We are back at it, Gladiators! Geez, Louise!! What in the what what? I swear every episode of Scandal that Tony Goldwyn (aka President Fitzgerald Grant) has directed has been intense, and this one was certainly no exception.
A Storm is Brewing
This episode picks right up with Olivia and Fitz watching Sally take delight in revealing their affair, and both are wearing horrified expressions as the former VP refers to Olivia as a “seductress” who is distracting the President from doing his job with “a body made for…” Sally cut herself off to instruct someone off camera to put the pictures back up on screen, but we didn’t really need her to complete that sentence now, did we? Her implied meaning came through loud and clear. Her completed sentence would have been: “...a body made for sexual pleasure.” (More on this later.)
You can see Olivia start to close off emotionally when Fitz reaches for the remote and turns the TV off. He tries to reassure Olivia that everything will be okay, but she knows that it won’t be. She predicted this would happen. The storm has come and she is wholly unprepared for it.
Fitz heads down to the Oval to question Elizabeth and Abby to ask how this situation occurred. Elizabeth informs him that the leak was internal and Fitz says he wants the head of the Secret Service to investigate how it happened, but Elizabeth says that she’s fired him and she will be bringing in her guy from the NSA (I wonder why, Lizzie.) Fitz rejects that and prefers that David Rosen handle it because (1) he’s already on the inside as part of his Cabinet, (2) he will be thorough with his investigation and most importantly (3) he’s loyal to Olivia.
Meanwhile, Abby is vying for his attention and finally is able to tell him that the immediate issue on their hands is the media who have a billion questions. They need to strategize and figure out how to handle this situation STAT! Fitz’s response? Lizzie Bear concurs. The White House needs to make a statement. Fitz, however, intends to make no statement until he talks to Olivia. If anything is going to be said, they are going to say it together. Off he goes to return to Olivia at the Residence and Elizabeth is left looking stunned. Abby on the other hand is unphased. Elizabeth wonders at why she is so calm about the whole thing, and Abby says this in response:
“Do you really think that she’s going to get in front of a camera and admit that they’re having an affair? It’s Liv. She’s the best in the business. The President is about to get Pope’d.” -- Abby Whelan
Ah yes. Abby is confident in her knowledge of Olivia Pope. There was no way in hell Olivia was going to stand in front of cameras and proclaim that she’s a homewrecking whore, right? Her words prove true when Fitz returns to the Residence to find that Olivia has abandoned ship. We see Liv rapidly walking down the underground tunnel that is used to escape from the White House in the event of a calamity. When Fitz calls, she tells him that she had to leave while she still had the opportunity. She instructs him to not call again, that he should wait for her and that she will call him.
Flight is Better
Olivia finally makes her way to Quinn’s place and upon entry begins to undress. She’s sorting through some of Quinn’s clothes to see which she can wear while Quinn is looking for something to offer her boss, rattling off a number of things that she could give her before finally settling on a bottle of wine that she has to check by nose to be sure that it’s still good. She wants to know how she can help and Olivia tells her that she wants a case, something to work on.
It is at this point that I realize that this woman isn’t planning to immediately tackle her personal mess. She is instead running away from it. This really shouldn’t surprise anyone considering that this is Olivia Pope’s long-standing modus operandi when it comes to handling her own drama. Whenever things become too emotionally overwhelming for her, she tends to numb it with work or sex (with someone other than Fitzgerald). She pulls away from the source of the turmoil. This is Olivia in self-preservation mode.
White House in Crisis
Back at the White House, Abby is facing a press corps that is clamoring for answers that she can’t give just then. She’s evading and they know it. They are indeed sharks who scent blood in the water.
The next scene we see is of Mellie in the Oval and Fitz is wondering at why she’s there. Mellie is looking calm and serene in that nice red suit of hers, a far cry from the hot mess she had going on at the end of last episode where she looked like she had raided the plus size knock off section of a local thrift store. Mellie tells Fitz that she wants an apology from him, which clearly causes him some confusion. When he refuses to bite, Mellie drops the niceties and outright accuses Fitz of leaking Olivia’s name (pictures included) to the press again.
