Alright, Scandal. I suppose you and I can return to being good friends. You’re forgiven for having left me feeling all kinds of discombobulated last week, but we’re cool again. For now.
Let’s delve into this, shall we?
The opening scene is of the President giving remarks to the press about the conclusion of the impeachment hearings and also unspecifically remarking on the circumstances that led to this circus in the first place (revelation of his affair). Fitz manages to convey remorse, humility, sincerity, gratitude and seriousness all in one go. He looks and sounds like a man who understands that his actions were responsible for the mess that he put the country through and is willing to do what he must to win back the public’s trust.
I laugh at the content of this speech because Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III is doing what he does best: saying all the right things in order to get himself back in the good graces of his intended target. In the six episodes that have aired so far these season, we have seen Fitz do this with Mellie, with Cyrus and now with the American people. Congress conducted a “fair and thorough investigation” into his Administration? He’s praying to the Lord for forgiveness?
The conclusion of his remarks is immediately followed by the news media cooing into their cameras about how well the President handled himself and how this was a public relations win for the White House. The man has the Beltway media elite eating out of the palm of his hand.
What was it that Mellie said about Fitz in “Honor Thy Father” (418)? “No one’s ever hated you. Even when they disagree with you, they love Fitzgerald Grant. That face, that voice. You got that thing that make people love you.”
Reporter Ashley Davidson concludes her report by saying that the “President made it clear from his tone that today is not the day to gloat.” Ah, Ashley. If only she could see the revelry that the President and his staff are indeed partaking in behind closed doors. They’re having a good ole time!
The party is in full swing when we see Olivia pushing her way through the crush of people. Her advance is halted by Abby who shares with her unconfirmed information that she got from a guy on the Hill. Word is that the Senators of the Judiciary Committee had been blackmailed with dirt that had been buried so deep that no one could find it. Abby suspects that Olivia has something to with it--good guess, Abigail--but Olivia gives a non-denial answer to avoid lying to her friend.
Moving past Abby, Olivia makes her way over to Fitz and she looks unsure of the reception that she’s going to get from him. Remember that she had walked out on their agreed upon marriage of convenience at the end of last episode when she received a call from Mellie. And topping that off, Olivia returned the engagement ring to him via Abby.
Would it be a stretch for me to presume that she got doux bebe back via Abby as well? From this scene, it is made clear that she and Fitz have not seen each other since the day of the wedding and yet she has doux bebe back on her hand.
Anyway, Olivia’s anxiety over her reception is soon allayed when Fitz cracks a smile and pulls her into an embrace. Surprise is on her face and heard in the in question she poses to him about them still being alright after the whole wedding fiasco. The wedding wasn’t the one that they wanted anyway, so Fitz was unbothered by the fact that it didn’t happen. Besides, the impeachment hearings are over, the divorce papers are signed and he’s got his girl with him. The man is completely unbothered by anything right now.
Over in another corner of the party, David Rosen and VP Susan Ross are making small talk. Susan starts off by mentioning that she saw that David is making a speech at the conference for the Chiefs of Police the next day and then lets him know that she, too, will be making a speech of her own. She offers him a ride over in her motorcade...that is if he isn’t already going with someone else, of course. (Real smooth, Suze.) David confirms that he is going alone and cracks a funny about how it is a surprise that no one wishes to hang out at the National Association of the Chiefs of Police. And Susan lets out the cutest little laugh of a woman amused by her crush. She’s such a goner. I knew those two scenes from last week were a setup for something like this. I’m game.
Coming through the door on the heels of this moment is Cyrus, who heads straight for the President. He interrupts the schmoozing Fitz is doing to relay that he’s got urgent news to share. Fitz catches Abby’s eye from a short distance away and motions for them to leave the room. Olivia watches this procession as they make their exit.
Away from the ears of the other revellers, Cyrus breaks it to Fitz that Rowan is out of jail and that Fitz’s former trusted Secret Service Agent Tom Larsen is also free. Say what? Fitz can’t believe what he’s hearing. Free? Paperwork for their release? Who, what, when, how, why?
As Fitz is spitting off questions about how this could have possibly had happened, the one person present in that big white house who can provide him with answers makes her way over to their private conversation. Abby alerts her boss that the three of them are no longer alone, and Fitz turns around to find Olivia. No one quite knows what to say.
Olivia plays her part to perfection, feigning shock at what she had overheard. Fitz promises to do everything that he can to find Rowan and then pulls Olivia into a comforting hug. He is unaware of the play that is taking place over his shoulder as Olivia looks over at Abby. She momentarily still looks unsettled, but then drops the act. Now it’s Abby’s turn to be truly shocked. The look in Olivia’s eyes tells her all she needs to know. Olivia had something to do with Rowan’s freedom! Eek! Olivia gives Abby a subtle head shake to ask that she not say anything and Abby replies with a barely noticeable head nod in agreement.
This is one hell of a dangerous game that Olivia is playing right now.
Can we talk about Kerry Washington’s split second ability to shift the emotions on her face? She went from shaken daughter to knowing mastermind to pleading friend to worried girlfriend. The morphing was so brilliant, it was almost sinister. Darby Stanchfield was really great in this scene as well with her body language and the nonverbal communication. Loved them both here.
Olivia is next seen coming into her dark apartment. Something about the feel of the space alerts her that someone is inside. She calls out questioningly for her dad only to find that it isn’t he who is present, but Jake. Olivia turns on some of the lights (the sconces by the door and the ones in the dining area) to find Jake seated on sofa with an open bottle of her wine sitting in front of him on the table.
