the sheets to uncover the sometimes thrilling, sometimes sordid, always mysterious world of Olivia Pope.”
This fictional program has only provided the audience with an introductory teaser and it has already pissed me off. And all of this is right before we get the rapid fire flash of the Scandal title shot. Let me strap myself in.
The next scene that we see caught me off guard for a brief second because it felt entirely too familiar. It was the Scandal theme music (if you will) playing over the scene that threw me for a loop, music that hasn’t been featured in any scene since like season 1. We see Quinn going into a restaurant and then just like that, we transported back (kinda) to the pilot episode!
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| Quinn Perkins: newbie (101) to recruiter (504) |
Can I just say how much I love when this show calls back to previous moments in its history? You guys remember the pilot episode, right? Quinn was the first character that we meet as she’s dashing across the street to go on what she thinks is a blind date, but instead she meets Harrison (RIP) who isn’t there for a date. He was there to hire her. This is the moment when we first hear the phrase “gladiator in a suit”. Harrison was talking so impressively slick and fast that he was able to wow Quinn into accepting a job working for THE Olivia Pope.
In the current scene, Quinn enters the very same restaurant (even the centerpieces are the same!) in an attempt to lure Marcus Walker to OPA in a similar manner. Like Harrison, Quinn used a fake request for a meetup to get Marcus to the restaurant. She gives him her best Harrison imitation, even using some of the same words that Harrison had used on her. When she asks Marcus if he wants to be as gladiator in a suit, Marcus looked at her like she had lost all her marbles and told her nah. That wasn’t the answer Quinn was expecting.
Marcus says that Quinn does flash well, but he has seen how OPA does business and he doesn’t like what he’s seen. Their slaying of dragons requires them to cut corners and break rules, and that they operate as if the law is nothing but a suggestion. He also called OPA shifty and shady, and pointed out that with the way they are hemorrhaging clients, they will soon be as broke as he is. He caps off his rejection with an incredulous, “Do I want to be a gladiator in a suit? Hell no.”
LMAO! That rejection was as soft as a sledgehammer.
The following morning at the White House, we see an upset Fitz enter Elizabeth’s office with the latest newspaper that has Olivia as its headline. He throws the paper down on her desk as he rails against the manner by which Olivia is being discussed by the media. Apparently, morning shows are giving estimates as to of how many men Olivia has slept with and were trying to figure out when she lost her virginity. Sick bastards. All of this is happening and Fitz feels powerless to do anything about it. He points out that his hands are tied because of Abby and her opting to fix their PR problem by throwing Olivia under the bus. Doing so has added to the already developing media narrative that Olivia is a woman who sleeps her way to the top. And because Fitzgerald is upset with Abby, he’s back to calling her Gabby. D’oh!
Elizabeth tells Mr. President that they should attempt to focus on something that they can handle such as Senator Gibson, one of the Republican leaders in Congress who they knew was going to hold Fitz feet to the fire over this mistress business. Elizabeth says that she has had success charming Gibson in the past and she can attempt to do so again to try to get a sense of what it is that Gibson intends to mete out over this latest brouhaha.
It is at this point that Abby walks into the room, but she then quickly tries to escape upon seeing that the President is present. She isn’t fast enough and Fitz tells her that she is fired. Elizabeth tries to explain to him that doing this wasn’t the best move given the circumstances, but Fitzgerald is deaf to any kind of reason. He wants Abby gone by the end of the day. When he leaves, Elizabeth tells Abby to return to her office and not to go anywhere, that she will fix the situation. Hmph!
Now it’s evening in Washington DC and Olivia is talking to Fitz over the phone. She’s telling him that he cannot fire Abby over what is going on, that he’s allowing his emotions to cloud his judgement. To that Fitz says that of course he’s emotional! He’s freaking pissed! Abby tossed Olivia to the wolves! Olivia’s response to this? “You’re an idiot.” Ha! She goes on to tell him that as president, he doesn’t get to be emotional in times like these. He has to be smart, and firing his press secretary while he’s in the middle of a scandal is not a smart move. He has to think like a leader!
