Scandal – The List

By starrymag | March 22, 2018

By: Nicole Dintelman

 

 

This week on “Scandal” Olivia (Kerry Washington) is approached by a concerned father who hasn’t seen or heard from his daughter in over a week. At the start of the episode, we see said girl buying a gun. When the clerk asks her what kind of gun she wants she says she wants one that works. Well, that’s a given for anyone wanting a gun, right? Olivia is also on a mission to out Cyrus (Jeff Perry) as being the one who hacked his own plane.

 

Olivia goes to see Abby (Darby Stanchfield) for help. She tells her everything that Cyrus told her in hopes that she will get QPA to look into it. Abby can’t believe that Cyrus would hack his own plane. Abby reminds Olivia that she no longer has a team. If she goes to QPA saying that it’s coming from Olivia, she’ll be out on her ass too. Olivia pleads with Abby. She tells her that she’s not asking to work with them she’s just asking for help. Abby finally tells Olivia she will see what she can do.

 

Jake (Scott Foley) gets to the Oval and can’t find Mellie (Bellamy Young) anywhere. She finally calls from her spot on the floor. She’s having trouble moving because she threw out her back doing yoga. Do they not have White house doctors? Oh wait, the doctor gave her a tennis ball, Tylenol, and wished her luck. Mellie tells Jake that they have to get the budget done. They’re facing a government shutdown if it’s not through Congress soon. Sound familiar?

 

Mellie tells Jake they need help from Cyrus. He’s dominating in the polls and they need to take advantage of that. Jake tells Mellie that he really wants to do things without Cyrus. Jake has someone from IT trying to decrypt the virus. She tells him it’s a mess. No self-respecting coder created the virus. She tells Jake that either the code was messed up on purpose or it is just a total hack job. A hack of a hack?

 

Olivia heads over to see Marcus (Cornelius Smith, Jr.) to see if he wants to grab dinner. He asks her if she really doesn’t have any other friends. Liv tells him that she doesn’t. It’s hard not to feel bad for her. Yes, she got herself into this situation but she’s trying to make up for it! Olivia tells Marcus that she did talk to Abby earlier. Abby at least invited her into her apartment so she feels like she’s making some progress.

 

It’s while Olivia is at Marcus’s office that the missing girl finds her. He came here specifically looking for Olivia. His daughter, Alisha (Marquise C. Brown), looked up to Olivia. Liv is the reason that Alisha came to DC. He’s come all the way from Ohio for her help. Alisha has watched Olivia on TV. There was finally someone that looked like her doing big things. Alisha has been working as a Congressional intern.

 

Alisha’s father is convinced something has happened to his daughter. Olivia asks Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) for help. She tells him that she knows that it’s not really what he does but she needs his help. Fitz agrees to help with the case. Olivia is going to head over to Alisha’s apartment to see if there is anything she can find out. Abby is trying to convince QPA to investigate Cyrus as the one behind the plane hacking. Charlie (George Newbern) is totally against them taking the case. Huck (Guillermo Diaz) thinks it would be a brilliant plan on Cyrus’s part.

 

Alisha has a roommate, Meghan (Solea Pfeiffer), who answers the door when Olivia arrives. Meghan tells Olivia that Alisha lost her job a couple of weeks ago and that’s the last time she heard from her. She tells Olivia that they’re not super close, they just share the rent. They were both clerking at the same firm. Meghan got hired and Alisha didn’t. Meghan tells Olivia that she really has to get to work. Olivia tells her to go finish getting ready and when she steps out of the office, she grabs Alisha’s computer.

 

The computer gives them a clue. Alisha sent an email to her boss hours before she was fired. The email says that she won’t tell anyone what happened. Alisha also asks her boss not to GFV her. Fitz and Olivia have no idea what that means but Marcus is able to help with that. He shows them what the hill calls the “fresh meat list.” Men use their initials to log reviews about their interns. GFV means gluten-free vegan, which translates to she won’t have sex with her boss. If a guy gets a resume for a girl that is GFV, no one will hire that intern.

 

Marcus also lets Fitz and Olivia know that Alisha also bought a gun before she disappeared. Alisha’s fate is not looking good. Mellie is asking Cyrus for help with the budget. Mellie also tells him that she’s so glad he’s okay. She wants to apologize for sending the fighter jets. Cyrus tells her that he would have done the same thing if he were in her shoes. Mellie tells him there will be justice. They’re going to find out who hijacked the plane.

 

Cyrus is busy doing interviews. He swears that he only wants to help further Mellie’s agenda. Huck discovers that there’s no way anyone in the government could have created the virus. Quinn says then there must be a money trail. She tells Charlie to check into it. Abby is watching one of Cyrus’s interviews and realizes that his painting is missing. Abby says that he could have used that as payment for the virus.

 

Low and behold that’s exactly what happened. Cyrus meets Lonnie (Michael O’Neill). The man he paid with the painting to make sure there wasn’t a money trail for the hack of the plane. Lonnie tells Cyrus that Olivia is getting Abby to investigate the hacking. Cyrus tells Lonnie that he has an important job to do. He needs to worry about that and he’ll worry about Olivia Pope.

 

Olivia and Marcus go to see Alisha’s boss. He says he doesn’t know her. Finally, he tells them that it’s not his fault. She didn’t want to play the game. He says that everyone knows how the game is played. She didn’t want to play. It’s not his fault that no one would hire her because of that. Marcus’s phone is going off non-stop. It’s the coroner. They found Alisha’s body. She committed suicide. Alisha’s dad is distraught. He tells Olivia that his daughter would have talked to him before she did anything. He blames Olivia and DC.