“You placed Olivia in a dangerous position. You outed her. You thought by throwing me out of the White House and moving her in, you’d be making this grand gesture. Finally she wouldn’t be just a mistress anymore. But the minute she stepped through these doors, the minute she moved in here, she became what we all become when we live here. And what is that? Yessss. A statue. Inhuman. Viewed from every angle, discussed, exposed. She’s not just a mistress now. She’s America’s Mistress. History will preserve her as such.” -- Mellie Grant
Even though Mellie’s words are laced with the usual venom that she reserves just for Olivia, parts of her statement do ring true. When Fitz leaked Olivia’s name two seasons back (2.22/3.01), Olivia bore the brunt of that. Fitz claimed then that he had done it to keep Liv from being used as a pawn against him by Mellie, but let’s be real. The move was selfish and short-sighted. He had hoped that it would be the way by which he and Olivia could finally be together and hadn’t bothered to consider the personal and professional impact that such exposure would have on Olivia’s life. (I still side eye you heavy for this foolery, Fitzgerald.)
But things have changed. That isn’t the Fitzgerald of today, contrary to what Mellie believes. She goes on about how Fitz has miscalculated this move (as he had before) and so she is there to fix things. She tells him that he has to apologize first and then she has to accept it. Mellie then lays out her strategy for how the ship can be righted, going on about how she’ll deny Sally’s story and claim Olivia to be a dear friend of the Grants. Olivia being over at the Residence that late at night will therefore be no big deal, especially since Olivia has a (nonexistent) boyfriend and he was there, too! Mellie just has to find some guy who is similar in height and build to Fitz (Olivia’s actual boo) and then voila! All will once again be well in Grantland.
While Mellie is talking, Fitz is looking at her like the last bit of sense she may have had had finally vacated from her head. He asks her what the apology is for and Mellie tells him that it is for hurting her feelings with those divorce papers. It is at this point that Fitz flips the script and accuses her of having leaked the photos to Sally herself. Mellie’s now looking at Fitz like he’s got two heads. He tells her that leaking those pictures not only revealed the affair, but it also broke the law. Fitz thinks that because Mellie doesn’t want a divorce, she did this as a way to get herself back into the White House. She could humiliate Olivia, play on his guilt and “ride back in here on your white broomstick.” Did he just call her a witch?!
I can’t tell you how much I enjoy watching Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young go at it in scenes like these. They are soooooo good. They really do shine as marital adversaries. I love them!
“Fitzgerald, think about it! Those pictures make people feel sorry for First Lady Grant, but they make Senator Grant look weak and frigid and sexless and like she can’t keep a man. And we both know that America will never elect a woman who can’t get laid.” -- Mellie Grant
Welps. No lies there. Didn’t Leo Bergen consider Mellie to be a liability for Fitz’s reelection because she was perceived by the public as a “frigid shrew” (3.05)? The optics then was that the President was unhappy and beleaguered, hence the reason why he was stepping out on his wife. Mellie certainly has nothing to gain by having that same narrative resurrected to swirl about her in present day. Not when she’s looking to become president herself.
We next see Elizabeth and Abby in the Oval, the latter trying to stress to the President that they need a strategy and that a statement needs to be made, but Fitz insists that they will be waiting for Olivia before the press is addressed. It’s commendable of him to want to hold on acting until he speaks with Liv (after all, this affects her, too), but from a public relations standpoint, this is a bad move. You can only stall for so long before you lose control of the narrative and the press goes rogue. In any case, Fitz remains unmoved. He directs them to change the subject, but instead of doing so, Abby brings up Mellie’s visit to the Oval. She starts to suggest that maybe Mellie could give a statement, but her words trail off when she is hit with the laser beams coming out Fitz’s eyes. I’m surprised the woman hadn’t been turned to ash.
