Scandal – Fates Worse Than Death

By: Jamie Steinberg

As the episode begins, Cyrus (Jeff Perry) learns he is under investigation. Charlie (George Newbern) figures out that the day that this was all planned out was October 4^th – the day Cyrus won the VP debates. Back at home, Cyrus professes his innocence to his husband when the investigation is highlighted on the TV news. There is a knock at the door and low and behold…it’s Lizzie! It seems Lizzie (Portia de Rossi) has crawled through the yard in order to get to Cyrus’ door. She offers to help him get cleared of all charges in exchange for being made his Chief of Staff.

Olivia (Kerry Washington) meets with Cyrus who takes offense to her remarks about manipulating his way onto the ballot. He snaps back at her that this was not a manipulation on his part. He goes as far as to snidely remark about her and Fitz saying, “I watched the two of you grope each other like a cheap porno. And none of you ever saw me!” Touché!

Abby (Darby Stanchfield) meets with Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) to discuss the Cyrus investigation. She doesn’t think he should be accusing his former Chief of Staff of murder. Cyrus secretly meets with Fitz and is willing to call their bluff though noting, “You want to make a deal? I’ll withdraw if Mellie does. Call Liv, see what she says.” So, I guess he’s really not willing to make a deal. In fact, he remarks, “The most beautiful thing in the world, America. I’m keeping it. It’s not safe with you.”

Cut to the return of Tom. That’s right. Tom (Brian Letscher) is back. He’s also pissed. “You used me, Cy. You used me and you hurt me, again,” he remarks. I guess time doesn’t heal all wounds. Cyrus sees a video of Vargas (Ricardo Chavira) filming a political commercial with assistance Jennifer Fields (Chelsea Kurtz) and believes that Vargas was having an affair with her. This could be his ticket to saving himself. He confesses to his husband, Michael, that Tom has returned. Hubby is not happy, but Cyrus explains, “Tom is back and he’s not a regular person. He’s back and he’s not going to go away.”

Knowing that Tom has returned and has plans of vengeance against his former lover. He pulls a gun on Cyrus and threatens to murder him. “I’m not a bad person. I just make mistakes,” explains Cyrus while hoping to save his own life. Oh how the mighty have fallen…Tom doesn’t think that Cyrus was meant to just be the Vice President. He confesses, “You are an exceptional man. You belong at the top of the ticket. You belong on the throne. You’re a king.” Did Tom just confess to killing Vargas to make Cyrus the President?!

In the past, we see that Tom was apparently put in charge of getting Jennifer Fields out of the way, but not in a dead woman kind of way. He was just supposed to make her not want to come back to the campaign. Cyrus underestimated Tom’s power of persuasion and runs into Jennifer who has bruises on her face. This was the final straw for Cyrus. He finally realizes that Tom is too much of a hot head. “I don’t want you! You are dead to me,” screams Cyrus!

Jumping back to the present, Cyrus meets with Tom. He tries to play nicely to get Tom back under his thumb by saying, “We had a misunderstanding about the plan and I don’t blame you for that. We were in love. I was at least.” Tom isn’t a fool though. He knows that Cyrus is trying to manipulate him again. An angry Tom snarks, “You think I’m a dog. This is about putting me back on a leash. I’m done being your bitch. I’m on top now!” Uh oh. To make matters worse, he adds, “There are fates worth than death. You should know. You handed one to me. And now I get to hand it back.” Wow.

A frightened Cyrus is out of sorts. He begins to list the things he would have done had he become President. He was actually looking forward to being a role model. We cut to a scene where Tom meets with the President and confesses to killing Vargas under direct orders from Cyrus. This gives Mellie (Bellamy Young) the notion she has the Presidency all sewn up! We quickly flashback to see Vargas trying to select a Vice President candidate. After shooting a few suggestions down, he comes up with Cyrus as his pick.