Are you tired yet of the many ways that I use I tell you that this season of Scandal is the bomb-dot-com? Well, TOO BAD because I’m here to say it once again: it is the bomb-dot-com! This show never fails to surprise me by the ways in which it is able to use circumstance to further reveal something about its fictional people. Just when you think you have it all figured out, these writers decide to scramble your brain like an egg.
“The Box” featured one such brain-scrambling moment (for me anyway) that I didn’t ever think I’d see transpire between two characters in particular, but it was something that I believed was necessary to happen for the sake of Olivia Pope and their respective roles in her life. Care to guess who the two were?
If you have already watched the episode, you know to what I refer. If you haven’t, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Jesus?!
Anyway, I’ll do you the favor of detailing it below. This is Spoiler TV after all and it is my duty to spill the beans.
Raised Stakes
This entire episode takes place within the same day as where the last one left off. It picks up in the White House Briefing Room, and Luna Vargas answering questions about her selection and why she agreed to the offer from Mellie.
Meanwhile, it is a fury of activity down in the Situation Room as Mr. President walks in. The Joints Chiefs of Staff have convened because nine drones have been detected hovering above heavily populated metropolitan areas: Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami and Boston. Unlike the one that had breached White House airspace earlier, these drones are weaponized.
Over at the Residence, Mellie is watching the news when Olivia walks in. Mellie asks Olivia if she knows anything about these drones, but Olivia does not. These drones are not her handiwork. Olivia’s phone soon rings, and when she answers it, Mr. Android on the other end. He is demanding to have Mellie returned to him, and he tells Olivia that while they may have been able to protect their families from him, them doing this has placed the entire country at risk. He goes on to say that her use of the drone earlier inspired him, but unlike hers, his nine each have a deadly twist.
Peus then warns that he will detonate each drone at random intervals until he has Mellie and Ponytail back. He says could do this or Olivia could decide that gambling with the lives of innocents isn’t something that she wishes to do. She could avoid all of this by simply giving him what he wants. Olivia decides to call his bluff, and while she is running her mouth, the drone hovering over Dallas is detonated.
Back in the Situation Room, Fitz is issuing directives to the various people present, including Jake. What’s the situation on the ground? How’s the air quality in Dallas? Has FEMA already been dispatched? He needs answers and he needs them now.
Down in the bunker, Olivia is watching the developments on TV with her father. Her shaky intake of breath over the report of the loss of life leads Rowan to turn the television off. Olivia wonders at why he did that, and he responds by inviting her to drink with him. He pulls out two glasses and a bottle of wine, and gets to pouring. Rowan says that the wine isn’t of good quality, but it’ll have to do. When he sets one of the glasses down in front of her, Olivia pushes it off a bit as she reminds her father that the country is presently at war. Rowan says that that is more of a reason why she should share this last drink with him before he leaves.
This statement prompts Olivia to get up from her seat and say to him that he isn’t going anywhere. Rowan mockingly laughs at her as he asks who it is that she believes will stop him, herself or Fitz. Unamused, Olivia wonders aloud when her father turned into this person who run from anything, and Rowan replies that it’s been since he stopped poking his nose into affairs that don’t concern him. (Heh. Yeah, right.)
Olivia then asks him of leaving all that he as built behind, of the things he has sacrificed, the things he believes in. When Rowan tells her that he has since made his peace with those things, Olivia asks him about herself. She wants to know if he is also intending on leaving her behind, and Rowan tells her that she is free to join him. Olivia, however, says that she cannot. Unlike him, she isn’t done fighting and she has yet to make her own peace.
Olivia then asks him to come with her upstairs, but Rowan isn’t game. He tells her that if she decides to remain in Washington and not leave with him, death is what awaits her. After a moment’s contemplation, Olivia turns to leave and tells Rowan that she’ll have someone bring down better wine for him. In other words, he can remain dreaming of escape in the bunker while she returns to the battlefield.
Later in the Oval, the group has reconvened sans Abby and Cyrus. They are trying to figure out their next move in taking down Mr. Android. Mellie asks if it is possible to trace the call that Peus made to Olivia. Jake tells her that the call was bounced off of several satellites in other countries, but he has his boys in the NSA working on it. Fitz cuts in then to say that they unfortunately don’t have the luxury of time because Peus could set off another drone at any time.
Mellie then says to Fitz that all Peus wants is her. She is about ready to offer up herself to the bad guys when Fitz interrupts her to matter-of-factly state that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists. He then turns his attention to David and tells him that he wants Peus’s fake super PAC immediately raided.
Look at Fitzgerald being all presidential and whatnot. I sees you, boo.
As David goes off to do as commanded, Olivia recalls them to the fact that they do have an asset in their custody who could lead them directly to Mr. Android. Fitz turns to Jake then, and without a word, Jake heads off to question Ponytail.
Entering the bunker room where Ponytail is being held, Jake cuts right to the chase and asks Ponytail of where Peus is. Ponytail is sarcastic as she asks if something has happened, but Jake doesn’t take the bait. Instead, he states that “Samantha” is a ghost. She takes his statement as a threat, but he doesn’t mean it as one. It was an observation on his part.
Jake tells her that he has looked into her and can’t find a damn thing on her. As far as the world knows, Ponytail doesn’t exist. He then shares that he used to be exactly like her, and this prompts Ponytail to call them “twinsies.” Jake chuckles a little at this before returning once more to the issue of Peus. He tells her that if she helps him, he’ll let her go free. She would be able to go wherever she wants. She could even hop on a boat, sail off to some island and disappear.