Despite acquiescing to Olivia’s plan (via Abby) to have herself served up as the sacrificial lamb, Fitz is having a hard time sticking with the program. He didn’t want to go with this route at all in the first place. Now because of the stories that have been produced as a result of them going with this option, Fitz was on the verge of breaking his fist into someone’s face. He is like an animal caged, desperate for exit.
When he expresses his frustration to Olivia about Abby’s actions, she reminds him that this option was her choice and that she doesn’t need him to rescue her from the consequences of her decision. When told that he needs to give Abby her job back, Fitz asks Olivia how long it is that she believes she can take the crucifixion that her character is taking in the media. Just then, Olivia’s attention is diverted by a flash that comes through her window. Several more follow suit and she soon spots a lone photographer taking shots of her from a building across the way. She ends her phone call with Fitz just as she’s rushing to pull closed all the curtains in her living room. Talk about invasion of privacy!
Some time later, we see Olivia sitting on her couch while Quinn performs a sweep of her apartment. Huck finally arrives and tells Olivia that he rented the empty apartment across the way for several hundred dollars above market value to prevent any such future incidences of from occurring. When asked, Quinn announces that Olivia’s apartment is clean of any bugs, taps or cameras. As a precaution, Huck presents Olivia with a month’s worth of burner phones that she is to use.
Huck and Quinn then suddenly go silent, one giving the other a look to prompt one of them to share with Olivia whatever it was that they wished to, but both are hesitant. Olivia notices their weird behavior and inquires as to what was up. Quinn finally shares that the work that they have to deal with right now is a lot with just her and Huck at OPA. Between the press and their clients, they are in dire need of additional help. Olivia is quick to shut that down, saying that they don’t need anyone else in their business. Quinn tells her that she attempted to recruit Marcus, but that he turned her down. Quinn stresses that they do need more help, but Olivia won’t change her mind. Quinn and Huck are to handle whatever it is on their own.
The following day, we see Mellie walking into the Capitol with Cyrus by her side. The press is ready and waiting in the rotunda and they are quick to swarm her once they sight her. Cyrus is able to hold them off, which allows Mellie to continue on to her scheduled Senate Women’s Caucus meeting. (I must say that Bellamy Young in that blue dress was absolutely fetching!)
Mellie enters the room and immediately apologizes for being late, blaming the press for the delay. She then goes on about how honored she is to be there and can’t wait to get to work. She wants to know where they are on the agenda, but the head Senator present is quick to disabuse Mellie of any notion she may have had as to why the meeting was called. Head Senator gives Mellie a quick and dirty lesson in Senate politics. Their male counterparts, she says, will meet over cigars and scotch and make backroom deals that’ll obliterates anything that the women have worked their butts off to achieve. Mellie is confused by this and another senator is quick to interject that “this isn’t about Democrats and Republicans. This is about peckers. Too many peckers.” Heh.
We next see Mellie entering her office. She looks overwhelmed. Cyrus has kept himself busy by scheduling for Mellie to appear on every afternoon talk shows known to man. Mellie interrupts Cyrus to tell him that all the women of the Senate wish to impeach Fitz, but they won’t do put that option on the table unless they have her agreement. Cyrus is confused as to why they would want to impeach the President for having an affair.
Mellie: They want to impeach a man for having an affair that everyone just shrugs about because a man having an affair is a daily occurrence. They want to impeach a man because all we ever hear is how women are controlled by their hormones, but is more hormonal than a man who can’t keep it in his damn pants? They want to impeach a man because he broke his vows and disturbed the office of the presidency and distracted the country with his libido, and the only person that gets raked over the coals is the woman he screwed. That’s why.
Cyrus: But that’s-- That’s um… he’s a man.
Really, Cyrus? LMAOOOOO!!!