Can I ask when Olivia is going to officially move out of this apartment because either everyone has a gatdamn key to her place or folks are just breaking in and lying in wait for her return. Those twenty locks on her door clearly isn’t keeping anyone out. I’m not even sure which avenue it is that Jake used to gain access, but the scene that plays out is an uncomfortable one.
Jake remarks that her wine isn’t very good, but then again, he is no expert in wines. He orders her to sit down, but Olivia demands to know why he is in her place. Olivia doesn’t respond to his command to sit until he barks it at her. It takes her a moment, but she eventually does take a seat. There is something in his demeanor that appears to rattle her a bit. She keeps her eyes trained on him as she makes her way over to a seat that is across from him.
Jake begins by saying to Olivia that the thing that he admires about Rowan is that Rowan never pretends to be someone that he is not. He owns who he is and is unapologetic about it. Olivia, however, pretends herself as somebody that she isn’t. Jake ridicules her white hat concept and goes on to say that Olivia seems to believe that feeling bad about the bad that happens, taking in strays (her gladiators and himself) and drinking wine will somehow wipe away the evil that she does.
Olivia isn’t putting much into his ramblings at this point. She dismisses him as being drunk and upset and tells him that he should exit from her home. Jake then reveals to her that Elise is dead and that Rowan is the one responsible, but then he modifies that statement to put the blame on her. If she hadn’t freed Rowan from prison, Elise wouldn’t be dead.
Now let’s take a moment to again pause for the cause. I’m going to mention Kerry’s performance in this scene and then I’ll be done. I promise. Whoever decided to keep the camera trained on her as news of Elise’s death hit Olivia deserves all the high fives because this was again an amazing conveyance of an emotional shift that takes place within Olivia and which we can see written all over Kerry’s face. Where is this woman’s Emmy? No, seriously. I don’t want to hear excuses because you have none.
Jake proceeds to heap on the guilt of Elise’s demise by chastising Olivia for not having thought of the body count that her father had previously amassed before deciding that freeing him was the thing to do. Olivia tries to tell him that if she known or even considered--now I’m assuming big time here--that her father would have come after Elise that she probably wouldn’t have done as she had, but she gets cut off as Jake yells about how the woman he loves killed the one he used to love or maybe it’s the woman he used to love who killed the one that he does love. Um, what?
I get that Jake is upset and he’s got the perfect target for all of his pent up rage regarding Elise’s murder, but he’s got a lot of nerve. Did I miss the part where he shared with Olivia that Elise was B613 or where he revealed that Elise was working for someone who wanted Rowan dead? As a former operative, Jake knows better than anyone that Rowan comes after anybody who comes for him. Jake, after all, does have the stab wounds and near death experience as evidence of this. Elise came for the king and missed. Her death was a foregone conclusion at that point.
This isn’t me absolving Olivia of her part in accelerating the timeline to Elise’s demise. I’m simply pointing out that Jake is fully aware of Rowan’s ingenuity and that Rowan would have eventually punished Elise for her betrayal. Rowan wasn’t Command for over twenty years because he was ineffective at his job.
Jake continues his diatribe by saying how much he is tired of being their father’s son.
Okay. Time out.
I know some of you must have had the same expression on your faces as Olivia when Jake said this. Mine was doing its own imitation of the sourpuss. Jake did indeed say their father--as if this situation couldn’t get anymore weird.
Allow me to flip you back to “A Few Good Women” (421) where Jake had a scene with fellow B613 operative Franklin Russell. Remember him? The other man Rowan sent in to seduce and distract his daughter? We learn from the moment between these two men that they are part of a group that they refer to as “Rowan’s others” and that Rowan was the closest thing to a father that they had. Tom Larsen is also part of this special group.
Now back to the present. Jake accuses Olivia of not ever being tired of being her father’s child. He questions how someone as brilliant and as successful as she is is unable to see who she truly is. Olivia is morbidly curious enough to know who Jake believes her to be and so she asks him to fill her in. Jake points out to her that her release of Rowan was her acting in self-interest and not in any way that is beneficial to the republic. The impeachment hearings have gone away and Olivia isn’t married. Contrary to what he and his fellow others had once believed, Olivia isn’t at all Rowan’s failure. If anything, she is his biggest accomplishment. Jake eerily echoes the words that were used in the Franchesca Hunter exposé about how Olivia has turned into the woman that Rowan raised her to be: power hungry, entitled and dangerous.
There is something about this last statement that snaps Olivia into a different mental space. Power hungry, entitled and dangerous, huh? Oh, she was so done with this conversation.
Olivia acknowledges his grief and apologies for his pain, but he has to go now. Like yesterday. She isn’t on some jokes. When Jake gets up to approach her, Olivia takes several quick steps away from him. The expression on her face is one that could be described as barely contained terror. She looks braced for an attack. There is, after all, precedence for Jake going violent on her. (And please, I don’t want to hear your justifications.)
Jake leans in, stops and then turns Olivia’s head towards him so that he can kiss her. It’s an awful, disturbing moment that isn’t at all helped by the fact that Olivia is as stiff as a corpse as he does it. She is arrested in fear. She isn’t able to take a breath until he is finally out of her apartment, and it only then that wipes his kiss of death from her mouth.
What was the point of that kiss exactly? Was it retaliatory? Him being an unmitigated asshole? And isn’t she like his surrogate sister since he refers to Rowan as his father? This whole thing is rather icky and uncalled for. All it did was have me wish for great harm to be inflicted upon Jake Ballard’s person. Better yet he could just...
Scott Foley really does excel in the creep department. His execution in this scene reminds me of the only other two of his that stands out for me, which so happen to be in “No Sun on the Horizon” (313) where Jake was speaking to himself in his dark office (when he momentarily served as Command) about his sad childhood and later in the episode when he shot James Novak and then stayed by his side as he lay on the cold asphalt choking in his own blood. That’s what Foley brings to the table, people: the creep factor. Dassit.
