Scandal Season 4, Ep 22: You Can't Take Command. AKA: OUT! Get OUT!

So – season finale. Big stuff, right? Here’s what happened:

Last week Mellie met a donor. He was introduced as some rich southern dude and needed her help. He hands her a file that is “important” to him – only, it’s loaded with pictures of her and the cheezy VP Andrew. He threatens to out her, and her husband over Remington and then demands she asks what he wants. Oh, just a list. A list of names. 

Then, it’s on to B613 trial time. The jurors are all there, they listen to Jake testify. Then, emergency call. All the jurors are on the bus in the parking garage. Dead. David Rosen isn’t willing to die to bring down Command. 

Mellie realizes what the list was, and what happened to all the jurors and runs to Cyrus. Tells him what happened, that she was protecting herself and the President, mentions Remington and Cyrus goes into action. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t tell Fitz.” Out he runs.

Olivia has a strange visit with Mama Pope who calls her Boo and reminds her that she’s living in a fantasy world that does not revolve around her. Ouch. Reminds her that Papa has covered his tracks so well that no one is looking for him, as he doesn’t really exist. Liv then goes to the head of the CIA (remember her?) with Jake in tow and rants about B613. Ms. CIA-woman has both Olivia and Jake arrested. She then runs into Cyrus who basically tells her she can’t do a darn thing about some top secret agency that may or may not exist. 

Then, Rosen and Cyrus face off, and Cyrus threatens Rosen with Abby, saying he’ll have her killed. Cyrus makes a deal with Mama Pope that hands her a get out of jail free card. That's right, Mama Pope is OUT! Rosen then has Olivia and Jake sign a statement retracting their B613 statements, again, holding their loved ones over their heads. Papa Pope cleaned house of all the documents and agents that could identify him.  Seems like Olivia and Jake are defeated…until, HuckleberryQuinn conversations recall the 2 bazillion dollars that they smuggled and hid. They use that to frame Papa, and claim that his alter-ego Anthropologist self has been siphoning off funds from his fancy museum job. So Command didn’t go down, but the man behind it, in his Clark Kent persona, did end up in jail. 

Mellie wins the election, happy-happy, celebration, until Lizzy has a chat with Fitz and lets the whole donor/list thing slip.  Fitz sees who it is, and knows what’s up. When they get back, Mellie is making plans for her future Presidency and Fitz loses his shit. Tells her she’s cray-cray if he’s going to let her run the country after what she did – Mellie has her typical deer-in-the-headlights look, and he kicks her the hell out! OUT! Out of his house! Out of his life! Then, he lays into Cyrus and kicks him to the curb! What the WHAT? 

Both have been escorted out. Methinks this is not the last we will see of Cyrus. 

Much later, you see Quinn bust into the office and hold a gun to Huck’s head. HUCKING HUCK!! He did it! She knew it once she saw the carnage. Huck says he didn’t have a choice – he was saving his family. She says she should just kill him. He screams “DO IT!” He’s officially off his meds again. 

Finally, in the seemingly never-ending triangle of Jake-Olivia-Fitz: Jake tells Olivia he did his job. He kept her safe per Fitz, and Command is in jail. He won’t come in despite her invitation because while he loves her, she loves him. He tells her to go. She does. While Fitz was knocking at her door, she was waiting on his balcony. Cue sappy music. The two are finally together. 

Summary: OUT:  Mellie, Cyrus, Mama Pope. In: Papa Pope. And Olivia and Fitz. In the bedroom that is...LOL. 

Also possibly out:  Jake. Huck. 

So really – who is more evil: Papa Pope or Cyrus? I’m not so sure anymore. Cyrus is just cut-throat. PP isn’t going down this easy, so something will go on there. Then there’s Jake. JAKE. Where is he going? First, Shonda makes me think he’s dead. Then she brings him back only to send him away again? Come on!! Give the guy a break! Quinn has Huck and Charlie (both twisted dudes), Abby has Rosen and Leo (who’s been absent the last few episodes), and Olivia had Fitz and Jake. Now she’s down to one dude. Huh? How? Give Jake to somebody. Lizzy? Mellie? No, no smelly Mellie for Jakey-poo.

He can’t be written out. Normally, season finale’s leave people dead – but this one did both: left a bunch of one-show characters dead, and “killed” a few others leaving us all wondering what happens next? Where does the show go from here? I have no idea….I’m so confused. I have all summer to get over it I guess. 

