SCANDAL Recap: We’ll Be Watching

Oh dear, a fast talking kind of nerdy guy is waiting for Olivia in her car after work. That isn’t the problem though, the problem is after she kicks him out of her car for obvious reasons he yells after her that the government knows everything, including the late night calls to her from the West Wing. Dun Dun DUN!

At said White House Mellie is folding baby clothes when Fitz comes by to check on her. They have a sweet talk that even includes some laughter. It’s nice to see their truce is still on.

The gang of gladiators has arrived in the office to find the fast talking nerd guy, standing on the table talking, fast talking about bugs. His name is Artie; I was partial to fast talking nerd guy but fine. Artie stole Thorngate from the NSA. I would like to agree with Harrison when he says, “I’m not in this.” Thorngate is the program that the NSA uses to spy on American Citizens.
Huck checks out his data while the team checks out Artie. He’s crazy-ish but Olivia believes him.

Oh and I should mention that Quinnsay is back at work. Everyone seems happy to see her except Abbey who pretty much doesn’t believe they can trust Quinnsay. Abbey is calling her Lindsay but I’m sticking with Quinnsay, because it’s my recap and it’s the little things that amuse me.

Olivia “pokes the hive” by going to the NSA and asking them about Thorngate and dropping Arties name. They play dumb and act like they have no idea what she is talking about. Olivia doesn’t believe them and as soon as she is out of the office she freaks out. She calls the office and tells them to get Artie out…NOW!

David is at home when his ex-secretary stops by to talk him out of this little vacation he keeps extending. She turns around and sees his conspiracy wall dedicated to Olivia and the Quinnsay case. He has the decency to look sheepish and he should. Do any of you remember Flash Forward? It’s like that kind of wall in an apartment.
He insists he can’t go back until he figures out how Olivia made him lose the case. Speaking of things we may remember, do any of you remember a few episodes ago when Quinnsay hired Olivia back and Olivia refused David’s plea deal? He told Olivia this is the kind of case that would ruin a person. He should have been listening to his own advice.
His ex-secretary says she will listen to his theory, one time, but he has to shave and put on pants. If I had a dollar for every time I had to start a conversation like that…

Huck has the team in a safe house where he cracks the firewall for Thorngate. They pick Cyrus as a subject because he would be hard to monitor and up his image pops, with audio, from the Oval Office. Thorngate is a reality, a scary reality. The program self-destructs so they have to find the only other person with access, a lady named Monica.

Olivia meets with her ex-boyfriend, a Senator who is on the Intelligence Committee, to ask him about Thorngate. He doesn’t think her going public would be a good idea; he won’t back her up if she does.

In the Oval Office Cyrus is briefing Fitz on the missing NSA information. Fitz knows exactly what Thorngate is. He seems much more upset about the picture Cyrus shows him of Liv with her ex-boyfriend then he does about Thorngate getting out. I wonder if he realizes Thorngate captured his phone calls with the love of his life?
Fitz tells Cyrus to handle it. Cyrus also pauses to give Fitz a little talk. He says he can hear Fitz ticking, he is pretending to be happy because he is hiding the fact that Liv won’t take his calls. He is a ticking time bomb in a teddy bear. He wants to know how to diffuse the bomb that is The President.
Tick Tick Tick

I’m not even ½ way through the episode and I can already tell you the line of the night is going to go to Harrison. After a little argument with Abbey about her not being able to play good cop she does a weird flirty thing with a doorman.
Harrison: All I’m saying is that wasn’t good cop, that was some off her meds emotionally unstable cop
They needed the doorman to give them the keys to Monica’s apartment. It did work but I’m going to bet that had more to do with the fact that Abbey is hot and less to do with whatever off her meds flirting she did. They find Monica dead in her bed of a pill overdose; it looks like a staged suicide.

The next morning Olivia gets a visitor, it’s Fitz’s Secret Service Agents. They bring Olivia to a swamp woods area where on any other show they would be killing her and dumping her body but on Scandal she is there because The President is on a duck hunt with some of his supporters. Fitz figures out what Cyrus is up to and goes off by himself. He finds Olivia in a car waiting. He tells her to get out of the car and then the bomb starts to explode, he actually yells it at her, more than once. She looks as taken aback as I do and gets out of the car.

Back at David’s house he and his ex-secretary, who I’m going to call Brenda (because she is played by Brenda Strong and I don’t know her name) are going over the conspiracy. She is cleaning up around his apartment while they are talking and thankfully he has pants on. She called in sick again to work, so she either believes David or she has a crush on him. David has pretty much only deduced one thing in all of his searching. Olivia Pope doesn’t wield her power for evil, she uses it for good. David says she wouldn’t move heaven and earth unless at the end of the day she could put on her white hat as she rides out of town. David thinks if you only focus on motive and not evidence maybe there is someone bigger then Quinnsay that wanted those people dead.