And how much truth was embedded in Jake’s drunken ramblings? Is Olivia so drastically different from who she was back when Jake was forcibly insinuated into her life three seasons ago? Who was she then and what was her life like? Her life prior to Jake certainly didn’t include B613 nor did it include the psychological games that Rowan inflicted on her, games which had her living life in a never ending cycle of torment. Games in which Jake played an integral part. Certainly one can point out that Jake was following orders, but he nevertheless had a hand in that and continued to sustain it.
I’m no fan of Rowan roaming the streets either, but Jake won’t be in this woman’s living room railing about how she’s all kinds of awful as if he just met her five minutes ago. Olivia isn’t anymore terrible today as she had been when she used to be curled up under him in retreat from the pain associated with her life, so Jake can find himself a seat in the space of someone else that he’s broken into and cry about the wife who he had already thought to be dead for years prior to finding out about a Scandal week ago that she wasn’t. I question if he’s really broken up about Elise’s death or if he’s merely using this as his excuse to dump all of his hurt feels on Olivia for her choosing Fitz over him. Whichever one it is, I don’t care. Just exit stage left.
The next day we find Olivia and Fitz in the Oval. Fitz is signing off of on some things and Olivia is looking over some items from her position on the sofa when Cyrus walks into the room. He briefly pauses when he sees Olivia, but then continues into the room. He tells Fitz that he’s been thinking of ways that could help him can reset his image after the beating it took with the impeachment hearings and proposes a trip to Peru for the Inter-American summit. It’ll get him out of the country and to an area of the world where he is loved, which will in turn produce a positive high profile visual.
Cyrus as it turns out is too late with his proposal. Fitz already has a plan and it involves him taking on smaller domestic items that would not only be beneficial to his constituents, but have the added benefit of generating good buzz for him. Items such as tax credits for small business, increased penalties for financial fraud.
When Fitz gets stuck on recalling what the other items are, Olivia pipes up from her place on the sofa with one word reminders. She doesn’t even look up from what she’s focused on. The one word is enough to recall Fitz to what he had forgotten. This prompts Cyrus to glance over at Olivia, it now being clear to him who is responsible for this plan of action.
The last of the small achievements Fitz says he’ll be embarking on the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a feminist icon. This move will do more for his image than the one Cyrus proposed. Fitz tells his Chief of Staff that they should make a big deal out of this moment and have the networks carry the event live.
At this instruction, Cyrus once again looks over at Olivia who is distracted by whatever it was that is holding her attention. It is at this moment that Cyrus offers a verbal acknowledgement of her presence with a greeting wasn’t exactly friendly, but wasn’t quite adversarial either. It was as warm as what remains of the polar ice cap. Olivia’s responding hello is an indifferent one that is as balmy as his was. Aside from the small smile she gave him when he first walked into the room, Olivia doesn’t at all seem to have much friendliness to offer Cyrus Beene.
The exchange is interrupted by Olivia’s phone dinging. OPA has a client! Yippee!! Someone actually wants to hire them. This is good news, Fitz says to her. He promises to let her know when he finds out anything about Rowan and then kisses her goodbye before she heads off to do her business. Once Olivia is out of the room, Cyrus broaches the subject of Rowan with Fitz, saying that he heard that Fitz had called off the FBI search. Fitz confirms this to be true and tells him that he has opted to go another way, but doesn’t bother to offer any details. Welp.
Cyrus isn’t as back in the circle as he may have thought he was, huh? The President was strategizing with his brilliant-yet-not-part-of-his-Cabinet girlfriend and changing direction on him without so much as offering him a why. Was Cyrus truly his Chief of Staff or merely a placeholding, glorified advisor who Fitz has no intention of listening to?
Elsewhere in the White House, Abby is talking with the Medal of Freedom honoree about the what is on the agenda leading up to the presentation of the award. She expresses her belief that Frank Holland deserving of the award, and Frank is flattered by her words. He has his wife’s hand clutched in his and she’s beaming by his side with pride. Abby tells him that she’s read his one book six times, and that it was that book that gave her the courage to finally ask a friend (Olivia) to help her leave her abusive husband. Abby comes close to going full fangirl when an autograph of her copy of the book is offered, but she manages to not totally lose her mind.
Meanwhile over at OPA, Olivia arrives like a whirlwind. She flings the front door open and doesn’t even bother to close it behind her as she fires off a series of questions at her team who are all standing about in wait for her. Huck stands alone in the middle of her path while Quinn and Marcus remain closer to the entry to what used to be Harrison’s office.
When no one moves or responds to her many questions, Olivia comes to a stop in front of Huck and asks him what is going on. Huck responds with a question of his own, asking if Olivia had let Rowan out of prison. When Huck reframes his question as a confirmatory statement, Olivia tells him that she didn’t have a choice in the matter (really, Liv?). Huck in turn vocalizes all of our fears that Rowan is going to bring back B613, but Olivia says that he won’t. Umm hmm.
Huck maintains that Rowan will indeed bring back that grimy organization, and that either they are all going to die or Rowan is going to die. At that, Olivia tells him that no one is going after her father and that OPA is officially out of the spy business. She addresses this to everyone, but she is specific when looking for indication that Huck understands her. When he doesn’t immediately respond, she gives him this look that gets him to reluctantly agree. Olivia was seriously like this to Huck:
Olivia then inquires about the client. Hannah Taylor is her name. She’s sitting in Olivia’s office and refuses to speak to anyone but the head gladiator in charge. Upon joining her client in her office, the first thing that Hannah mentions is the case where Olivia took down a Navy Admiral for raping Ensign Amy Martin (421). Hannah wants to know if Olivia is an advocate for rape victims, if she’s able to get them justice. Olivia answers this question carefully by stating that she sometimes does get justice, but that each case is different. She has to hear Hannah’s story in order to know if she will be able to help her.
