I would like to start of by saying that by the end of this episode my stomach was bubbling in fear. I was NOT prepared for went down!!!
The episode picks up right where last week’s dropped off. Now that Tom has admitted that Rowan was the one who ordered him to kill Gerry; Olivia, Fitz and Jake are in a bunker somewhere in the depths of DC discussing strategy
Unfortunately, because Jake and Fitz refuse to be adults we must contend with this long drawn out pissing contest. Jake is not happy. He tells Fitzy to call him Captain Ballard and he lets him know he won’t soon forget the poor treatment he received at his hand, especially since Fitz knew he had nothing to do with Gerry’s death. Jake is desperate to kill Rowan and he wants Liv to allow him to do it. Instead, Fitz and Liv are pushing to prosecute Rowan in a secret investigation and trial, which we all know isn’t going to work. Realizing that his freedom is tentative, especially because he’s stuck in a bunker, Jake finally let’s them know about the B613 files that he’s been holding on to.
Back above ground, Lizzie Bear has sought out Olivia and the Gladiators because she thinks her phone is being bugged. Though Liv doesn’t particularly care for Elizabeth, she respects her and agrees to take her on as a client. Huck tries to figure out whose been hacking Lizzie’s phone, while poor Quinn is bored to tears staking out Dan Kubiak.
Meanwhile, Vice President Andrew is nearly blown to bits upon leaving a speech condemning the West Angola liberation front. Though he isn’t hurt badly in the attack, Cyrus is distraught knowing that his relationship with Male Escort Michael may have led to the compromise in national safety. He looked like he was barely keeping it together.
Despite their last terrifying encounter, Papa Pope is still trying to force Olivia to have a relationship with him. He tells her, “I will always be there waiting for you.” (Quite honestly, I don’t know why she picked up the phone in the first place, especially since he began referring to her vagina as a “spoil” YUCK.)
Back at the White House, Mellie runs to see about Andrew. I guess wearing all of this red is making her feel rather frisky because she jumps over him. (Finally Mellie!!)
Apparently, they really just want David Rosen to be a full-blown alcoholic. Liv, Fitz and Jake drag poor unsuspecting David to the bunker. They want him to prosecute Rowan on the down low. We all know that David knows about the files even though he isn’t supposed to. He takes the case because he feels guilty about dropping the ball the first time around.(David should have stayed teaching history at the high school.)
Upon leaving the bunker, after roping David into their terrible plan, Fitz accosts Liv in the hallway. He is not giving up on his piece of “hope” and he wants her to come to Camp David with him once her father is dealt with. Liv is not having it, she jerks out of the way when he tries to kiss her. (Liv’s initial rejection is probably what made this sexy and I’m glad, I have not been feeling the Olitz moments this season.) Fitz isn’t having it; he will not have Liv choosing Jake over him. He backs her against the wall and demands that she kiss him. Poor Liv and her quivering lip oblige. (She’s really going to have to decide between these men, because this isn’t going to work.)
Back at OPA, Huck finds out that Cyrus is the person who has been bugging Lizzie’s phone. Liv confronts Cyrus and Mr. Beene spill ALL the tea on his relationship Male Escort Michael. He asks Liv for help saying, “Clients are plenty friends are few, your friend is asking for help.”
Liv arrives back to OPA to find Huck hanging with Javi. She tries to have a conversation with Huck about the child, but Huck is not here for it. Instead he asks, “Do you have a work related request from me?” Whelp! (Huck is tired of people being all nosey and up in his business.) Unable to get Huck to budge, Liv puts in her work related request; she wants Huck to find out what dirt Lizzie has on Cyrus.
Apparently, Lizzie has gathered all of the photographs and film on Cyrus and Michael’s trysts. Though Liv tells Cyrus what she’s found, she lies to Lizzie saying the bug on her phone was simply some virus. Liv sends Cyrus home and telling him to not pass go and to cancel on Michael for the evening.
Liv returns to the bunker to chat with Jake about their foolish plan. She kind of maybe confirms that she might perhaps love him. He seems pleased. (Perhaps Liv should get a new man altogether.)
Apparently Male Escort Michael doesn’t know how to sit in his comfortable paid for apartment and accept his coin. Instead he tracks down Cyrus at his home. That was a mistake. (I’m not sure what went down there but it didn’t seem like consensual sex to me.)
The next morning, Huck informs Liv that despite all the dirt Michael had on Cyrus, he didn’t turn much of anything over to Elizabeth. Befuddled, Liv confronts Michael herself. He tells Liv that Lizzie has a secret apartment, so naturally Liv sends Huck to bug it.