 

Gary (Rolando Boyce) tells Olivia that she’s at the top of the heap and everyone knows who she screwed to get there. Referencing her relationship with Fitz. Gary tells Olivia that his daughter was a good person. She was better than Liv. She followed Olivia into the swamp and it sucked her under. Olivia tells Fitz that Alisha deserves justice. Fitz says that behavior is allowed to fester because those in power don’t stop it.

 

Marcus gets a meeting with Mellie. Olivia doesn’t think that Mellie will help. Fitz says that they have a list. The list should be enough of a smoking gun on its own. Olivia goes to see Meghan again. She’s on the list as prime rib. Olivia asks Meghan if Tim Waterbend (Mark Jude Sullivan) specifically told her that if she didn’t sleep with him she wouldn’t get hired. Meghan doesn’t want to ruin her own career. Olivia tells Meghan that if no one has the courage to take these guys on, they’re just going to keep doing what they’re doing.

 

Mellie looks over the list She knows all about how it is for the women on the hill. Mellie wants to incorporate a punitive cause into any legislation. Mellie says that she wouldn’t be able to get anything like that through the branches. Marcus asks her if she can write an executive order. Mellie says that Congress would insinuate that she’s abusing her power. Mellie says that she will take the proposal into consideration.

 

Abby takes David (Joshua Malina) lunch. He’s laughing at a text from Cyrus. Abby is surprised that David and Cyrus are text buddies. She asks if Cyrus is asking about suspects in the investigation. David tells her that he had to recuse himself. It was a conflict of interest since he’s also a witness. Huck finds evidence that Cyrus was supposed to go to the Al Smith dinner and was pulled at the last minute. Abby finally tells Quinn (Katie Lowes) that it was Olivia that asked for help. Quinn tells them to shut the investigation down.

 

Jake tells Mellie that Cyrus couldn’t swing enough people. They have to take some of the things out of the budget to get it through. He tells her they’ll order some fried chicken and make it fun. Mellie doesn’t think it sounds fun. She tells Jake about the harassment bill. Jake says they need to wait a few months. They have to get the budget passed first. Olivia meets Abby in the dark on a bridge. Abby tells her that the team knows it was her and they’re dropping the investigation. Abby says she couldn’t keep lying to them.

 

Olivia tells Abby about the case she’s working on the hill. She tells her it’s going about as well as the case against Cyrus. Olivia tells Abby that Cyrus is guilty. Abby says that she may be right but it can’t be them who proves it. Mellie and Jake are working on the budget. Mellie thinks of something that may get them some votes. She tries to get up to get them some hooch and hurts her back again. Jake goes after their hooch and sits down on the floor with Mellie.

 

Mellie’s back hurts so bad she can’t even drink her hooch. Jake asks her if she’s going to be in fighting shape if they get the budget passed. Jake tells Mellie about past presidents that have hurt themselves doing other sports. He grabs Mellie’s hand and tells her that they make a good team. Only he doesn’t let go of it. Mellie finally picks up the vibe and takes her hand away. She tells him that he should go.

 

Charlie tells Huck that he’s going to grab some sandwiches and asks him if he wants some. Charlie asks Huck what he’s working on. Huck tells him that it seems wrong to drop the virus case. He wonders if the old Olivia is back. Charlie tells him that the old Olivia is dead. Fitz goes to check in on Olivia. He tells her they just need one of the women to come forward. He also asks her if he abused his power over her when they first met. Liv tells him that he didn’t cross the line. They crossed that line together.

 

Fitz asks Olivia if she regrets what happened between them. Olivia tells him no and she would cross the line again. Could Olitz be end game? Meghan stops by and tells Olivia that she’s in. She will speak out against their boss. Meghan speaks at a press conference and tells them everything that happened with Alisha. Alisha’s father is in the audience to hear Meghan’s words. After Meghan speaks others are moved to speak out against sexual harassment on the hill.

 

Olivia and Fitz celebrate their victory. Fitz tells her that he knows there’s a lot more to be done and he’ll help in whatever way he can. Mellie calls Jake in to tell him that she’s going to go ahead with her intention to get the legislation through. Jake tells her that he’s sorry for the night before. He crossed the line because he misread the situation. Mellie tells Jake that she has no intention of becoming another Fitzgerald Grant and Olivia Pope. She also doesn’t intend to sleep with anyone that Olivia has been with.

 

Jake tells Mellie that he made the advance because he was attracted to her. Mellie tells him it’s convenient that he made his advance the same week that she needs a little extra help. Jake says that they work together well and he was attracted to her. Mellie asks him if when he and Fitz had a good week did he hold his hand too. Abby stops by Olivia’s to congratulate her on the victory. She tells her how great the press conference was.

 

Abby says that she could have called but she didn’t know if Olivia would pick up. Olivia tells her that she would have. She also says that she doesn’t blame the team. It’s not their fight, it’s hers. She’s the one that needs to step up. She made Mellie a promise that she wouldn’t let a man strip Mellie of her power. She can’t let Mellie stand alone. Abby tells Olivia that she’s in. Take that Marcus! Olivia has another friend!

 

Huck figures out where the virus came from at the same time that Jake’s IT worker does. The virus was modified the day before it infected the plane from Charlie’s laptop. Huck reminds Quinn that Charlie was against them looking into the case in the first place. Quinn confronts Charlie. He tells her that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Quinn doesn’t believe him. He has no idea how it ended up on his laptop.

 

Quinn wants to get Charlie out of the office when the FBI busts in to arrest him. David makes an announcement that he has recused himself and they have a suspect in custody. The DA appointed to handle the case? Lonnie! Quinn goes to Olivia’s. We’re guessing to ask for help getting Charlie out of the mess he’s in. However, we’ll have to wait until next time to see if our suspicions are correct!