Hannah shares that two years ago she had been raped and that no one believed her when it happened. She says that she tried to deal with it on her own, but couldn’t. She’s now in Olivia’s office because she saw her on TV, and figured that since Olivia knows the President (ahem), Olivia could speak to him about her situation on Hannah’s behalf. Olivia is confused by this request and asks if Hannah is trying to change a law of some kind because if that is the case, she would have to go through her state Senator. Hannah assures her that the President will want to know about this because the man who raped her is Frank Holland, the very same Frank Holland who was receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ohhhh snap!
Flash over to the President at the White House giving his speech live on broadcast television about how Nobel Prize winner Frank Holland is an inspiring and true devotee to the rights of women the world over. Abby is off camera brimming with joy over the honor that Frank is about to receive. Back at OPA, Olivia watches the presentation, but Hannah can barely bring herself to look at the TV.
It’s gladiating time! Quinn throws up pictures of Hannah on their wall and shares information that she had learned about their client. Hannah was a English and Comp Lit double major who served as the school’s literary magazine editor. She had been a straight A student. She had also nabbed a coveted spot in Professor Holland’s senior thesis seminar.
Hannah explains to Olivia that her choosing to go to that particular school was because of Holland. She wanted to be a writer and he was her idol. Her being chosen to be part of his class was like validation for her talent. Olivia points out that this is a lot of power to give to one person, but Hannah tells her that everyone views him this way; that everyone worships him.
Quinn’s presentation of on Holland details what put him on the map--his debut book “Milner’s Brook”, which is the one that Abby was raving about--and what eventually pushed his status to stratospheric heights. Marcus adds that Holland is also a solid humanitarian in having dedicated his life to promoting girl’s education in developing nations and Huck offers that Holland has mentioned a number of female authors who have go on to have great success of their own.
Olivia asks Hannah where the assault had taken place and she says that it happened at his home when she came over to discuss a paper with him. She believes that she was drugged before it happened. She came to with him on top of her. Ick!
The school won’t let Hannah back in, citing her to be a “psychological liability” and that they are unable to provide her with the care that she needs at their institution. Hannah says that the school told her to take a leave of absence, but Quinn says that this is essentially an expulsion, but the school won’t call it that. Sounds to me as if the school is more interested in protecting and keeping their asset that is Frank Holland than seeing that he is prosecuted for violating the trust of his student.
Olivia explains to Hannah what she is going up against. Holland is a beloved man who has the backing of not only a powerful institution, but the entire country. Her quest for justice won’t be an easy one, but Hannah is not deterred.
Olivia is next seen on her way out of OPA and telling the gladiators that she’ll be back. When Marcus asks the room where Olivia was headed, Huck says that she’s off to inform the President that he might have just hung a medal around the neck of a rapist. Marcus is confused by this and points out that the White House isn’t their client. To this Quinn says, “She’s the President’s girlfriend. The White House is always our client.” Heh.
Over at the White House, we see Abby meeting up with Elizabeth North in Lafayette Park. She presents her with a signed copy of Frank Holland’s book and they fangirl a bit about how grand the man is. Abby then proceeds to apologize for how Elizabeth was kicked out, but Liz doesn’t want to talk about that. She came to let Abby know that Sally Langston offered her a chance to come on The Liberty Report and spill her guts about her time working for the Grant Administration.
Abby now realizes that this meeting wasn’t a social one and asks Elizabeth what it is that she wants. Elizabeth says that in exchange for not going on The Liberty Report, she wishes to have a job at the White House again, one that puts her back in the President’s inner circle. She also wants Cyrus gone. When Abby points out that the President will never agree to this plot of hers, Elizabeth reminds her of Sally’s ratings and the influence that she has on the masses. Everything in Washington runs on power and Elizabeth says that all she wants some of that for herself. The White House has 48 hours to give her an answer or she’ll become a “lover of Liberty.” Upset at Elizabeth’s blackmail, Abby snatches back her gift of Frank Holland’s book and storms off. LOL!
Sometime later in the Oval, we see Olivia telling Fitz about the Frank Holland situation. Though it is just an accusation at this point, it is still something that he ought to know. Fitz asks Olivia to keep him informed of how that situation proceeds and she is set to exit the Oval from a side door when Charlotte opens the main door to announce Jake Ballard. Ut oh.
Jake’s confident stride into the room comes to a crawl when he notices that Olivia is present. Olivia really is definitely leaving the room now. Not after what went down between her and Jake earlier. She must’ve been having a small scale panic attack on the inside, wondering if Jake was there to whistleblow on her lying behind.
Fitz asks if Jake has had any luck with the mission he was assigned and he says that he hasn’t. Olivia, who is totally in the dark as to what they are talking about, asks to be filled in. Fitz tells her that he gave Jake the task of finding Rowan. She asks Jake if he has any leads and he says that he hasn’t got any and that he also has no idea who may have helped Rowan escape.
Fitz wants to know Jake’s progress on nailing down a location, but Jake hasn’t had much luck. He also hasn’t be at his search for long. Jake then asks why it is that Rowan chose now to escape and what gave him the perfect opportunity to escape. Fitz says that is a good question, but before the conversation can go further down that path, Olivia interrupts by saying that she believes that they should focus on what the plan is when her father is finally found.
