The review of Scandal’s two-hour season finale had to be broken up into their respective episodes because who exactly wants to sit through an incredibly massive single review? Y’all trying to have me break some kind of record, and we’re not having that. What we will be having is a chat about the epicness that is the return of Mama Pope to the Scandalverse!! Yessir!
Since S3, Maya Pope has popped up at random times to cause some kind of ruckus while also spitting some hard truths at her daughter. Her reemergence now continued in this tradition, but there was something different to her this time around.
The last episode left the impression that Maya was the “big bad” behind Peus and Ponytail, but that assumption didn’t quite make sense. This plot required someone who had a long term investment in the outcome, and of what we know about Maya, this sort of thing isn’t her modus operandi.
Let’s take a dive right into this and try to figure out what’s really going on.
On High Alert
“Tick Tock” starts off with Fitzgerald entering a command center at the NSA and asking if Maya has been caught. Already in the room is Olivia, Rowan and David. Their attention is on a wall of screens that is displaying a number of camera feeds. Rowan says that Maya hasn’t yet been caught, and this leads Fitz to asking why he had been called to join them. Rowan informs him that David authorized access to every traffic camera in the city and that because of it, they were able to track Maya down to some warehouse.
A moment later, an image of Jake shows up on the screen and he is strapped up for action. Fitz is perplexed as to why it is that the director of the NSA is in the field, and Rowan states that the move was necessary given the fact that the mother of the President-elect’s chief of staff is America’s top goon. Olivia adds then that Rowan would like to keep this mission off the books and that Jake’s involvement ensures that this happens. David chimes in to state that his presence is also off the books.
Fitz turns to Olivia then to ask her how she is doing with all that is happening, and she replies that the last time that she spoke with her mother, Maya made it clear that they are all just stepping stones to her next paycheck. (That’s one hell of a roundabout way of saying that you’re not fine.)
Fitz voices his dismay over the idea that Maya concocted all of this in order to make money, and David explains that if someone (Maya in this case) knew that something terrible was going to happen to the country that would led to a tanking of its economy, all that person would have to do after is bet against the United States, short the dollar and invest in gold. That would lead to this person making millions. Rowan amends this by saying that the person could stand to make BILLIONS because there is “profit in chaos.”
If ever there was one thing that the Bush administration taught us…
On the screen, Jake announces that they have arrived at their target destination and he wants to know if he and his team are good to go. Rowan turns to Fitz for authorization, and he gives it. Jake and his team then pop out of the back of a van to infiltrate the warehouse.
Back at the NSA, the mood is tense as everyone’s eyes are glued to the screen. Room after room in the warehouse is cleared. There is no Maya or anyone else on site, but there is plenty of material left behind that paints a damning picture. Inauguration Day parade routes, surveillance photographs of Mellie with her Secret Service agents, Metrobus and Metrorail schematics. Fitz draws the conclusion that Maya is going to assassinate Mellie!
The next day, Olivia goes to Mellie’s Senate office to share the latest news. Mellie can’t believe that there is yet something else that has reared its head to threaten her. This time, it’s Olivia’s mother, and to that, Mellie says, “Okay, so it’s official. Everyone in your family has wanted me dead at one point or another.”
Mellie then says that things are only weird for someone like her when another isn’t trying to take away her cake. (Does this include Olivia or nah?) She goes on to state that this presidency is her cake and that it has already been “bought and paid for.”
Bought and paid for? Really? Please present the receipt, so that I may examine it, Mellie.
Anyway, when Olivia tells Mellie that the matter will be handled and that her father is working on it, Mellie interrupts with a laugh that sounds like a record scratch. Olivia’s father as in Damascus Bainbridge?! (LMAO!) Needless to say, Mellie is unimpressed by Olivia’s confidence.
Olivia promises that Mellie will indeed take the oath of office in three days and become the next president of the United States, but she cautions Mellie to consider other options for her safety. One such option would be for Mellie to be sworn in behind closed doors. Olivia says that the ceremony is nothing more than pomp and fluff, and Mellie argues that while this is true, every president before her got one. In response, Olivia stresses that Mellie needs to seriously consider a Plan B should one be needed.
Over at OPA, Quinn, Charlie and Huck are coming into the big office and they are talking about the fact that Maya is involved in this debacle. Quinn starts to fire off instructions to the guys about upgrading security to ensure that nothing goes wrong with the inauguration, and Huck interrupts to ask Quinn if she has done some redecorating of Olivia’s former office. He points out a new chair and Charlie remarks on some fancy frame art that has yet to be hung. Quinn gets to explaining the new items, and Charlie tells her that she doesn’t need to get all defensive about it and says that it’s just strange seeing her settle into her new space. Quinn shuts down further ribbing when she sends them off to do as she has assigned of them.
Over at the NSA, Rowan, Jake and David are going over the information retrieved from the warehouse raid. David comments about the thoroughness of the research done by Maya, and Rowan says that none of it matters if they can’t figure out the plan behind them. Jake says that he can have his analysts look at the material to figure out some sort of pattern, and it is then that David pulls out a particular photograph of SS agent Harold Fenton who is featured in a lot of Maya’s surveillance photos.
Jake quickly pulls up information on the guy and finds that Fenton had been suspended in August for being a “degenerate gambler”, but that he has since been reinstated. David expresses surprise that anyone can be reinstated and Rowan states that someone like that would be an easy mark for Maya to use to gain access to his security credentials. He’s her way into the inauguration.
(So interesting to see Rowan, Jake and David sharing a scene. That’s a first, right?)
