Scandal 4 x 7, “Baby Made a Mess” is so far my favorite episode of the season! This is saying a lot, because every episode this season has been brilliant and epic. What makes this one extra special? Let’s just say the right people win “Yahtzee.” Have no idea what that means? I’ll explain it in this review and recap of Scandal 4 x 7!
“Yahtzee!”
Yahtzee is an old-fashion dice-rolling game where you roll five dice at a time. I’m not going to explain all the rules (you can click here if you’re interested) but a “Yahtzee” is when you roll five of a kind and it gives you the most points. Unlike calling out “gin” or “uno” a Yahtzee doesn’t win you game or close to winning. It just means you rolled the near impossible five of a kind. Saying Yahtzee is way of saying you’ve beaten the odds.
There are a number of Yahtzee moments in this episode. The straightforward one is between Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield) and Leo Bergen (Paul Adelstein). By getting out of her abusive marriage alive Abby certainly beat the odds against her ex-husband. There’s also the case-of-the-week moments, like when Olivia uses the candidate’s daughter in the campaign promo.
However, my favorite is the moment that shows Washington crisis manager Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) finally has her mojo back! No, I’m not talking about her and President Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant (Tony Goldwyn) having hope – although there’s much to discuss about that as well. I’m talking about having back the Olivia who sees the truth behind the lies and make sharp smart decisions to get the job done.
The Setup
In the last episode, “An Innocent Man” Olivia stands up to her father and says she’s trying to save both Fitz and former B613 agent/Command and current boyfriend Jake Ballard (Scott Foley). Save them from what, was my question then. Now it seems clear that she means saving them from her father: Jake literally, and Fitz mentally. The part of her that knew Jake was innocent also knew it had to be her father that was behind it all. For Fitz to be going along with it, he had to have bought into lies of Eli/Rowan Pope (Joe Morton) – and that would ultimately lead to his demise. She also tells her father that she “had tools at her disposal” that her father never can. “Baby Made a Mess” starts out showing exactly what tools she’s talking about by opening the episode with Fitz calling Olivia after she’s already in bed.
Olivia: So I say there’s hope and this means you call me every night?
Fitz: Unless you want me to come over there and tuck you in?
Really? God, that’s lame, Fitz. Olivia is not amused!
Fitz: That came out… dirty. I just wanna…I miss you. Can we think about a way to spend time together? Now that there is…hope.
Olivia doesn’t answer him. Instead she demands a full report on Jake’s conditions at the super max prison, telling Fitz she’ll discuss hope with him after he gets and gives her that information. Then she hangs up on him.
Is Olivia lying about hope? I don’t think so. She can’t deny still loving Fitz. It’s that she can’t deny loving Jake as well. In terms of who she could end up with, Olivia’s most likely thought is, “anything’s possible.”
While Fitz scowls & ponders her demands, Mellie, who had come in just in time to hear Fitz say “Olivia” on the phone, slips away.
Mellie reacts to seeing Fitz on the phone with Olivia
Mellie’s appearance is a small piece of this scene, but in the hands Bellamy Young it’s able to covey a lot of Mellie’s feelings. Mellie doesn’t show her usual burning anger of the past. Her expression is more one of surprise, hurt and disappointment, Who can blame her? Remember her one request, “when you see her, you will tell me. I don’t want to be blindsided.” Yet, here his is, sneaking around, blindsiding her.
That same night Quinn gets seriously blindsided by something far more shocking. We see her entering a fancy house asking for “Mr Winslow.” He’s the husband of Olivia’s college friend who’s currently in jail for murdering her daughter. She’s innocent of that crime (but guilty of statutory rape of her daughter’s boyfriend and being a horrible mother). Quinn and Huck know that his daughter, and her best friend both died because they’d discovered Mr. Winslow is mixed up in something that has them taking 100’s of surveillance photos of Olivia. Quinn’s there to find out why.