I totally understand all of the reasons that Mellie just ran down as to why the women are upset and would wish to impeach the president. I get it. There is a clear double standard in the manner by which society views a man cheating on his wife versus a wife cheating on her husband, and how they react to the woman that the man has been cheating with. It is sexist and patriarchal.
That said, would it be wrong of me to not want them to impeach Fitzgerald? I know, I know. He is kind of a sleazy bastard from the outside looking in, what with all those accusations of affairs and what not, but .… I feel judgement being directed at me right now. Alright.
Mellie says all of that doesn’t matter anyway because she’s not going to allow them to impeach her husband. Cyrus tells her not to be too hasty and to think about this a bit. Fitz put himself in the crosshairs of impeachment. Mellie counters that as freshman senator, she needs to keep a low profile, that going after her husband in this manner would make her come off as vindictive. Cyrus implores her to not look at this as her going after her husband, but as her looking out for her country and its greater good. She also must consider her goal of making it into the Oval.
“If Fitz gets impeached, Susan Ross becomes president. And we all know how that turns out. The woman’s gonna eat her own head and set herself on fire at the same time, after which the country is going to want someone who’s the polar opposite of Susan. Someone stately. Someone with gravitas. Someone who is a true leader. You, Senator.” -- Cyrus Beene
Dang, Cyrus. You really didn’t have to shade Susan Ross the way that you did.
After the break, we get more from the “In the Hunt” program. Hunter is talking about Olivia’s fashionable attire. We then see that Olivia is watching this, but she soon changes the channel to something else. No matter where she turns, she is the topic of conversation. One reporter refers to her as the “articulate, often outspoken Olivia Pope.” On another channel, some guy on a panel wonders if Olivia may be just like her incarcerated father since the “apple didn’t fall too far from the tree”. Another channel has a reporter talking about how Olivia was a “champion for Brandon Parker and other urban causes.” A reporter on yet another channel questions if Olivia really is “that good or simply lucky”. Then there is a woman who refers to Olivia as “always aggressive, some might say arrogant.”
These comments and their racist buzzwords have got me wanting to whip out the Vaseline because listen here…
I don’t even know how or why Olivia is paying attention to anything that is being said on TV about her because if I were in her shoes, I’d be in total blackout mode. No TV and definitely no Internet.
Next we see Quinn and Huck entering OPA. Quinn is complaining about how Olivia has no plan to combat her current personal crisis and how the media is destroying her. While nothing is being done on that front, OPA is losing clients. As she is saying this, both she and Huck notice a bag sitting on a table in the hallway and quickly round the corner to find Marcus making himself at home. He’s made himself a cup of coffee and is looking for some cream. Huck and Quinn want to know what he’s doing there. Marcus says that he’s changed his mind, that he’s now “ready to gladiate in a suit or whatever.” *snort*
Huck tells him that they aren’t hiring and Marcus says that Quinn told him differently. At this point, Quinn quickly reminds Huck that Olivia asked her to handle the situation at the office and this was her handling it. Marcus tells her that everything he said to her before at the restaurant still holds, but he does need the cash, so he’s here to get it for as long as OPA has some to shell out. He asks them when they need him to be out there facing reporters, but Quinn tells him that their job right then was to reassure their clients that it is business as usual at OPA, and that Olivia is so busy taking care of her many clients that she doesn’t have the time to address the media.
Next we see Elizabeth meeting up with Senator Gibson on a golf course. Gibson already knows why Elizabeth is there and he immediately tells her that he has to investigate the President. Elizabeth points out to Gibson that while the mistress scandal is unfortunate, it isn’t at all illegal.
Gibson reminds Elizabeth that Olivia once ran the President’s campaign and worked for the Grant Administration; that she has had access to things and has been paid by the President for “things.” Gibson follows up this statement with:
“His whole administration, he’s had these bitches lined up like planes on a jetway.” -- Senator Gibson
Elizabeth is clearly offended by Gibson’s casual use of such crass, sexist language in referring to the women that the President has supposedly been involved with during his tenure. He tells Elizabeth that there are legitimate questions that need answering, and that Fitz can choose to meet up and answer them privately or he can answer them publicly in front of Congress and the American people.