David points out that no badges or key cards were found among the things seized from the warehouse, and Jake opines that it is likely that Maya has yet to meet with ol’ Harold.
Flash over to some hotel room, and Fenton is seen emptying the contents of a bottle of alcohol from the mini bar into glass tumblers. He proceeds with the glasses towards the bed, where we see Maya slide into an upright position, as slick as a stretching cat. She accepts the drink from Fenton and remarks about how he appears “ready to go”. (LOL!) Fenton apologizes for the presence of his sidearm and pulls it out of its holster while explaining that he is Secret Service. (Whyever would you volunteer this, Harold??)
Maya casually grabs the gun and points it directly at him as she asks if him being SS means that he’d take a bullet for her. Fenton looks nervous as hell as his smile wobbles. Right then, there is a knock at the door and that allows Fenton to take his gun away from Maya and secure it back into his holster. He says something about forgetting to put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, and so he heads over to see who is interrupting them.
When he opens the door, Jake is standing on the other side. Fenton recognizes him and he immediately obeys when he is told to go home to his wife. (Of course, he has a wife!) Jake proceeds further into the room, and when Maya sees him, she voices her recognition. “I know you,” she says just as the second entryway into the room bursts open and a number of armed agents come rushing in.
Maya demands to know what is going on and surmises with some perplexion that Jake is there to arrest her. Jake tells her that arrest is what happens when you plot to assassinate the President. Upon hearing this, Maya shows confusion and denies this to be the case as she is dragged out of the room.
She is next seen being escorted into the infamous underground interrogation room. She is decked out in prisoner orange and her hands are cuffed behind her back. Jake stops just beyond the door as a black woman guard escorts Maya to the lone table that is further within the room. As the guard proceeds to uncuff her, Maya asks Jake if all of this is really necessary and she reiterates that she isn’t the one behind the plot.
When Jake remains silent, Maya turns to the guard to ask her to talk to Jake and tell him that he has the wrong person. (LOL!) The guard merely gives Maya the eye and proceeds to cuff her to the chains bolted to the table. Maya claims that she came back into town to help, and that she was trying to get Fenton to tell her what he knew so that she could protect her daughter.
Maya is looking for some understanding from the guard, but the woman gives Maya nothing more than a glance and silence. When Maya realizes that she won’t be getting any cooperation from the guard, she remarks, “Oh. So you can’t speak. So much for black girl magic.” LMAOOO!!
The guard proceeds to take up the cuffs that had been around Maya’s wrists and heads for the door as Jake orders Maya to stop talking. Turning her attention to him now, Maya tells him that she’ll stop talking when he starts listening. Jake replies that he has heard enough, and he is closing the door behind him when Maya demands to see a lawyer. She is shouting after Jake about how he can’t keep her in that cell forever when something clicks for her.
Turning towards the one-way mirror, Maya addresses her (ex?) husband directly and completes what she was saying about her not being held forever...unless it is Eli’s plan. She tells him that their “little Livvie” is in trouble and that mama has come back to help. Instead, here she is in chains because Eli would rather punish her than to help Olivia. She goes on to say that if anything should happen to their daughter, it will be on his head. On the other side of the mirror, Rowan, Olivia and Jake are watching her in silence.
Some time later, Maya is singing the Negro spiritual “Go Down Moses”, a song that goes back to the days of slavery and which speaks of the desire to be freed from bondage. (Oh, the ways in which this could apply to Rowan and Olivia.) She concludes her song and once again addresses Eli, asking him when he intends to release her. She insists that he is wasting time and not helping matters in the way that he believes that he is. Rowan, Olivia and Jake merely continue to watch her and make no move.
After a moment, Maya asks her audience to ask themselves why she would bother to come back to town if she was the one behind the plot to assassinate Mellie. She states that she would have stayed far away from the inauguration and certainly wouldn’t have been stupid enough to have been caught. She goes on to say that if Eli would bring his butt into the room, she could tell him what she heard from her trusted sources and why she felt the need to come to town to protect their daughter.
At this, Olivia is curious enough to say to her father that he should maybe consider going in and speaking with Maya, but Rowan refuses. He says that the time is not now, that they should wait until Maya wears herself out and finally says something that is worth listening to.
Letting out a long sigh, Maya calls it a “damn shame” that Eli isn’t willing to hear her out. She then launches into an epic statement of what it is like to be a black woman:
“I tell you, being a black woman, ‘Be strong,’ they say. Support your man, raise a man, think like a man. Well, damn. I’ve gotta do all that? Who’s out here working for me, carrying my burden, building me up when I get down? Nobody.
“Black women out here trying to save everybody, and what do we get? Swagger jacked by white girls wearing cornrows and bamboo earrings. Ain’t that a bitch? But we still try. Try to help all y’all. Even when we get nothing. Is that admirable or ridiculous? I don’t know!
“I know me sitting here is ridiculous when I could be helping, but you don’t want my help. You want to do it all by yourself, Mr. Big Strong Black Man. God forbid you let a sista like me help you out. Naw, you don’t want that.
“Don’t let me put you on my back when you fall, wipe the crust out of your eyes, put a pep back into your step because when we do, you resent us for making you better, smarter, stronger. Then drop us so you can be with somebody basic, someone without all that baggage you left us with. But we still try.