She’s finds Mr. Winslow sitting on the stairs in his home, wearing a bathrobe and drinking. He’s strangely calm when sees Quinn, even though he’s no idea who she is. Quinn does what’s becoming her signature badassed questioning routine. The man finishes his drink and pulls a gun out of his robe pocket.
“You can’t stop what’s coming. I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
Before Quinn can react Mr, Wilson blows his brains out.
Quinn is horrified!
Quinn’s reaction is a great reminder of why she and Charlie could never really work. Quinn may be fine with torture, but she’s not callous to seeing anyone’s death.
Abby’s problems don’t begin until the next morning. Senator McDonald from Virginia has a truly embarrassing sex tape surface (A a grown man wearing diapers and saying “Baby Made a Mess” does not inspire confidence in one’s sanity).
Cyrus is so bad! He really should consider the behaviors he could be caught doing…granted, at least Cyrus’s paying for a male prostitute falls into the realm of normal. Cyrus isn’t closeted, so it’s really just the paying for it that’s the problem. He’ll be examining his own vulnerabilities later in the episode – and he won’t be laughing then! Nor will be in the mood to rub winning the White House in the face of Leo Bergen (Paul Adelstein), who is currently running Chip’s senate campaign.
The worst part of all of this is the situation it creates for Abby. I’m sure Cyrus knows more than the fact that Charles “Chip” Putney (Michael Trucco) is Abby’s ex-husband. He’s know Olivia forever, so it seems likely he was around when Olivia helped get Abby away from her physically abusive ex-husband. Last season Abby ducked out on a date with David just to avoid the man. This is not a good situation!
Huck has is own past meeting present dilemma – but it’s entirely of his own making. Since his former wife refused to let him see his son Javi, Huck has been pretending to be another kid and playing a Halo-like video game on-line with him. A message from Javi asks if Huck would like to meet up with him after school Thursday. With Quinn yelling at him to come out of his office he agrees to meet and hits send. Now what’s he going to do? Javi’s mom could probably have Huck arrested if she finds out!
Abby and Olivia (and…Leo) Take Down “Chip”
Abby handles being in the room with Chip, but then Olivia gets a call from Attorney General and Abby’s ex-boyfriend David Rosen (Joshua Malina). He puts Abby on the phone with Olivia, and the next thing you know Olivia is at Abby’s office. I am so glad these two made up before, because Abby really needed her best friend! (Just like Olivia needed Abby two episodes back.)
We all know saucy Abby, indignant Abby, furious Abby – but I don’t think we’ve ever really seen Abby falling apart. Kudos to Stanchfield in nailing this scene, and to the writers for really digging into the complexities of having been a battered woman, and of the dynamics of power. The fact that Abby feels what Chip has done can’t override his being the president’s pick is symptomatic of having been battered. Chip is still unstoppable, she feels helpless and powerless. The best thing she can see doing for herself is to somehow “suck it up.” For Abby to say that even Olivia can’t keep Chip from winning shows just how far gone she is. Olivia destroys election campaigns as routinely as other people make breakfast.
In this case Olivia’s approach is to first shore up the other republican candidate vying for the nomination – Susan Ross (Artemis Pebdani). It’s a big job!
That was hilarious! Really, that scene says it all in terms of what Olivia is contending with. Still, there are several other scenes of Olivia dealing with the reality of this candidate that make some important points. For instance, Olivia gets her a make-over, because:
Research shows that if a female candidate is too pretty or too plain votes turn against her. Still, as a feminist, I absolutely understand if you want to refuse to make any adjustments to your image.
“Adjust how? Adjust what? “
Olivia tells Susan she just needs, “a couple of tweaks.” So, Susan gets her eyebrows and lip waxed, and a new haircut.
There’s also the issue of Chip’s 50 million dollar war chest. There’s no way they can outspend that. Olivia tells Huck and Quinn they’re going to have to dig up some dig on Chip – but that they can’t involve Abby.
