Scandal: Season 4 Episode 7 

Last night’s episode of Scandal was probably one of the best of the entire series and that is not an exaggeration. In true Scandal fashion, we were subjected to multiple sucker punches in the last 2 minutes of the show and I am still reeling from it. The show started with Quinn confronting Catherine’s husband about his dead daughter and why she had a folder containing pictures of Olivia Pope. Whatever that guy has gotten himself into, it must be ridiculously crazy/dangerous because rather than share anything with Quinn, he shot himself in the head. After Olivia told Fitz that there was hope for them, he suddenly has a spring in his step and has taken to calling her for love talk and slow jams. He even goes as far as asking her to come to the White House claiming he has folks that will “sweep you in here and erase your presence in a matter of minutes”. This guy!

Olivia is obviously not here for it because she counters with questions about Jake and she tells Fitz not to call her until Jake is being taken care of in Super-Max prison. Jake got himself a keeper! Olivia still believes Jake is innocent so she asks David to get her into Super-Max prison but to see Tom, not Jake. She grilled Tom over and over and he refused to change his confession. This conversation led to one of the best monologues in Scandal history. Tom calls Olivia Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships; “they all love you,” he says. And by they, he means Rowan, Jake and Fitz. The show is obviously focusing on Olivia this season and how she is going to manage these men in her life. If you missed the episode, I suggest you YouTube her conversation with Tom. Olivia tells Tom he is a loose end and sooner or later, her father will tie him up.

Abby has found herself in her own male crisis when Fitz nominates her abusive ex-husband, Charles Putney to fill the senate seat vacated by a diaper wearing pervert Senator; he resigned after a video of him getting his freak on was leaked to the media. When her ex is introduced to her, Abby manages to maintain her cool until a couple of minutes later when Liv gets a phone call and its Abby on the other end. Turns out she managed to keep her composure long enough to make it to the bathroom and throw up on herself. I wanted to give her a big hug because she was so obviously traumatized from just seeing her ex again. Liv brought her some new clothes and tried to console her. Abby confesses that she doesn’t think she can do it and by it, she means continue to act like this man did not spend years brutalizing her. Liv asks Abby what she wants and she responds with “he can’t win”. That was all it took for Olivia to head down to Virginia to offer her services to Charles’s opponent free of charge.

Later on, her ex corners her in the parking garage and tries to intimidate her into making Olivia back off. Abby gets the upper hand when she pulls a gun on him and tells him to stay away from her. The exchange between them was so creepy when you consider their interpretations of what really happened in their marriage. He brutalized her; he believed they just had a couple of fiery exchanges. I’m glad she took her power back. Meanwhile, Leo, Sally’s former campaign manager, now Charles’s campaign manager confronts Abby about getting Olivia to manage the opponent’s campaign and Abby shared every single injury she sustained at her ex’s hands. I guess Leo is not a fan of DV (also he has a thing for Abby) because he leaked information tying her ex to the leaked “diaper senator” scandal and he was forced to withdraw from the race. He shares this information with Abby, the two share a moment and a kiss. Rosen who?

Huck is still playing World of Warcraft (I think) with his son. Javi initiates plans for them to meet after school at a game arcade to hang out and Huck agrees. The day arrives and Huck can’t introduce himself to his son. Later on that day, Javi shows up at OPA surprising Huck. He wants to know why Huck didn’t show up. Seems Javi knew the guy on the other end of the screen was his dad because he had seen pictures of him. He told Huck he tracked him down to OPA by tracing his IP address. He definitely is his father’s son. I’m glad they are finally meeting. He deserves to know his son and vice versa. Last week Cyrus discovered that his new boy toy was possibly spying on him so he set a trap for him by sharing sensitive information and warning Michael that it was top secret. Of course Michael shares this information with Lizzie Bear. Lizzie on the other hand is now focused on using Mellie to crash her husband’s presidency. She meets with Mellie and convinces her to share this secret information while she is being interviewed. Cyrus, knowing he has shared this with only Michael, finally realizes his new boo is spying on him. Poor Michael, he doesn’t know Cyrus once put a hit out on his husband. Things are about to get really messy in that rectangle/square of Cyrus, Michael, Mellie and Lizzie bear.

After finding out that Olivia visited Tom, Rowan lets himself into her apartment (rude!) and basically tells his daughter “you do not disrespect me ever”. I have spent a lifetime making sure that the path in front of you is clear of debris”. This guy is one of the scariest characters on TV right now. Then he tells Olivia “you never choose one of them over me again”. Tom gets a visit from one of the guards and he is stabbed repeatedly in his gut as the guard tells him “this is a message from command”. Then we are shown flashback shots of Quinn paying the guard to stab Tom, Olivia visiting Tom in the hospital and Tom, fearing for his life, confesses all to Olivia. Olivia Pope didn’t choose the thug life; the thug life chose her. Armed with this new information, she shares Tom’s recorded confession with Fitz, who looks absolutely devastated. Yes Fitz, Rowan played you. The episode ended with Jake being dragged into a secret room with Olivia and Fitz. I guess these three are going to try to figure out a way to bring down Rowan. We have one more episode before the winter finale and I’m excited to see what kind of craziness Shonda has planned for us.

Written by Lady Sith

*image from New York Post