Meanwhile over at the White House, Fitz is at the crawling about on the floor in his bedroom when Mellie comes in. When she tells him that she’s come to get a couple of her things, he motions for her to be silent and then points towards the curtains. Mellie at first doesn’t get what he’s trying to tell her until she hears a little giggle come from behind the curtain in question. It’s the long lost baby Teddy and he’s playing hide and seek with his daddy!! Cue my ovaries popping.
When was the last time that we saw this child? Was it back in early season 3? Now look at him!
Mellie soon joins in on the fun and a moment so adorable happens that it leaves me wistful for what could have been with the Grant marriage. When Fitz jokingly asks “how did we lose a whole boy”, the moment turns a bit sad. It’s as if the ghost of Jerry has suddenly sucked the fun out of the room. Fitz and Mellie grab each others hands then, and Mellie says to Fitz that she won’t hurt him if he doesn’t hurt her. To this, Fitz agrees. Mellie is then off to get what she came for and leaves Fitz to return back to playtime with their precious kid. I admit that the moment made my eyes sting just a little bit.
Cut over to OPA where Quinn and Huck are watching the news coverage of Olivia. Marcus has had enough of listening to the same thing on repeat, so he grabs the remote and turns the TV off. He then relays a conversation he overheard take place between an older couple (white, mid-60s) in line at the grocery store that morning where there is a photo of Olivia on the cover of a tabloid. The husband was of the opinion that Olivia looked “angry” and believed that Olivia took advantage of the President because she “looks conniving.” In her attempt to defend Olivia, this man’s wife comments that Olivia “must be sharp if she pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made it out of the ghetto.”
Marcus points out that Olivia went to one of the most expensive boarding schools in Europe and people are out here talking about how she was able to successfully pull herself out of the ghetto. Given the fact that he had once held Olivia’s privileged life against her, it is rather ironic seeing Marcus be outraged on Olivia’s behalf in this manner. His indignation makes Quinn realize that Marcus really isn’t at OPA for the money. Marcus confirms her suspicion by saying that he’s there to “help a sister out who helped me when I needed it.” Alright, Brother Marcus.
Back at the White House, Elizabeth, Abby and David are with the President. Elizabeth tells Fitz that if he doesn’t sit down with Senator Gibson, the Judiciary Committee will launch an investigation against him. Fitz is like WTF! This was the so-called “smart strategy”? Olivia was getting slaughtered by the media and he’s here having to fend off an investigation being launched by members of his own party! When he questions what the dumb strategy is, Abby helpfully chimes in that that would be the one where is he is already impeached, and that the fact that Senator Gibson was willing to meet up is a good thing. Fitz’s response to her commentary could be boiled down to a STFU and don’t you dare talk to me with your Olivia backstabbing self. Oh and it included the laser death stare.
David tells Fitz that if an investigation is launched, he will be forced to assign a special counsel and there is no telling what that person would do. Given this information, Fitz instructs Elizabeth to set up a meeting with Gibson.
Later that evening, we see Fitz and Elizabeth meeting with Senator Gibson and his cohorts. Fitz is pretending to be a good ole boy, regaling them with some tale about Big Jerry that has them laughing. Now you know good and damn well that Fitzgerald can’t stand his dead father, so him sharing some amusing story about him was a dead give away that this whole act was a farce.
Fitz allows his mask to fall for a moment when he is facing away from the men, but is quick to put the smile back in place when he faces them again. He tells them that he made a mistake and that he recognizes the predicament that his actions have placed these men in. He says that he is willing to offer some things to them in exchange of their mercy, and he goes on to detail what he is willing to do to avoid an investigation. Unfortunately for Fitz, what is is offering is not enough. Gibson presents to Fitz a prepared document which details the things that he and his friends wish for Fitz to do in exchange for their mercy.