Fitz is taking off Olivia’s fancy expensive now mud covered heels and putting mud boots on her instead. She goes to say something and he tells her to shut up. It’s quite a contrast to see him taking care of her while still so mad. When finished he grabs his gun and tells her they are going hunting. He is smart enough though not to give her a gun. They get a few steps and he starts yelling at her again, well maybe not yelling this time but speaking strongly. He is clearly hurt she won’t talk to him. He is defending Thorngate and telling her she is committing treason when she blurts out that” they” know about their late night calls. That stops him but he doesn’t believe her. Even though he is blustering on about Thorngate and his responsibility to the people of the US what really is upsetting him is Olivia looking cozy with a guy she was once living with and engaged to. He finally comes out and asks if if she and The Senator are screwing, his word not mine. It’s her turn to yell at him. They both look like they are going to cry or burst into flames. He drops his gun and they kiss up against a tree. She stops it and before leaving she says, “I am not yours. This is over.”
He looks very very sad and even though you are never supposed to root for the married man and the mistress I am heartbroken watching the scene play out.

At Monica’s apartment Abbey and Harrison have called the coroner. Artie hears the news and starts to freak out more. Olivia basically tells him to suck it up because he is going to have to go public.
The team goes into action. Huck says he can probably crack the NSA Firewall in the next 24 hours; Quinnsay buys Artie a suit so he doesn’t look so crazy and Olivia meets with a producer to get Artie on a primetime show. Meanwhile Harrison is getting the records from the DMV about the partial plate he got off the suspicious black town car from outside Monica’s place.
The President is having a meeting with his advisors as well. He is PISSED that Olivia is somehow being allowed to do all of this. He wants it shut down and they do it by getting a lawsuit against the TV Station. If they do go public they will be arrested for treason.

Fitz and Mellie are eating dinner. He is silent and clearly upset while she rambling on about her day. It’s an awkward uncomfortable dinner.

Oblivious to the country imploding David and Brenda are still working the Quinnsay case. Apparently her name is Alyssa. David has finally realized they were completely wrong about the case against Quinnsay.

Mellie is asking her husband’s Secret Service Agents who Fitz talked to that put him in such a bad mood. They won’t say. She isn’t taking that as an answer though so she says names and when she is correct they are supposed to blink. She lists everyone from his Mother to the President of France. She does get around to naming Olivia Pope though and when one of the guys starts blinking she is not pleased.

Olivia’s idea to get her story out is to have the network fight the lawsuit under freedom of speech. They don’t want to budge but Huck has hacked the system and he brings up Thorngate for the network to see. They get the point and give Olivia the green light.

Everything is in place when Abbey gets the tox screen back on Monica. She didn’t die of a pill overdose; she died of an insulin overdose. That’s not all, Harrison has tracked the black sedan to a fake company called We’ll Be Watching. Olivia remembers Artie being a diabetic and calls Huck in a panic. Huck says Artie is in the bathroom…again. While Huck is breaking down the bathroom door we see Artie killing Monica and using a distraction to download access to Thorngate after Huck hacked it. Artie isn’t in the bathroom, he escaped thru a window and got into a black sedan.

Oh this can’t be good, Olivia was not on the right side of this. Artie couldn’t hack Thorngate so he found the one person that could, Huck. Abbey for one is not happy. She blames Olivia for being off her game. Harrison says it is the first mistake he has ever seen Olivia make. Abbey snidely says second mistake, referring to Quinnsay.
Huck is upset, he can’t find Artie anywhere. I feel bad for him because he looks about ready to crack.
At this moment the NSA shows up. They start to threaten Olivia and company. Olivia isn’t in the mood and does what she does best, talks fast and effectively. They give her 12 hours to find and deliver Artie. If she does they will call it even.

Cyrus and Fitz are talking in the Oval Office about none other than Olivia. I swear there is more personal drama being handled in that office than where I work and that is saying something.
As Cyrus leaves Mellie enters, she brings up Olivia, because that is what the Oval Office is for. Mellie says he won’t make it to a second term at this rate. Then she lays it out for him because Mellie, as we well know, is a smart scheming woman. It’s her turn to yell, but it only lasts a moment and what comes next is that deceptively calm smile women use when they want to scare the shit out of a guy. She says if he sees Olivia again she will blow Fitz away. She does not seem to be bluffing.
Tick Tick Tick

In a bar Abbey, Harrison and Quinnsay are getting a drink. Abbey makes more snide remarks to Quinnsay when Quinnsay finally stands up for herself and calls Abbey out. If this show was on a different network Quinnsay would have taken out her earrings and snatched Abbey up by her hair. It’s not that type of show though so what actually happens is Quinnsay stands up for herself and Abbey is left with nothing to say. Harrison is quite amused and gets the second best line of the night.
Harrison: I’m Quinn Bitch!

The episode ends with Olivia walking to her car again. Huck is there, he tells her he found Artie but he didn’t hurt him, I’m not sure that is true. Olivia seems worried she had him open a door he can’t now close. He says he is okay but seriously, he looks pained. My daughter thinks he needs a therapist.

Oh but that’s not the end of the episode, the end of the episode is Abbey and David post getting friendly. So that can only end well.

Scandal airs Thursday 10/9c on ABC