Meanwhile, over at the White House, Leo Bergen pops in to see Abby and talk about Chip – but only because he has a thing for Abby and wants to know where he and Abby stand! Talk about an unexpected moment!
Leo: I figure we have two choices here. We can either pretend that this unbearable sexual tension doesn’t exist, or we can address it head on.
“Is there a third choice?”
Abby is so grossed out! Luckily, this conversation gets cut short with a TV news flash about a car bombing in West Angola. It sends Abby into action mode, and she up and out – calling for a press conference to be held in 30 minutes.
Now that Susan Ross has had a make-over, Olivia Pope and associates begin working on a TV spot for her. It quickly becomes apparent that Ross is not ready for television. The dilemma of what to do is solved when Olivia spies Susan’s perky 10-year-old daughter Casey playing with Huck. She builds the commercial with Casey talking about her mom and it becomes a big hit!
We know this because the commercial sends the first threads of panic over at the White House.
Cyrus: Six hours. It’s been on the air six hours and already it’s taking over Facebook, Twitter and Youtube
Chip: I didn’t think Ross had it in her.
Leo: She doesn’t. It’s Olivia Pope. The woman could sell a dual ticket of Hitler and Bin Laden.
Abby, who’s in the room for this, can’t help but smile and chuckle at Leo’s comment. Chip notices. Cyrus lays into Chip and Leo about perhaps Fitz endorsed Chip too soon and admonishes them to: “go out and hit the streets.”
That evening in the parking garage Chip ambushes Abby.
Yahtzee! Actually I’d say this is more than Yahtzee, because Chip looked like he might have wet his pants! Stanchfield does a superb job, and so does Trucco. I know him as Sam Anders from Battlestar Galactica and Tom Demming on Castle – had no idea he seem like such a dirtbag!
Abby then goes to Olivia’s office in a completely traumatized state. In this powerful scene, Olivia and Abby talk about the downsides of a woman telling the truth about men in power who behave badly.
Earlier we heard Olivia use the “f” word – feminism. Shonda Rimes has been overtly presenting women’s issues this all season. This story arc with Abby shines a spotlight on the effects of spousal abuse in a way the show hasn’t really addressed before. Sure, we’ve all known Abby’s history for a while, and we knew she was still afraid of her ex-husband when we heard she ducked meeting David at a White House party because her ex was there. That can’t compare to what we’ve seen from Abby in this episode. The sense of helplessness and desperation, and that it could drive a woman to violence is made very apparent.
However, the scene with Olivia speaks towards the issues of women in the workplace. How many women don’t speak up about truly bad behavior because it somehow becomes as detrimental to the victim as it is to the perpetrator. People in general don’t walk around wearing body cams, and without that kind of irrefutable evidence the tendency is that the man in power gets off better than the woman making the accusation. This isn’t to say that a woman won’t make a false accusation, but if you thing about the trauma a women goes through in making a claim, it seems more likely that truth would be what drives her, because being caught in an irrefutable lie is even worse.
The online reactions to the scandals famous men accused of, or even proven of beating up their wives and girlfriends tends to produce a slew of angry backlash – from both men and woman. The reactions go from online ranting that the woman must have brought it on herself to thoughtful articles about the fact that men can also be victims of domestic abuse and why doesn’t anyone care about that? The defense of the social order of power is well in place Ironically, the articles in question will point to gender stereotyping as making men the victim.
In the cases of men being abused that’s true. However, these articles want the equality of men and women to be asserted to claim when attacked, but fail to realize that without physical equality across the board men are still the ones sitting in the power position. Here’s an example of what I mean:
Men are told in one breath to shed their machismo and sexist leanings, and in the next they are told to “man up” and take the blows dealt to them by their female partners. Men are being told that phrases like, “You throw like a girl,” or “You hit like a girl,” have chauvinistic underpinnings, while simultaneously being told, “It doesn’t matter if she hits you because, essentially, she hits like a girl and you can handle it, big boy.” So, while we recognize there’s often a difference in the physical impact between male and females hitting each other, we completely disregard the emotional and psychological impacts — and often even the physical harm — of a woman hitting a man, whether it be with her hands, feet or objects. (www.mintpressnews.com)
I love the phrase, “So while we recognize there’s often a difference in the physical impact between male and females hitting each other….” In other words, although men are more likely to kill a woman if they attack, we should be focusing on both problems equally? The argument that women abuse men is valid, but the idea that somehow means they are an equal problem is not.
