Hey Gladiators, what did you think of the two-part winter finale of Scandal? I can’t remember the last time a finale actually delivered on so many levels while leaving us all hanging as to what the hell will happen next! This thing was loaded with those Oh My God moments that made me feel like I was on the verge of an anxiety attack the whole time.
First up we have Olivia Pope, one of the best “fixers” television has ever seen. She fixes cases, reputations even Fitz’s election. You name it she has found a way to patch it together while never spilling her wine on her amazeballs white wardrobe. She is in charge f a crew of people known as “gladiators” that help her to do the impossible on the regular. Ironically, Liv can fix political scandals but she can’t seem to keep her hands off of the very married Fitz who is running the country when not blowing up Liv’s phone. He is married to Mellie who thanks to brilliant flashbacks a few weeks ago has proven her worth as the First Lady. Instead of just being the clingy wife that we wish Fitz would drop, it’s now clear that one time, way back when, they were very good together. That means that viewers find themselves rooting for Fitz and Liv, but also realizing that Mellie is still around for a reason. She walked through personal fire to see him become president and she’s nothing if not loyal to the man who continues to betray her.
Cyrus Beene is Fitz’s chief of staff and Mellie’s partner in crime. They both want Fitz to do well and snag a second presidential term and that means playing dirty every chance that they get. We recently saw Cy set up the Vice President’s closeted husband- with his own husband and the scheme blew up in everyone’s face. Cy’s guy, James is a reporter that was supposed to get the dirt on Daniel. Instead he ended up rolling around in the sack with him and Cy has the pics to prove it. When Sally the VP heart about the liaison she freaked out and stabbed Daniel to death with a letter opener. As Cy said, “The devil came in” and this plan went completely sideways leaving his marriage in shambles and Sally’s husband DOA.
B6-13 has taken center stage for the last 2 seasons and it’s basically a government program that tortures spies or those who have betrayed the US. They will get what they need and the body is usually never found after the fact. Liv’s father “Eli, Ronan, Papa Pope” whatever you want to call him heads up the division and orders killings left and right. One of Liv’s Gladiators, Huck used to be a part of B6-13 and we have seen how completely messed up it has made him. Huck and his best pal Quinn have been thick as thieves until recent weeks. She was his protege learning all of his tactics and then when Huck realized that Quinn seems to enjoy things a little too much he backed up. She ended up tangled in a B6-13 killing and when Huck found out- well let’s just say Quinn found herself naked and duct taped before losing some teeth thanks to a pair of pliers. She has tried to prove her loyalty but Huck is having none of it.
While Olivia seems to have known what her father does for years, she believed that her mother, Maya Pope was killed in a plane crash over 20 years ago. Very tangled story short, Mama Pope lives and over time it was revealed that she was actually a spy who sold secrets and rather than kill her, Papa Pope held her prisoner for over 2 decades. Liv makes the mistake of trying to get her mother to safety until realizing that her mother is worse than her father. Mama Pope was being flown to Hong Kong but the plane never made it off the ground because she killed everyone on board before making her escape.
So many huge plot twists and aren’t you beyond amazed with how much the writers cram into every single hour? Better yet, where is this tangled web of characters going to end up next? Can you even begin to guess?? How about we try?
I may not be able to predict much but what I’m sure of is that we certainly need more scenes between Fitz and Papa Pope, especially now that he has been replaced as the head of B6-13. When they sat face-to-face at the Pentagon and Fitz taunted him by telling him that he’s screwing Liv every chance he gets it was just great to see Pope finally crack just a little. The man isn’t exactly a machine after all. Buried in there is some real emotion and perhaps we will see more of it. I suspect Jake is going to enjoy knocking Pope down a few pegs and making him do some of the hard B6-13 grunt work again! Jake was put in place by Fitz and perhaps the real plan is to have him slowly but surely dismantle B6-13 once and for all. Fitz, Jake and Huck all seem to agree on two things: their loyalty to Olivia and the need to get rid of B6-13.
Then there’s that issue of Sally killing her husband. For a woman intending to run against the current president in the next election you’d think she would have been smarter than to call his chief of staff to help her cover her tracks! And Cyrus, feeling responsible did indeed help Sally to play Daniel’s death off as a heart attack. He called in B6-13 members to clean up the bloody mess and to arrange Daniel’s body properly and it worked. But now what? You guys know as well as I do that Cy’s help will come at a price, a steep one! My guess is that her hopes for a presidential bid have come to a screeching halt. How about Sally’s uber religious stance too? We have seen her run her mouth about good and bad, right vs. wrong and while she declared Daniel a sinner for daring to romp with men, it’ll be interesting to see how crazy the guilt from this makes her. Also if Cy and James’ relationship survives. James was ready to walk away but it seems that he wheeled and dealed his way to the position of White House Press Secretary. Cy agreeing to the new promotion may keep them sharing a bed for awhile longer but I can’t help but think that when Cy gets what he has coming it’s going to be epic.
Quinn and Huck were so tight up until the last few episodes. Remember last season Twitter was all about “Huckleberry Quinn”? I think Huck realized that taking Quinn under his wing was a mistake because she is more like him than he could have ever imagined. Meaning she too can take live on demand. We have seen her kill both on accident and intentionally. Once Huck exacted revenge on Quinn by ripping out teeth and doing god knows what else everything changed. She was hurt by the one person that she thought would always protect her. Now girlfriend is just ping ponging between B6-13 and Olivia Pope’s crew. You know she wants to be a gladiator again but Huck keeps shoving her away. If she stops caring for Huck and Liv I think Quinn is going to become very dangerous and she is armed with tons of inside info.
I think I’ve gotten whiplash trying to keep up with all of the twists and turns about Liv’s mom. Dead. Not dead. Victim. Terrorist. Last seen she was calling Liv from outside the gate of the White House looking like she stole Liv’s trench coat before disappearing. And, obviously she taught Liv how to stay clean because she killed three people presumably while wearing that coat! Speaking of dangerous, this woman is no joke. The question now is what her real agenda will be. She was handed the chance to leave the country and to then live freely and instead she decided to stay in DC. Plus you have to remember that she was never killed by B6-13. Ronan likely should have had her killed but instead chose to keep her in a prison under lock and key so there is a whole lot more to this story that is no doubt right around the corner.
Last but certainly not least, we have Liv, Fitz and Mellie. If you saw the scene where Fitz dragged Liv to Vermont and then explained how she was standing in what was to be their house, that they would have raised a family in, well then you know that no matter how wrong in real life it is, these two belong together. I mean, where else but on Scandal will you find yourself really cheering on the mistress and crossing your fingers hoping for hot hookups while Mellie chases her tail looking for them? We know that Fitz and Liv have already walked through hell- and by hell I mean a multitude of lies, deceit, half-truths and bullshittery just to get where they are right now. He is still married to Mellie in big part because Liv shoved him back in her direction during a moral crisis. Now that she has seen their house and told him not to sell it and also seen how far he is willing to go to protect her family, well that has to change something right? Even everything maybe? Mellie has been super loyal up until now but I can’t help but wonder if she’ll somehow find herself working closely with Jake and if we won’t see a flare up between them. Up until now Fitz has held the cards. If Mellie turns to someone else, will he still seem to care so little or will it light a fire under him to value his long-suffering wife a little more?
What do you think Shonda Rimes has in store for Scandal fans once the show returns from winter break in February? Tell us in the comments below!