Scandal – I See You

By: Jamie Steinberg

It’s “family dinner” at Rowan’s house. Jake, his new fiancé Vanessa, Rowan and Olivia are having dinner together. Vanessa (Joelle Carter) is giving them the details on how she met Jake saying that she broke her phone because he crashed into her when she was standing in line at the Shake Shack. She says she saw him a few days later at a café in Georgetown and this time she didn’t let him get away. Vanessa tells Olivia (Kerry Washington) that Jake (Scott Foley) thinks the world of her and asks him to tell her how he had described her. “The sister I never had,” he states – which puts a surprised look on Olivia’s face and a smug look on Jake’s. A work emergency interrupts the lovely meal and Olivia heads out. At her home, we find Olivia looking at a video feed of Jake and Vanessa returning home. Watching them makeout, Olivia says, “I see you Vanessa Moss.”

Cut to Sally Langston (Kate Burton) using her Southern drawl to blast the recent addition to the Presidential election – Francisco Vargas. She is mad he had the nerve to go on her show and swear he wouldn’t run only to likely enter the race. We find Abby (Darby Stanchfield) talking to one of the Presidential aids about Vargas. She can tell he is ready to jump ship and help Vargas. She assures him it’s fine if he wants to do that because he’ll obviously be out of a job when Fitz leaves the White House. The aid tells her that he is loyal to Cyrus (Jeff Perry) and he’d only switch to Vargas if Cyrus were to run his campaign. Abby smells a rat. She asks the aid who put the idea of Cyrus running Vargas’ campaign in her head and he quickly leaves the room. In a nearby park, Abby meets up with Quinn (Katie Lowes). The two argue over who was to bring the coffee, but Quinn says she doesn’t do that anymore because she’s too busy running Olivia Pope & Associates (“OPA”). Abby wants her to look into Cyrus to see what he has been up to and again Quinn reminds her that she has had her hands full. Abby wants to know if Olivia knows that she has taken over the business and Quinn tells her no because Olivia is too busy stalking Jake. Quinn doesn’t understand why Olivia isn’t focusing on her “real job” and Abby tells her that she can’t be the one to run OPA.

Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Marcus (Cornelius Smith, Jr.) are watching a soccer match – a game Huck’s son is playing in. Huck notices a man hanging around Javi (his son) and his ex-wife. He is taken off guard and Marcus wants to know if Huck knew there was a new man in his ex’s life. He said he did know about it, but this was the first time he had ever seen him. Things seem a bit off (well, more than usual) with Huck. He meets up with Charlie (George Newbern) to ask if the new boyfriend is a guy that they had tried to kill and he’s worried for his family. Charlie says he doesn’t think it is the man Huck is thinking, but he’ll check around to see if it is “Six Toes” – a man they had tortured before.

Meanwhile, Olivia is still stuck in stalker mode. Mellie (Bellamy Young) calls to ask if they should change their environmental platform. Olivia balks at her taking a meeting with “him” because they both know he is the devil. Just then, Hollis Doyle (Gregg Henry) opens Mellie’s door. Olivia tells her not to promise him anything as Mellie hangs up. Doyle thinks that divorce looks good on her. He tells her that he has Republican money and “just like a date, I want to spend it on a gal I think is going to put out for me.” He says he’ll write a check to her right then if she closes the Environmental Protection Agency. She tells him that she can’t make that promise so he says he’ll have to go talk to another candidate to see how they’ll receive him.

Elizabeth (Portia de Rossi) and Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) are arguing over whether or not to let Doyle meet with Susan (Artemis Pebdani). Elizabeth thinks that Susan needs the money and that is why they have to keep her from getting it. Abby is worried it will backfire, but Cyrus thinks that it is worth the risk. Fitz agrees to Susan meeting with Doyle.

Abby meets with Rosen (Joshua Malina) who she put on the Cyrus investigation when Quinn said she was too busy. He tells her that Cyrus has been in Harrisburg and also has had twenty-seven phone calls with Vargas. Abby remarks figuratively about him being in bed with two different people to which Rosen confesses to literally sharing his own bed with two different women. Asking if she knew what it took to get that kind of information for her, he asks for Abby’s help. He tells her about each lady, which Abby thinks his decision is a no-brainer.

