Scandal – Trojan Horse

By: Nicole Dintelman

When we last left our favorite characters on Scandal, Olivia (Kerry Washington) just told Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) that she would help him get Cyrus (Jeff Perry) out of prison and clear his name. They now know that Cyrus had nothing to do with the shooting of President-Elect Frankie Vargas (Ricardo Chavira) as it was Olivia’s father that shot and killed Frankie. Rowan Pope (Joe Morton) was not acting alone, and in fact, is under control of a group that wants to see Mellie (Bellamy Young) in the White House to further their own agenda. David Rosen (Joshua Malina) just so happens to be dating Samantha Ruland (Zoe Perry), who is on team bad guys, but David doesn’t know that.

This week’s episode begins with David and Samantha having a little sexy time, which got a little too wild and they broke the table! David goes into the kitchen to get them a drink where he’s ambushed from behind by Jake (Scott Foley). Have we mentioned how glad we are to have Jake back on team good guys? Jake tells David to go back in and tell Samantha something has come up because his girlfriend helped kill Frankie and frame Cyrus and to act natural because if she suspects anything she’ll kill him. Way to break it to him gently Jake.

At the office, Olivia is explaining to Mellie what is going on and Mellie wants to know her options. Olivia told her there was only one option and Mellie told her she wasn’t going to quit. Mellie insists that Cyrus didn’t win, Frankie won and he’s dead. “I was born for this,” Mellie tells Olivia. Olivia tells Mellie that she’s good inside and she can’t steal the Presidency, they have to do what the people voted for.

David Rosen holds a press conference to exonerate Cyrus of Frankie’s murder and release him from prison. Abby (Darby Stanchfield) is with Cy when the news breaks. Olivia lets Fitz know that Mellie is going to make a statement to concede the Presidency to Cyrus and they embrace. Olivia tells Fitz that she really wanted this and needed this, Fitz tells her that she deserved it. Abby takes a newly released Cyrus to a hotel and when she asks him if he needs anything he only asks for his daughter. Abby has bad news on that front. Cyrus’s husband Michael (Matthew Del Negro) will not allow it.

Elizabeth North (Portia de Rossi) pays a visit to Mellie and tells her not to just roll over and give up the Oval to Cyrus. Elizabeth tells her that she would never have voted for her if she was just going to do whatever Olivia tells her to do, she needs to be her own woman and make her own choices. Back at Olivia’s house, Huck (Guillermo Diaz) is still recovering so he’s watching the trends for the day while Quinn (Katie Lowes) fusses over him and Charlie (George Newbern) fusses over her. These three have a weird triangle thing going on that, hopefully, will be explored more when things calm down. Who are we kidding, things never calm down on this show!

Mellie shows up at Olivia’s and tells Olivia that she wants the Electoral College to make a decision on who should be President. Olivia tells her that wouldn’t be fair to the American people or to Cyrus because of the people who rigged the election. Mellie starts to tell Olivia about what Elizabeth North told her and Olivia interrupts her and tells her that Cyrus has been tainted by all of this. Mellie tells Olivia then she should just go ahead and go fix it for him.

On goes Olivia’s white hat. She’s ready to remake Cyrus Beene, he’s no longer the man who was just arrested for murder. He’s a career politician, the best man for the job. Abby and Elizabeth North are on talk shows arguing for each candidate, trying to convince the people who will be better for the country. Olivia takes suits over to Cy and asks to come in. Cyrus tells her no, the last time they saw each other she told him she was never going to talk to him again, she left him for dead and she doesn’t get another chance. Cyrus says he’s a former death row inmate and it’s over and slams the door in her face.

Angela (Saycon Sengbloh) and Fitz are getting ready for bed that night when she asks him what Olivia was doing at the White House earlier in the day. Fitz tells her that Olivia was there to talk and that he was working on a speech that he had to give the next day. Angela then asks if Olivia worked at the White House when Tom Larsen (Brian Letscher) did? Fitz told her he believed so but he couldn’t remember for sure. Angela tells him if she did that could explain why she’s acting so weird, one day wanting to put Cyrus away and the next day being his biggest fan. Sounds to us like Angela doesn’t like Olivia Pope.

Luna Vargas (Tessie Santiago) arrives at Olivia’s office to give what looks like an interview. She first asks Olivia if she’s sure that Cyrus is innocent and Olivia tells her that she’d stake her life on it. Olivia is confident in saying this because she knows that it was her father that killed Mrs. Vargas’s husband. Speak of the devil, Rowan calls while Olivia is getting Luna ready for her interview and asks Olivia to come to his office.

