Tonight on ABC Scandal starring Kerry Washington continues with another exciting episode in an all new Thursday November 5, season 5 episode 7 called, “Even the Devil Deserves a Second Chance,” and we have the recap for you below. On tonight’s episode, Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) works on his comeback with the American public and uncovers something shocking in the process.
On the last episode, an outrageous plan was presented to Fitz and Olivia, but it could solve their problems. Meanwhile, Mellie’s put on the hot seat when she’s asked about her strained marriage; Olivia’s team continued to defend her; and Susan Ross seek advice from David. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the ABC synopsis, “Fitz works on his comeback with the American public and uncovers something shocking in the process. Meanwhile, Olivia focuses on hiding her personal secrets instead of tending to a new client; and Elizabeth North develops a new agenda.”
Tonight’s episode of SCANDAL is going to be absolutely incredible and you won’t want to miss even a minute. We’ll be recapping it for you here live.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
#Scandal begins with Fitz at a press conference on the lawn. He says Congress has completed his investigation and says he’s humble to still be their President and issues an apology to his family and to Americans. He says he’s sorry that parents had to talk to their children about his actions. He says he asked the lord for forgiveness then asks for American’s forgiveness and promises to focus on the issues. He doesn’t take any questions.
A reporter says Fitz was pitch perfect and it was a victory for the White House. Fitz and his staff toast the victory. Abby tells Olivia she heard the committee was blackmailed then asks how she did it. Olivia says don’t me lie to you. She goes over to Fitz who smiles at her and gives her a hug. He says they won and she gets to date the most eligible bachelor in America. Susan is there and she toasts David and says she’s going to be at the same event as him and she offers him a ride in her motorcade.
Susan flirts with him and giggles. Cyrus comes in and tells Fitz there’s an emergency. Cyrus tells Abby and Fitz that Rowan and Tom Larson are out of prison and the paperwork looked official. Olivia lurks nearby and Abby calls Fitz’s attention to this. She looks tearful as she asks if her father escaped. Fitz promises to find him and says he doesn’t know how it happened. She looks appropriately scared then looks at Abby over his shoulder as Fitz hugs her. Abby looks back with suspicion.
Olivia comes home and finds Jake there drinking her wine which he says is bad. He loses his temper and yells at her to sit down. She does. He says at least Rowan is honest about who he is while Liv preaches about wearing a white hat. He asks if she’s lying or she just doesn’t know who she is. She says he’s drunk and mad and needs to go. He says Elise is dead then says Rowan did it which makes it so that Olivia killed his wife. He says factor in the math of all the people that her father killed and will kill more.
He says she let a mass murderer and his crazy sidekick out. He says the woman he used to love kills the woman he loves. He says he’s tired of being Rowan’s son and says Olivia just keeps spreading like a plague. He says how does she not know who and what she is. She asks what and he says they heard that Rowan gave up on her long ago then made his assassins his sons. He says he doesn’t see a ring on her finger or any impeachment hearings. He says she is who Rowan raised her to be.
He calls her power hungry and entitled and dangerous and says she doesn’t even know it. He calls her Rowan’s crowning achievement. Liv says he’s grieving and she’s sorry for that but tells him to get out of her house now. He comes at her then kisses her once. He walks out. She starts crying and wipes her mouth. Cyrus comes into the Oval and finds Olivia there with Fitz. He says they need to reset his image and suggest a Latin American tour. Fitz says he’s thinking smaller.
He says he wants bite sized achievements and suggests a few including funding for firefighters. He’s also handing out a Presidential medal of freedom today. Cyrus isn’t pleased that Olivia is there planning with them. She says she has a client at OPA and Fitz kisses her goodbye. She goes and Cyrus asks why he called off the FBI search for Rowan. He tells Cyrus he decided to go another way. Abby is with the author who’s getting the medal and Abby says he inspired her.
Olivia shows up at OPA and finds her people in the hall. Huck is angry she let Rowan out and says he’ll bring back B613. He says they will all die or Rowan will. Olivia says OPA is out of the spy business and says they’re not going after he father. They tell her Hannah Taylor is in her office and they don’t know anything more. She asks if Olivia can help get justice for rape victims. Olivia says she needs to know what happened. She says she was raped two years ago.