Lawd, if the room wasn’t tense before, it sure was then. Her statement causes Fitz and Jake share a look and then go silent. This can’t bode well. When she presses them for an answer, Fitz says to her that it’s probably best if he and Jake spoke in private first, but Olivia isn’t having any of that. Whatever they plan to do about her father, they are going to have to share it with her. Fitz reluctantly gives Jake the go ahead to share with her what their discussed plan of action is, and Jake straight up tells her that he is going to put a bullet in Rowan’s head when he finds him.
Now why do I not have any confidence in Jake actually succeeding in doing this? And was it just me or was Jake deriving great pleasure in making Olivia squirm with those questions of his? Her knows how much personal devastation spilling her secret would cause, and even though he doesn’t do it, he decides that he’s going to torture her with the threat of exposing her. Sick son of a bitch, but you know what? Olivia could put an end to that by telling Fitz herself. Ah well. She must be a glutton for punishment.
The following day we see Abby telling Cyrus about Elizabeth’s threat to go on The Liberty Report. Cyrus doesn’t seem to take the threat seriously, but Abby stress to him that they should and that they ought to alert the President to the situation. Cyrus has no intention of alerting the President because that’ll mean that Olivia would take over and handle the situation herself. No, can’t do. Cyrus will be taking care of this situation. He orders Abby to get David Rosen on the line for him.
Next we see Elizabeth being escorted into David’s office and she’s giving him a hard time about being brought to him without an explanation as to why. When she refuses to heed his instruction to take a seat, David provides her with the reason why she was brought in. He tells her that it is because it was brought to his attention that she is about to publicly discuss classified information that could potentially cause “grave and irreparable damage to the national security” of the country. He again instructs her to take a seat, but this time, he puts some bass into his voice that does finally get Elizabeth to claim a seat. Ha!
Over at Frank Holland’s house is Olivia and Quinn who have come to discuss with him their client Hannah Taylor. They want to know if he recalls her and he does. He says that she was a talented student who dropped his class and he had no idea why. When he is asked if he recalls any further details about her, Holland calls his wife Janet into the room. He shows her Hannah’s picture and asks if she recalls anything about the student. Janet says that she does remember her as being a nice girl and mentions something about her being the student who was involved in plagiarism. Holland is then like oh yes! He had called Hannah over to discuss with her a paper that he believed may have been plagiarized. Oh boy.
When he asks about the reason for Olivia’s inquiry, she tells him that Hannah is accusing him of having drugged her and then having sex with her against her will. Holland is shocked by the assertion and calls it “insane.” Back at OPA, Olivia and Quinn confront Hannah with what they learned from Holland about her having plagiarized one of her papers. When Hannah confirms this to be true, Olivia is upset that Hannah lied to her. Hannah says that she didn’t, but Olivia says that Hannah never disclosed this information. She explains to her that it’s already hard enough to prosecute a rape charge and that in a situation such as this a lie of omission is the same thing as a lie.
Let me just pause here for a sec. Surely Olivia sees the irony in her saying this to Hannah, yeah? She’s not really going to stand there and chastise her client for lying by omission whereas she’s doing the same exact thing (but on a much grander scale!!!) with Fitz, is she? Yeah, she is.
Anywho, any lie as it pertains to accusations of rape could call into question everything that the victim says about what happened. Hannah insists that she isn’t lying about being raped and remarks that she knows that Olivia believes her, but Olivia tells her that it doesn’t matter what she believes or the fact that survivors of rape are held to a higher standard. What does matter is what can be proven. Hannah takes this to mean that Holland will get away with his crime. Quinn quickly negates this thought and gets a disproving warning from Olivia. Quinn turns to her boss and emphatically states that Holland won’t get away with his crime. If they mean to take down Holland, Olivia told them that they’ll have to find other women that Holland assaulted because Hannah’s word alone won’t be enough.
This moment between Olivia and Quinn reminded me a bit of when Quinn promised Amanda Tanner’s father that everything would be fine with his daughter (105). Turns out that Amanda was as dead as a doornail. Olivia had to pull Quinn aside and tell her that in their business, they never make promises to clients.
Off Quinn and Marcus go to track down these other women. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of them and his modus operandi was the same with them all: drugged and then assaulted. They, too, alerted the school to their assault, but their complaints were dismissed in a manner similar to how they dismissed Hannah’s.
I know I wasn’t the only one to say this during the live tweet of this episode, but I’m going to repeat it here anyway. This case of the week sounded an awful lot like a remixed version of the situation involving of one Bill Cosby. Beloved and admired man, who was considered a national treasure and who wielded quite a bit of power because of his status. Trusted mentor who took advantage of the women of his acquaintance by drugging them and then sexually assaulting them. The difference here is that the perpetrator is a prominent, white literary author whose career is based off of the fact that he’s a feminist. What kind of feminist rapes women? That’s an oxymoron.
The gladiators come back together to share what they learned now they are off to see if they can find evidence of any prescription drugs that could have been used to incapacitate these women.
Back over at the Department of Justice, David is still wrangling with Elizabeth. They are going back and forth about the legality and even the authority of David to prevent Elizabeth from speaking to Sally. When David asks if Elizabeth got her information from an ACLU pamphlet, Elizabeth informs him that she actually learned it from law school. David then asks her if she had attended “Town and Country University.” I die! LOL!! Elizabeth tells him that she actually went to Stanford. Bloop!
Liz goes on about how David is holding her on some bogus national security charge because he’s trying to keep her from saying something that he believes could be embarrassing to the President, but David hits her with him knowing that it is she who leaked the footage of Olivia and the President. Now this isn’t some bogus charge regarding national security. It’s a very real one.