“That’s why I’m here -- trying and saving and trying to save, like we do. Here I am. Admirable or ridiculous? Baby, you tell me.” -- Maya Pope
I just had to transcribed that entire thing because that was a WORD. It touched upon black patriarchy, black women having their work co-opted by their white counterparts, and about the effort that these women put into black men only to be dropped by them when that work is done. It may feel like a random inclusion in the narrative, but it injects a reality into the series that hadn’t before been explicitly touched upon. It made me think specifically of Olivia’s relationship with her father and of how she, as the only constant black woman on the show, has had the burden of taking care of everyone.
I’ll leave the in depth analysis to the academics among us, but Maya’s words certainly do explain a lot of what we have seen with Olivia over the course of the series, and it literally encompasses everyone in her sphere to varying degrees: the gladiators, Fitzgerald, Mellie, and most assuredly Jake. Mr. Save Me.
Anyway, this is one of my favorite moments in the episode. Khandi Alexander shines whenever she is on the screen, and this scene is no exception. She’s phenomenal as the ever slippery Maya Pope.
Rowan shakes his head at the conclusion of this speech just as Maya asks if he intends on ever coming into the room. She indicates that time is running out by imitating the sound of a ticking clock. “Tick, tock,” she says to him over and over again.
Over at OPA, Charlie is seen standing at the threshold of Olivia’s old office (I’ll eventually call it Quinn’s. Give me a moment) when he asks if he can come in. Quinn tells him that he doesn’t need permission to come into the room, and she instructs him to stop being so weird. He denies that he is being weird, but she insists that he is. Charlie steps into the office then and says that he’d like to know what the rules of engagement are now that she is leading OPA. When Quinn tells him that there are no rules, Charlie wants to know if they are still allowed to talk about personal stuff in the office and if he’ll be able to hold her hand and give her a kiss. He goes on to ask her about the wedding and if she’ll ever have time to plan for one given the extra responsibility that she has now. He wonders if there will still be a wedding.
In the distance, the chime of the elevator can be heard. Shortly thereafter, Huck comes into the office to announce that Olivia is there. Quinn stands and comes from behind the desk right as Olivia walks into the office. She asks if Maya is talking yet, and Olivia says that Maya claims to be in town for the specific purpose of protecting her from whoever is really planning the attack. Huck asks if Olivia believes her mother, and she says that she doesn’t. She goes on to say that Maya hired someone to kill Mellie and she needs help in tracking down who that person is.
I swear, none of these people truly take the time to think through anything, do they? None of them have yet figured out why it is that Maya would want to take Mellie out, yet they are convinced that this is what Maya has come there to do. For what reason though? The one that David gave earlier? That’s too unpredictable a scenario and Maya strikes me as the get rich right now kind of chick.
In any case, Olivia is there to hire OPA to help with this task because this search needs to remain off the books. Quinn says that they can handle the matter, and Olivia tells her that she’ll send over everything that they know so far about the plot. As Olivia makes to leave, she spies the blue chair that Quinn has moved into the office and just stares at it. Quinn asks her if she likes it and Olivia replies that it only matters that Quinn likes it and then she continues out of the office. (Heh.)
Huck hurries to catch up with Olivia at the elevator, and once he’s there, he asks her if she’s doing okay. She says that she is fine, and when Huck offers to come along with her, Olivia tells him that he is needed there at OPA to assist Quinn with handling the firm. Huck is still worried as he points out that Maya is back in town, and Olivia again insists that she will be okay, that her father is taking care of the situation. After all, he was Command. Huck is dubious and says to her that “father” and “Command” are two different things. When the elevator car arrives, Huck warns Olivia to be careful and then he heads back towards the office. Olivia steps into the elevator and shuts the door, but stares after Huck as he continues further into the suite.
Returning to the cell beneath the Pentagon somewhere, Maya is still going with her “tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock goes the clock.” Rowan continues to watch her from the outside of the cell when Olivia returns to join him. She surmises that there has been no progress, and Rowan states that they need to be patient. Maya soon gives up on her ticking and tocking and segues into a recollection of a time that she and Eli went to Ocean City with a young Olivia. She recalls how she had undercooked a bushel of crabs that made Eli sick, a jellyfish stinging Olivia and how they ended up stranded in that town for five days due to a tropical storm.
Maya seems to be remembering a lot more than she is sharing if her tone is any indication (O_o), and she wonders if Eli also recalls this moment. The next thing we see, Maya is on top of the table and she is asking over and over again if Eli remembers. She bangs on the table with each repeat of her question and appears to be having some sort of breakdown.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the glass, Rowan watches Maya patiently. He then looks at Olivia as he points at Maya and says that this crack is what they’ve been looking for. He then finally gives Maya the audience that she has been asking for.
When they are sitting across from each other, Maya tells him to tell her that she doesn’t look nearly as old as he does. (LOL!!) She is playful as she says this, and Rowan concedes that Maya does look good and that it is obvious that she has been taking care of herself. Maya tells him that she’s been on her “‘eat, pray, love’ ish”, and I fall all the way out. Why is this woman like this?
Rowan interrupts her to say that time is running out, but Maya wants to catch up. She asks him how he has been and Rowan finds it hard to believe that she doesn’t already know. Maya states that she doesn’t, and then she asks if Olivia is standing out there. Rowan says she isn’t, but Maya goes on to ask if it would be possible for her to see her. Rowan states that Olivia doesn’t want to see her and Maya tells him that Olivia won’t be happy to know that Rowan is treating her the way that she is. (Maya, if only you knew who your daughter is now.)