What this article on male abuse does point out is that the best way to solve the problem of abusive people, is to make the society itself one that is less chauvinistic. Having the equality of men and women making the same amount of money for the same job would help the overall sense of women being powerful and lower the stigma a man who is suffering from abuse from a woman. As the article is pointing out, men and women both suffer because of sexism.
Why am I going into all of this in a review of Scandal? Because of the recent international campaign He For She.
HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality that brings together one half of humanity in support of the other half of humanity, for the benefit of all. www.heforshe.org
This United Nation campaign being spearheaded by the actress and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson encourages men to publicly support feminism. There’s a social media campaign attached to this using the hashtag HeForShe which some have b and using the hashtag. ( Here’s a slide show of some male celebrities using instagram to post photos of themselves using the hashtag if your interested: www.guestofaguest.com). What Rimes has done with Abby’s story is show a simple, but powerful, way that kind of solidarity could play itself out. She does this using – of all characters – Leo Bergen.
After the incident in the parking lot with Chip and her talk with Olivia, Abby goes back to her Leo comes bounding into her office with the great news that he’s found some dirt on Ross – she was never married to her daughter’s father.
Leo: Susan Ross wasn’t married to the dead dad of Casey Ross! Yahtzee!
Abby: Did you just say Yahtzee?
Leo: I did.
Abby: That saddens me. Is anybody really going to care about the fact that she isn’t a widow?
Leo: Oh, I think some people are going to care, and those people are called…..republicans, Abby.
Leo giddily goes on about how this will play out: Susan is immoral, a sinner, a liar, and “an ugly egghead” no one wanted to vote for anyway, Olivia Pope is going lose, and “their guy” Chip is going to win. When he’s finished gloating, Abby calmly tells him exactly what Chip did to her during their marriage by listing the physical traumas she went through and the lasting results that her body still carries. When she finishes she smiles and says, “Yahtzee!” Leo is silent and floored.
“Yahtzee!”
The following night Leo returns to find Abby in the empty press briefing room. He’s there to “celebrate his loss.” Chip is out of the race because someone leaked the news that Chip set the senator up for that embarrassing video to force him to resign!
That’s a definite Yahtzee for Leo!
Now, let’s think about this. Leo and Abby? Seriously? He’s even more at odds with Olivia than David was, and Leo has instincts like Cyrus. Chances are he had something to do with that setting up of the former senator – and even more kudos to him if he didn’t have anything to do with it and just dug it up. Hell, he may have made the whole thing up and leaked a lie!
What Leo didn’t do was grill Abby about the events surrounding Chip beating the crap out of her. He didn’t think about all the other ways that Chip would be an asset to himself if he got in the senate, or take into account how Chip could do “a lot of good for the American people.” Knocking Chip out of the race cost Leo financially and career-wise. Remember, his last big campaign was losing the presidential election. Now he’s backed another losing candidate.
What Leo did, and didn’t do, shows how a man can be supportive of women and women’s rights – because Leo Bergen didn’t have to do anything. He could have kept his mouth shut about all of it (the dirt on Ross and on Chip) and just let things take its course. He could have continued to push for the win. Abby certainly didn’t know any of this information (assuming it’s true) so not saying anything wouldn’t have made him look bad in her eyes.
Instead, once he found out Chip had beaten up Abby, Leo didn’t hesitate to knock Chip out of the Senate race. He has a thing for Abby, but he also had no guarantees that his actions would open the door to her being romantically interested in her. He made the decision that a man who beat up his wife doesn’t deserve to be senator – and he took the actions he could to make sure that man didn’t.