While everyone else is having joys and thrills, poor Quinn is still stuck in the car staking out Kubiak, whose biggest delight seems to be stuffing his face with rolls and croissants.
Meanwhile, Liv and Fitz meet Jake back at the bunker to try and discuss a strategy to capture Rowan. The men are too busy emitting testosterone to be of any help, so Liv comes up with a plan to lure her father to dinner. She calls him crying saying he was right all along and she’s just being used by Fitz and Jake… I’m not quite sure Rowan bought this.
At the White House, Andrew is still feeling all hot and bothered because he confronts Mellie in her office. She’d been ignoring him after he chose the Vice Presidency over her. She says. “I was so angry at you that you had to not exist. I had to erase you.” Despite all of this, Mellie wants to rekindle the romance.
After confronting Male Escort Michael, Liv tells Cyrus that the man didn’t sell him down the river. It seems that Michael actually does care for him (and the checks he writes). Cyrus responds by saying, “Ironic isn’t it. It’s the ones closest to us, the ones who say they care. They’re the ones who do the most damage.” (After Cyrus provides us with this nice foreshadow I started to get really nervous for Liv.)
Huck unwisely chooses to bring Javi to stake out Elizabeth at her secret apartment. He has enough sense to send the boy off for some ice cream when he sees a man enter the apartment. Turns out, the man is Dan Kubiak, the same man who killed those two girls, the same man whose been stalking Liv, the man who’d been working for Jeremy Winslow. Quinn has trailed Kubiak to Lizzie’s apartment, which is how she and Huck begin to piece things together.
The tangled web of "Scandal" doesn’t stop there. As Huckleberry Quinn watch the video feed, another man enters Lizzie’s apartment. That man happens to be VP Andrew and he immediately pounces on Lizzie. (Dang! Can’t Mellie have one man to herself?!) I thought Andrew claimed she was the love of his life! SMH.)
Distracted by the shenanigans of Elizabeth and Andrew, Huck and Quinn are blind sighted when Kubiak breaks into their stakeout van to try and kill them. After a major struggle Huck is able to slit Kubiak’s throat using the broken glass from the van window. To Huck’s horror, Javi sees the bloodbath. (The poor child is going to need all the therapy.)
While all of this is occurring, Liv foolishly decides to go through with the dinner she lured Rowan to. There are snipers lined up along the building to take him down, and David has his team ready to look through all of the B613 files. I knew something was up immediately. (When has Rowan ever lost?) I was literally crippled with fear.
Eerily calm, Rowan tells Olivia, “I want you to know that I am who I am because of you. I am here because of you. That’s what you WERE to me, EVERYTHING and that is now OVER. I am leaving because of you.” (Terrifying) “You have forsaken me, your father, your family. You wanted to stand in the bright WHITE light. It blinded you.”
“THOSE People are not your people and you will never be one of them.” (Shonda is the Queen of dropping these subliminal messages.)
Ya’lll all of Fitz’s snipers suddenly start dropping dead outside. ALL of them. David and his team discover that all of the B613 files they were prepared to go through are simply blank pages.
Disgusted with her actions Rowan tells Liv she is on her own. “You think the world is so terrible with me in it, wait until you see what it’s like on your own.” Papa gets up from the table cool as a fan ,and hops in his getaway car.
I still haven’t recovered.
I was also confused because I thought this was the winter finale. I was wrong; Shonda is not quite done with us yet.
I feel like this episode built the foundation for all things to fall apart. Liv should have stayed in Turks and Caicos with Jake, she really should have. I have so many questions.
- First of all, why wasn’t Abby in this episode? Did she run off somewhere with Leo? I really hope not.
- Did you see the stunned expression on Liv’s face when Cyrus told her about Male Escort Michael? LOL I guess she wasn’t expecting that.
- Is Andrew trying to get rid of Fitz and take the Presidency? Is this why he’s involved with Lizzie Bear? It’s obvious that he’s using Mellie to taken Fitz down. (Please don’t fall for his games Mellie!)
- Do ya’ll think Rowan is going to release Maya to cause mayhem throughout the town? He’s petty so I think he will.
- Can Liv please pick one of these men? I can’t do this back and forth.
Aramide A Tinubu has her Master’s in Film Studies from Columbia University. She wrote her thesis on Black Girlhood and Parental Loss in Contemporary Black American Cinema. She’s a Black Cinema geek and blogger. You can read her blog at: www.chocolategirlinthecity.co or tweet her @midnightrami