Fitz reads through the document presented and proclaims its demands to be preposterous. Among the demands is the request to have the Equal Pay Bill and the Brandon Bill rolled back. Elizabeth tells Gibson that these were huge legislative achievements, to which Gibson says that they were achievements for the Democrats, not Republicans. Fitz outright refuses the proposal, which prompts Gibson to clear the room of everyone but himself and the President.
Once all are out of the room, Fitz says to Gibson that what he’s asking for is extortion. Gibson tells Fitz that he can keep Equal Pay since one of his cohorts only wanted that one in there because his wife was driving him bonkers. (A fine group of men, these Republicans.) What Gibson wants is for Fitz to do whatever necessary to kill the Brandon Bill, but Fitz again refuses. At this point, Gibson tells Fitz that he hasn’t got a choice. He says that like Fitz, he and everyone else has had dalliances, but the difference between they and Fitz is that Fitz got caught, and that is the reason why he is now at their mercy. The Brandon Bill made the Republicans a lot of enemies within the law enforcement community and killing it would go a long way to rectifying Fitz’s problem as well as that of the Republicans. Realizing that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, Fitz asks to be allowed to think about the proposal.
Satisfied with that answer, Gibson gets up to depart, but before he leaves, he offers these kind words of wisdom for the embattled President:
“Oh, and uh, sir? Next time you decide to go outside your marriage, choose yourself a girl who’s a little more palatable to the base.” -- Senator Gibson
Whoa. Fitzgerald heard that dog whistle loud and clear. Palatable to the base?! I’m surprised that Fitz didn’t fly out of his chair and kill a bitch right where he stood with that shit eating grin of his. ARRRRRGH! I was affronted on Olivia’s behalf.
This moment reminded me of when Cyrus had said to Fitz something similar in “Truth and Consequences” (212):
“Now Liv is a lovely, smart woman. I can’t get enough of her, but she’s not exactly a hue that most of your Republican constituents would be happy about.” -- Cyrus Beene
Flash over to Olivia in her apartment. She’s busy surfing the Internet when Fitz calls her. She is using a burner phone now. Fitz wants to talk to her about the Brandon Bill situation, but Olivia instead shares with him what she has discovered on the Internet. She’s found three porn versions of themselves and even one site where there is an obscene number of comments made by anonymous Internet trolls who are threatening her with rape and death.
This was a hard scene to watch because it cut too close to reality. This display of misogynoir--hate for black women--unfortunately runs rampant on the Internet. Black women constantly face this kind of abuse, particularly when they say or do something that some group of men disagree with. These men subject these women to all kinds of racist and misogynistic abuse. I love that this was showcased on Scandal in the manner that it was. We got to see the psychological impact that these comments had on Olivia (just as it does on her real life counterparts), where these hateful words from complete strangers can and do cut to the bone.
Fitz repeatedly tells Olivia to turn off the computer and finally finally heeds his instruction when he threatens to come over to her place and turn it off for her. Olivia at that moment is unable to continue to hold in the emotions that are rolling about in her and cracks. This is the first sign from her that all that all the dragging that she is taking in the news and on the Internet is starting to affect her. She insists that she’s fine even though she’s starting to lose it a little bit. Kerry Washington was so awesome in this scene.
Next we see Cyrus and Mellie. He’s still trying to convince her that she should give the women of the Senate the go ahead to impeach Fitz. Mellie, however, is remaining steadfast in not wanting to do that. She says that as much as she wants to stick it to Fitz, doing this won’t make her look good and that the smart play is for her to take the high road. Mellie can’t understand why Cyrus is so hellbent on revenge. After all, Fitz was her husband and was nothing more than a colleague/friend to Cyrus. She tells him to let the fire and brimstone go.
