Scandal – Pressing the Flesh

By starrymag | October 19, 2017

By: Nicole Dintelman

 

 

The latest episode of “Scandal” opens up with Olivia (Kerry Washington) trying to make a getaway from her night with Curtis Pryce (Jay Hernandez). Apparently, the two have been hooking up at hotels all over the D.C. area. Curtis gives himself five stars in bed. Confidence is a good thing, right? We think so. Curtis is hoping that Liv will let him be her date to the State Dinner. Olivia isn’t going for it. She prefers to keep their relationship strictly in the bedroom. Like we said before, Curtis should just go along because Olivia always gets what she wants.

 

The State Dinner is being held for the President of Bashron (Faran Tahir). If he’s anything like the ambassador things could get hairy. Cyrus (Jeff Perry) isn’t a fan of Olivia being so formal with him. He says that they were friends and she’s not acting like that anymore. Cyrus is there to complain about the seating arrangement. He’s sitting next to Fenton Glackland (Dean Norris). Cyrus isn’t a fan. Olivia tells him to suck it up and get out of her office.

 

Abby (Darby Stanchfield) hits up David (Joshua Malina) to get tickets to the dinner. QPA needs to solicit clients and the State Dinner is the perfect place to do that. Abby tells David that she owes him. David tells Abby that she can be his date, but he only has a plus one – not a plus four. Abby gets her tickets but with a catch. They all have to assume fake identities. Huck (Guillermo Diaz) doesn’t want to go at all. Who can blame him? Quinn (Katie Lowes) reminds him that she’s the boss and she says they’re going. Well, that settles that.

 

Mellie (Bellamy Young) is preparing to greet the President of Bashron. There’s a lot riding on his visit. They’re trying to get him to sign a nuclear arms treaty – something that he doesn’t want to do.  He’s also upset about the spying they did in his country. The President of Bashron tells Mellie that having her undivided attention means a lot to him. He doesn’t take it easy on Mellie. He wants to remove all nuclear weapons from the planet and gives Mellie a whole spiel about it. Mellie gives Liv some serious side-eye before taking the Bashrani President on a tour.

 

Huck asks Abby if she misses the White House. She tells him that she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss it sometimes. Abby says she prefers being a gladiator though. Huck still doesn’t want to go to the dinner. Liv reminds Mellie that tonight’s dinner is crucial. Mellie wants to blow the dinner off and get laid. Mellie says you never stop being President. Olivia tells her that she feels like she’s losing herself. Mellie tells Liv that she’s a single female POTUS. That means she’s a human chastity belt.

 

Mellie says that her vagina is beautiful and welcoming. What an awkward conversation! Mellie says that her vagina is being treated like a murder house and she can’t get anything in there. Wow, get this woman a man. Soon! Mellie says that the President needs a vibrator, but she can’t go buy one. She can’t even order one online because she doesn’t have a credit card. Olivia is trying very hard not to laugh, but when Mellie says she can’t even smuggle an orgasm into the White House and she can’t hold the laughter anymore. Olivia tells Mellie that she knows the Presidency is lonely. She reminds Mellie that she has to do the job. Mellie says if she can’t get laid at least she can promote world peace.

 

Cyrus asks Olivia if she knew their friend Mr. Glackland eats bugs. Literally, eats bugs. Liv ignores him and heads to a secret spot in the White House, where we find Jake (Scott Foley). Olivia tells him that President Rashad is being difficult and if he doesn’t sign the treaty willingly they’re going to need a little help persuading him. Olivia asks Jake if she can get dirt on him. Jake tells her he can. He’s still trying to flirt, but Olivia isn’t having it. It’s all business now. Poor Jake.

 

Fenton Glackland lets Cyrus know that he’s at his service. He shakes his hand with a sugar-coated palm. Cyrus is instantly turned off. He wasn’t a fan before, now he really isn’t. Quinn is chatting up people at the party. They all thought that OPA closed it’s doors when Olivia left for the White House. Quinn lets a partygoer know that that’s a popular misconception. They’re still in business and better than ever. Quinn creates a whole fake life complete with husband “Kevin,” a/k/a Charlie (George Newbern). Huck is trying to talk to people, but so far it’s not going well.

 

David and Abby arrive and it’s clear he’s taking this whole date thing a lot more serious than she is. She just used him to get tickets. Abby sees Huck struggling and rushes over to rescue him. She tells him to seek out a military person to chat up. Olivia isn’t thrilled to see the QPA associates, but gets even more rattled when she sees Curtis. Curtis tells her that he came with a date. Olivia tells him that he needs to leave as she doesn’t have time for this. Curtis keeps rubbing in how great his date is. Olivia is clearly jealous even if she won’t admit it.

 

Mellie introduces the President of Bashron. He calls her an eloquent host. She reminds him that she’s a President with an agenda. President Rashad reminds Mellie that if he signs her treaty he’ll seem weak to his country. He doesn’t want to be rescued by the “white lady.” Mellie tells him that in the U.S. we have a term called mansplaining and he’s doing a lot of that. Tell him, Mellie! He tells her that her charm and intelligence isn’t going to be enough to get him to sign a treaty. Olivia knows that they’re going to need help. Thankfully, Jake walks in with a folder.