Doing what was right doesn’t change Leo into a “white hat.” It’s not likely to change his thoughts about Susan Ross looking like “Yosemite Sam.” It does make him a “HeForShe” candidate, a man standing up for the rights of women. Leo did immediately what the leaders of NFL dragged their heels on during the Ray McDonald and Ray Rice scandals. He heard what wrong a man did to a woman and he punished that person – regardless of what that cost him in money and image.
Cyrus, Lizzybear, and Mellie – Oh My!
Being setup and having your weaknesses exposed seems to be a thing with the republicans on Scandal. Cyrus, who’s been the king of such things discovers that he’s been compromised in this episode. After last week’s warning from Abby to, “check his own back door” he finds the perfect opportunity to do so.
The car bombing in West Angola has the possibility of turning into a civil war – or the current regime may want the United States to think that. Their president has requested troops be sent in. As a compromise, Fitz has the SS. Truman sent from the Red Sea to sit off its western boarder in the Atlantic. Cyrus deliberately plants false information with Michael (Matthew Del Negro) male prostitute/business student he’s been seeing. After a quickie tryst that day he tells Michael that the President is sending in the SS. Roosevelt. Once back at the White House he has his personal aide Ethan (Vanya Asher) monitor all news outlets for the next 24 hours to see if Elizabeth “Lizzy Bear” North (Portia de Rossi) – head of the Republican National Committee (RNC) makes any mention of West Angola.
Meanwhile, Lizzy Bear is gathering some more help inside the White House. [She already has Vice President Andrew Nichols (Jon Tenney) on her side.] She finds Mellie trying to decide on which type of china she prefers. Mellie – as we know – is bored and resentful. In an amusing rant she tells Lizzy Bear that when a woman becomes president the role of “first lady” will become a paid position. Lizzy Bear invites her to be of service in “helping the party shape foreign policy.”
At the end of the 24 hour cycle Ethan reports to Cyrus that nothing has come up. Ethan is surprised with how happy Cyrus is! That evening while lounging around with Michael, Cyrus sees something on the evening news that is very upsetting – Mellie talking about Angola and the S.S. Roosevelt!
I want to know when Jeff Perry’s work on Scandal is finally going to get some recognition. Seriously, the man gives brilliant performance after brilliant performance and the Emmy’s, the Critic’s Choice, the SAG awards all just ignore him! Honestly, it should have happened already. Anyway, the expression on Cyrus’s face kills me. It’s heartbreak and fear all in one. He hasn’t gotten to anger yet.
How is Cyrus going to handle this? My first thought is that there will be blood – but not immediately. For one he’s got to figure out if the root of the problem is Mellie or Lizzy Bear. After all, Cyrus taught Mellie the act of honey-trapping last season. I’m guessing his instincts would go with Lizzy Bear because it’s only recently that Mellie’s stopped lounging in her P.J.’s eating fried chicken, but he’s got to be sure. Then he’s got to get the pictures and the negatives. He’s got to know there are pictures – he’s set up these kinds of things before. Having Michael or Lizzy Bear killed won’t solve the photo problem.
Furthermore, Cyrus can’t question Mellie to solidify his hunch that it’s Lizzy Bear behind this without tipping his hand that he knows. This is a problem since then Lizzy Bear she can just threaten him directly to get him to do what she wants. It’s the same if he confronts Lizzy Bear. I’m thinking there’s going to be some break ins happening, but still, Karma’s a bitch ain’t it Cy? Eventually, he’s going to need Olivia’s help, but I don’t know if he’ll have the willingness to go to her immediately – which is just as well, since Olivia’s hands are going to be really full for a while!