Cyrus stares at her in disbelief. Nothing more than a colleague? That’s all she believes Fitz is to him? Cyrus reminds Mellie that he’s devoted 14 years of his life to the Grant cause and now she’s telling him to ignore the fact that Fitz has turned his back on him?? To this, Mellie says that this is where she and Cyrus differ. She says that when her heart is broken, she has the ability to dust herself off and get back up. Cyrus’s response to this is epic.
“That’s what you think the difference is between you and me? No, no. The difference between you and me is that your heart was never broken because you never loved him. You needed him, used him, coexisted with him, but you did not love him! I would have died for that man. I loved him as my son, as my child, as my soul. That does not end. That never ends. It just rips a hole inside of you that never closes. Your child is dead! You can visit his grave, bring him flowers. You know exactly where he is and what he is. My child is breathing and talking right down the block at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but I can’t see him. I don’t know how he is or what he needs. Or if he’s even okay. He’s surrounded by vultures who want to pick the flesh from his bones, but he doesn’t know it. And I do. And I’m not there to shelter him from the storms, to pick up after him, to remove obstacles in his path. Your child is safe in the ground where everything bad has already happened. But my child--my soul--all you have to do is turn on the news to see that the bad things for him are just getting started.” -- Cyrus Beene
Okay then. Cyrus has officially lost it. I can’t even begin to count the number of lines that he crosses with this here monologue. Mellie rightfully instructs him to get out of her office, but Cyrus tells her that he quits.
These two are a terrible team. I’ve never seen two people so effectively rip each others souls to shreds whenever one is doing something that the other is unhappy about.
Flash over to OPA where the media is still holding vigil. Marcus is exiting from the building when he is peppered with questions about Olivia. He is successfully ignoring them until one reporter had to go and say the wrong thing about how Olivia is “usually so well-spoken.” Ut oh. You’ve gone and said the wrong thing, lady, and Brother Marcus has had enough. He turns to the woman in question and says:
“She’s usually so well-spoken for a black woman. Isn’t that what you meant? I say that because I’ve been looking at the last 72 hours of your station’s news coverage, and when you’re not suggesting that Olivia Pope is an angry black woman, you’re implying she’s a homewrecker who slept her way to the top.” -- Marcus Walker
Bloop.
Quinn wasn’t at all happy with Marcus going off script, but he tells them that they need to quit sitting on their hands and fight back. He gladiates by swinging back when he is under attack. Quinn’s curiosity is now piqued and Marcus goes on to explain to her and Huck how they are going to turn the tables on the media by pointing out all the instances in which they had engaged in dog whistle politics. Clueless as to what that is exactly, Marcus and Huck explain to Quinn that dog whistle politics is “racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, misogyny. It’s bigotry in the form of a language so coded that only the person it’s targeting is insulted by it, like a dog whistle.”
Educate the masses, Shonda!
OPA takes to the media, including Huck who looks uncomfortable in a suit and can offer up nothing more than “dog whistle politics” as an answer. LOL! Marcus and Quinn in their respective appearances outline the many ways by which the media has used code words to frame Olivia as everything other than the person that she really is. Later toasting the success of their strategy, Marcus asks which of them is going to tell Olivia that he now works for her and Huck says that he’ll do it since he’s damaged and Olivia doesn’t like to yell at him. Ha!
Cut over to the White House where Fitz has come to see Abby in her office. Abby apparently has already packed up her stuff in a small box and appeared to be awaiting the verdict as to the status of her employment. She’s surprised when the President shows up. Since Fitz was unable to speak with Olivia about Gibson, he went to the next best thing. Fitz hands Abby the document that Gibson had presented to him and asks her to read the summary. Fitz asks Abby what she believes Olivia would advise him to do about the proposal, and Abby says that she believes Olivia would tell him to give in to Gibson’s demands in order to avoid impeachment. Abby says it’s the smart move.
At this point in the episode, it is clear that Fitz isn’t enamored with smart moves anymore. He’s tried that way with the whole leaving Olivia to shoulder the burden of their affair alone business and all that has done is leave him feeling angry and inept. Similar to what Marcus did over at OPA, Fitz concludes that he wasn’t going to do what was deemed to be the smart thing.. He was going to go with what felt right. He was going to go with what was right.