Ponytail doesn’t believe the offer to be legitimate, but even if it were, she wouldn’t be able to disappear. She tells Jake that she is too valuable an asset to her employer, who makes it his business to know where she is at all times. The only way that she would be able to disappear is if she is killed. Ponytail then adds that if she were to help Jake, Peus would track her down to the island and nuke the whole damn thing.
At that bit of information, Jake smiles and says to Ponytail that he was hoping that she’d say exactly that. He gets up from where he was leaning against the table, grabs the woman by her ponytail and slams her face into the table. He then pulls a knife from his pocket, flips it open and gets to digging into Ponytail’s neck! She is gritting her teeth against the pain as he digs around in there until he gets what he is looking for: a tracking device.
Jake picks up the small capsule and heads for the door. Before he steps out of the room, he tells Ponytail that he’ll send someone down with a bandaid. Cold world.
Jake brings the device to Olivia and Huck where they are waiting in some part of the White House. Huck intends to use the transmission signal of the device to track back to the source location much as he had when he analyzed the chip that Mr. Android had implanted in Sandra (607).
Elsewhere in the building, Abby is speaking on a phone call in her office with some mayor. She is soon visited by Cyrus who is surprised to find her there instead of working in the Oval with the President to solve the current crisis. Abby tells him that she has been busy with trying to alert the nine mayors of the affected cities, and Cyrus concludes that Fitz has frozen Abby out.
Not confirming nor denying, Abby asks if Cyrus wanted anything or if he just came by to annoy her. Cyrus says that Luna Vargas has been looking to receive a briefing on what’s going on with the drones and he thought Abby would be the right person to fill her in, but that was before he realized that Abby was on the outside. Abby interjects to say that as the President’s Chief of Staff, she is fully able to brief the Vice President-elect of the situation at hand.
Over at the briefing room, the press corps is in a frenzy as Marcus works to answer their questions. He’s doing his best, but he looks overwhelmed. Mellie is watching him work from a side entrance, and she, too, appears to be overwhelmed by it all.
Reentering the Situation Room, Fitz asks for an update from the General and she tells him that “UAVs” (unmanned aerial vehicles) have been reprogrammed for use in an urban environment. When asked if there was any chance that the drones could be knocked out remotely, a gentleman with an unknown position tells the President that the only way to stop them all would be to find the central control location, and Fitz informs him that Jake is working on that.
Just as Fitz is receiving these updates, the General alerts him to an update with the coordinates of the drones. They are moving!
Back to where Huck is working on the tracker, he is a few seconds away from locating the source when the tracker starts to malfunction. A signal had been sent remotely to kill the chip and thwart Huck’s efforts
Almost immediately after the frying of the tracker, Olivia’s phone rings. It’s Mr. Android. He knows that she was trying to track him down and he considers this challenge her latest insult against him. Olivia promises to find him, but she doesn’t get to finish her threat because Peus interrupts her to ask when she had last been to Philadelphia. This question prompts Olivia to turn towards the television.
In the Sit Room, Fitz asks the General what it is that the drones are doing and she tells him that they are taking defensive position. He mistakes her meaning as referring to their UAVs, but she clarifies that she means the drones. The earlier gentleman alerts them to an increase in the heat signature of the drone over Philadelphia.
Meanwhile Olivia is pleading with Mr. Android to stop with the attacks, and he tells her that the only way that will happen is if she returns to him Mellie and Ponytail. Olivia tells him that she doesn’t have the authority to give him what he wants, that she isn’t the President, and Peus goes, “Aren’t you?”
Whatever does he mean by this?
Following a pause, Olivia offers him words that are similar to the ones Fitz gave to Mellie about the United States not bending to terrorists. Mr. Android declares the line to be a good one, but he says that he doesn’t believe it. He then hangs up and detonates the Philadelphia drone.
What did Peus mean by insinuating that Olivia was the President? Does he know of her influence over Fitz and thus equates speaking with Olivia to be the same as he speaking directly to Mr. President? And that bit about not believing her about not negotiating with terrorists, why did that recall me to Olivia’s kidnapping and the fact that the President did in fact bend to terrorists? Hmm.
Those in the Situation Room watch in horror as the bomb in Philadelphia goes off. Fitz looks absolutely helpless. This feeling is one that is mirrored by Olivia who watches the bomb go off live on TV with Huck and Jake.
Later in the Oval, Fitz is reading off to Olivia information that he just received of the latest casualties. More people are dead because they can’t find one guy. Charlotte comes into the office then to inform Fitz that he has a call from David Rosen. Fitz rushes to his desk to accept the call, hoping that David has found Peus, but no such luck. He instructs David to keep at it.
The inability to find Peus leads Fitz to wonder if everybody working on tracking down this one man is incompetent. Olivia attempts to assure him this is a setback that can be overcome, but Fitz cuts in to say that Rowan is going to have to start talking. Olivia tells him that Rowan won’t talk, that all he wants to do is run. When Fitz voices his objection to this, Olivia adds that the mystery people controlled and beat Rowan, and that he may not even know anything.
Fitz is incredulous at this last bit and he asks her if she truly believes that a master manipulator like Rowan could be in captivity for six months with the mystery people and come away with no insight that could help them in thwarting further carnage. Olivia thinks on that for a moment, realizes that Fitz has a point, and then agrees to go see her father.
