Tonight on ABC Scandal starring Kerry Washington continues with another exciting episode in an all new Thursday, March 31, season 5 episode 16 called, “The Miseducation of Susan Ross,” and we have the recap for you below. On tonight’s episode, damaging info on an opponent falls into Olivia’s (Kerry Washington) hands after the first Republican debate, so she has her team investigate its legitimacy.
On the last episode, Mellie made a public blunder and Olivia must repair things. Meanwhile, David needed guidance on how to proceed with his love triangle involving Liz and Susan; and vital info about Jake’s new love interest was revealed to Olivia’s team. 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, “Damaging info on an opponent falls into Olivia’s hands after the first Republican debate, so she has her team investigate its legitimacy. Meanwhile, David must handle the ramifications of his romantic life; and Cyrus moves forward with his own 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 starts with the debate and Hollis is totally playing Trump. Susan is out of sorts and makes a fool of herself. Fitz tells Abby she’s having a stroke on camera and is choking. Olivia is backstage cheering Mellie’s responses. Hollis mocks Mellie.
Hollis then says she has her ex-husband’s ex-mistress running her campaign and calls it weird and confusing. Olivia didn’t like that. Sally calls for an ad break. Everyone’s people come to check on them and Olivia encourages Mellie to respond.
Liz has Fitz for Susan and he asks if she’s having fun. He says to shake it off and says no one will talk about the fumbles. He says she needs one good moment, one punch. She ends the call and the debate is back. Sally brings up gun control.
David asks Liz how she’s doing and she gets angry at him for messing up with Susan. He says Susan figured it out and Liz threatens him. Hollis slams Mellie on Fitz’s gun control. She slams Hollis for being misogynistic. She says we are not our husband’s keepers, but our own women.
Mellie says he’s my ex-husband, not my husband. Sally then moves over to Susan and asks if she should be held accountable. Susan gives a small response and then continues. She says maybe we should be our husband’s keepers.
She mentions that her husband was an officer who served in an Afghanistan and says he patrolled the desert and told her his assignment. She asks what was so important about that stretch of desert – it’s a pipeline being built by American companies including Hollis’.
She says her husband put her life at risk so businessmen could line their pockets. She says she wanted to tell her husband to get the hell out of there but she wasn’t his keeper. She says 14 hours later, a sniper put a bullet through his neck and he died instantly.
Susan says she blamed herself for not voicing her opinion and says she sworn she would not be silent again and she became a Senator and then a Vice-President and President. She says we are not our husband’s keepers but should be American’s. She gets a standing ovation.
Fitz says she did it. Sally says Susan was the clear winner and a moral woman. She says Mellie should drop out. We see David on stage smiling with Susan. Olivia gives Mellie a pep talk and Mellie says American hates who she is and where she’s been and it’s personal.
She says they love Susan but Olivia says they can win this. Olivia kneels and says she will get her the Oval come hell or high water. Olivia has the envelope of debt and gives it to the team. She says Susan is a liar and the dead soldier isn’t her husband.
She says they’re going to find out why Susan lied and blow her out of the water. Susan is upset they chose a photo of her and David instead of her alone announcing her winning the debate. Liz says they want interviews about them as a couple.
Liz tells her to sell the love story. David says he wants her to be President and owes her that. Marcus tells Olivia no and doesn’t want to be with Mellie. He says he doesn’t like her. He looks at Huck who says he’s too dangerous.
Marcus says she needs them but not him. She says she needs him to do his job and get Mellie to LA and on Jimmy Kimmel so she can be likable. He sighs and asks Mellie if she’s ready to go get them. She points to her bag and he glares at Olivia.
Quinn says John and Susan dated on and off again during high school and Susan said they went to the justice of the peace before he left. They were never married. Olivia says lying about being married is no big deal. Olivia says if she lied to get VA benefits, that’s better.