David shows up right on time to save the day. He has a question for the President regarding the list of people that was given to him to investigate. Before he get an answer, in bursts VP Susan Ross. She’s like a tornado, going on about how the reports are a bunch of “malarkey and doo doo”. Lawd, I about DIED! Fitz looks ready to toss himself out of a window and everyone else looks so terribly uncomfortable at Susan’s naivete. Fitz would never have an affair with Olivia, she says! But that thought is quickly dispelled when Fitz gives David his answer about how he knows that it was Mellie who leaked the photos. Susan is left standing there like:
Abby suggests pushing the press briefing back since they aren’t going to address the situation, but Fitz refuses. This man sure is stubborn. And he certainly hasn’t got a gatdamn care for who knows about him and Olivia nor is he concerned for the very real sex scandal that he is once again mired in. He was going to wait for his girl come hell or high water. But how long is too long? The sharks are swirling about his end of the pond, but they are also on the hunt for Olivia herself. They have even taken up camp in front of the building that houses OPA in wait. In the meantime, they are filling the airwaves with random facts that they had learned about Olivia, such as how she was a swim champion back in high school. Newsworthy information.
The Gladiating Pope
We next see Jake and Huck entering OPA’s office suite. Quinn is relieved to see him, but isn’t so glad to see that he is with Huck. Quinn’s reaction to Jake seems to suggest that he’s been gone for a while. Huck tells Quinn that Jake has fixed him, but Quinn will hear none of that. Jake shuts her down on that front and asks her about Olivia, to which she responds that OPA took a case. Jake is like say what? In the middle of all this, Olivia takes a case? (Doesn’t this remind you of how she took the Brandon Parker case (4.14) right after she came back from her kidnapping?)
This case of the week isn’t particularly exciting, but it is entertaining. Gavin Price is accused of killing his father Walter Price. His stepmother tells Olivia that she found both Gavin and her husband at the bottom of the stairs covered in blood. When the police arrested Gavin, stepmommy paid for his bail, but now he has gone missing. This is where Olivia comes in. She is to find him before the police realize that he is gone. Jake is at OPA freaking out that Quinn allowed Olivia to take a case that involves a murderer, but Quinn points out that you can’t say no to Olivia….and she happened to take Quinn’s car keys.
While on her hunt for Gavin, Olivia is rocking a leather coat and nondescript baseball hat to shield her face. She has driven all the way down to North Carolina. She almost gets made by a pawnshop owner who says that he recognizes her, but Olivia deflects and is soon out of the shop. In trying to figure out where Gavin must have gone next, she narrows her sights on a nearby casino. There she finds him at the blackjack table and joins him. She doesn’t bother to clue him in as to who she is. He eventually makes the assumption that she’s a prostitute (of course!), and at that point, Olivia accidentally on purpose drops her phone and uses the opportunity to leg shackle him to the seat that he’s in. Prostitute that!
Presumably Olivia and Gavin have been at this table a while because nothing else will explain how quickly it took for Jake Ballard to show up. While she refers to Jake as her “plan” when Gavin inquires about how she intends to deal with him, his appearance is actually a surprise to her. A pleasant one. Her reaction to his presence is similar to Quinn’s in that now neither of them have to navigate their parts of the case alone. Additionally, Gavin is an accused murderer. It would be highly remiss of Jake to have left Olivia to her own devices when it came to this guy, yes?
Now on their way back up to the DC area, Gavin is giving his sob story about how terrible he was treated by his father and is working to deflect suspicion of him as the murder to his stepmother. He says she has plenty of motive to have wanted his father dead. He’s oh so very convincing. Just like that squirrely Artie Hornbacher (2.03).
Back at OPA, Quinn and Huck are doing further research on the family when a member of the press finds his way into the office suite. He had no idea the kind of danger he walked into, what with Huck still being freshly “recovered” from B613 therapy and all. Dude was on the verge of getting killed with a pencil when Quinn thankfully took matters into her own hands and handled the situation herself. Eek! Huck may need some more therapy sessions, Jake.
Meanwhile out in the field, Olivia, Jake and Gavin have made a stop at a motel. Gavin starts to complain about how hungry he is and is immediately shut up by Jake. In a sulk, Gavin grabs the TV remote to keep himself occupied. Jake turns to Olivia and asks her about what’s next. She goes on about the case, but that’s not what Jake cares about. He’s asking about her.
