Scandal – Till Death Do Us Part

By: Jamie Steinberg

This week should have been titled The Ballad of Jake Ballard or Jake Ballard: The Origin Story. The actual title Till Death Do Us Part does it no justice. The entire episode centered around the creation of the man we have always known as Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) with a touch of his love for Olivia (Kerry Washington).

We find Liv at home – her childhood home – asleep. If you recall, she returned there after murdering Andrew Nichols (Jon Tenney). It seems she has been hold up there for some time with PTSD and Jake has been by her side in hopes of helping to heal her. Rowan (Joe Morton) is also there hoping to get his daughter back on her feet. He coddles her and cares for her, but also kindly lets it slip that Jake’s wedding has been moved up to this weekend.

Flashing back, we hear a little boy sitting outside of his home listening as his father yells. His father is hollering at his mother and physically assaulting her. We see the little boy just sitting there, sad and helpless. We then flash forward to Jake in a Navy prison being visited by Rowan. Papa Pope says Jake (or Pete Harris as he seems to be known at this moment) can either come with him or stick it out and spend ten years behind bars. It seems Pete takes the deal and heads out of lockup.

Somewhere unknown, we see what we can assume are soldiers in a row being grilled by Rowan. One soldier is Pete and one seems to be Charlie (George Newburn), our second favorite go-to-guy for torture (Huck is obviously the first). Rowan has him assembling a rifle, but Pete is giving him guff for them having to do these drills over and over. Rowan takes Pete outside the room and gives him a severe beating. He wants to know if Pete is going to behave and make his way back inside with focus or if he should send him back to the prison where he can rot for ten years.

At Olivia Pope and Associates, the team is assembled. It seems Olivia has been faking her trauma in an effort to infiltrate her father and Jake’s plans. The group has come together though to figure out a way to get Jake out of the hands of Rowan, but it seems there is just one way. “What’s his weakness,” asks Huck (Guillermo Diaz)? “Me,” Olivia answers.

Jake is at his rehearsal dinner playing the role of groom-to-be. As head of the NSA, of course Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) is going to be in attendance, but what happens next is an interest to many “Scandal” fans. Olivia’s two infamous suitors actually have a heart-to-heart. The two wax philosophically about their relationships with her and both know that they never had it easy when it came to her.

Back at Palace Pope, Olivia is drunk. She is clearly upset about Jake’s plans to speed up the wedding and doesn’t want him making any rash decisions. She thinks he can push the wedding back and slow things down. Not making any headway in her argument, we learn Olivia has just been playing possum and isn’t really under the influence. She tries even harder to press Jake to break his bonds with Rowan, but even that seems to be a hard sell. Olivia steal pleads though, “I don’t know how to protect you from him. I don’t know how to break away from him.” Jake meets with his fiancée Vanessa (Joelle Carter) in hopes of delaying the wedding. She isn’t interested and doesn’t understand why his ex-girlfriend is in their home. It seems both Olivia and Jake are in a rock and a hard place…

We flashback again to Papa Pope pushing Pete Harris. He’s yelling at him for doing nothing to protect his mother from being abused. He’s telling him that it’s her fault for speaking up to him about his late night visits to his sister’s room. It’s all Pete’s problems for the life he once led. (Even I was a bit stunned as to how far this scene went.) We see Pete putting on his dress whites and driving to his childhood home. Next, we hear a gun shot and Pete steps outside with blood splattered on his uniform.

It seems that Rowan has eyes in the back of his head as he knows Olivia has been playing with Jake. He is aware that he and Olivia were planning to stop the wedding and he isn’t having it! He threatens to kill Jake if she doesn’t put an end to her mischief. “A wedding or a funeral, it’s your choice,” he cautions.

Poor Liv who crumbles like a cracker when her father has these moments. Under his threats, she has no power. Seeking to save his life, Olivia heads to Jake’s wedding to tell him that she isn’t in love with him. She tells him that she tricked him and that it would always be that way…Him coming to her at the snap of her finger. With a broken heart and a fiancée waiting on him, Jake marries Vanessa.