Pleading Their Case...Again
Down in the bunker, Olivia and Fitz are trying to coax Rowan into giving his assistance, but the man remains steadfast in his denial of it. He once more reiterates his desire to run and says that he intends to do so with his daughter. Rowan turns to Olivia then to ask if she has yet changed her mind about joining him, and Olivia tells him that she is staying.
Fitz chimes in at this point to say to Rowan that Olivia is staying because she’s a patriot, causing Olivia to look sharply in his direction. She heard the not-so-veiled accusation that her father was the opposite and so did Rowan. Fitz goes on to emphasize the fact that the country was under attack and that Americans are dying because of the mystery people.
In response to this impassioned outburst, Rowan says that Fitz is only now noticing that the Republic is crumbling around him because he has finally decided to “pick [his] head up out of the sandbox” and that Fitz now expects him to be the one to “wipe [his] chin and clean [his] bottom and make [him] look like the leader of the free world.”
Sigh. Y’all already know where this is going.
Olivia chides her father, but she’s too late. The train has already left the station.
Fitz snaps that as far as he is concerned, Rowan is one of the bad guys with the role in played in assassinating Francisco Vargas.He then says that the only reason why Rowan isn’t “frying” for his crime is because Rowan can help in taking down the mystery people.
Rowan remains unfazed as he tells Fitz that his threats do not change the reality of the situation, which is that they will lose and the mystery people will win. Fitz turns away from the conversation then in frustration and Olivia attempts to coax her father into agreement. She tells him that they have to stop the bombs, but Rowan remains stubbornly unwilling to help as he equates Olivia’s request with him pulling her out of quicksand only to watch her immediately tumble off a cliff.
Having reached his limit, Fitz shoots out of the corner like a cannonball and grabs Rowan by the shirt!! He shakes him as he accuses the older man of working with the mystery people. Olivia is agitated as she looks from one man to the other, having no idea what to do to separate them. Rowan demands to be released, but Fitz holds on tight as he speculates that Rowan’s refusal to assist is all part of the plan.
Olivia finally finds her voice and pleads with Fitz to let go. Rowan then says to Olivia that her “boyfriend” has three seconds to release him or Fitz would risk having his arms snapped in half! The threat is one that Olivia knows her father would make good on, so she is more emphatic when she again calls for Fitz to let go.
After a tense few seconds, Fitz finally eases up and steps back from Rowan. Olivia follows along with him as if to hold him at bay, but really, the woman was likely having a mild panic attack over what could have just happened. What the hell was she going to do with a man who has no arms?
Despite having stepped back, Fitz isn’t done offloading. He tells Rowan that the only reason he would stand on the sidelines while the country is under attack is because Rowan is working with the mystery people. He goes on to ask Rowan what happened to all that business about protecting and sacrificing for the Republic? He then asks him of the number of patriots he had killed all in the name of the Republic.
Rowan silences Fitz when he yells that THERE IS NO REPUBLIC!! He states that the Republic is in ashes, Constitution in shreds and the citizenry suffocated by the bare hands of these people. He then says that it is now every man for himself and he fully intends to save himself.
While he is speaking, Olivia is looking at him as if she no longer recognizes him. She is visibly shaken by what has just transpired. Fitz leaves the room in anger and Rowan eventually claims a seat on the bed. He buries his face in his hands and looks to be working to rein back his emotions.
Olivia crouches down to his level then to quietly ask him what it is that those people did to him to have him behaving as scared as he is. The woman is truly perplexed by his refusal to fight, and you can see that she is also deeply concerned about it. Instead of answering her, Rowan orders Olivia to leave.
I swear, I can watch Kerry Washington, Joe Morton and Tony Goldwyn act in all the scenes. All of them. GIVE THEM TO ME!! Loved this scene.
Back at the Office of the Chief of Staff, Abby is briefing Luna Vargas on the drone situation when Fitz comes in. Abby, Luna and Cyrus all stand, and Abby immediately explains that she was updating Mrs. Vargas on what was happening. Fitz offers a quick thank you before he asks Luna to excuse them. Once she is gone, Fitz asks Abby if all nine mayors have been briefed, to which she says that they have. He then asks her about FEMA and Abby stumbles. She had assumed that Fitz was directly speaking to FEMA from the Situation Room.
When Fitz asks why she made this assumption, there is a bit of a bite to Abby’s reply as she explains that she hasn’t been present in any of the meetings with him and so she thought it was being handled. Fitz starts for the door as he says that he’ll have someone else contact FEMA, but Abby tells him that she can handle it. She will have all remaining responders sent to Philadelphia.
Fitz, who had been composed for most of this discussion, is now showing irritation at her tone. Why Abby was being left out of these meetings is anyone’s guess, but she may want to put a check that attitude when everyone is focused on dealing with the present crisis. No one has time for her bruised ego.
Before Abby can move to contact FEMA, Cyrus questions if the play is a smart one. Fitz asks for him to elaborate and Cyrus says that sending all of their federal responders to Dallas and Philadelphia could be a problem down the line should the other drones end up going off. He proposes that Fitz instead have governors send in local authorities to handle the situation on the ground and reassess everything in the morning.
Fitz finds the suggestion to be sound, and he proceeds to invite Cyrus to come along with him, telling him that he’s going to need his assistance. The two men head off to the President’s next briefing and Abby is left in the dust.