Rowan cuts in to say that Olivia wants nothing to do with her because she sees Maya for what she is: a woman who has no values and no integrity, and whose beliefs shift with the changing wind. Maya is unfazed by his words and she points out that this is Rowan talking, and not Olivia. Rowan tells her that he could maybe convince Olivia against her better judgement to speak with her mother, and Maya wants to know what price she will have to pay in order for that to happen. Rowan says that she will have to give him answers as to who she hired, who will be pulling the trigger, and if Mellie is the only target. He wants her to share with him the entire plan, especially the part about how she hooked up with Peus and Ponytail who went on to imprison him.
Maya is listening quietly up until this point and is surprised to hear that someone imprisoned him. She asks if his captors had been white folks and the look on Rowan’s face is confirmation enough. Maya then remarks, “You must’ve hated that.” (HAHAHA! He did.)
Maya then asks him if he really believes that she would get herself involved in something that would hurt Olivia or take away something that she knows that their daughter desperately wants. She goes on to say that she came there to protect Olivia, a job that she had always entrusted to Rowan, but now sees that he is no longer up to the task.
Rowan wasn’t about to let her get away with pointing out his failures as a parent without also pointing out the things that he believes that she has done, namely her involvement with the mystery people. He accuses her of concocting this entire plan to weaken him for money or vengeance (or both) and she now has the audacity to criticize him for not being able to protect Olivia. Given that Rowan is yelling now, Maya remarks on his display of anger and Rowan tells her that she is the cause of it. Maya rejects this and says to him that Rowan wants her to be the reason he is angry. She goes on to say that if he would listen for once and stop behaving as if he has the answer to everything, he’d realize that they could work together to protect their child.
Now Rowan mocks her sudden care for Olivia’s well-being, the daughter that she left motherless when she walked out on her over two decades ago. Maya reminds him that he had imprisoned her, but Rowan counters by saying that he had imprisoned Marie Wallace. He then goes on to state that Maya may have given birth to Olivia, but that she is no mother to her.
This statement is a piercing one and Maya orders Rowan to stop talking. Rowan appears to be taken aback by her reaction and asks if it hurt for her to hear him say that, and Maya admits that it did. She then asks him if she is not allowed to make up for being absent all of these years. She adds: “...if people cannot make up for their mistakes, I would’ve kept my ass at home instead of coming here and risking the one thing I know I love -- my freedom -- to try to do something good for my daughter.”
As she is speaking, Rowan appears shook. He seems to be warring between believing what she is saying and sticking what he believes to be the truth. After a moment, he asks Maya if she told the mystery people about Sandra. She doesn’t initially know who he is talking about, but then it comes to her. “The one that got away” is how Maya refers to her. The one that he went to graduate school with, the one that she knew Rowan was constantly comparing her to when she didn’t care to hear about some “prehistoric penguin” that he was about to dig up. (LOL!)
Maya figures out that Sandra is how the mystery people got to Rowan, and she remarks that they were good. She says that whoever is responsible for this plot knows him well and that it is no wonder that he believes that she is the one behind all of it. She, however, maintains that the one steering the ship was not her.
Maya goes on to say that maybe they can’t make up for their mistakes or change or that they are maybe stuck doing the same dumb stuff over and over. That said, she makes clear to him that making him happy was not part of her mission then, but that she did love him. Maya then adds that he deserves to be loved.
The mood is somber as Rowan stares at her for a moment, and then he gets up to exit the room. Before he leaves, he confirms to Maya that Ocean City had been the best vacation that they had ever had because they had been a family. Maya appears moved by him saying this and she adds that the time was special because it was just them and no one else.
Sigh. This scene right here is my second favorite moment from this episode. It’s quite sad really when you think about what could have been and how Maya’s terrorist background and eventual departure from the family affected both husband and child. It is clear from this scene that both Eli and Maya did once have something that may have been love between them. If there hadn’t been, Rowan could have killed off Maya long ago.
Were these two not able to have had this conversation prior to this moment? Probably not, but it could have spared them all a lot of pain, especially Olivia who I suspect has borne the brunt of much of the frustrations and vitriol that Rowan had reserved for Maya. Ugly situation.
As Rowan exits from the cell, the camera pans to show us Olivia who had been watching the entire exchange. She doesn’t look to have bought what her mother was saying, but then she looks over to where Rowan should be standing on the other side of the door and it takes him a moment to come within her eyesight. He looks overwhelmed by the experience, and when he glances over at Olivia, she can see that something has changed with him. After a moment, Rowan continues out of the facility.
Decisions, Decisions
Over at the Capitol, Mellie is watching the news in her office as the reporter states that there is officially three days left until Inauguration and that it will be the first time that a woman is sworn into office. The reporter goes on to state that women will be flocking to the area for the historic event and that hotels are reporting record booking numbers. Mellie is listening to this with rapt attention before she tears her eyes away to order her secretary to let Secret Service know that she would like to depart.
At OPA, the gladiators are having no luck with finding any links between Maya and someone local who could be the assassin that she hired. Quinn says that if Maya had hired someone, there has to be record of some transaction made somewhere. Charlie chimes in to say that terrorist lesson 101 is to keep the books clean, but Quinn believes that there has to be something. She asks about Peus’s fake super PAC and Huck tells her that the accounts there are all clean. Charlie then remarks about how unfortunate it is that the mystery people are all dead, that they could have saved them a lot of leg work.
This comment leads Quinn to remarking that not everyone who was involved in the plot is dead. We next see the gladiators standing by the elevator in wait for the arrival of someone, and we soon see that that someone is Abby. She hesitates a moment before stepping out of the car and asks where Olivia is, and Quinn informs her that she is now the one running OPA.