Rowan has a box taped out on the floor and asks Olivia to step inside, he tells her it’s a dead spot. He tells her that she has to stop trying to make Cyrus the president or Team Bad Guys will kill her. If Olivia doesn’t listen to him they will also kill him. He will be useless to them, he will be extinct. It seems that Olivia doesn’t take his advice and she leaves telling him she will see him again soon. Luna Vargas gives her endorsement for Cyrus and it helps him in the polls. However, Cyrus’s estranged husband Michael goes on a talk show telling everyone how awful Cyrus was during their marriage. Olivia blames Mellie, but Mellie swears it wasn’t her.

Olivia goes to Fitz to vent about Mellie and Fitz thinks Mellie did it as well. Olivia tells Fitz that she thinks her father did it and Fitz wants to arrest Rowan. Olivia tells Fitz that he has to forgive Rowan like she forgave Abby. Olivia tells Fitz to focus on Cyrus. Fitz then goes to see Cyrus and Fitz is one person that Cyrus will let in his hotel room. Cyrus knew that Olivia sent Fitz to fight for the Oval. Fitz asked Cyrus to take the gift that he gave him the night in the hospital when Frankie was killed. That gift was America.

Cyrus cleans himself up and does a press conference with Fitz by his side. Cyrus says that prison made sense to him because he felt unworthy as he’d let so many people down in his life, but he also knows that truly no one deserves to be President, except for Frankie Vargas. Frankie was different, he deserved to be president. Cyrus promises that he embodies all the qualities Frankie instilled in him and he will strive to become all that Frankie embodied.

When Mellie gets back to her office Elizabeth North is there with Samantha Ruland and Theodore Pais (David Warshofsky). Mellie is taken aback and asks Liz, “You’re working for them?” Liz tells her that they’re all working together and they have the votes. That means they bought the votes of the electors is what we’re guessing. Mellie tells them to get out of her office because she doesn’t want to win that way. Theo tells her that she’s their Trojan Horse and Mellie tells him that she will have both him and Samantha prosecuted for the murder of Frankie Vargas. Before she can say anything else, Samantha hits Liz with a golf club and blood splatters all over Mellie. Samantha continues to hit Liz, you know to make sure she’s dead. Theo tells Mellie that Ms. Ruland is her new Chief of Staff now since Ms. North is no longer available and Mellie will do as they say or they will kill her children. They congratulate her on being the next President and walk out. We’re all just sitting here with our mouths open not sure what to do next and wondering did that really just happen?

Angela stalks into Fitz’s bedroom and hands him an envelope. He asks what it was and Angela tells him the warrant to arrest Olivia Pope. Angela says her team found money from Oliva to Tom Larsen which makes it looks like she paid Tom to kill Frankie Vargas. Fitz tells Angela that she made Olivia her target from day one and it was personal and not about the case. Angela snaps and replies, “Boy, I’m the director of the F.B.I. not some chick who got dissed at prom.” Fitz, you better watch yourself.

Mellie calls the one person she knows could help…Olivia. Olivia asks her what happened and Mellie tries to tell her, but is hysterical. Mellie explains that they bribed the electors and Olivia tells her they can fix it, but Mellie says they would kill her and her children. Olivia let’s Mellie know that she has to go  but Jake is there and he will take care of it. Jake tells Mellie it’s his duty to clean everything up while she is apologizing profusely. Jake tells Mellie to change her clothes and he will handle everything else.

Olivia goes to see Fitz and he informs her that Angela is going to arrest her. Olivia thinks is a good idea because if Mellie’s campaign manager goes down for paying someone to kill the President-Elect then the electors won’t vote for her. Fitz tells her that that is not an option because he would lose her forever and he is not going to let her go to prison for life for something her father did. Olivia tells her that he can’t arrest her father because he will die in prison and if he arrests him he’ll lose her anyway. Fitz asks Olivia if this is goodbye and she says yes and storms out. Fitz is on a roll tonight with women.

Cyrus finally lets Olivia in and she tells him what she’s doing and even Cyrus thinks it’s a bad idea. These “Scandal” woman should take a hint! Angela is again upset with Fitz because he went over her head and removed her from the case, stopped Olivia from being arrested and had her transferred to Omaha. Fitz also had Olivia’s father arrested. We’re guessing Olivia is going to have a few things to say about this. With the votes bought, of course, the electors vote to make Mellie the next POTUS.

Olivia marches in and begins screaming at Fitz. Fitz asks her to stop yelling and turns on a television with security footage – it’s her father in the Oval. He told her Rowan was taken into his custody and now they can focus on taking down Pais together. Olivia joins Fitz on the couch and kisses him. Olivia then leads Fitz to the bedroom and shuts the door, while the rest of us try to catch our breath.