Mellie phones Olivia to say that Doyle is meeting with Susan. Any guesses what Olivia is currently up to? Yep, STILL spying on Jake. Olivia assures her that it is not time to panic because a Presidential race is a marathon. Hanging up and continuing her voyeuristic look at Jake’s sex life, she notices him looking at the camera she has set up in his home. He clearly is on to her. Olivia goes to see Jake and he tells her that he never expected her to be so low and jealous as to spy on him. He wants to know why she’s hold up at home spying on the head of the NSA and she demands to know what he sees in Vanessa. She thinks this is all a game that her father has set up for some endgame and wonders how the fiancée fits into it. Olivia explains she was made this way because of her father’s manipulation and Jake corrects her that it was Fitz who did this to her. He says she walked away from Fitz over and over because he’d consume her the way her father did. He says that Fitz made her feel like she owed him and yet she still fell for him. He says that makes her the biggest fool and she has to realize she is “just another textbook example of daddy issues played out on a national stage.” Ouch. He asserts that he’s in love with Vanessa and he’s marrying her because she’s smart, beautiful and capable of loving him back. A clearly wounded Olivia retorts, “Your girlfriends aren’t girlfriends. They are marks.” She says nothing he does is real. Jake assures her that she is just an average woman who likes romantic comedies, reads Vogue and takes multivitamins. He says that’s what he wants. Unable to simply walk away at this point, Jake takes one last stab at Olivia by asking if she got off watching him and Vanessa have sex. A distraught Olivia is left in the dust…

Abby walks into Cyrus’ office surprised to find him there. She tells him she expected him to be in the meeting with Hollis Doyle and he says he thought she would be. She explains that she has been working on something else – Francisco Vargas. Cyrus plays it off like he barely knows the guy and casually tries to convince Abby that he’s shocked about his bid for President. Abby wonders if they should release a statement about it, but Cyrus says they are “out of the election game.” Abby asks him, point blank, if he is also out of the election game because she has evidence they have been working together. Still feigning innocence, he tries to play it off like it’s just because he is the governor of a major state and a recent hero. He also wants to know how Abby happens to have information on who he has been talking to. Abby flat out tells him that he is lying and that makes Cyrus mighty mad. Cyrus, again pretending to be wounded by Abby’s allegations, is offended and shouts that she is barking up the wrong tree. Abby isn’t buying it and thanks to the thorough evidence that was handed to her, she is able to show him a photo of the two of them meeting privately. At her wits end, Abby says she is off to tell the President. Sad Cyrus is giving it one last shot at faking innocence by claiming he just met with Vargas to give him some advice. That’s it. Abby still isn’t buying it. Finally, we Cyrus admit that he met with Vargas to discuss running his campaign. He says it never went further than a discussion so he didn’t violate his oath to the President. I guess that makes – what – five times the charm? Abby knows he is lying and is still off to rat him out. Cyrus tells her that he made a terrible mistake, but he promises he will make it right. He won’t let it go any further and begs her not to tell the President.

Huck pulls up to a broken down vehicle with his exwife’s boyfriend standing beside it. He offers to take him to get some help, giving a fake name along with a ride.

Susan meets with Doyle who makes a backhanded compliment about liking people who worked for what they have and weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Clearly, he is making a dig at Fitz. Susan says that using oil will help them create more jobs, but Fitz says that it is only if there isn’t any EPA concerns. He tells Susan she doesn’t need to play up the fake interest because they don’t need Doyle’s money to win the election. Heading back to meet with Mellie, Doyle gives her a second chance to discuss helping her campaign.

Abby meets with Olivia to tell her what she has found out about Cyrus. She says that Cyrus told her it was just a meeting about running his campaign and Olivia wants to know if she truly believes that. Thankfully, Abby has his number and explains that because it is Cyrus “if he’s breathing he’s lying.” Abby is excited that she has Cyrus in the palm of her hand and she knows exactly what steps to take in order to take over. She knows just what actions to take to “slit his throat and bathe in his blood.” Olivia can tell that Abby wants his job and be White House Chief of Staff. Olivia wonders why Abby doesn’t want to wait her turn, but she knows that a true monster like Cyrus would take without waiting. The sharpest teeth own the room so she doesn’t want to wait for someone like that to take her spot in line. Wow. Cyrus really has been the perfect mentor. Luckily, Abby still has a conscience and wonders how she’d sleep at night if she did become as mad as him. Olivia seems proud of her, but wants her not to let the job corrupt her. Their chat is interrupted by Quinn. She and Marcus have realized that Huck has Shawn (the boyfriend) and they’re concerned. Quinn thinks Marcus should have spoken up long before this moment, but since he is the low man on the totem pole he had no idea about Huck’s history. The three of them head off to try to hunt down Huck before harm can come.

Mellie’s meeting with Doyle has gone into the topic of education. She shares with him the tagline for her platform and how she plans to announce her bid for the White House. With that, Doyle offers to have his people phone her tomorrow so they can work together.

On the side of the road, the three OPA associates are trying to locate Huck. Marcus is still defending himself for not speaking up about Huck. Quinn feels the real responsible party though is Olivia. She’s been too busy spying on Jake to handle business and Quinn is fed up with having to run the show for her. Quinn says that when she joined the firm that Olivia was an amazing mentor while still being a great friend. Quinn wants to know what they did to make Olivia hate them and end their “family.” Oliva shouts that she was kidnapped and had everything taken from her. She says that she could have given up after that, but she dusted herself off and took her life back. She says she picked herself up and found herself in the White House, running the Oval Office. Olivia explains that she is now being selfish because after a week of being kidnapped she had her entire life taken from her – her freedom. Interrupting the cat fight, Huck comes out from behind a bush with an unconscious Shawn. “It wasn’t him,” he says.