This is what happens when you fail to set aside your feelings for the sake of the task at hand, Jake, err, Abby.
Working Another Angle
Olivia is next seen strolling down the halls of the White House when David calls her aside. He asks her if Rowan had ever mentioned receiving any packages from Mr. Android, and Olivia replies that he hadn’t. David tells her that he’s been going through the files that they recovered from Mr. Android’s office and came across some invoices that show that a courier service delivered packages from the fake super PAC to Rowan’s workspace 23 times over several weeks. David once again asks if Rowan had ever mentioned these deliveries, and Olivia says no. She flips through the documents in the folder and then asks if she could hold on to them. This need a further looking into.
In the Oval, the President is convened with Cyrus and Jake, and they are trying to figure out another angle to take with Ponytail. Fitz is standing by his favorite window in thought as Jake shares that he’s been unsuccessful so far with getting Ponytail to provide him with anything useful. Cyrus says to them that maybe it was time to get creative, and Fitz is quick to shoot this down. Cyrus points out that there are seven bombs out there that could lead to more casualties, but Fitz will hear of it. He says that if Ponytail was at Abu Ghraib, he’d be all for pulling out her fingernails (ouch!), but she’s presently being held on White House grounds and spitting on the Constitution in the White House is something that he is unwilling to do.
Cyrus turns towards Jake then to remark that he sees that Fitz hasn’t changed. Haha! Ever the white hat wearer, that Fitzgerald.
Thinking for a moment, Cyrus asks if Ponytail has access to a television or radio in her cell. When he is told that she doesn’t, Cyrus deems this to be perfect because that means that Ponytail has no idea what is happening outside of the walls that she is being held in. They can tell her whatever they want and she’ll have no way of confirming it to be true.
Off Jake goes once to again speak with Ponytail. He tells her that they have her boss, but she doesn’t believe him. Jake insists that what he’s saying is true and he gives her some details of how they were able to nab the elusive Theodore Peus. Ponytail is still dubious and she tells him that she liked it better when he was digging into her neck with a pen knife. (Ha!) Jake replies that he doesn’t care if she believes his story. He just came to tell her that they are offering Mr. Android immunity in exchange for the location of the control center of the drones.
Ponytail guesses that Jake is there to offer her the same deal if she talks before Peus does, and she is surprised when Jake responds in the negative. He tells her that because he has Peus, she isn’t needed at all.
Ponytail’s curiosity is now piqued and she adjusts herself in her seat as she asks Jake why he is there then if all that he says is true. Jake replies that he is there because he doesn’t like her, and that he wanted to be the one to tell her that she won’t ever see the light of day again. He adds that he wanted to see the exactly moment when she comes to the realization that she is toast. He then thanks her and gets up to leave.
Jake doesn’t get far when Ponytail asks him to wait. She tells him that he is better off giving her the deal and argues that all they would be getting with Mr. Android is the control center, but with her, she would be able to give them names, bank accounts and infrastructure. She says she’ll give Jake everything should she get the deal that Peus was offered.
Success! Jake on the inside was looking like…
Elsewhere in the White House, Olivia returns to the room where Huck is still waiting and she wants to know if he still has the video footage that he had retrieved from Rowan’s work space. Huck says that he does and wonders why she asks. Olivia explains that her father had been receiving packages from Mr. Android every two or three days starting the day after the election, and she wants to know what was being sent.
Huck turns to his computer and pulls up the footage. They come across one instance of a delivery, and Rowan is seen opening the box before taking a step away from it. Olivia asks what’s inside, but Huck doesn’t have a good angle on its content. Olivia then has Huck jump to footage from a different day, and Rowan again has received a similar package. He is shaking with terror as he opens the box, and when he takes a peek inside, he again steps away from it.
Olivia doesn’t understand what’s happening and wonders if the box is empty. Huck goes on to find footage from other days, and Rowan’s reaction grows more extreme with the receipt of each successive box. In one footage in particular, Rowan is frustrated with having received yet another box and he tosses this one onto the floor. From within it, a brick slips out.
Olivia asks why Peus would be sending her father a brick. Huck asks to see the invoices, and when Olivia hands them to him, he flips through the pages and soon figures out that the point of the deliveries rests in the weight of each box. They all had weighed exactly 11 pounds. Neither quite know what to make of this information.
Now back upstairs, Jake is discussing with David that Ponytail is willing to sign an immunity deal, but that she will only do so if David is the one who delivers it. David asks if he has to be nice to her, and Jake tells him that he can be however he wants. The important thing is that he maintains his focus and not let Ponytail get to him.
Later down in the cell with Ponytail, David presents her with the immunity agreement. As she is looking it over, David explains that she will get everything outlined in the deal should she hold up her end of the bargain and give what she promised. All that he would have to do then is sign the agreement and she would be be free.
Ponytail acknowledges his words and then she just sits. David puts some urgency into the matter by saying that she must act now or he’s afraid that those offering the deal will change their minds. David refers to her as “Samantha” and she corrects him by giving him her real name of Grace Dennis. She says that the forms say “Samantha” and she would prefer that the paperwork reflect her actual name. David promises that he’ll have her name corrected.