Huck’s Son, and Olivia’s Kids
Do you recall the premiere when Abby told Olivia she’d caught Huck and Quinn “incesting” all over the office. At the time it seemed an extreme point of view, but in this episode it does feel like Huck and Quinn do have a kind of brother & sister vibe – with Olivia as the Mama. Quinn Perkins really is Olivia’s creation, she gave her the name and it’s working for Olivia that has molded Quinn into who she is now. Huck was content to live on the streets, just happy to be alive and away from B613 – until Olivia gave him a better life. With Harrison gone and Abby away, it’s just Olivia and the kids – and they are very protective of their super mom!
They are too cute! The way Quinn keeps looking back all concerned about Olivia is a far cry from last season when she threatened to shoot her. Them deciding to hold off on giving Olivia the news that the girls were killed for a folder of surveillance pictures of her is their way of handling Olivia. Adding to the whole kids looking out for mom thing is the way that Huck sounds like he’s twelve when he says:
“Those pictures will break her brain right now.”
Yep, they’ve got to watch out for mom! Of course, he’s just gotten off the computer where he was playing video games with his young son, so twelve is about the right mental space.
Huck and Quinn do eventually tell Olivia about the photos. They don’t have a choice since the body was found and, as Quinn says, “It’s gonna be all over the news.”
Huck & Quinn are so cute! They look like guilty kids confessing their crimes!
Huck quickly jumps in to say it was his call not to tell Olivia. He’s not going to let Quinn take all the blame. Olivia isn’t thrilled about the pictures, but due to some later events she may have some ideas about who’s behind it.
When Thursday arrives, Huck does go to the arcade, but it’s just to get a glimpse of Javi. As the kid keeps looking around Huck watches him and has flashbacks of being in the delivery room when his son was born, and the memory of being homeless and a younger Javi stopping to give him change….
Huck’s sad eyes watching his son and remembering the past…
Who did not tear up watching Huck watch his son? Earlier I mentioned Young’s silent performance, and here Díaz illustrates why they really just need to give the entire cast an Emmy and call it a day. They’re all so good!
Once Huck leaves without connecting with his son it seems like that will be the end of things. This is Scandal, of course it’s not. Huck’s son has been following in his dad’s footsteps – even without his dad being around. He’s tech-savvy and tracked down the ISP address his dad was playing from. He recognizes Huck from pictures and knows Huck his dad. Now he wants to know why Huck left.
What is Huck going to do? He’s already told the child’s mom the truth and she thinks he’s crazy. If he tells the kid he’s risking the same thing – not to mention just knowing about B613 is a risk for anyone. Despite the idea of Huck reconnecting with his kid warming my heart, I’m not seeing a lot of good coming out of it. Especially if Command finds out. Huck’s family is a perfect weapon to use against Huck to compromise Olivia. We certainly know Command has no problem killing children….
Olivia’s Yahtzee
Olivia knows her father, not Jake, has it in him to kill children as well. She just has to prove it. The first thing she does is get Attorney General David Rosen to get her into the super max security prison. David ( and everyone else) thought she wanted to go in to see Jake, but the person she wanted to see was the former secret service and B613 agent Tom (Brian Letscher). She’s convinced she can get him to tell her the truth. He does tell her some truths…just not the one she was looking for.
Before getting into what Tom actually tells Olivia, I need to applaud Scandal for being willing to take the risks that it does. I’ve said before that while some call it more of a soap opera than a drama that’s not accurate. The larger than life stories and themes are more akin to opera and Shakespeare. In particular the dramas of the Bard used stories and figures of the past, but conveyed political and social commentary regarding the news of the time, which is similar to what Scandal does now. (There are entire books, course, and degrees devoted to this topic, but this is a good place to start as a reference: www.britaininprint.net )
Just as show itself has a relationship to the classics, the writing and performances are often what we’d expect from classical theatre rather than TV. Tom’s speech is one of these times. The allusions to Greek mythology, which in and of itself is a method that goes back to the times of Shakespeare, and while it’s not written in iambic pentameter the piece is pure modern lyric poetry, an ode to Olivia.