Olivia says check Susan’s bank statements. Huck says no deposits from the Army. He says maybe she just lied to protect her kid. Quinn woo hoos and runs out and says Aston Labs is a DNA testing facility. John isn’t Casey’s father. They wonder who he is and why she’s hiding him.
Olivia goes to see Alex Vargas who says he knew Casey isn’t John’s kid and says all she gave him was a rumor and he needs a second source. They flirt. She says Leslie Tanner was the admitting nurse and can confirm. He tells her about the baby daddy.
Olivia goes to see a prisoner and asks him about Susan. Alex Vargas tells his brother that Edison had a painkiller addiction and went to rehab twice. His brother says he got help, good for him but Alex says America has the right to know.
Alex calls Cyrus old school and says get with me on this but Cyrus annoys him by taking Vargas’ side. Mellie is at Jimmy Kimmel and they ask her to read mean tweets. Marcus says they’re not mean enough and asks to find him the meaner ones. The PA runs off.
Mellie says it’s a bad idea and storms off. The guy tells Olivia that he knew Susan in high school and they grew up together. Olivia asks if he knows Casey is his daughter. He says no and Olivia says she can help him get out of jail earlier on his drug conviction.
She asks Ronnie to submit to a paternity test. He says people would think Susan was hiding something. Olivia says he’s been there 10 years but can be a free man next week. Ronnie says he needs to think about it. Olivia says not too long and goes.
Huck asks Olivia if she’s sure she wants to do this. Huck says Ronnie is not a snitch and wouldn’t even testify against his dealer friends to lighten his sentence. Quinn asks Huck what’s up. Huck says Casey is just a kid and it’s ripping a family apart for no reason.
Quinn says it’s just politics and says, at least tthey’re not making things up. He’s not happy. David comes to see Susan who rolls her eyes at him. He says they shouldn’t do this and she calls him stupid face. He says they can put out a statement.
Susan says they will think he cheated on her since he has a penis. She says she doesn’t want to fake it but says unless he can say he hates kids, dogs, guns and is an impotent alcoholic. He says he’ll say that if she wants him to but says he loves her and wants her trust back.
He says he wants to be with her. Susan looks back at her paperwork. He goes to walk out and she watches him go. News breaks about Edison’s stint in rehab for painkiller addiction. Cyrus hears the brothers arguing in Spanish and Alex walks out.
Cyrus says he shouldn’t have leaked out. Vargas says Alex confirmed it so it’s not gossip. He says his brother ran two campaigns for governor and never sent him down the wrong path. The press asks Vargas about rehab and he says he’s glad he sought treatment.
They ask if it should disqualify him. He says that’s not for him to say and he knows it’s a lifelong struggle and he’s glad he got help. Edison rants to Rowan and Jake that Olivia did this and demands Rowan pull back her reins.
Rowan goes off on Edison and says don’t interrupt me or talk that way about my daughter. Rowan rails at him while Jake calmly enjoys his sandwich. Rowan says if you’re so unwise to forget who the real boss is, that will be the last of his worries.
He slaps Jake on the back and Jake gives Edison a threatening look. Rowan says you better stay out of my sight and keep my daughter’s name out of your mouth. Rowan says he’ll take care of it. Jake offers Edison a sandwich. Edison looks scared.
A helper calls Cyrus and the two Vargas men to see the TV news. The woman from the clinic says that it’s untrue and malicious gossip. Alex comes at Olivia angry and thinks she lied. She says someone got to Leslie and that’s on him for not moving fast enough on her. Alex threatens her then leaves.
Mellie is annoyed at the mean tweets segment and Marcus says she’s so annoying and says damn. She’s stunned. He says she’s a relentless whiner and is officially the worst. She fusses and he says he’s being paid to like and doesn’t and why she will never be president. She stomps away.
Olivia sits at her desk thinking and then goes back to Ronnie and says she wants his blood for the paternity test. He says he can’t do it. Olivia says this is your chance to get out of here for good. He says Susan will help him get out when she’s president.