When Ponytail continues to watch him, David wonders what’s up and she hesitates before she finally asks if she and David could start over. David mistakes her meaning. As he gets up from his seat, he tells her that they don’t have much time and that the changes she wants will be implemented later. Ponytail, however, was asking for a second chance with David! (Whaaat? LOL!!)
David reminds her that she murdered his friend Elizabeth North, and Ponytail acknowledges that she has done a lot of terrible things, but that those things were all part of her doing her job. Stunned that this is her defense, David moves to the other side of the table and tells her point blank that he hates her. (Hahaha!) He says that he engaging with her was merely him doing his job and that every moment that he was with her made him want to puke.
Ponytail seeks confirmation that he had indeed been pretending when he was with her and he says that he was. She then wants him to once more confirm that he does in fact hate her, and he confirms that as well. With these truths sinking in, Ponytail goes quiet and then she takes the agreement and rips it in half. (LMAO! Didn’t Jake warn him to keep his wits about him?)
Ponytail says that she used to believe that David was just twitchy, but now she realizes that it is a tell that indicates when David is lying. She concludes that the deal was nothing but a bluff and that they don’t truly have Mr. Android. David stammers as he tells her that she is wrong, but she knows that she isn’t. She says that he twitches when he lies, but when he was making that speech of his, there wasn’t a twitch in sight. He had meant all of it. She observed that David truly was “hurt and upset about that disgusting woman.”
Well, that did it. David totally loses his cool and clocks the woman in the face!
Once Ponytail recovered, she threatens bodily harm should she ever manage to get out of her imprisonment, but David promises that she won’t ever again be free. He then asks her if he is twitching just then.
Welp. The deal may be jacked, but at least David’s got his big boy pants on.
Back upstairs, Olivia is seen walking down the hallway with Fitz. She is telling him that her father isn’t working with the mystery people, that they have been sending him a box every three days with a brick inside of it. When Fitz asks why a brick, Olivia confesses that she doesn’t know and shares that each time a box arrives, Rowan grows increasingly agitated. The bricks mean something terrible to him, but she can’t figure out what.
When they turn a corner, Fitz stops to again clarify what she had said about the box and a brick being inside of it. Olivia says that she knows that the whole thing sounds crazy, but that she believes that the mystery people were using this to control Rowan. Fitz looks to be more curious than skeptical by this, and he says to Olivia that he needs to speak with Rowan again.
It is a request that Olivia grants, even though it is one that Fitz as President technically did not have to seek. However, given the blurring of lines between the professional and the personal with these two, it was a courtesy that he was obligated to give.
In any case, the following scene is one of two that I made reference to at the beginning.
For a second time that day, Fitz returns to the bunker to see Rowan. Aside from his signature bottle of scotch and two tumblers, he has come alone. Rowan briefly glances up at his visitor before setting his head back into his hands. His posture is that of a man dispirited by the knowledge of an impending loss that he cannot prevent.
Fitz claims the seat across from Rowan and proceeds to pour them each some of the scotch. He sets Rowan’s in front of him and then takes a sip of his own before he opens up the conversation by asking if Rowan thinks or worries much about his legacy. This question prompts Rowan to look up at Fitz, but he doesn’t offer a response. He instead adjusts his positioning to face away from the other man.
Fitz goes on to say that he has often thought and worried about his own legacy, especially in moments like these when Americans are dying and there isn’t anything that he can do about it. He remarks that after eight years in office, this moment is the one that people will remember. The body count will be his legacy.
As Fitz takes another sip of his drink, Rowan speaks up to say that Fitz’s legacy will be this moment AND his sex scandal. (More like sex scandals.) Fitz nods in acknowledgement of that truth and tosses it onto his list. When he admits that he could have done better, Rowan impatiently cuts him off to congratulate him for having learned something. He then asks Fitz if they are done. Rowan is in no mood for company.
Fitz finally gets to the point of his visit and tells Rowan that he is aware of the boxes that were sent to him. He says that he knows that there was a brick in each and that each box was of the same weight. Rowan interjects to say that Fitz knows nothing and he goes on to equate him with a “toddler playing with a handgun.” (Must he insult the man at every turn?) Rowan tells him to cease speaking, but Fitz continues anyway.
Fitz states that he knows that the mystery people were trying to scare, blackmail and control Rowan. He then tries to commiserate with him by speaking to how he himself has never actually been in control of his own life. He says that he has often believed that he was, but the truth is that other people have been the ones pulling the strings and making him think that he is the one in control. Fitz then adds that despite all that Rowan has taken away from him, that he admires the man.
Rowan scoffs at Fitz’s little speech and proceeds to mock his attempt at comparing themselves to each other. He is incredulous that Fitz would believe that there was any such similarity between them. Rowan states that control was never something that Fitz actually wanted, and that Fitz doesn’t even know what control is.
Rowan wants to say more, but he comes up short as he leans back in his seat and looks at Fitz directly. He then states with no small amount of perplexity that despite this flaw in Fitzgerald, Olivia loves him. “You!” he exclaims, and I fall down the rabbit hole. (It doesn’t take much, y’all.)
Rowan then says this:
“You will never truly understand freedom because you’ve never been in chains. No one has systematically oppressed you, worn you down, kept your deepest fears alive and well 24 hours a day! No one has ever broken you!”
Preach on, Brother Elijah!
What would a handsome, affluent, straight, cisgendered, able-bodied, educated white man who is still blessed with all of his hair such as Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III know about lacking control?