 

Inside the folder are photos of President Rashad greeting a very young woman at his hotel room the night before. Olivia tells Jake to keep digging, they need more. Huck finally finds a military person to chat up…that is until he notices something wrong on the guy’s uniform. He quickly exits using baklava as an excuse. Glackland is making Cyrus very uncomfortable. He’s talking about how much money he has and the things he buys. Glackland bought a painting and he doesn’t even know what it is. Cyrus asks him why he’s there and Glackland tells him because he likes to work with experts.

 

Fenton wants to run for governor and wants Cyrus to help him. Jake has found more information for Olivia. The girl that visited President Rashad is his niece. Olivia visits President Rashad in the bathroom with what they’ve found. Olivia tells him that sending his niece to the states and enrolling her in college under a fake name shows who he really is. Actions speak louder than words. President Rashad tells her that actions do speak louder than words. He was told that Olivia is the devil and she just proved that to him. Olivia’s blackmail material doesn’t persuade him to sign the treaty.

 

On their tour, Glackland isn’t impressed with the Oval office. He sits in Mellie’s chair and Cyrus loses it – especially when Glackland says he may just spend some more money and run for President. Cyrus calls him a boob. Yes, a boob. Cyrus then goes off about the painting that Glackland bought. He clearly hurts the man’s feelings and we feel bad for the guy. He was just trying to impress Cyrus and Cyrus wasn’t having any of it.

 

There’s a lovely singing performance. David uses that chance to try to take Abby’s hand, but she’s not feeling it and heads to the bar. Charlie lets Quinn know that he’s not too happy about playing husband Kevin. Abby finds Huck sitting in the hall looking at a picture of the soldier he was talking to. He tells Abby that the guy he was talking to is an imposter. His medals are in the wrong order and that tipped Huck off. President Rashad gets up to leave as soon as the performance is over.

 

Curtis is trying to get a story out of Olivia because President Rashad left early. He tells her that clearly there is something going on. Liv tells Curtis that the dinner is over and people tend to leave when things are over. Curtis says that Olivia is all about the spin and he bets she doesn’t even know when she’s doing it anymore. We’re starting to really like this guy. He calls Liv out on her crap and he’s clearly not afraid of her. Olivia tells Curtis that he doesn’t know the first thing about her. He says he doesn’t but he’d like to.

 

Huck lets Olivia know they have a problem. Meanwhile, the imposter Army guy takes President Rashad to a room under a ruse that Mellie wants to see him. The Army guy pulls a gun out and President Rashad asks him if the American’s have no shame. The guy asks him if he does. He says that he should be worrying about his own people while his country burns. President Rashad figures out that the imposter is in fact Bashrani. Well, this is a twist we didn’t see coming!

 

He raises the gun to shoot, but Jake and his men bust in just in the nick of time. Jake lets President Rashad know that they will find out how the assassin got into the party. Mellie asks Olivia to excuse them so she can talk to the President alone. She tells him that she understands the fear. He tells her that he’s not afraid of dying. He’s afraid of anarchy in his country. Mellie tells President Rashad that their treaty could be his defining moment. He tells her that he needs an assurance that Dekalb will sign the treaty also.

 

President Rashad asks Mellie if she has something stronger to drink. She breaks out the hooch and they have a drink together. He tells her that his niece has a photo of Mellie hanging in her dorm room. She sees Mellie as an inspiration. President Rashad tells Mellie that she’s extraordinary and he’s honored to be sitting with her. You could cut the sexual tension in the room with a knife. President Rashad breaks it by telling Mellie that he looks forward to working with her and excuses himself.

 

Huck feels bad that he didn’t network more. Abby tells him that he saved a head of state and he shouldn’t feel bad. David tries to talk to Abby. He tells her that they’re good together. He asks her to look him in the eye and tell him that they’re not. Abby tells him she has to go.  Back at QPA, Charlie tells Quinn that they should be married by now. Quinn says that he said he was okay waiting until they got the firm back up and running. Charlie says he was, but maybe now it’s too late. The new Quinn of QPA doesn’t need a Charlie. She needs a Kevin. Quinn smacks him. They both think they’re dumping each other. She tells him that she’s not waiting another minute to marry him.

 

When Cyrus gets back to his office he finds The Boy in the Red Vest painting. Glackland sent him the painting after he yelled at him. He included a note telling Cyrus that he wanted to give the painting to someone who could truly appreciate it. Olivia greets Curtis and his date, Sarah. She tells her that she’s heard so many nice things about her but she needs to borrow Curtis for just a second. Olivia tells him that she’s ready to give him a story, but it’s not the story he originally wanted. She tells him that Mellie is going to bring Bashron and Dekalb together for a nuclear summit.

 

Curtis tells her that’s huge and Olivia tells him that it also calls for a celebration. Olivia decides to take Curtis to her apartment for a change. They get off of the elevator making out only to find Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) standing at her door. Well, this could get interesting. Fitz just shows up out of the blue and on the one night Liv brings her booty call back home. Guess we’ll have to wait until next week to find out where Fitz has been and exactly what he’s doing at Olivia’s now. Gotta love those cliffhangers!