She says no one believed her so she tried to move past it. She says then she saw Olivia on TV and thought she could talk to the President. Olivia asks if she wants to lobby to change a law. She says she wants the President to know she was raped and says he would want to know. She says Frank Holland the writer is the one who raped her. It’s the guy that Fitz is giving the medal to today and the guy has supposedly worked towards feminism. Olivia and Hannah watch the medal ceremony live on TV.
The team starts her case board and Quinn says she got a spot in Holland’s senior thesis seminar. Hannah was a top student and Quinn talks about Holland’s successes and Civil Barbarian, his second book, was what catapulted him to fame. Hannah says they all worshiped him. Marcus says a million more girls around the world can read because of him. Quinn says he’s like God’s gift to women for real. She says she went to his home and he drugged her. She says she took a shower.
The college kicked her out and said she needed psychological help. Liv says this won’t be easy and Olivia goes to the White House. Abby meets Liz in the park and says she brought her a signed Frank Holland book then says he’s perfect, just like you’d imagine. Liz says Sally Langston has offered her an exclusive interview. Abby asks what she wants and Liz says she wants to be back in the President’s circle. Abby says Cyrus won’t like that. Liz says she needs to get her an answer in 48 hours.
Abby snatches the book back. Olivia tells the President about the rape accusation. He says to keep him posted. Jake is there to see Fitz just as Olivia is leaving. Jake reports he’s had no luck yet. Fitz says he tasked Jake with finding Rowan. She asks if he has any leads. He says no and no idea who helped him escape. Jake asks why Rowan escaped now and what gave him the opportunity. Liv says what’s next is a better focus. Fitz asks her to leave so they can talk in private but she won’t leave.
Jake says he’s going to find her father and put a bullet in his head. Fitz nods in agreement while Olivia glares. Abby tells Cyrus about Liz and he says he knows things about Liz but Abby says just give her what she wants and warn the President. Cyrus says to get David on the phone. Liz is picked up off the street and David says he hears she was going to expose national secrets on television. She sits down angry. Liv and Quinn go see Frank Holland at his home.
Quinn says they’re there to talk about Hannah Taylor. He says he’s had a lot of students then says she dropped his class but was talented. He calls his wife Janice in then asks if she remembers her. She says she came back the house one night to chat with him then reminds him there was a plagiarism issue. He thanks his wife then asks Olivia what this is about. Olivia says Hannah said he drugged her and had sex with her. He says that’s insane. They go to Hannah to ask about the plagiarism.
Olivia says she lied to her and for all they know she offered sex in exchange for dropping the plagiarism issue. Olivia says what matters is what she can prove. They tell her they have to find other women he’s assaulted. The team talks to other women. They all say he told them they were talented and special and just needed a mentor. The stories are a lot the same. They tell him he waited a bit then offered a drink at his house. Holland tells Olivia some of the people he guides become fixated.
The women all say they woke up and he was on top of them and they were too drugged to fight back. Many tell them they went to the college to complain and then he failed them. The women tell Olivia that Holland is living in a bullet proof tenured bubble. They wonder what drug he’s using and agree to trace that to nail him. Liz says David can’t stop her from talking to Sally. She says it’s unconstitutional prior restraint. Liz asks what confidential information he thinks she’ll disclose.
He says that’s confidential. David says he knows she leaked the footage of Fitz and Olivia and that’s a fact. She says it’s Cyrus and says David is a weasely little troll doing Cyrus’ dirty work. She says he’s not following the law and calls him contemptible. She says she’s walking out and going to do that interview and he can’t stop her. She walks out defiantly. David tells Cyrus he has no legal basis to hold her and let Liz go. He says he won’t wrongly prosecute and says he won’t restrain free speech.
He tells Cyrus to find another way if he wants to stop Liz. Olivia sits thinking in her office. Huck comes in and says he looked into Janice Holland and found an oxy prescription. Liv thinks he steals the drugs from his wife. Olivia meets with Holland and his wife and Olivia says he steals her oxy then drugs and rapes his students. His wife snaps and glares at her husband. Then she turns her glare on Olivia who says – you knew. She asks if she gave him the drugs. His wife snaps her fingers in her husband’s face and he obeys.