Abby offers her congratulations and proceeds to hand over the bank documents that she has brought over. She explains that the accounts for Peus’s operation was at some bank in Macau, but that the funds were coming from North Korea. Quinn doles out instructions to the guys about finding out where the money originates from, and then she asks of who among them has contacts in North Korea. Charlie initially asks Quinn why she would think that they have friends in North Korea, just as Huck is saying that he has some. Charlie then reverses course to say that he has more friends in the country than Huck does since he spent more time there on killing missions. (Ever in competition, those two.)
Quinn orders both men to get started and they all start back into the office suite. Before Quinn could continue further, Abby pipes up to say that she never touched any of the money that the mystery people gave her and that she’s been thinking about donating it all to charity once all of this stuff was over. Quinn turns to face her then and sarcastically asks if Abby wants a medal for not spending the cash, and Abby replies that she would like to help. Quinn briefly considers her and then invites her to join them. (Yay! Gladiators unite!)
Later that evening, Olivia comes to visit Rowan at his workspace. He’s standing by the dinosaur and appears lost in thought. He doesn’t react when Olivia walks in and he also fails to acknowledge her when she calls out to him. It isn’t until she touches him that he pulls out of his reverie. He lets out a sigh before he starts to explain that he couldn’t let them take “her.” He’s staring up at his assembled dinosaur skeleton as he speaks, but as tends to be the case with this show, dialogue often has double meaning.
Rowan goes on to say that he’ll eventually let “her” go, but it won’t be happening just now. Olivia watches him for a bit before saying that her mother will say anything to get under Rowan’s skin just so she’ll get what she wants. She goes on to say that her father has to go back into the room to speak with Maya since he is the only one who can break her. Rowan points out then that Maya is in custody and she therefore cannot hurt anyone. He tells Olivia to convince Mellie to take her swearing in underground and that Olivia can then be done with her mother for good. He adds that her doing this is what’s best for her.
Olivia studies her father for a moment and then comes to the realization that he believes Maya’s story. He tells her that it doesn’t matter what he believes, but Olivia counters by saying that it does indeed matter. Rowan shakes her head at that before looking back up at his dinosaur skeleton and stating how he used to find “her” to be so beautiful, but she is just bones. Momentarily speechless, Olivia rubs her father’s arm and orders him to go home and get some rest. As she walks away from him, she turns back to find that he is once again lost in thought.
Over at the Residence, Mellie has come to meet with Fitz. She thanks him for making out the time, and he replies that when the President asks you to do something, you do it. Mellie scoffs a little at this right before he hands her some scotch and they clink their glasses together.
Fitz asks if Olivia has been keeping Mellie updated on what’s been happening and Mellie remarks about the number of Secret Service that now surrounds her. It was nothing like when she was First Lady and she states that one may not always see them, but you can always hear them. She compares it to having mice in the wall. (Ick!) Fitz says that when one is President that sound never stops, but that eventually it all becomes white noise.
Mellie steers the conversation over to the Inauguration and mentions that Olivia told her that it may have to be cancelled. Fitz says that should the threat against her life remains, then cancelling the ceremony is an option that is available to Mellie for consideration.
Mellie isn’t too keen on the idea of taking the oath of office in the Oval and she asks Fitz what it is that he would do. He tells her that he would cancel. Mellie is dissatisfied with this and assumes that he provided her with this response because he has already experienced the ceremony himself. She goes on to say that she has been dreaming about this moment her entire life (she has?) unlike common wisdom that tells us that little girls dream about weddings. She then incredulously asks, “Who dreams about weddings?!”
Hey! Some girls do! Don’t knock it.
Fitz interrupts her to explain that he would cancel because he knows what it is like to be shot. He reminds her that it happened on his birthday (207-208) and she tells him that she remembers, that she was there. Fitz goes on to recall what color dress Mellie was wearing, him holding her hand as they arrived for the party, and then him feeling as if he had gotten punched several times. He had thought that both he and Mellie were being physically attacked, but then realized that he had been shot when the agent next to him “erupted in a spray of blood.”
Thank you for that walk down 207 memory lane, Fitzgerald. Shall we never do that again, okay?
Fitz circles back to his answer by saying that if it were him, he would cancel the Inauguration if it meant sparing the mother of his children his experience...or worse. Then he adds that the decision of cancelling the ceremony is up to Mellie, and that on January 20th, Mellie will become the next President.
Can I just say how much I have enjoyed Fitz and Mellie’s relationship since their divorce? It’s an evolution between these characters that I feel that the writers have handled magnificently. Shine on, platonic Mellitz! Shine on!
The next morning at OPA, the gladiators have dug into the North Korea funding to the Peus super PAC, but they were unable to link any of them to Maya as the source of the funding. Quinn wonders aloud what it is that she is going to tell Olivia if they can’t find a link to Maya or find the terrorist tapped to assassinate Mellie, and Huck says that maybe they should consider that Maya is telling the truth. Quinn laments that it would be just her luck that during her first job as head of OPA, that terrorist Maya Pope is in town when there is a known terrorist plot afoot and she happens to not be behind it. (Ha!)
Huck points out that Maya did say that she came to help Olivia, but Quinn denies this to be the truth. Charlie chimes in then to say that people do change and that she should take them as an example. He says that Quinn is now the boss lady and he’s her humble servant. LOL...this remark fires off an argument between he and Quinn, and they are going back and forth about how her as head of OPA has changed who she is. Quinn insists that she is the same person that she has always been.