Rattled a bit, Rowan picks up the offered scotch and takes it all down in one gulp. After a moment, he finally addresses the issue of the boxes. As he speaks, the music overlaying the scene thumps like a beating heart, rapid like that of an antelope fleeing a lion in pursuit. Rowan explains that the human head weighs approximately 9 to 11 pounds. The bricks were being sent to remind him that he was to be grateful for the privilege of serving the mystery people because the moment he stops cooperating or they even think he is no longer cooperating, there would be a severed head in the box. And that head would be Olivia's. (Eek!)
After a brief pause, Rowan once again reiterates that Fitz knows nothing and that the two of them are in no way alike. For his part, Fitz doesn’t respond to this latter bit and instead remarks that Rowan has the ability to take these people down and points out that this is Rowan’s chance to do so.
Rowan gets to reminiscing about the time that he joined the CIA in the 1970s. He describes how he was this black man with a short Afro, who could code, speak eight languages and who had the ladies tripping over themselves to get to him. He was something and “they” (you know who “they” are) were nervous about it. Folks were shook over a black man having the power that he had, and despite what they tried to do to stop him, he continued to rise.
Rowan ends this short trip down memory lane by saying that that was who he was then and that today, he is nothing but a father who is incapable of protecting his own child.
A father who is incapable of protecting his child... When Rowan says “protecting”, does he literally mean “keep safe from harm”? The kind of protecting where you work to ensure that your child is physically, psychologically and emotionally safe from threats of any kind to their well-being? Wouldn’t that require the parent to also not cause harm? Asking for a friend.
Once Rowan stops speaking, Fitz does what he does best and works to counter what Rowan believes to be true. He starts off by saying to Rowan that Olivia is what Rowan is best at.
Fine. I’ll be like Fitzgerald and focus on the few positive attributes of this twisted individual. I suppose he did do some good with his daughter.
Continuing on, Fitz recalls that Rowan considers himself a protector of the Republic. He then turns this around to say that Olivia is Rowan’s true Republic, that she is his legacy. He caps this off by asking Rowan how he would want history to remember her.
I swear, Fitzgerald be on some mind trick level stuff, mayne. He has this talent for taking a bit of truth and mixing it with what he knows the other person needs to hear in order for that person to move in the direction that Fitz wants them to go. He has done it with Olivia (609), he has done it with Mellie (503) and he has done it with Cyrus (505). And those are just the most recent examples.
Now here he is using the best thing about Rowan (Olivia) and the one thing that he knows that man treasures above all else to try to get him to change his mind on running. He takes Rowan’s roles as a father and as Command/protector of the Republic and melds them together in a way that leaves one to consider Rowan to be unpatriotic should he choose to run instead of stay and fight. Yooooo…
Fitz gets Rowan’s attention with this, but he still isn’t able to get his agreement. Rowan thanks him for the drink and essentially dismisses Fitz.
Have we ever seen Rowan take scotch? In his acceptance of Fitz’s liquor, could that be interpreted as him having figuratively drank the Kool Aid?
Back in the Situation Room now, Fitz is given the latest information regarding the drones and it isn’t good. The drones have moved closer to buildings, which meant that should they attempt to shoot them down, the collateral damage from their missiles could be worse than the bombs themselves. The General says that they need more time to come up with another strategy or they could move now, but Fitz decides to wait and allow the General to come up with something less damaging.
Later in the Oval, Fitz is sharing a drink with Olivia as they ponder the matter at hand. Olivia asks for the latest number of casualties and Fitz shares that there have been 63, 19 of whom were children. Fitz then wonders aloud if he is going to have to compromise with terrorists, and Olivia tells him that he won’t and can’t. Fitz counters by saying that he actually can and has in the past (411), and he questions whether he will have to do it again.
Olivia says his name as a warning against whatever he is thinking of doing, and he goes on to say that he gave the terrorists (aka Andrew Nichols and whoever the heck was backing him then) whatever they wanted then because they had Olivia. He then adds that he had had no choice, and Olivia tells him that he won’t be making that mistake again.
Look at these two calmly recalling the circumstances that surrounded Olivia’s kidnapping (410-413) as if the conclusion of that hadn’t ripped both of their hearts out.
Just to refresh, the context here is that when Olivia was in captivity, she was absolutely certain that Fitz wouldn’t give in to the terrorists, that he’d take the selfless route and not send soldiers to war on her behalf. But Fitz succumbed to their demands and Olivia was livid (413). It wasn’t pretty.
So here Olivia is again maintaining that bending to the demands of terrorists is something that they won’t be doing. And considering that Mellie is the mother of Fitz’s kids, turning her over to Mr. Android was entirely out of the question.
Fitz shifts to asking whether the liquor they are imbibing is the reason why things seem to be crazier than they already are, and he wonders if maybe they should stop. (LOL!) Olivia says that the situation would feel crazy either way, so they should just keep drinking. (Spoken like an alcoholic.) Fitz chuckles a bit at this and then the two of them lapse into silence as they stare at each other. After a moment, Fitz extends a hand out to her and she slips hers into his.
Fitz then says that this wasn’t how he envisioned their last two weeks together.
Okay. Pause. PAUSE!
Last two weeks together?! Whatchall talmbout? Is there an expiration date on whatever it is that you two have going right now? And speaking of which, what exactly do y’all have going on? Is this engagement limited to his remaining time in office? Is one of you moving to Cambodia? Help me out here! Don’t give me feels and then casually say something like this!