Just in case you missed that, Gibson, that was Fitzgerald throwing up a big FU in your direction.
Back at Olivia’s apartment, we see that Liv is watching TV. She has caught her gladiators defending her on TV and she’s proud of them. The segment is soon interrupted by breaking news that the President has left the White House on an unscheduled trip. No one knows where he’s going and Olivia wonders out loud as to what it is that Fitz is up to. She soon realizes his destination when the sirens on TV coincided with the ones that are blaring from outside of her apartment building!
When Olivia sees Fitz enter her building with his Secret Service agents, she quickly dashes to her door, grabs her keys and then heads out of her apartment. She presses the button for the elevator and then stands anxiously in wait for it to come up. She looks to be caught somewhere between elation (she hasn’t seen him in like forever!) and annoyance (WTF dude!). Her trying to situate herself in some kind of stance is too cute.
Finally, the cab arrives and the door swings open to reveal the man of the hour. Olivia attempts to give him a stern “what the hell are you doing?” scold as he steps out of the elevator, and as he got closer to her, her next attempt at asking the same question ends up sounding more like a request to have him take her clothes off. That might just be my imagination… In answer to her question, Fitz tells her that he has come to take his girlfriend on a date.
Date!? Girlfriend?! Oh, so Fitzgerald is looking to flip the narrative. He could have at least allowed the woman a moment to change her clothes and put a bit of makeup her face. She’s been lounging about in these clothes all day and now she’s about to face the media bare faced!
Olivia looks dubious of this declaration of a date as she allows him to pull her into the elevator. Once inside, Fitz instructs his agents to look away because he intends to make out with his girlfriend. YES GAWT! A little shocked by this pronouncement and the fact that Fitz intends to kiss her in front of witnesses, Olivia barely puts up struggle before she allows herself to be swept away by the moment. We are then blessed with a few precious seconds of slow motion goodness right before the elevator doors robs us of the pretty.
Fitzgerald Grant clearly gives not one damn about anyone’s opinions anymore. He walked right into that building in front of all of that press and walked right back out with his woman in tow. This was Fitz publicly claiming her. This was Fitz following through on what he deemed to be the right move.
We’ll see if Fitz still feels that this was the right move once the dust settles. Him doing this has placed him right next to Olivia (she’s no longer alone in this) and it will possibly lead to a change in the framing of the narrative regarding the nature of their relationship, but his act has also lead to him doing what he promised Mellie that he wouldn’t do and that was to not hurt her. By publicly claiming Olivia in the manner that he has AND doing so before he has even gotten himself a divorce (ay yi yi), Fitz has succeeded in compounding the public humiliation to which he has already subjected Mellie. This latest act causes Mellie to reconvene the women senators and give them the go ahead to impeach her husband. Welp.
This is going to get even messier before it gets better, isn’t it? Just when you thought these Scandal writers couldn’t top themselves, they go and prove us wrong.
This episode gets an A++++++ from me. It was so deliciously good on so many levels.
The Return of B613?
(I’ve separated this parallel storyline from everything else that transpired in the episode because it largely functioned outside of the context of everything else. I debated as to whether or not to include it in the recap and decided that I should.)
After Jake leaves Rowan at the prison, he meets up with Charlie. (Why isn’t Charlie dead like those other B613 agents that Rowan had killed?) We see them grabbing bags from the boot of a car that they’ve parked at Dulles airport parking garage. They’re on their way to Paris. Jake has a passport ready for Charlie to travel with him and tells him that he needs him on this trip because Charlie has contacts in Paris. Charlie says that he has a business that he can’t just leave behind, that he’ll need to be paid for this gig. Jake tells him that someone launched Lazarus One and whoever that someone is, they are as much of an enemy of Charlie’s as they are of Jake’s because Charlie assisted with taking down B613. Ensuring his continued existence and ability to run that business of his means that Charlie will have to help with finding out who this person is.