“Look, at some point, you’re gonna have to leave this place, face the music. You wanted to be with him. You wanted to be with him so much that I… What’s changed?” -- Jake Ballard
Olivia’s response to that was like:
What’s changed?! Olivia looked about ready to tell him about himself, but couldn’t because they were in the room with the little bail jumper. I really want to know what Jake intended to say before sense caught ahold of his tongue. Was it “You wanted to be with him so much that I let you go”? Was that it because then I’d like to know how this situation became about him. As I recall, it was he who stepped out of the way to allow her to do what he knew she wanted to do all along, so WTF is this?
Anyway…at that moment a news report featuring Olivia pops up on TV and Olivia is quick to snatch the remote and turn off the set. Now Gavin knows that he’s not the only one on the run. He’s got information about one of his captors that he hadn’t before.
Later that evening, Olivia and Jake take Gavin out to get food, and Olivia is doing her best to remain unseen. This soon changes when Gavin gets up to use the bathroom and alerts others in the diner that Olivia Pope is amongst them. Olivia gets a call from Quinn who shares the latest information that she has discovered on the case, information that implicates Gavin. Before Olivia is able to digest this information, let alone respond to a kindly woman who is asking if she was THE Olivia Pope, she is soon surrounded by people who are clamoring to get pics with her. She doesn’t even have the time to consent. Flashes are going off and people are forcing her into poses with them. The scene is rather troubling. (Is this how we are with celebrities?) Jake was accompanying little man to the bathroom but abandons him to come to Olivia’s aid. This allows Gavin to make his getaway. Womp.
The Continuing PR Disaster
Over at the White House, Abby is at the podium and is getting hammered. The press corps doesn’t care to speak about any other topic than that of Olivia Pope. Cyrus is watching all this unfold on TV and gives Abby a call the moment she exits the press room. He tells Abby that she needs to be the adult in the situation and bring Mellie back to the White House. He’s essentially telling Abby to be the less intimidating version of himself and make Fitz fall in line. He projects onto her what he wants her to do. A desperate Abby is listening because she has no other options available to her. Not saying anything is making her look stupid in front of the press. This is going to go so bad...
We again see Abby at the podium some time later for another round of fun swimming with a bloody leg in a shark-infested pool. She’s deflecting and deflecting, but then decides to toss caution to the wind and disregard direct orders. She opts to do as Cyrus instructs and bring Mellie back into the White House, even if at that very moment, it was only via lip service to the press. She answers the one reporter by saying that Mellie lives in the White House as all over First Ladies have before her and that the Grants are handling the situation privately and as a team.
I swear Abby insists on finding ways to not endear herself to the President. You can just see the steam coming out of Fitz’s ears as he and Elizabeth watched Abby say these things to the press corps. Elizabeth is instructed to handle the situation and her (rightful) course of action would have been to fire her for insubordination, but doing so at that moment would cause even more controversy, so lucky for Abby, her job is safe for the moment.
That evening, Abby visits Cyrus. She says reveals that Fitz doesn’t care about the presidency right now, that his only care is Olivia and what she wants him to say or do. He’s refusing to act until he hears back from her, but Cyrus tells Abby that she already knows what she has to do. He tells her that she knows Olivia better than anyone and because of that, she has to tell Fitz what she knows Olivia would want him to do in this situation. When Abby wonders at why it is that Cyrus is even helping her, we learn that his motivation is to stick it to Elizabeth North. It is because of she that he no longer has that job. In order for him to stick it to Elizabeth, he has to make her working situation hostile, and the one way that this can be done and simultaneously right the White House ship was to have Mellie brought back. Mellie is after all the one person that Elizabeth hates more than she hates Cyrus. This solution is also a boon for Abby who gets to strike back at Elizabeth for all the pain that she’s inflicted on her as well. All I have to say to that chess move is WOW.
We flash back over to the Oval Office where Susan Ross is responding to a summons from the President. He wishes to have her take over his duties at some business roundtable that will be happening the next morning, but Susan says that she already has a date with high school students about college access. Fitz tells her that she’ll have to reschedule and cuts her off when she continues to go on about the importance of her event. She makes a move to leave, but then turns around and decides to address the president.