At this point, Elizabeth guesses that it’s Cyrus who is behind all of this. She says that this whole thing isn’t David since he’s nothing a “weaselly little troll” who she doesn’t like or respect. David is a man who follows the law and should be doing just that instead of doing the bidding of “that sweaty, red faced monster who stole [her] job.” Elizabeth then proceeds to get out of her seat and tells David that he’s not going to stop her from doing the interview, and the woman walks right out of David’s office.
David never stood a chance against that barracuda. Literally everyone chews him up and spits him out like a bad Slim Jim.
David goes off to report to Cyrus his failure in preventing Elizabeth from talking to Sally. He allowed her to walk because his job isn’t to illegally keep someone from exercising their right to free speech. His job is to prosecute on behalf of the country. If Cyrus wishes to stop Elizabeth from talking, he’ll have to find another way.
It’s now the next day OPA. Olivia is in her office and appears to be mentally preoccupied when Huck interrupts her to tell her that he found that Holland’s wife has a prescription for oxycodone. With this new information, Olivia summons the Hollands to her office. She accuses him of stealing his wife’s oxy to drug his students and then rape them. Janet is quick to come to defense, calling the accusation a “malicious lie.” Olivia insists that it is true, which prompts Holland to stand up to warn Olivia not to speak to his wife in the manner that she was. Janet tells her husband to shut up and utter not one more word. Frank reclaims his seat and says not a damn thing. The stank eye Janet is giving him is similar to one that a mother would give a belligerent child.
Olivia watches this exchange and a horrible realization dawns on her. Janet Holland knew! Olivia asks her if she gave Frank the drugs because she knew what he would do with them, and when Frank sits up in an attempt to answer, Janet snaps his ass silent. Snaps! Like he’s a dog. What this woman had to say next sent my brain cells scattering in a million directions.
Janet says that back in 1973 when she graduated from college, only 8.5% of women had college degrees. Her father accused her of pretending to be a man, while her mother worried about whether her degree would scare off a good husband. Back then, if you were single woman, you couldn’t get a credit or rent an apartment without your father serving as co-signee. Janet says that while that was just 40 years ago, it was another world back then, a world that her husband helped change. She asks Olivia if she has any idea how hard it was to find a man like him back in 1973, someone who took her intellect as seriously as that of a man and who marched and made it his life’s work to help women.
Olivia points out that Frank Holland is not helping women, but Janet cuts her off to detail the many ways that her husband has indeed been beneficial to women across the globe and in the literary world. Janet says that one thing has always been true since the beginning of time and that is that young women will always throw themselves at their professors. No one has come forth to accuse him of anything and there has never been any evidence. Janet tells Olivia that her husband has created quite a legacy and that she has every intention of protecting it.
Whew. This woman is hella twisted. How does she manage to sleep at night? Dope herself up on her oxy pills?
And Janet Holland made one grave mistake during this meeting with Olivia. You don’t ever throw down a challenge at the feet of the head gladiator in charge. Doing that is just setting yourself up for failure. Olivia has this horrible habit of not liking the bad guys to win. Queen Emily (501) sure enough learned that lesson too late.
Off Olivia goes to the Oval where she’s sharing her experience with the Hollands with Fitz. He says he should revoke the medal that he awarded Holland, but Olivia says that doing that would be a bad move (at that particular moment) and that the press would accuse him of overreacting. There isn’t anything to be done to take down Holland without proof. He currently holds all the power.
Fitz offers Olivia solace over her disappoint by grabbing a hold of her hand. It is at this moment that Cyrus walks into the room and finds them just so. He pauses when he sees he’s interrupted a moment, but then continues on in sharing the reason why he was there. They have a situation with Elizabeth North.
So now he brings it to Fitz’s attention. Cyrus wanted so badly to manage this on his own, but he failed, so now he’s here doing what Abby told him he should do in the first place. This is a frustrating task for him because with Olivia being ever present, Cyrus ends up having to deal with the entity that is Olitz instead with the President directly and alone. Add to this the fact that Olivia is occupying the space that is usually reserved for him, dealing with both of them as a unit has got to rankle.
This is made clear in this scene whenever Olivia speaks. She would ask him a question and he’d direct his answer to Fitz after either rolling his eyes or doing one of his Cyrus twitches that indicates his annoyance. Cyrus tells the President that Elizabeth can be stopped if Fitz has her detained based on the grounds of national security. Fitz looks at Olivia then and she does this semi head shake thing that has Fitz telling Cyrus that he won’t be doing that. Cyrus glances at one and then the other, his irritation becoming even more apparent. He tells the President that if he doesn’t want to go that route, then he’ll have to talk to Elizabeth himself. In response to this, Fitz and Olivia simultaneously state that Fitz had fired Elizabeth.
Are these two operating with one brain? Cyrus has had enough! He’s damn near close to pulling out his hair plugs. He offers another suggestion which is to have Fitz do what he does best and win Elizabeth over. Cyrus says that she will listen to Fitz, but he’ll prepare to discredit her if this doesn’t work, but that is his recommendation. Fitz needs to talk to Elizabeth or they are going to be in big trouble. Fitz again looks at Olivia for her opinion, she blinks her agreement which then results in Fitz telling Cyrus that he’ll take his words “under advisement.” Cyrus nods in response to this and then connects eyes with Olivia. The two of them shoot invisible ice crystals at each other before he finally departs from the room.
This scene right here was brilliant. There was so much interplay going on that I’m sure went right over Fitzgerald’s head. If he sensed the tension between his Chief of Staff and his girlfriend, he certainly didn’t show it. You could definitely sense that a showdown between Cyrus and Olivia was on its way. It’s been building.
Olivia and Fitz were like the supercouple on steroids. Those two are like an impenetrable armored fortress that has no discernible entry. I don’t know why Cyrus was so surprised to see them work in tandem in this manner, especially given what he just recently went through with them in 503 when negotiating on behalf of Mellie. When dealing with one, you’re going to get the other. Quinn said as much earlier in the episode. Olivia and Fitz are a package deal.