At this point, Abby turns to Huck and says that Quinn has a point. People don’t change. It is the power structure that does. Abby stands then to interrupt the argument and say that no one changes. Quinn is still Quinn just as Maya is still Maya. If Maya is present, she is connected somehow, but they have to consider the possibility that Maya isn’t the one bankrolling all of this. They have to instead not look for who is giving money, but who is getting money.
Changing Tactics
Later, we see Olivia working at her dining table in her apartment when she gets a knock at the door. She is dressed in a black and red striped blazer and the thing is just gorgeous, though it does give me pause. Red has several meanings, but the ones that come to mind for me right now is danger, anger, violence. You’ll see why in a minute.
Olivia opens the door to Huck who has come with information that OPA has finally been able to dig up. It turns out that Maya didn’t hire some assassin to take out Mellie. Maya is the assassin!
Well, duh! Since when does Maya hire someone else to do the assassinating for her? Maya doesn’t bankroll squat. She’s all about getting that paper. Why would she squander it on some plot to take over the presidency? Like Abby says, people (at their core) don’t change.
Also, since OPA was able to determine that Maya received money for a job, were they also able to determine who it was that was paying her to carry out the assassination? Inquiring minds want to know.
With this information in hand, Olivia goes to visit her mother in that cell. Maya is quite elated to see her. (It has been years since they last saw each other.) Olivia is playing at concerned daughter before she claims the seat that is directly across from Maya. She takes her mother’s hand in hers and tells her that she had spoken about everything with her father. She says that Rowan believes Maya and so she believes Maya as well. She goes on to state that Maya is merely trying to figure out who is behind the attack on the Inauguration. Maya concurs and says that she is doing this for Olivia.
At that point, Olivia pops out of her seat and dramatically yells at some imaginary individual about how her mother has to be let go. This chile sucks at this act because even I was looking at her like “come on, girl.” Maya eventually catches on with the realization that Olivia is trying to pull one over on her, and she dismisses Olivia’s antics with a “girl bye”. (LOL...I can’t.)
Olivia drops the act and tells Maya that she has 30 seconds to share how it is that she intends to carry out the attack. Instead of divulging any information, Maya speaks to how Olivia and Rowan are “two peas in a pod” and how this is partly her fault for not being around to raise Olivia in the way that she should have been raised. She goes on to say that she left Olivia with her father, thinking that Rowan could only mess up Olivia but so much, but she sees now that she was wrong.
While she is speaking, Olivia is counting down the seconds that Maya has left. Maya continues by saying that Olivia is now “prancing around, acting like [she’s] some carbon copy of [her father’s] wretched, impotent ass.” (Hahaha!) Maya then adds that emulating Rowan isn’t a good look for Olivia, and she says that Olivia behaving like him isn’t going to get her far with her. She caps it all off by pointing out that she has been playing Eli for years, so what Olivia is doing right now is just playing herself.
Oh.
Well, Olivia didn’t very much like hearing this from Maya. Next thing you know, the girl has her hands around her mother’s neck and she’s SQUEEZING! SQUEEZING!!!! Yo…
Olivia tells her that the games are over and that Maya can’t get inside her head because she is nothing like her father. She goes on to say that unlike Rowan, she will indeed kill Maya. (WHAT IN THE FLYING F IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?!) Olivia then dares Maya to try her and encourages her to tell her to do it.
Jesus Christ on the Cross…. Olivia is close to squeezing the life out of her mother when Jake comes bursting into the room and rips Olivia off of Maya!
Whew, lawd. There was much happening in that moment, and Maya seemed to see that for she immediately absolves her child for what she had just done by repeatedly saying that it was okay and that she understands. Just imagine all of the pent up rage that Olivia must have for the woman who abandoned her when she needed her the most and who has made it repeatedly clear that she values her money more than she does her own child. And here is that very woman now looking to throw further chaos into the life that Olivia feels she has worked hard to have. Hell, I’d want to squeeze the life out of her, too.
That said, I have to admit that the moment was rather chilling. Understandable, but chilling nonetheless. Is Olivia ever going to be sent off to therapy? Both of her parents have f’d her up something serious and it really is a wonder that she isn’t mentally worse off than she presently is.
No matter how much Olivia may hate hearing it, Maya isn’t incorrect in her comparison of Olivia to her father. After being groomed by only him for well over two decades, similarities are expected. While I can’t agree with Olivia when she claims that she is nothing like him, I will say that she is not him. What was it that she said to him during their dinner in 614? Nurture over nature? Yeah, well, let’s try to steer away from the murderous inclinations.
When Jake tries to usher Olivia out of the room, she fights him off of and she just stares at Maya as her mother continues to say that she understands Olivia’s actions. Olivia finally departs from the room and Jake follows close behind.
Jake is next seen briefing Fitz and Mellie on what happened in the cell. He describes things as getting out of hand and that “she” would have strangled her to death if he hadn’t come in and intervened. Fitz assumes that the “she” is Maya and says that he thought that Maya was restrained. Jake replies that Maya was restrained and that it was Olivia who attacked Maya. Both Fitz and Mellie are surprised by this, and Fitz turns to look at Olivia who is sitting out on the Truman Balcony.
These people are calm as hell for having just learned that Olivia almost killed her mother. I guess after the woman has taken a chair to the VP, anything else after that kind of loses its shock value.
Out on the balcony, Olivia stands up from where she is sitting and starts to pace in frustration. Mellie eventually comes out to join her and she asks Olivia if she is okay. Olivia says that she’s just fine (she clearly isn’t) and she stops her pacing then. She looks shaken by the ordeal.