Short version of what she said to Fitz: he’s selfish, inconsiderate and isn’t allowed to be human with flaws because he is an elected official. She’s basically disappointed that he would dare be anything but the monument that she (and the rest of America) expects him to be. *groan* Susan was sounding an awful lot like Cyrus who said to Olivia way back in S1 (1.07) that Fitz doesn’t get to be happy and great at the same time. Is there a rule about this somewhere? Fitz does appear to be affected by her words. How could he not be?
Admitting Pain
Olivia is back at the hotel and she’s sitting on the bed in the dark as various memories assault her. She remembers Fitz telling her that she can’t fix the fact that he loves her (2.20). Then she recalls her father ridiculing her for believing that she can have a life with Fitz (3.01) and then she remembers Jake telling her that he’s in love with her but that she’s in love with Fitz (4.22). She’s clearly distressed by these thoughts, but soon has to hide her tears when Jake returns from a store run. Olivia asks him how bad things are out there and he tells her that the pictures from the diner are everywhere. Now there are news vans driving about on the hunt for her. The bit of good news he has for her is that there was a car stolen from the diner that Quinn is tracking down, which will have them on their way to recapturing Gavin.
Now lying in the same bed, Olivia fills the ensuing silence with her inner thoughts. (Sharing inner thoughts is NOT something Olivia Pope does often.) She wonders at what point it was that her life took the turn that landed her at where she is now. She admits out loud that she’s scared and that she doesn’t know what to do. Jake tells her that being scared is a good thing, that we are at our best when we are afraid. Your focus becomes crystal clear and you just know what to do next. You follow your instincts and act. (This has never worked for me. Curling into a ball in a dark corner, however…)
After a moment, Olivia asks if he minds holding her. Poor thing needs some comfort and some spooning ensues. (Don’t get any ideas, folks. It was strictly nonsexy spooning.) Olivia continues to spill her guts, sharing with Jake that she has spent so much time being ashamed, allowing shame to press on her. For a brief moment, she had received a reprieve from that feeling. She is, of course, referring to the week of bliss that she had spent rolling about in bed with Fitz like they were children frolicking in a field of daisies. She was able to breathe for that short period of time, but the release of those pictures have brought back the suffocation. What she was doing at that moment, her taking on this case? This is her running away from that feeling. To that, Olivia is told:
“Liv, loving the President isn’t a crime.” -- Jake Ballard
And yet there she was being hunted and chased like a thief in the night. Dang.
I really liked this scene because it gives us insight into Olivia’s headspace and why she’s doing what she is. A number of my fellow Scandalites have for years talked about why Olivia runs away from Fitz at the end of every season prior to season 4, and this has consistently been one of the reasons that comes up. Shame. That really sucks since one shouldn’t have to feel ashamed for falling in love. The object of her affection is married (on paper anyway), so I get it.
It’s Decision Time
The next morning at the White House, we see Abby following the latest advice that she received from Cyrus the night before. She is to tell Fitz what it is that she believes Olivia is telling him--telling them all--with her disappearance and continued silence. It has been over 24 hours and still has been no word from her. Abby finds the President on the balcony just as dawn is breaking and he’s already nursing a glass of scotch. (Did he ever sleep?) He’s clearly in a sullen mood, but Abby doesn’t let that deter her from her mission. She asks if he has seen the pictures that were taken of Olivia at the diner and if he had also noted the person that she was captured in the picture with. (Way to poke at his insecurity there, Red.) Fitz confirms that he has seen the photos in question and then asks her the point of her inquiry. To this, she says the following:
“Olivia is doing what Olivia always does, sir. She’s trying to stay out of the storm. … the moment Liv stops running, the moment she stops hiding and steps back in that spotlight, that cyclone makes landfall and everything in her world gets violently swept away. That kind of pressure, that kind of scrutiny, it will be unbearable. Who would want to live through that? What kind of woman would choose to live through that? Olivia Pope is never going to tell you that she’s okay with that kind of life, Mr. President. No matter how many times you ask.” -- Abby Whelan
Damn. She ain’t lying and Fitz knows that she’s not lying either. He had just had a conversation with Olivia about this very same thing two evenings before. He knew that Olivia wasn’t ready to have their relationship available for public consumption, and as such, he had an important decision to make. It was clear to him at that point that Olivia wasn’t going to call him. It was up to him to make a decision for the both of them.