The woman says she graduated in 1973 and says only 8.5% of women had degrees. She says her parents belittled her over it. She says if you were single, you couldn’t get a credit card or apartment without your father signing the lease. She says Frank helped change the world. Janice says her husband has helped million and Olivia says if he raped a few, that’s okay. Janice says there has been no evidence and says she will protect her husband’s legacy.
Olivia tells Fitz about the Hollands. He says he should revoke his medal but she says it’s bad optics and says Frank Holland has all the power. Cyrus comes to tell Fitz about Liz going on Sally’s show. Liv asks if he can get an injunction and he says he tried every legal minds then suggest Fitz detain her for national security reasons. Fitz says no. Cyrus says Fitz should call her and charm her and make her a friend. He says if that doesn’t work, scare her.
Cyrus says Liz can kill them if she starts talking. Fitz says he’ll consider it and Cyrus looks at Liv then goes. He’s not happy that Liv is calling shots with Fitz and he’s second fiddle. Fitz says Cyrus is right and Liv says let her go on the air and says he should encourage her. He says she could say anything and Liv says she sure could. Abby and Cyrus watch the show with the staff. Liz says she is mad and says she just watched she’s mad at money wasted dragging a good man’s name through the mud.
She says Moskowitz and Gibson need to answer for what they’ve done and says Fitz is a good man who just fell in love. Cyrus and Abby are stunned. He comes to see Fitz after the interview and asks how he played it. Fitz says he gave her a job. He says Liz will be Susan Ross’s new chief of staff. Cyrus glares at Liv who looks back at her papers she was going over. Liz come to see David who has her laptop. She asks if he has an apology and he chews her out at hypocrisy.
He says Susan is a good person unlike Liz. He says he’s only sorry that he thought she was less loathsome for a moment than she really is. He says he really doesn’t like her or anything about her. He says he hates how tall she is and how blond her hair is. He says she’s alpine, pointy and wrong. She asks if there’s anything he likes about her and he says nothing. She steps closer and says he likes her. He says he does. She kisses him almost savagely. She tells him to sit down and gets bossy.
He sits and she whispers in his ear that she’s not wearing any panties. She straddles him and gets rough. Susan Ross is headed towards his office. Susan says she’ll wait and takes a seat. She even has a four pack of wine coolers on her lap. She gets nervous and weird then leaves the coolers for him and goes with her security team in tow. Marcus finds Liv mulling the Hannah project board. He says they can let Hannah tell her story at a press conference. She says the media will tear Hannah apart.
Marcus suggest going after the university but she says that won’t work either. Then she has a thought. She tells Marcus to find out where Frank is right now. He’s doing a reading where there’s a large audience. Hannah and all the other women he raped show up and stream towards the stage. Frank stops reading eventually as they line up across the stage to block him. There are cameras there. Janice asks what the hell Olivia is doing. Olivia says Janice inspired her to protect the women’s movement.
The news reports that 22 women claim Holland sexually assaulted them and then they told their story and they were all eerily alike. The college cuts ties with him and he’s been disgraced. Cyrus lurks waiting on Olivia to stop her before she goes into the Oval. He’s mad that Liz got a job. He says he was once the man behind the President now he’s the man behind the girl behind the President. Cyrus says she’s brilliant to get all the power and influence with none of the duties of First Lady.
Cyrus tells her that happy content men don’t run the world and says Olivia pulled off a clean bloodless coup and she’s running the country. Olivia says the two of them have a relationship and this is what a couple looks like. He says she has the Oval and this is what power looks like. He tells her she’s the President now, not Fitz. She goes into the Oval and pours a drink. Fitz tells her about how some powers that be don’t want Turkey at the G20. Fitz reads off a list of his problems.
Olivia paces then he comes over to her as he mentions her father. He says he’s nowhere and doesn’t think they’ll ever find him. He says it looks like he’s disappeared for good. She stands silent and looks upset then sips her drink. She sighs and then starts giving him a bunch of advice on all of these issues. She tells him what he needs to do and he sits down and takes notes. She stands on the presidential seal of the Oval and tells him what to do while he takes in what she tells him to do. Holy cow, Cyrus is right!
THE END!