Olivia eventually turns towards Mellie and offers her an apology. Mellie tells her not to be sorry and that she is sure that there are dozens of people who would have wanted to do what Olivia did to Maya (true, but…). Olivia explains that she failed by losing control and that if Maya was going to tell them anything, that opportunity was lost the moment she wrapped her hands around Maya’s neck.
Mellie tells Olivia that she doesn’t accept what Olivia is saying because if she does, that means that the Inauguration has to be cancelled and cancelling isn’t something that she intends to do. Mellie goes on to say that for them, this inauguration isn’t just a ceremony; that there are women across the country that are flocking to DC to watch the first woman be sworn in as President of the United States. This is their moment, she says, and cancelling the inauguration would be them telling those women that they don’t get their moment and that it would be akin to saying that this achievement is “less than”.
Okay, pause.
I hate that I have to keep doing this, but come on, Scandal writers. You are really asking me to suspend a lot here with Mellie’s ascension to the throne. Granted that the public doesn’t know of all the behind the scenes shenanigans that has and continues to take place with regards this election, but Mellie DIDN’T WIN ANY PART OF THE ELECTION! There is nothing gratifying in having the first woman President be one who slipped into place due to circumstance. She didn’t win outright. She didn’t earn it.
Sigh. I’m just going to have to let this one go, y’all, but they are seriously killing me here. And I think I’ve peeped the underside of my brain as my eyes rolled back into my head over this.
Mellie goes on to say that anything short of her standing on the steps of the Capitol and taking the oath in front of that crowd just like every man before her has would be considered an insult, and then she states that she won’t deny herself the opportunity. She quickly amends this to say that she and Olivia won’t do it, and Olivia soon concurs with her.
Yay, powerful women...or whatever.
Later over at the NSA, Olivia is explaining to Fitz that Maya is actually nothing more than a hired gun who was paid for the hit on Mellie. Jake adds that Maya is working for “them”, and when Fitz asks who “them” is, Olivia says that they don’t know and that it is likely that her mother doesn’t know who “them” is either.
Fitz says that he wants charges pressed against Maya and he tasks David with handling that, but Olivia immediately squashes that and proposes that they let Maya go. Olivia’s thinking is that setting Maya free will lead them to whoever is behind the entire plot.
Fitz is vehemently against the idea of releasing a terrorist who has been paid to assassinate the next President and says that Mellie’s life is at stake. Olivia points out that Mellie’s life is at stake regardless of what they do, that keeping Maya locked up will only lead to the person behind all of this finding another assassin to do the job. Fitz then says that the Inauguration will just have to be cancelled, and Olivia tells him that that is no longer an option since Mellie is determined to go out there and take her rightful place as President.
I don’t know if I should call this admirable or ridiculous (co-opting Maya here). There is the possibility of you being assassinated on stage and you’d rather risk your life and that of others who will be up there with you because you must have the same inauguration that the men had? Gosh, I feel like such a bad feminist right now, but…
Fitz has a hard time with this plan. He says that Maya is going to make a fool of them and will slip her leash no matter what they do, so he remains a no on freeing her. He tells Olivia that he’ll hold off on pressing charges, but says that if Olivia can’t figure out who is paying Maya within the next twelve hours, Maya is going to rot in her cell for the rest of her life. Fitz then ends the discussion and departs from the room.
Heh. Fitz must have forgotten that his presidency ends within those hours because end of discussion? Haha...no.
Once he is gone, Olivia turns to face Jake. David is still present and he starts to say something when Jake rudely dismisses him from the room. Now that they are alone, Olivia says to Jake that he knows that she is right about releasing Maya. Whoever is behind all of this will simply find another assassin.
Off the two of them go back to Maya in her cell. Olivia walks in with Jake and two guards and announces to her mother that she is being let go. Maya remarks that she thought that the two of them were done with play acting, and Olivia informs her that this isn’t an act, that Maya is indeed being let go, but only because she is being used as bait to catch the person who is paying her to assassinate Mellie. Olivia explains that a tracking chip will be implanted into her mother, which will allow for her to be under constant surveillance.
As Olivia is speaking, Maya is just watching her as if there is something about her child that she sees that Olivia herself cannot. As the guards uncuff Maya and start to lead her out of the door, Olivia tells her that if she dares cross her, she intends to hunt Maya down herself and kill her.
When Jake asks Olivia if she is okay, she tells him that she’s “never been better.”
Y’all need to be worried about this child.
The Future Is Uncertain
That evening, the gladiators are seen packing up their case documents into boxes. Abby pokes her head into the conference room to bid them all farewell, and only Charlie and Huck respond. Quinn merely gives her a glance and then continues with placing papers into the box in front of her. Abby then leaves them to head for the exit, and Huck and Charlie both silently motion for Quinn to go speak with the woman.
Quinn relents and goes after Abby who thinks that Quinn wants to get more punches in. Abby asks Quinn if she doesn’t think that she already know that she is “weak, selfish and greedy” and that in her letting a little power go to her head that the nation and the world is now suffering the repercussions. Abby concludes that she is a bad friend and as such, she deserves to be alone. (Aww….no, you don’t, Abigail! We all do terrible things.)
Abby turns to walk away, but before she can get far, Quinn confesses that she is pregnant!
For those who don’t know, Katie Lowes (Quinn’s portrayer) is pregnant in real life, and given that next season is Scandal’s last, I’m not surprised that Shonda opted to have this written in. It’ll be interesting to see how this shakes things up at OPA, especially with Quinn being the boss.