Other random thoughts: There was some conversation between Olivia and Fitz on the phone and while Liv calls VP Susan a national treasure, Fitz calls her a mess and Muppet. My brain went here…

Off to watch my new obsession, Salem. How did I not know about this show? It’s pretty darn good!  

Scandal Recap Seaon 4: Ep 13: I'm Just a Bill. AKA: Speechless.

Okay. Hang on. I think I can get through this. I had to watch twice just to be sure I wasn’t hallucinating. 

Papa Pope is back. 

Liv/Alex’s new boy toy Russell is Hydra and on Papa’s payroll. 

Seriously, I can't. 

Not yet. Just look.....Jake. *Sigh*

 

All I can say is this was me:

JAAAAAAKKKEEEE!!!!

Here's the whole shizzle that went down: 

Olivia had to get the mayoral candidate Marcus Walker, who was shagging the current mayor Verrano’s wife, out of the room where her bloody body was lying. During their daily love fest, someone came in, and Marcus hid in the closet. He hears a scuffle, peeks out to find three men in masks. One grabs her, stabs her then breaks her neck. While she’s on the bed, he continues to stab her in the gut. They ransack the place, leave, and Marcus comes out to find his lover in a pool of blood and calls OPP to help. Olivia and gang discover that the Mayor is the one that had has wife killed. So, Marcus Walker has a difficult decision to make: Keep quiet, have Verrano resign and gain power and the mayoral race, or gain justice and have Marcus testify against Verrano and kill his political career. Marcus chose justice.

The VP is the one that can tip the vote on the “Brandon Bill” – the one that resolves the lawn chair episode (somewhat) and calls for reporting from law enforcement agencies on race in an effort to eradicate racial profiling. Sounds good, except, she actually reads the bill and has multiple questions. She’s basically calling the bill a bunch of bull, and that without enforcement and penalties, reporting is a suggestion not a requirement. She frustrates Cyrus, Mellie, David Rosen, and Fitz but in the end, gets her way and the bill is pulled to be rewritten to really enact change.  

Justice was also the reason that Liv chose to disobey her father’s “request” to have her clear his name and make the whole B613 thing go away. Her new man Russell shows up, Papa drugs him, and Papa tells Liv that she needs to fix his situation. He leaves, and Liv pretends that her and Russell just got really really drunk. Later, she consults with David and Jake, and they decide to go after Papa with Jake’s testimony. He talks about Operation Remington and reveals to David that Fitz is the one that shot down the civilian plane that was thought to have Mama Pope on board. Liv returns home, calls Russell (who doesn’t buy her story about his missing memories from the night before), and convinces him to make her forget about her complicated life.

Jake gets a text from Liv (or so he thinks) and goes to her office to find her. Russell is there in a mask and starts to fight with Jake. When Jake rips off his mask and realizes he knows him, Russell taunts him and says “Rowan always went on and on about how special you were” and stabs him. Tells him “you’re not even making this a challenge.”

UGH...

Jake is down, Russell continues to stab him until he’s no longer moving. 

He KILLED JAKE!

 

They fricken killed Jake. You bastards! 

The previews show Jake layed out on the conference table for everyone to find. I'm still in shock. Damn you Scandal! Damn you Shonda! 

I have to go.....until next week. 

Scandal Season4, Ep12: Gladiators Don't Run. AKA: I fell asleep again....

Okay, where do I start? While it seems like much has happened, in the end, nothing really did.I fell asleep. Again. Had to re-watch this morning to see what happened. Was I that tired? Or was the show that boring this week?  I can tell you for certain if you missed this episode, just pick up next week and you'll be fine. But read my summary first.

First, Abby is onto something with the Olivia situation. She goes to Olivia’s apartment and sees the mess, the shoots over to OP Headquarters, finds HuckeberryQuinn and demands to be told what’s happening with OP. 

Huck gives her a giant verbal bitch slap: “You’re not a Gladiator anymore” He then tells Quinn: “We can’t trust the White House. Abby is the White House.”