I’m, I’m sorry.
I don’t –
I don’t mean to stare.
It’s just
I don’t get to look at you very often.
Just look.I’m usually working,
scanning the perimeter,
protecting the president
the way I do.
I’m in the room,
but I’m never
in
the room.You’re usually in the corner of my eye.
I’ve never seen you.
And you…are…beautiful.
The face that launched a thousand ships.
That’s just the beginning of Tom’s piece. Yet the poem and its hypnotic rhythm still comes off as just Tom talking. It’s sheer brilliance on the part of both the writer and the actor.
Okay, getting back to the content of this scene, Tom lays some heavy things at Olivia’s feet. The knowledge of just how deeply her leaving effected Fitz is something she did not know, and it’s painful to hear. The things about her not having a father are more so. Olivia has been acting as if her father was in fact, fatherly. Sunday dinners, chats about wine, telling her to bring her boyfriend over, she was buying into the whole daddy routine. Those awful things he did, like kill her mother (which he’s lying about, but she doesn’t know) he had to do, because he’s a terrorist. This is what she’s been telling herself.
Olivia balks when Tom says she takes orders from Command. I had to think about that one. She doesn’t take orders, but she is manipulated by him. While B613 agents are beaten and tortured into submission, Olivia is mentally toyed with by her father. Season three started with her father’s command that she get on a plane, leave D.C. and disappear. It ended with her asking him to get her on a plane and make her disappear. In between everything her father did was to make that happen. So when Tom asks if it was an order from Command, he’s not wrong. Her father did order her to leave. She just never realized she was following those orders.
She does now though. After this speech Tom tells Olivia that Jake Ballard gave him the order to kill Fitz’s son, but after that speech Olivia has to know he’s lying, right? I’m pretty sure that’s when she realizes the truth, but knowing the truth won’t help get Jake out of jail. She needs Tom to say exactly what happened. Tom however thinks her father is a god. Olivia uses that knowledge in way that had me cheering. It’s Olivia Pope at her best! In true Scandal tradition, the reveal about what she’s done doesn’t come until the end of the episode.
What happens instead is an epic standoff scene between father and daughter Pope. In it Rowan bellows about all he’s done to make sure Olivia’s had nothing but the best. He’s furious about her interfering with Jake and going to see Tom. But what is he really furious about? Really, he’s furious about her autonomy, He’s an angry “god”, furious that his child would dare choose anyone over him.
Rowan’s speech about doing everything for Olivia rings hollow. He did not become Command for Olivia. What Tom said about her father having soldiers to command makes more sense. Olivia was groomed yes, but groomed to be a weapon of mass destruction for him to use. She was never supposed to turn against her father or get in the way of any actions he put into motion. That she has done so repeatedly with Fitz and Jake is something he can not tolerate.
The scene directly after this is Tom being knifed repeatedly by a prison guard saying, “I have a message from Command.” It’s followed by Huck and Quinn telling her about the photos, which is why I suspect she’s wondering if this is her father’s doings. I think it might have more to do with someone trying to get to her father, but at this point it’s anyone’s guess.
It’s the timing of those two scenes that makes this next one so cool!
Yahtzee! From the moment she realized Tom saw her father as a god she set the plan in motion to get the truth out of him. She’d likely just gotten off the phone with Quinn as she was coming in the door! The shock on Fitz’s face when she tells him how she got Tom to confess is also great. Yes, she’s willing to make that kind of call and yes, she went that far for Jake. It’s also a sharp and horrifying reminder of the kind of man he’d taken into his confidence.