Now in Paris, Jake and Charlie are waiting to meet up with a woman who Charlie got in touch with. Jake notes that the woman is running late and questions if Charlie is sure that she’s got the contacts that he claims that she does, to which Charlie confirms that art dealing is her thing. She’s another B613 agents who has more kills than Jake and Charlie put together. She considered a legend. To top it off, she’s sexy hot! (Of course, this would be something that Charlie would notice.) Just as Jake is asking Charlie of what her name is, the woman is question shows up and both men stand up as gentlemen are prone to do in the presence of a lady. Recognizing Charlie, she offers him a pleasant hello, but her face freezes when her eyes land on Jake. He looks as equally surprised to see her. Ut oh. They know each other!!! And damn if the sexual tension isn’t palpable here. What are you to each other?!
Jake is the first to break the ice, remarking on her choice of the name “Elise”. She in turn remarks about his use of the name “Jake.” Meanwhile, I’m wondering how far back do these two go if she is unfamiliar with his identity as Jake Ballard. Elise decides that she isn’t interested in working with Charlie or Jake, and she walks away from them both.
Later Jake shows up at Elise’s apartment. They do this short song and dance about whether she’s going to let him in or not, but then she relents and allows him entrance. Following some niceties about her apartment, Jake says to her that he thought that she was dead. She says that she showed up at Grand Central Station, but Jake says that she hadn’t. He had waited there for an hour for her to show up when protocol was that he was supposed to wait no more than 25 minutes, but she never showed up. Elise says that she was late, but that she was there, and then she accuses Jake of having left her behind and not trusting that she would make it.
All the passion in this argument could have been put to better horizontal use, but I digress.
Both go silent following Elise’s proclamation and then she takes a seat on her sofa. Jake follows suit and is going to likely apologize for the past, but Elise tells him that she doesn’t need one. She knows that he is there about the job and asks him to detail for her what the job is. Jake tells her that they are on the trail of some stolen art pieces and needs her help in tracking them down. Once that’s out of the way, he reiterates that he truly believed that she had died and that he had grieved her loss. Then he says what? “I really loved being married to you.”
Come again? Married?! Jake was married?! To her?? Wait...is that actually a past was or a present is? Since she’s still alive, does this mean that--even though he didn’t know that she was living--Jake is technically still married?!
At this point, Elise comes close and kisses her long lost husband right on the mouth, reigniting my desire to have them engage in some horizontal meeting of bodies, but that never comes to pass.
Later we see that Elise has agreed to assist Jake and Charlie. They’ve set up a camera in her apartment and they are watching everything on monitors from within a parked vehicle. A man enters the apartment with a painting and Charlie quickly looks him up. When the realize that the man isn’t B613, the feed suddenly goes snowy. They can still hear what is going on, but can’t get a picture. Soon they hear shots ring out and they dash out to the apartment. The find the man dead and Elise shot in the arm. It’s but a flesh wound.
Something is very suspicious about what just transpired here. I’m willing to bet that this chick shot herself to make it seem like she was attacked. Who else knew that there were cameras present and would want to interrupt the visual of what was happening? Hmm.
Next we see Jake visiting Elise in the hospital. He is saying to her that he shouldn’t have gotten her involved in their operation when she interrupts him to say that she never showed up at Grand Central Station. What the…. Girl, if you never showed up, what then was all that noise earlier about how you did show up? See, you’re suspicious, ma’am.
She goes on to say that her and Jake are spies, and as such, forever is not meant for them. Despite this and her earlier lie, Jake invites Elise to return to the States with him. I’m now convinced that Jake is a glutton for punishment because this situation is bound to end up very badly for him and everyone else in Washington, D.C.
That’s all I’ve got folks! As usual, I thank you all for reading this review/recap of Scandal episode 504. Don’t forget to sound off down below with what your favorite parts of the episode were and share what you think will go down next week. See you all in the comments!