Once they are alone again, Fitz says that Cyrus is probably right about stopping Elizabeth from going on Sally’s show, but Olivia isn’t sold. She says that she would let Elizabeth go on the air and even encourage her to do so. Fitz at that moment is like:
He says that allowing Elizabeth could end up saying anything and Olivia agrees, but she’s smirking when she says this. Olivia has thought up a way to use Elizabeth to their advantage.
The Liberty Report comes on and eyes are glued to the television. Cyrus and Abby are watching it together with other White House Staffers, no doubt with serious anxiety over what may come out of Elizabeth’s mouth. Sally is hoping to receive some juicy dirt that she could use to lambast the Grant Administration. She sets up whatever she believes Elizabeth is going to say by stating that she knows that Liz is “madder than a mule munching on bumblebees” (Who comes up with this stuff?) after leaving in protest over the numerous scandals that she had observed during her time at the White House. Elizabeth says that she is indeed mad, but that she is mad that taxpayer dollars were wasted “on a fruitless quest to drag a good man’s name through the mud.” Hahahahahaha!!!
Sally may need a few people to help her pick her jaw up off the floor. That was certainly not what she was expecting Elizabeth to say. It wasn’t what anyone was expecting Elizabeth to say. That is unless that anyone is Olivia. Oh, what a way to use the situation to her advantage. Having Elizabeth characterize Fitz the man as a decent person and her criticize the wasteful spending that the impeachment hearings garnered was a giant step towards helping resuscitate Fitz’s public image.
Remember The Liberty Report ratings that Elizabeth had mentioned to Abby? This little stunt of Liz’s has assured that the millions who regularly tune into the show received the message that Olivia wanted them all to hear about the President. Sally’s show has more reach and impact than any press conference could ever have. What’s even more delicious about this is that the woman who gleefully reported about the hearings has now unwittingly assisted in assuaging the damage. Ha!
After the segment goes off, Cyrus returns to the Oval. Olivia and Fitz are sitting on the sofa when he enters, both occupied with their respective items. Cyrus comes in quoting what Elizabeth said on TV. He’s revved up over the genius of the strategy and wants to know how Fitz managed to get Elizabeth to cooperate. Cyrus is taking guesses on which play Fitz may have used with her, but Fitz tells him that he instead offered Elizabeth a job. Cyrus is shocked into immobility.
Olivia’s attention is now squarely on Cyrus as she watches him receive this news. Fitz tells him that he offered Elizabeth the position of Chief of Staff to the Vice President. (Poor Susan has no idea that this has just happened and I guess no one really bothers to ask for that woman’s input in anything.) When Cyrus shifts his attention from the President to Olivia, she finally returns her focus to what she was working on before his entrance. Damn. Game, set, match.
Olivia is not playing games. She may have suggested that Fitz bring Cyrus back into the White House, but she certainly isn’t allowing him Cyrus much space to maneuver. I wonder what's up with that. Olivia literally waited until he looked at her so he could know that she was the one responsible for that chess move. Hmm.
Over at the Department of Justice, Elizabeth returns upon receiving a summons. David had called her back so that she may pick up her laptop. It had been seized when she had been brought in. Elizabeth assumes that she will be receiving an apology for what David had put her through earlier, but David isn’t letting her think she’s pulling one over on him. He knows that she only went on TV and said what she did about the President because she was offered a job as Susan’s Chief of Staff. He says that Susan is actually a good person, unlike Elizabeth.
I don’t think I’ve quite seen David be this fired up against anybody ever.
David makes clear that he doesn’t like Elizabeth….or does he? He was doing so well until he said that he doesn’t like her blond hair or how tall she is or her “cold, haughty demeanor.” Now Elizabeth senses that David protests a little too much and asks him if he’s sure that he doesn’t like her. This is where things quickly went sideways. Elizabeth says to David that he likes her and David...says yes.
Next thing you know, Elizabeth orders David to sit down. He scrambles to do her bidding like the good submissive that he is. (You all did know that scaredy man David Rosen has a kinky side to him, yes?) Jungle music starts to play as Elizabeth whispers in ear about not having any panties on. She then straddles him before kissing him like a pterodactyl in heat.
Meanwhile, on the other side of David’s office door is Susan Ross. She has arrived unannounced and she’s armed with wine coolers. David’s assistant says she could alert him to Susan’s presence, but Susan tells her not to bother. She’ll wait until he’s done.
Thankfully (whew!), Susan decides that waiting isn’t the best thing for her. She leaves behind the wine coolers and heads out with her secret service detail. It really would have been something to see Susan attack Elizabeth with a wine cooler. That scene may come yet.
Olivia is back at OPA (I’m sure this scene is out of sequence because it’s daytime again...grrr!) and she’s contemplating the different women who have been assaulted by Holland. Marcus walks in and is trying to come up with suggestions as to how they can take down this man. Olivia discards each for one reason or another. She goes into her office to think, but soon is back out because something just came to her. She directs Marcus to find out where Frank Holland is at that very moment.
We next see Holland giving a lecture at Wheeler University. Coming into the lecture hall first is Hannah, but she is soon followed by all the other women who were also victimized by Holland. They pour into the room from all corners and soon enough disrupt the lecture that Holland is giving. The last person into the hall is Olivia who takes a seat on a stair next to where Janet is sitting. Janet demands to know what Olivia thinks she’s doing.