The moment is interrupted by a knock on the door and the two of them disengage right as Charlotte opens the door to announce Rowan. He comes into the room with his two guards trailing close behind. Olivia and Fitz stand as Rowan offers an apology for interrupting. He politely asks to speak with the President alone and Olivia is taken aback. Her dad and Fitz meeting again together, and without her?
Olivia turns to look at Fitz, and when he gestures that it’s cool for her to leave, her face goes carefully blank. (Hahaha!) She is curious as to this request for private audience, but she obliges them and leaves the room. Once the two men are alone, Fitz asks Rowan if he had come up to share another drink, and Rowan tells him that he actually came to apologize and to offer his help with cracking Ponytail.
OHMERGAWD, he drank the Kool Aid! Did Rowan just apologize to Fitz?! Never thought I’d see the day. (This is my second favorite moment due to it being in direct result of the other one.)
The Takedown
Olivia and Rowan are next seen heading towards the room where Ponytail is being held. Olivia is remarking on how difficult she knows it must be for Rowan to be facing Ponytail and she assures him that she and Fitz will keep him safe. (Why is Liv talking to this man as if he’s a scared toddler?)
When the guard escorting them opens the door to the room, Rowan stops at the threshold and stares at Ponytail a moment before turning back to Olivia to offer her an apology. Olivia tells him that he has nothing to be sorry for, and Rowan says that he actually does. He then steps into the room and proceeds to snatch the gun from the guard’s holster. He simultaneously pulls Olivia into the room and behind him. He trains the gun on the guard and orders him to immediately uncuff Ponytail.
Olivia asks her father what he is doing, but he doesn’t respond. Ponytail then asks him a similar question and he tells her that he needs his freedom and intends to leave the country. He says that what he wants from Ponytail is a guarantee that she and her people will leave him alone. He tells her that if she can give that to him, he will take her with him right now.
Rowan then turns to the guard to ask for the passcode to the tunnels. The guard tells him that there are no tunnels, and this earns him a bullet to the leg! The man crumples to the ground like an accordion and is withering on the floor in pain. Ponytail is looking at Rowan as if he has lost his mind (the irony) and Olivia is in the back looking like a frightened mouse. (What’s she gonna do anyway? Beat her daddy with a metal chair?)
When Rowan again demands the passcode for the tunnels, the guard gives it to him. Rowan then turns back to Ponytail to ask if she has the authority to give him the guarantee of freedom, and she tells him that she doesn’t but that she could get him that guarantee if he is able to get her out of there. Rowan agrees to this and starts out of the room with Ponytail. Olivia begs him to not go through with his plan, but Rowan reminds her that he had told her that he intended to run. He then closes the door and leaves Olivia screaming after him.
Up in the White House, Abby is seen glancing about at all of the hurried movement in the hallway when she spots Cyrus. She calls out for him as she rushes forward, and she asks him about what’s going on. Cyrus doesn’t provide an answer, so Abby next asks if Fitz is in the Oval and inquires as to what he is doing. When Cyrus tells her that Fitz is waiting for him, Abby steps in front of him and asks to be taken into the Oval with him, but Cyrus balks. One does not ask to go to the Oval.
Abby continues by saying that she has already come clean and apologized, and now Cyrus is taking her job. She then asks if she hasn’t been punished enough. Cyrus tells her that the only person punishing her is herself. He goes on to say that everyone is merely doing their jobs and he emphasizes that no one is trying to take hers. He points out that it is she who is giving it up, and he says that if she wants into the Oval, she shouldn’t ask. She ought to prove that she deserves to be in there.
Later at the Residence, Olivia is staring out of a window when Mellie comes into the room. Mellie says that she has heard about what happened with Rowan, and Olivia replies that she doesn’t know what to say in her father’s defense. Mellie goes on to state that the mystery people are going to kill more if they aren’t given what they want, which is she as their puppet. Olivia steps forward then to say to Mellie that she isn’t going back to them. Mellie, however, has made up her mind. She has already called a car around. The chaos and loss of life ends today. (I commend you for being selfless here, Mels, but this is a foolish move.)
Olivia is adamant about this fight not being over, and she tells Mellie that she has never been and won’t ever been anyone’s puppet. She goes on to say that Mellie is about to be the first woman President of the country, and she asks if Mellie has any idea how incredible and impossible such a thing is. She then says that “they” almost handed the job over to a man who had been in prison over giving the job to Mellie.
Um, pause. Are we just going to pretend as if Mellie isn’t in this position because the mystery people killed off her competition? And who is this “they” that Olivia is referring to who wanted to hand the presidency over to Cyrus? Isn’t she one of the “they”?
Olivia continues by saying that the reason why “they” wanted to pass the job over to the man instead of to the woman is because “a woman in power is a nasty woman, a woman who needs to be put in her place.” She tells Mellie that this is what Peus and Ponytail want to do to her. She says that they don’t care about the sacrifices that Mellie has made to get to where she is today. All they are interested in is turning Mellie into a figurehead.
Olivia becomes even more impassioned as she states that she will be damned if they “turn the most powerful person in the world into some princess whose only power lies in a wave or a smile.” She then says that the White House is hers and Mellie’s, and that neither of them are leaving it without a fight!
Oh, okay. Part of me wants to snap in a Z-formation and the other wants to stare in WTF. I’ll just do both.