While HuckleberryQuinn may not be able to trust Abby, you can trust me when I tell you I would kill for that Chanel handbag on her arm! *swoon*

Cyrus has the President sign documents to fire the entire Secret Service and replace them with Navy SEALS, and also tries to get the VP to resign or go to prison. The VP says no, and says he will out the President for getting the US into war over his side piece.  Cyrus then tells the President the VP won’t go down. Fitz defends himself saying we didn’t go to war because of Olivia. We went to the war because of the assassination attempt at the VP. That’s what America believes. He needs to prove that the attempt on the VP was faked (by him), leading them into war for his own agenda, and make the VP the bad guy. Oh, but then the VP also threatens to out his extracurricular activities with Mellie. Mellie tells Fitz and when he asks what she wants, she says she wants to be President and rule the world. Bottom line, the VP is getting off scot-free.  

The President wants in on the auction, and when he asks “Who has more money than the United States of America?” both Cyrus and Mellie chime in naming countries! Jake shows up to handle it and enlists HuckleberryQuinn on the process. 

“So, the USA is in bed with some terrorists, who they’re using to bid on Liv for them, because the President can’t be seen negotiating with terrorists.”

Jake says he has some money, Quinn says all she has is student loans (you and me both, Sista!), while Huck says he has money. Quinn keeps talking and again, Huck says 

“I have money. Two billion, four-hundred thousand eighty seven dollars, and 38 cents.”

He stole all the B613 money when they shut them down. He transferred the money to him as a payment for his time in the hole. Hucking Huck. He’s a sick bastard, but I’m on Team Huck till the end. Just keep his evil toolbox away from me, mmmkay?

 

Their way into the auction? MamaPope. David Rosen, Huck, Quinn, and Jake go visit Mama Pope who uses her evil-gal rep as an all-star international terrorist to get to a drug-dealer, who will get them in on the auction.  

 For her rep, she gets a flat screen TV with cable (so she can watch Liv), and has Huck take out some dudes for the drug-dealer, and Jake freaks out at the Freddy Krueger version of Huck. Jake tells Quinn that Huck is not right, and Quinn says sure he is – he just goes a bit evil for a bit and she has the dental bills to prove it! He’ll be back when Olivia is back. 

Except…Olivia’s plan has just gone FUBAR. Instead of her and Ian being in control of her being sold to the highest bidder, Bad Guy Gus questions Eli about his working with the hostage, then later shoots him in the head! Right as the auction was about to go live, he takes him out! He’s now in control. Huck is finally in the auction and just when he goes in to bid his billions, the auction stops. It's ended. 

Cyrus goes to tell the sleeping President that shit has hit the fan and quietly tries to wake him. Dude, when you’re holding the red folder of doom, you don’t whisper. You get your ass in there and scream “GET UP!”

The auction is over, halted by a new buyer that went directly to BadGuyGus. He says she’s being sent to Iran. The CIA head says things have changed. The asset (AKA Ms. Pope) has to be neutralized and Fitz says Um, no. No way. Go get her out. Period. Huck starts to freak and rambles “Someone bought her, they bought a person to control a president, to control a nation. She’s not a person, she’s a tool.” He closes himself off telling everyone she’s dead. That’s how you stop thinking of her as human and as her body parts start to get sent back home. Quinn tells him to shut up and slaps him, Huck again insists that she is dead.

The end has a view of Olivia being handed off to someone else. It’s clear that Olivia knows who it is…

So who could it be?  

Scandal Season 4 Ep 2: State of the Unions. AKA: Booty Calls!

Jake has booked a hotel suite for Booty Calls! He’s not her beck and call boy. Liv protests and says she doesn’t do booty calls, and Jake tells her she already does take booty calls – political ones. Cyrus is sitting on a bench, waiting for Liv. 

Cyrus needs a favor, and tries to blackmail Liv to get her to do it. The President’s guests of honor, the Elliott’s, are not playing along with the game, and Liv needs to bitch slap them into shape. The blackmail is that he’s deposited a large sum of funds into her account and will drop a dime to the IRS. She counters saying she’s not afraid of the IRS. Then, he lays the smack down, ultimate threat. 

“I’ll tell him you call. I’ll tell him you call everyday. Pining for him”

Bastard. But that got her to do it. She’s in Arizona to meet with the dueling duo – a veteran who was in a POW camp, and his wife, and a victim of a gunshot to the spine. They hate each other, 

“Boo-hoo I was tortured by the Taliban”

I was tortured by the Taliban and it was better than this. The Taliban was better than you!”