Back at the White House, Abby enters the Oval Office to talk to Fitz. It seems like that pep talk from Olivia has done her some good because Abby tells him everything she has found out about Vargas and Cyrus. She tells him that she has evidence showing the two are working together on Vargas’s Presidential campaign. He thanks her and she is a bit taken back. She wants to know what he’s going to do about his Republican Chief of Staff working with a Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania. “He’s king making Vargas. He’s a turncoat,” she asserts. Fitz doesn’t know what to do because it won’t look good if he has to publicly announce that he has to look for a new Chief of Staff on top of having to help Susan with her campaign. He thinks Cyrus has him and wins – again. Abby tells him that Cyrus needs him for a graceful exit, which would destroy him. Vargas has a reputation for integrity so he wouldn’t be able to work with him after that. Abby explains that should Cyrus turn in his resignation that he’d be safe and decide to work with Vargas after he left the White House. This would neutralize things and Fitz would win. Without missing a beat, she nominates herself to be his Chief of Staff. Exceedingly qualified and, making things easy as pie, she is right in front of him. She promises to help him fight the good fight every day while being the scariest monster he never knew he needed. “Fire him. Hire me,” Abby snarks. All Fitz can say to that impassioned speech is, “Let me know when it is done.” He wants her to fire Cyrus if she wants the job.

Headed back home, Huck tells Olivia that Shawn will wake up at the wheel thinking he simply fell asleep and won’t remember a thing. He explains he thought Shawn was a man who wanted revenge for something Huck did a long time ago, but was wrong. He even found Shawn had a ring in his pocket that he was holding on to in order to propose. Huck realizes that he wanted to be the hero that would save Javi and Kim, but that since it was just Shawn – this normal guy – that he simply needs to move on. It’s time to let go of his former life and family. Knowing that Shawn is really a good guy gives him the peace he needed to move on.

Mellie stands in front of a TV watching as Hollis Doyle announces he is running for President. He’s at his former elementary school and wants everyone to vote for him to “embrace America’s tomorrow.” If you’re like me, you had to pick your jaw off the floor because Doyle has stolen Mellie’s idea for announcing her Presidential run and used her tagline! Mellie is pissed – say the least!

Back in the Oval Office, Fitz is loving seeing Doyle in the race. Susan is upset that she is going to have to debate him, but Fitz assures her that Doyle won’t be any kind of problem to her. She is angry that Fitz got involved during their meeting and that now he’ll make a circus of her campaign. Fitz says she isn’t allowed to yell at him in his office, which brings about the humorous (not for her, but the viewers) remark from Susan, “Where do I yell at you? I want to go there.” She snaps at Elizabeth to get out and heads over to his liquor to get some liquid courage. She explains she respects his authority within the walls of the White House, but outside it is her show because she is the candidate.

At Olivia Pope & Associates, Olivia tells Quinn that she has allowed herself to be selfish because of her. Quinn ran the office while she was on vacation with Jake, while she was at the White House and all those other times because she knows Quinn will jump in with both feet to do whatever she has to do. She is confident Quinn can handle any situation. After Olivia steps out of the office, Marcus asks about Olivia’s trip with Jake and finally he gets clued into some of the inside scoop on his coworker. Quinn asks if there is anything else about them that he wants to know and Marcus wonders if she’s ever killed anyone. Looking up from her computer, she says, “I think that’s enough sharing for today.”

Cyrus compliments Abby on another great morning briefing. A silent Abby takes a moment to speak before saying she needs his badge. Shocked, Cyrus is surprised she spoke to Fitz. She suggests he start packing up because security will be there soon. He’s in disbelief that she actually told Fitz.

Olivia meets with Jake to tell him she’d like them both to stop with the crazy. She says she’s been stalking him because she misses him. She says she understands it was selfish of her to have been with Fitz and him. She apologizes and he truly seems to believe her. Vanessa interrupts them. We cut to seeing Abby in the Oval Office shaking her head at Fitz. He invites her to join them for a drink. We also see Huck watching Javi playing in another soccer game. He can tell how happy his son is. We change back to Olivia, Jake and Vanessa at the restaurant and see Vanessa drop her phone. This gives Olivia a vision, a memory, of Vanessa explaining how she and Jake had met. This is interspersed with past Jake talking about the perfect way to fake a meet-cute (a charming romantic coincidental run in), you know just the way he originally found his way into Olivia’s life. Realizing that Jake has been playing Vanessa the way she knew had had been, Olivia makes her exit. We cut to a four way look at our heroes and heartaches from tonight’s episode: Quinn running OAP, Cyrus being asked to leave, Susan toasting with the President and Olivia saying goodbye. We cut to Oliva on the phone with Quinn asking her to amp up the surveillance on Jake.