Abby is surprised by the revelation, but she is quick to shift into friend mode and asks Quinn how far along she is and if she is keeping it. Quinn replies that she doesn’t know to both questions, which prompts Abby to ask what it is that Quinn does know. Quinn says that she knows that Charlie has contacts in North Korea, and Abby wonders what this fact has to do with Quinn having a baby. Quinn adds that she has slit a woman’s throat, and that people like she and Charlie are dangerous. She doesn’t get to complete her question about how is it that she and Charlie could be parents given their lives for she cuts herself off and instead thanks Abby for her help with the case.
Flash over to Olivia in her apartment. She appears to had been expecting the knock that comes at her door, and she immediately opens it without bothering to look through the peephole or even at the person to whom she has just opened the door. Rowan steps in and immediately asks Olivia what it is that she has done. Olivia remarks about there being wine on the table should he want any, but Rowan isn’t interested in wine. He wants to know why it is that she has released Maya. Olivia tells him that he is welcome to come in and relax with her, but that they are not talking about what she did. Rowan says that she doesn’t want to speak with him about it because she knows that she is making a mistake, but Olivia counters by saying that they can’t talk about it because his security clearance has been revoked.
Rowan says to Olivia that Maya played her, but Olivia flips that around to say that Maya actually played him and so she is handling the situation. Rowan pauses a moment and then says that Mellie is going to die and it will be Olivia’s fault.
It is interesting that Rowan and Fitz are on the same side on this. Rowan is certain that Maya is going to kill Mellie while Olivia trusts that Maya is going to make good on the assignment that she has been given. Why is she so sure?
Rowan leaves Olivia to her wine and we get flashed over to a chained up Maya in the back of an armored vehicle. Legs crossed and hair obscuring one of her eyes, Maya is too damn sexy for her own good. She is poised as the vehicle bumps along.
Flashing to the Oval, we see that Rowan has come to inform Fitz that Olivia had let Maya go. (How in the hell did Rowan know this before Fitzgerald?) Incensed, Fitz demands to have Olivia brought to him so that he can speak to her. Rowan says to the President that he knows why this happened, and Fitz suspects that it is because Maya somehow got into Olivia’s head. Rowan tells him that Maya is the symptom and what he is really referring to is the disease.
Flashing over the Capitol, Olivia is telling Mellie that the situation has been handled. Mellie is worried about Maya roaming the city hours before her inauguration is to take place and Olivia interrupts her to ask if Mellie doesn’t trust her. Mellie doesn’t give her an answer. (Welp.)
Back at the Oval, Rowan is saying to Fitz that “nature abhors a vacuum” and that had B613 continued, none of this would have happened.
Record scratch. B6 what? Oh hell nah.
Rowan tells Fitzgerald that he has to reinstate B613 by executive order and make that his last act as President. Fitz asks Rowan if he believes that he himself is just going to hand that kind of power back to the man (Rowan) who almost ruined the country, and Rowan says that his time for running B613 has gone and that it is know Fitz’s time. (Um, what??)
Olivia, meanwhile, is justifying her decision to let her mother go to Mellie. She says that she made the right call and that she will be making a lot more moving forward (watch out, Mellie), and she tells Mellie to believe her when she says that her mother will not fail her.
Back to the Oval, Rowan is buttering up Fitzgerald by telling him that Fitz understands the balance of power and the fragility of the Republic, as well as the workings of the military and the intelligence community. He then adds that as much as he would like to disagree with himself, there is no better person to keep a check on power than Fitz. (LOL...was that a backhanded compliment?) Fitz looks to be giving what Rowan is saying some serious consideration, and I am left asking why????
The vehicle that Maya is being carried in finally comes to a stop and she is released from her chains. Jake comes from the front of the vehicle to say to her that she knows how to contact them, and then he asks her how soon they should expect to know anything. Maya tells him that he’ll know when he knows, and then she goes off into the night.
Rowan continues with telling Fitz that Olivia is now the power and that without B613, there will be no check on her. He says that it is Olivia who is the disease and as such, she will end up ruined. He adds that he can see that path for her as clearly as he can see his own image in the mirror.
Over at Mellie’s office, Olivia is holding up a glass of wine for a toast. Mellie takes a moment before agreeing with Olivia and saying that “it’s settled.”
Episode closes out and I’m sitting here like…
I am always suspicious of Rowan and motivations behind anything that he does, and this one is no different. Now that Olivia is doing things that he disagrees with, things that he has no ability to stop her from doing, he’s concerned about reining in her power? And of course, he’d take advantage of his somewhat thawed relationship with Fitzgerald to try to get him to reinstate B613. Fitzgerald running the covert spy operation? And he uses Olivia’s ruination at the seat of power as a way to convince Fitz to agree to his.
This is not to say that Rowan doesn’t have legitimate concerns for being fearful of Olivia’s path, but isn’t he the same person who has been encouraging her in this pursuit for at least the past year, telling her that power trumps everything? That power runs the world? Now that she’s there, he’s looking to put a cap on what she can do with it? Funny how that works.
Has Olivia’s gut instinct returned? What has her suddenly being so trusting of her mother? Is Rowan right about the need for the return of B613?
This is the end of the recap/review of the first half of the Scandal season finale a.k.a. episode 615. Comment below with your thoughts on THIS HALF and then we can carry on with further discussion on the second half when that review is posted.
I thank you all for reading and I’ll see you again soon with the recap/review of 616!