Olivia says the president will have nothing to do with him and says she doesn’t even remember him, visit him. He says he’ll be out in three years and she says not when someone finds him with oxy. She asks Quinn how easy it would be to plant something on him.
Quinn says they’ve done it before and could do it again. Huck glares at Quinn. Olivia tells Ronnie he has no idea what she’s capable of. He consents to the blood draw. Huck says the test is back, he’s the dad. Olivia sys leak it and Huck tells Quinn this is wrong.
He says they can’t destroy a little girl’s life because Mellie tanked the debate. He says Olivia crossed the line and they can’t come back from it if they do it. Quinn meets Abby and lured her there with a rumor of compromising photos of the treasury secretary.
Quinn tells Abby that Olivia is crossing lines and says this is too far. She says she’s putting on a black skull cap and no white hat. She shows her the details on Susan. Olivia comes back to the office and finds Baby there with Secret Service. Fitz is in her office.
He says he should have called. He says he came to give her advice like they do now. He says he didn’t have a cool line like the fish rots from the head but wants to keep it real. She says that phrase is terrible but tells him to go ahead.
He says he knows about Ronnie Miller’s DNA test and she asks how he got it. He says that’s not what matters – what matters is she’s back to dirty tricks. Olivia mocks him and says he’s so above to games. He says he believes in Susan who is passionate and brilliant.
She says Susan lied and Fitz says Mellie did too. Olivia says he must have liked Mellie at one point and he says he’s trying to be a better person and doesn’t want Susan to be a victim like he was in Defiance and win dirty. He says he didn’t want to win that way.
Olivia says no one wanted that. She says unless he has more advice, he can go. He says they have the chance to move forward and run a campaign that’s hard fought and honorable. He says they don’t have to be those people anymore. He leaves after one last look at her.
Olivia slams the door in Abby and Quinn’s faces. Fitz breaks the news to Susan of the dirt that Olivia has on Ronnie and the DNA. Fitz says he can make it go away and she says yes. Fitz says the truth might set her free. He says she was in a relationship with the soldier and then made a mistake.
He says that mistake gave her a baby girl and she’s not perfect but asked for forgiveness from the American people. She says she can’t do it to Casey. Fitz says he’s no one to give parenting advice. He says she will do this to protect the path to the Oval and says that’s not what should matter.
Susan says this will destroy her but Fitz says taking the Oval when you didn’t earn it will wreck you then says he didn’t earn it. He says he was not fairly elected and didn’t earn it. Susan is stunned. Fitz says he’s going to tell her a story and she can tell him who she wants to be.
He says he hopes she wants to be better than him. Marcus comes to talk to Mellie who’s putting on her makeup before the show. He reads tweets to her about him. He says that’s what they tweeted when he ran for mayor. He says what trended was his high booty and how it looked.
She smiles and laughs and he says that’s the person she needs to be and says she can’t be scared to lose and needs to show a side they can fall in love with. He says use that and win. She nods. Susan sits in her office thinking hard.
She stands and goes to the Oval. She says she made a decision and Fitz says he has news. Olivia is readying for a Ronnie interview at the jail. Quinn says Ronnie hanged himself in his cell. Olivia is stunned. Alex goes to his brother who asks him to hand the task at hand over to Cyrus.
Alex is crushed but Frankie says Cyrus is his campaign manager. He hands it over then Tom comes to tell Cyrus his car is there. Cyrus tells Tom good job with the rehab center. David and Susan are doing a press interview. She tells him he’s just a prop and walks off coolly.
Jimmy Kimmel introduces Mellie to read her mean tweets. She reads about her being an old ass pageant reject. Then another says she can’t even keep her man in check. She laughs and smiles and waves while Marcus gives her an approving look.
Olivia calls Fitz to see her and says let’s keep it real. She says she wants to win clean and says she wants her pride in November. Fitz pours them a drink and Abby and Quinn smile. Fitz says he’s going to kick her ass and they toast while she smirks.
THE END!