Later that morning, we see David following the President as he is heading towards the Oval. David wishes to share with him the information he compiled during his investigation of the leak and tells Fitz that the lead had indeed come from the First Lady’s interoffice network. He is unable to finish relaying his findings. Fitz tells him that whatever it is that he has found doesn’t matter anymore. Once at his desk, Fitz reaches out to Mellie and offers her the apology that she had asked for and tells her to “come home.”
David takes the report of the investigation to Abby since the President doesn’t want it. He tells Abby that while Mellie’s code was used to take the security footage from the server, they could not find any evidence of a download of the video on Mellie’s computer. Because of this, the investigation is inconclusive. He says that there are some things that he did glean from reading all of Mellie’s emails, and Abby immediately tells him to share, but then backtracks. She doesn’t want to know. (I wonder if we’ll ever find out what it is that David read…) When David leaves, Abby takes a look at the report.
Back at the Oval, Elizabeth has come to ask the President about a sitdown that he is scheduled to have with journalist Noah Baker. She’s in the middle of asking what was going on when Mellie waltzes into the room and renders Elizabeth silent. She is stunned beyond belief. Mellie was back in the White House. Fitz tells Elizabeth that he and Mellie have an interview with Noah, and that someone should have told her about it. Mellie pipes up then and it is made clear that Mellie intentionally left Elizabeth out of the loop on this one. Yikes!
Moments later, Elizabeth is seen catching up with Abby in the hallway. She tells Abby that she’s gotten what she wanted, which is Mellie back in the White House. Elizabeth thinks that Abby is playing dumb, but she really didn’t know that Mellie was back. In that moment, she seems to realize that hey, maybe Cyrus was right. Playing the adult really does pay off. She took a gamble and the President is doing exactly what they all think that Olivia would expect him to do.
Elizabeth has been waiting for a chance to fire Abby and this opportunity is as good as any. She tells Abby to pack her back, but Abby says not to fast, hombre. Abby has figured out that it was Elizabeth who leaked the photos. Her reason? To get rid of Olivia. Say whaaaaat?
Remember what Elizabeth said last episode after she witnessed the lover’s quarrel between Olivia and Fitz? She said that with Olivia back in the President’s bed, she was now in their business. What this also meant for Elizabeth specifically is that she wasn’t the most powerful woman in the President’s life as she had gleefully boasted she was early in episode 5.01 tp Mellie. Elizabeth just couldn’t have that. That’s one hell of a risk to have taken in order to maintain your newly acquired position of power. I’ve always known never to trust Elizabeth North.
When it’s clear that Abby’s got her number, she quits pretending and pulls Abby into her office. She asks if Abby has already told shared her discovery with the President and Abby tells her that she hadn’t. Elizabeth is clearly flustered now. She knows that she’s on the hook. She asks abby what it is that she wants and Abby says that she no longer wishes to work for Liz. What she wants is to be equal to her and work with her as a team, and Elizabeth quickly agrees.
Wowsers. This agreement effectively removes Abby from under Elizabeth’s thumb. Since the President no longer cares about who leaked the photos, it doesn’t matter how Abby uses the information that David gave her, right? I commend you for that turn around, Abigail.
Time to Face the Music
Olivia and Jake are jolted awake by a call from Quinn who was able to track down Gavin. (These two literally went to sleep with their shoes still on?) They are able to find him at the home he had mentioned earlier that he was building in the Shenandoah Valley. When they walk into the framed structure, Gavin is armed with a nail gun that he refuses to put down. When it is clear that Jake intends to confront the man, Olivia wisely takes a step aside and yells out when Gavin fires off a shot. Jake easily dodges the flying nail and then gives Gavin this look that says
Olivia sets a lawn chair behind Gavin and he has no choice but to take a seat. He is back to telling stories about how terrible his father treated him.