“You inspired me. You keep saying feminists love Frank. I’m a feminist. I don’t love Frank. Turns out the women’s movement has a pretty great legacy, too. I’ve decided that it’s my job to protect it. Frank has got to go.” -- Olivia Pope
People are gonna learn one day. Don’t ever challenge Olivia Pope and then think her incapable of meeting it. She’ll exceed it and leave your ass in the dust.
The media is reporting at length the details of what went on in that lecture hall. Wheeler University has (finally) cut ties with him and Holland has tumbled from grace. His one time fangirl Abby takes his book and tosses it in the trash. Goodbye, Frank Holland.
Over at the White House, Olivia emerges from bedroom over at the Residence to find Cyrus waiting for her. He wants to talk to her about Elizabeth’s new White House job. He says that if he was still Olivia’s friend, she would have given him a heads up. Olivia tells him that there was a problem, it was handled and everything worked out. She starts to head out once more, but is stopped when Cyrus says that everything was handled and worked out for her. He acknowledges that he can have an ego and is competitive and vindictive, but he had once been the guy behind the guy. Then he started to feel that he was the guy behind the girl behind the guy. He admits that he hates that.
Olivia interrupts him and says that she’s not trying to replace him, and Cyrus says that he realizes that now. He then proceeds to detail for Olivia why she’s so brilliant: she didn’t have to give up her career; she’s moved into the White House, but she doesn’t have to deal with any of the “prisoner duties” associated with the role of First Lady; she comes and goes from the White House at will.
Cyrus says that what he’s come to realize is that he’s really the guy behind the girl. Fitz isn’t even in the picture anymore. Fitz is happy and content now that he has Olivia, and according to Cyrus, happy and content men do not run the world.
Boy does this sound an awful lot like what he said to Olivia way back in 107 when he told her that the regular life would be a waste for Fitzgerald, and that “some men aren’t meant to be happy. They’re meant to be great.” It would seem that Cyrus is still of the opinion that Fitz being happy somehow diminishes him. What kind of bizarre logic is this? Are all men who run the world unhappy and discontent? O_o
In present time, Cyrus tells Olivia that Fitz isn’t running the country. He is instead listening to her and doing whatever it is that she tells him to. Cyrus accuses Olivia of having pulled off a “clean, bloodless coup” right under everyone’s noses. Olivia’s response to this?
“I know this is difficult for you because you seem to be so unfamiliar with how humans behave, but Cyrus, Fitz and I together have an actual relationship. This is what a couple looks like.” -- Olivia Pope
Cyrus tells her that she’s the one who has control of the Oval and that this is what power looks like. Olivia turns to leave then, but before she has gotten far, Cyrus adds that Fitz is no longer the President. That the president is actually her.
Say what, Cyrus? I don’t know what you’re up to, but there was a whole of projection going on in that little speech of yours. Even a bit of jealousy in there and maybe a dash of a guilt trip? Not quite sure, but Cyrus was sounding a lot like Olivia’s surrogate brother (sorry, I had to) who had earlier called her “power hungry, entitled and dangerous.” Now Cyrus has heaped onto that that Olivia has managed to erase Fitz altogether. Neuter him. Emasculate him. Hmm.
Cyrus is just mad that he can’t command the power that Olivia does or wield the influence that she has over Fitz. For so long Cyrus has lived vicariously through Fitzgerald and has done any number of awful things in an attempt to control him, but Olivia doesn’t have to resort to any of these tactics. Fitz trusts her professional judgement implicitly. Him turning to her for her opinion isn’t at all new. Olivia serves as director and Fitz drives. That’s always been their dynamic. What is new is the status of their relationship, which has made this dynamic of theirs stand out more sharply than before. The one time that Fitz ignored her and held fast with his decision to select Andrew Nichols as his VP (311) ended up being a disaster for which they all ended up paying a significant price.
When we next see Olivia, she’s hurriedly coming into the Oval. Fitz remarks that he thought she was heading back to OPA, but Olivia tells him that she’s changed her mind. She heads right over to the liquor and pours herself a healthy amount. With her present, Fitz starts talking about all the different things that he’s currently juggling. Olivia is listening, but there are other things on her mind. The most obvious thing would be Cyrus’s words to her, but I wonder if maybe her lie about Rowan and her earlier confrontation with Jake is mixed all up in that head of hers, throbbing like a bad migraine.
Olivia begins to pace, first right and then left and back again. She’s definitely thinking (208). She stops moving when Fitz mentions her father and she sounds afraid to hear what it is that Fitz is about to tell her about him. Did she think that maybe Jake had succeeded in tracking Rowan down and had done as he’d promised and put a bullet in his head? Nope. Fitz tells her that Rowan cannot be found. He’s disappeared into thin air. Olivia lets out a little sigh of relief. When Fitz tells her that it looks like Rowan has disappeared for good, Olivia appears to be having some internal struggle as to what to do or say at that moment. Whatever it was that gripped her, she manages to shake it off right after she takes a sip of the brown water.
She wasn’t going to let Cyrus get into her head. He says she has the power of the Oval in her hands? So be it. She’s going to own it and keep doing what she always has: serving as the director while Fitz drives. Olivia took command and was not going to apologize for it. BAM!
And how powerful was that image of the Olivia Pope standing on the presidential seal with dictating to the President?
This was a really good episode. A solid one. The next is going to be really interesting given the fact that Olivia still hasn’t come clean about her role in Rowan’s release, Jake is holding that knowledge over her head, Mellie is holding that over her head as well and Cyrus is out for blood. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Cyrus somehow discovers this secret and then uses it to attempt to drive a wedge between Olivia and Fitz. We shall see what pops off next week!
Thank you all for reading this review/recap of Scandal episode 507!! Be sure to share what you liked, didn’t like and what you think may be coming up as we head towards the midseason finale.