Ouch. 

They are the face of gun control and Liv gives them her suck it up and be an American speech to get them to stand next to Grant at the State of the Union address. 

Speaking of that address, they want Mellie to go as well. See, she’s been photographed in her bathrobe, eating chips, leaning against her son’s headstone. The deadlines read Mental Mellie, and guess that she’s gone off the rails so of course, an appearance at the SOTU address would show the country that she’s not completely CooKoo for Coco-Puffs.  While she’s laughing and eating fried chicken (with some of it in her hair), Fitz comes in and asks her to go to help her image. She does the maniacal laugh and says “I don’t care what people think of me” 

“Honey Baby. Do you actually thin k I give a damn what anyone thinks of me anymore. And for you to pretend that it’s about me when let’s face it Baby, it’s all about you! It’s the Fitzgerald Grant show.” 

Cyrus joins her chicken eatin’ and they compare who’s grief is greater: hers losing a son, or his losing a husband. 

Abby tries to answer questions in the press room, and Cyrus feeds her a line from Olivia. Later, Olivia uses that same line in a television interview and Abby loses her shit. Abby tells Cyrus later that they don’t have the couple that are the face of gun control, Liv has said they aren’t coming. No photo op. Cyrus is not concerned about them, but the fact that the President isn’t going to have his second term go well, his wife is creating a nightmare, but he doesn’t doubt Olivia. Cyrus is never concerned that Olivia will fail. 

Abby goes to Mellie, and does an Olivia-like-fast-talking-speech about how people die, children die every day but unlike her, they don’t have the luxury of sitting around eatin’ chips and chickin in their robe for months. Then says if “Jackie Kennedy can be in a car with her husband’s brains scattered across her lap one minute and standing next to LBC 90 minutes later” she can clean up her shit, stand up next to her man, and put on a brave face for the American public. Mellie takes heed, puts on her best red dress, and goes to her box to stand and clap at the appropriate moments in her hubby’s speech.

 Olivia gets the Elliot couple to the speech on time, and Fitz gets handed his speech. He asks for him and Olivia to have the room alone – he wants to know what she thinks. She says no, but he says she owes him at least that much. She tells him no one wants to hear about gun control, if they’re wondering about the state of him and his wife. Fitz goes off prompter and talks to the public about his loss; his family’s loss, and what it all means. Later, Mellie is seen walking into her bedroom, kicking off her shoes, then ripping off her strand of pearls and dropping to the ground sobbing in grief. Wonder if this is the first time she’s done that? 

Fitz drops and cradles her telling her he’s sorry – it’s quite touching. 

Jake confronts David about what happened with Harrison and his double crossing woman. He’s looking into it, despite David saying it was a clean investigation. When David says he can’t be affiliated with a known assassin, Jake gives him the bad-ass stare down, and Davey caves and will get him what he needs. David shows up at Abby’s office later, and she does the mock interview thing for his appointment to the Attorney General position. He then gets grilled by the senate judiciary committee. When it seems like he’s going down, Lizzy meets with Cyrus in his office and urges him to have David back out. David hands a senator a packet of dirt on him, and suddenly, David Rosen is endorsed! 

Quinn and Huck and their matching plaid shirts have to work together to babysit the dueling couple. Quinn gets wifey and Huck gets the Vet. Wifey reminisces about the good old hubster, Mr. Perfect, the two of them in love, before she got shot and confined to a wheelchair. He tries to get Huck to talk and of course, that doesn’t go well so he just has a drink. Aww. Just like Huck and Quinn - a dueling duo.  They’re still fighting when Olivia comes in and just tells them to get a divorce, or live a miserable life in hell with each other.

Later, Liv is at her place – she’s calling Jake who asks “Is this a booty call? I’m not going to sleep in your bed like some kept man.” She says, you need to come back. He counters: “are you summoning me? You can’t summon me. I am however available for booty calls in room 207.” She says she doesn’t like it, he says “well then don’t” and  hangs up on her. Once again. Jake. Alpha. Boom. 

Jake is investigating the Harrison death and finds video footage of none other than Quinn’s old friend, Charlie. Olivia comes over in her trademark trench wearing nada underneath and commands Jake over. He does not protest this time. 

Cyrus is seen going back to the bar to pick up some dude, that we discover is an escort. Paid for by Lizzy. That girl is up to something no good!