“He called me a weak, little weasel my whole life. Can you believe that? My own father. Anytime I asked for something, anytime I tried to have something of my own… ‘You little weasel.’ And it wasn’t just to my face. He’d tell his friends that I was a weasel, too, and then he’d laugh at me. Who’s laughing now, Dad? Not you.” -- Gavin Price
Yiiiiikes. The verbal assault Gavin had to endure from his father sounds an awful lot like what Olivia had to endure with Rowan. Like Gavin, Olivia eventually neutralized her father. The big difference here, however, is that Rowan is still alive and Walter Price is not.
Gavin confesses to having pushed his father down the stairs when he hears police sirens. He’s angry that Olivia and Jake called the cops on him, but Olivia has a message for him:
“No more running.” -- Olivia Pope
Yes. No more running.
With their job done, Olivia and Jake had back to D.C. Jake is in the driver’s seat, which allows Olivia the opportunity to check her voicemail. There is a message from Fitz. Despite what she had promised, she never did call him back. A lot has transpired since she had left and he called to fill her in it.
“It’s me. I know you said not to call, but I just wanted you to know… I get it. All this time I’ve been waiting to hear from you so you could tell me what you wanted, but it’s what you don’t want, isn’t it? You don’t want this. I’m going to deny Sally’s story and bring Mellie back to the White House because I don’t want you to throw away your whole life just for me. I love you too much for that.” --Fitzgerald Grant
Whew. I ain’t gonna lie. I legit had tears in my eyes. Fitz was letting her go. He was basically doing the same exact thing that Olivia has done on his behalf many a times (1.07, 2.22, 3.18) before. I just...give me a moment, y’all.
Olivia and Jake eventually pull up to the side of the street that is opposite to where the media are camped out in front of OPA. When Jake asks if she’s good to brave the reporters alone, Olivia confirms that she is and then exits the vehicle. She crosses the street and heads right into the throng of reporters with an assuredness that she didn’t have just over a day before. A frenzy ensues as they shout questions at her while she progresses towards the entrance of the building. One question out of them all stands out: is she the President’s mistress?
Olivia ordinarily would have been like “boy bye”, but instead, she looks right at all of these people and their many cameras confirms that she is indeed Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III’s mistress with an unequivocal, YES.
What is happening?!
I suppose it’s safe to conclude that Olivia isn’t running anymore, huh? Despite her very real fears, she voluntarily stepped into the eye of the storm. This woman literally faced the press and did the unthinkable, did what everyone (including herself) never thought that she would do. This is HUGE. If this doesn’t tell Fitzgerald (and everyone else in that big White House) what/who her choice is, I don’t know what will. There’s no way to walk this back now without claiming some temporary bout with insanity.
I can’t even begin to imagine the kind of chaos that this admission is about to bring to the White House. Abby sure won’t be gloating about her victory for much longer once she catches wind of this turn of events. This Olivia Pope is not your Olivia Pope from yesteryear. Hold onto your hats, people!
Moving Forward
We are all familiar with how much our news media loves to dwell on the sexual proclivities of the rich and famous, but this one is going to be one for the ages that’ll be discussed worldwide. And it will get very ugly. Recall Sally Langston’s report early in the episode and that bit about Olivia’s body? I’m telling y’all that this Sally Langston chick is quite lucky that she is fictional because all of the Internet would have been needed to hold me back from the sucker punch that I’m itching to land on her throat. That remark of hers has just given us a preview of how the conservative media will frame this situation, and my heart is already thumping in fury over the thought.
My prognostication may turn out to be incorrect, but I sense not. We shall see. Either way, Olivia is going to receive major heat from all directions (racists, black nationalists, the morality police) and she will need all the allies she can get to battle through it all. I hope Fitzgerald is prepared to stand with her when the storm makes landfall because if he doesn’t, her prediction from 5.01 will surely come to pass.
Thank you all for reading this review of 5.02! Be sure to share what you think is going to happen next in the comments below. See you all next week!