Fitz, Olivia, and Jake
The aftermath of these revelations are going to be difficult for Olivia. Going around in her head are five variables She’s got Jake, who loves her unconditionally and that she loves. There’s also Fitz, whom she loves wildly, that she sees as her soul mate, and that tried to kill himself when she left. Her father is a dangerous man whose idea of love is sketchy at best, and without a doubt will attempt to kill everyone she loves if she tries to take him down. Someone has her under surveillance and two teens were murdered because of it. Finally, there’s Tom’s accusation ringing in ears. Is she Helen of Troy? Is this mess her fault. Remember, she left because she saw herself as the problem. As Cyrus said to Abby earlier in the season, who would want to be Olivia Pope?
For now though, Olivia’s first step is trying to get Jake out of jail. Fitz is on board. At least, it’s the two of them visiting Jake in prison. It won’t be easy getting him out though, not without tipping their hand to Rowen. I’m curious to see how they do it!
Wrap-up
Overall this episode feels like a milestone in the story. The show and characters have landed from the trauma of Harrison and the President’s son being murdered and Olivia going away. It’s good that everything was shaken up by those events, and that the events have had real-time consequences, but in Scandal 4×7 everyone now feels firmly in place in terms of who they are and what they’re about. They’re all stronger – especially the women. Abby, who had a powerful and painful storyline in this, still comes out of it with a sense of empowerment, and more in command of her role as press secretary. Not because we saw her doing anything more officially press-secretary-like, but because with everything that was going on she wasn’t freaking out about not being more like Olivia. Some of that is likely because of the move she pulled on Cyrus Bene (Jeff Perry) in “An Innocent Man,” but regardless of why, it was good to see Abby just being Abby: the White House Press Secretary and friend of Olivia Pope. The insecure Abby worrying about not being Olivia Pope in her job was getting tiring.
Likewise, the sense of coming out stronger can also be said for First Lady Mellie Grant. (Bellamy Young). It’s been a long road for Mellie – and I do think Jerry’s death has made some changes in her – but this scene between her and Fitz really made it clear.
Mellie is back – and that scene definitely gives her a Yahtzee!
There are moments in that scene where you can see that Mellie isn’t just angry – she’s hurt. The point about holding him up for 20 years – there’s some truth to that – especially before Olivia came into the picture. Whatever their personal relationship was, politically she knew how to suit up and show up – no matter what. She also knows about Olivia, and beyond the fact that she thinks he’s already physically cheated again, the fact that he couldn’t level with her made it worse.
Another thing that strikes me in the interaction between Fitz and Mellie is that Fitz is registering Mellie’s feeling. There’s more going on in his expressions than the usual annoyance, anger and defiance happening. Despite practically having phone sex with Olivia earlier (did I not mention that) he appears to have some real guilt going on. I’m glad to see that because it shows that the murder of Jerry and the revelation of Mellie’s rape by his father has changed that relationship.
The phone sex scene between Fitz and Olivia surprisingly didn’t give me the usual Olitz buzz that their scenes do. I don’t know if it’s because in both the opening scene and that one his interactions were fueled by alcohol, but I didn’t feel a love connection – just a lust one. While he’s (obviously) is still into Olivia, I wonder if the changes in his relationship with Mellie has made things more complicated for him now? I’m curious to see how Ms. Rimes is going to work all of this out!
With this episode it does feel like everyone is back on solid ground after the rounds of death season three brought to the show in those final episodes, especially in terms of Harrison Wright (Columbus Short). With only Huck and Quinn as Olivia Pope Associates that office does seem huge, but I’m glad Abby isn’t back. Huck and Quinn have been their own special dynamic for so long that it would be strange to have Abby in the middle of it. It’s not easy to reconfigure a show after losing a core character like Harrison, especially when the move wasn’t entirely a planned one, but Scandal has. For that alone, I think Scandal itself deserves a Yahtzee!
Maybe when all of these current crises are over Jake will become a Pope associate! He works well with both Quinn and Huck, but…. Okay that’s getting way ahead of things. There’s too many other things that need to be taken care of before anyone can even think about what Jake’s ultimate role might be on Scandal. The first thing would be to get him out of that super max security prison he’s in, which is what it looks like Olivia, Fitz, and Jake are going to try to make happen!
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