Where do I begin with this? I’ll say right off the bat that I completely understand what Olivia was doing here and the necessity of it. I get it. It really wasn’t different from what Fitzgerald pulled earlier with Rowan, and that was to mix in a bit of truth with a bit of something that their target needed to hear.
That said, if Mellie was listening closely to what Olivia was saying, she would have caught that some of it didn’t even make sense. “They” wanted to hand the presidency to Cyrus because “a woman in power is a nasty woman...who needs to be put in her place”? Really? Is that what Olivia and Fitz were doing when they were working to have Cyrus installed as president? Put a “nasty woman” in her place?
Was this disconnect intentional or is this a case of the writers merely wanting to somehow integrate an insult that was levied at Hillary Rodham Clinton into the Scandal narrative? On it’s face, what Olivia says about powerful women is merely the facts. However, within the context of how Mellie came to be President-elect, this feminist moment rang hollow to me.
I know that a number of you will disagree with me on this, and that’s cool. I will agree to disagree with y’all in advance. In the meantime, my pom-poms will remain sitting in the corner.
Moving on to the next scene, Rowan is in his workspace with Ponytail when Mr. Android walks in. The bastard smiles at Rowan and says, “You done good, ole boy.” (I’m going to need for Peus to cut with the racist crap.) Rowan replies that didn’t do any of this for the man’s praise. His sole motivation was to get free of the White House and Peus. He tells both he and Ponytail that he expects the boxes to stop and that when he is gone, he will be forever left alone.
Mr. Android and Ponytail silently watch him for a beat, and when Rowan insists that he has earned what he is asking for, Mr. Android into a creepy smile and says that he agrees. Mr. Android turns to Ponytail to tell her to make the arrangements, and then he turns back to Rowan to congratulate him on his emancipation.
He literally told Rowan that he’s been emancipated.
Once Peus departs, Rowan pulls out his cell phone and makes a call. He relays that Peus is on the move!
We get flashed back to the meeting that Rowan had with Fitzgerald in the Oval. Rowan’s plan was to gain Ponytail’s trust and in turn use her to flush out Peus who will then lead them to the drones’ control center. This is the point in the plan where Jake comes into play. (Jake is who Rowan calls on the phone.)
Flashing back to the present, Mr. Android is at the control center with his minions and he asks who is next to be taken out. Just as he proposes Miami, the two minions get shot dead from behind! Mr. Android doesn’t even flinch as he turns around to find Jake with a gun aimed at him. Jake says to Peus that the one who is next to be taken out is him, and then he shoots Peus in the head.
Flashing once again back to the meeting, Fitz asks what is to become of Ponytail if Jake is taking care of Peus. We are then brought back to the present where Ponytail has returned with the documents, money and condoms (okay, then) that Rowan will need to flee the country.
Rowan is staring into a box when she arrived and she asks him what is in it. He tells her that it is a tooth, the last piece to the dinosaur that he has been assembling. He invites her to take a look at it, and when she does, she finds the box empty. That’s because Rowan has the tooth in his hand and he uses it to stab Ponytail in the gut! As her blood is gushing out of her body, Rowan tells her that this is what freedom looks like.
There goes the first and last person who will ever refer to Eli Pope as Coolio.
Back at the Residence, Olivia, Mellie and Marcus are watching the news as it is being reported that the drone crisis has finally come to an end. (When did Marcus show up?) Fitz soon comes into the room and announces that the crisis is over, and he isn’t speaking merely of the drones.
Mellie holds a hand to her chest and exhales her relief before she glances over at Marcus who gives her an imperceptible nod. As a mirror to them, Fitz looks to Olivia and he, too, exhales. There is a bit of emotion associated with that, and Olivia gives him a nod of her own as if to tell him that he did well and to also say that she understands how he is feeling. They finally took down Peus and Ponytail and they didn’t have to compromise to do it.
Oh, the swirl that is happening all up in this room.
Going back to Mellie and Marcus for a moment, does it seem like something transpired between them that we maybe don’t know about? Could there be a cut scene? First it was the look they shared when he was at the podium and now it’s this? What gives? Is it just me?
Back at the workspace, Rowan is on a ladder installing the last tooth of his dinosaur. On one of his tables sits the box from earlier and it has blood seeping from one of its corners. I’ll give you one guess as to what’s inside of it. (Her nickname starts with a P.)
After weeks of being tortured with the promise of his daughter’s head being in one of the boxes, Rowan has finally put the severed head of one of his tormentors in it. It’s only appropriate.
Once Rowan completes the installation of the tooth, he climbs down from the ladder and stares up at his masterpiece. He laughs at his accomplishment and says to the bones (but really to himself) that he survived. The prey outlived the predator.
Now what’s next? Mr. Android and Ponytail may be gone, but we still have no idea who they were and why they wanted Mellie as President. We also don’t know how big their network is or who is behind the money that was funding them. Are there other heads that will pop up now that these two have been cut down? Are these people in any way connected to Olivia’s kidnapping? What becomes of Fitz and Rowan moving forward? Was this a temporary alliance or is this something of a turn in their relationship? Will Rowan finally stop being a jerk of a father to Olivia? And what in the world is going on with Marlie?! I also still have a narrowed eye on Luna Vargas.
This is the end of the recap/review of Scandal episode 613! Share your theories about this episode and what’s to come in the comments section below. You can also share you thoughts with me on Twitter.
I thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!
