SCANDAL Recap: All Roads Lead to Fitz

And we’re off, literally. The Secret Five are not quite holding it together, there is shouting and use of the word felony. How the five of them ever made a deal in the first place is puzzling to me. Turns out they all blame Hollis (Evil Energy Guy) for going rogue. He admits it and proudly, according to him he has protected them all from having there gooses cooked. Hollis uses a few more Southern sayings I will be trying to work into my own conversations tomorrow. Before Hollister can get it into his head to “freelance” David Rosen, Olivia says she will fix it.

Huck is at his weekly AA meeting. He gets asked out by a fellow addict. She is not shy about it, writing her number on his hand and telling him she is free the next night. I’ll admit I’m curious what Huck would do on a date.
Olivia is dealing with her own relationship issues. Senator Edison wants to go out with her but she turns him down. Ya know why? Cause he isn’t Fitz. Well she doesn’t say any of that but I’m putting it out there.

The Gladiators are on the case of the week. Turns out the governor of Maryland found a rapist on top of his wife when he got home and shot him.
The guy had been their contractor for over two years which is why he was in their home. Olivia starts to handle things. She tells the governor he either follows her rules or she can’t help him and he knows how good she is at her job. Quinnsay asks Harrison what that means, he lets her know the governor was 10 points ahead of Fitz six weeks before the National Election and we know how that election went.

The governor and his wife are in Olivia’s office later giving there statement to ADA Jane while Olivia and company dig deeper.
There were long calls between the contractor and the governor, heated arguments about the work being done on the house and Huck found out the gun used in the shooting had just been purchased last week despite the governor stating he had owned it for 15 years. Even worse the governor didn’t come right home after work, he went to a bar first.
Quinnsay notices the governor’s spokeswoman on TV making a statement, despite Olivia specifically telling her earlier not to do that very thing.
Olivia confronts the governor. For someone who hired Olivia to fix the situation he really isn’t being very helpful. And while we are on the subject, for what I can only assume Olivia and Company charge why don’t clients listen to her?

At the White House Cyrus sees his husband James in the press office. James took his old job back, without telling Cyrus. Cyrus doesn’t think this is going to work but James is the Chief White House Correspondent for a very power news outlet. He’s not quitting James being baby less has given him a lot of free time.

Pope and Associates are trying to figure out where to go next with the governor case. Olivia asks them to find as much dirt on the contractor as they can. They go to work.
Abby finds the contractor hair in all of the drains around the governors house, the shower, the hot tub, etc…she says he and the wife were having an affair.
Side Note: Abby’s facial expressions while checking the drains is pretty funny.
Olivia confronts the governor and his wife. She dares the wife to tell them she didn’t freak out at being caught and fake a rape. The wife cries and says she is oh so sorry. Well I’m sorry but being sorry and crying a few tears doesn’t make it okay that you cried rape and turned your husband into a killer. The governor seems to agree.

At a café David is meeting with a new source he found on the Quinnsay case. The source tells David Cytron was hired by Doyle Energy to fix a major problem in their firewall but they only got ½ way done when Cytron had their explosion. That’s how the companies were connected. This isn’t the information David was hoping for.

In the office Huck wants Harrison’s advice on his upcoming date. He asks Harrison where he takes women. Harrison again gets the best line of the episode.
Harrison: Are you asking me where I put the lotion on their skin unless they get the hose again…or?
Huck says he has a date and Harrison laughs but stops Huck before he can walk away. He tells him to take her to a nice restaurant, girls like nice restaurants. Huck is adorably asking if it is too late to make a reservation when Harrison cuts him off. This is the man that can hack the NSA’s computer system and he can’t fake a reservation? It’s a funny funny conversation.

The governor is at Pope and Associates having a drink. He doesn’t want to go home to the house his wife’s lover built. He also wants to know what happens next. When Olivia gives him the options he asks if they can just keep the whole affair to themselves. She says sure they can keep it to themselves but if it gets out he will be ruined.
Olivia gets a call from Verna (Supreme Court Justice) and meets her at the hospital. Verna makes an interesting comment about the deal the Secret Five made: Verna got her Supreme Court Appointment, Mellie gets to be…Mellie and Cyrus gets to run the country. She isn’t sure what Olivia got out of the deal and Olivia doesn’t respond.

The governor’s wife is at the office waiting for the ADA to get her signatures on their statements so Olivia questions her to make sure there is no evidence of the affair. Then his wife does something all people who have affairs and get caught do, they blame someone else. She blames Olivia since it was her doings that ended her husband’s campaign for the White House.

Cyrus runs into Mellie talking to James in the hallway outside the Press Corp office. Cyrus tells her to not talk to journalist, she knows better. He pulls her aside and calls her a terrifying political animal who would eat off her own foot if it meant she could get ahead, but when Fitz is out of the country she is not to make news, it is all supposed to be about Fitz. “All Roads Lead to Fitz.” She doesn’t like being told what to do and she tell him she will never attend another one of those meetings regarding Defiance. Cyrus takes this opportunity to remind us he is not to be trifled with. He cuts her off and gets into her personal space in a way that makes me uncomfortable. He tells her the meetings aren’t optional, if their “business” ever comes out she is going down with the rest of them and while she might be an animal he is a monster and more terrifying than she can imagine. Mellie has never been put in her place quite so effectively.
Let us not forget Cyrus did have a woman killed last season. Again this doesn’t come up so much as I’m thinking it while staring wide eyed at the screen holding my breath.

David shows up at Olivia’s office. He is back on the job and his first order of business is talking to the governor and his wife. The case is now a homicide thanks to emails the contractor sent out to his friends about the affair.
Olivia is telling them what is going to happen next but the governor’s wife says no, she will turn herself in. This is her fault.

Later Olivia is watching the news of the wife’s arrest and affair when Senator Edison stops by. He asks her out again, she says she can’t. She doesn’t want him to stop asking but right now she isn’t ready to say yes. Being a generally decent guy he accepts that.

In another part of the office Abby and Quinnsay come together to help Huck pick out a tie for his date, it’s nice to not see them fighting. Abby sees a note on Huck’s computer referencing the meeting David had at the café that didn’t pan out. She is understandably suspicious.

File this next bit under you can’t trust a politician…while Olivia is looking for a piece of paper on the governor’s desk she finds pictures of the governor’s wife with the contractor. He did know about the affair. Olivia doesn’t look pleased. She confronts him with the pictures. He calmly says he lost the election for the White House by 4359 votes, that is the number that turned him into a loser. Two nights ago he was going to shoot himself, end his life, his wives and her lovers, but then she called rape and he saw an opportunity for a second chance. Now his approval ratings are thru the roof. He can run for any office he wants. Olivia is not pleased at all. She may fix things but she doesn’t like when truly awful people get away with terrible things.

That night Cyrus shows up at Olivia’s apartment. He needs a drink because he is mad at his husband. I forget they used to be good friends. She tells him about the governor and he tells her why he is mad at his husband. Cyrus even brings up Senator Edison, who he has heard she has been seeing. Olivia says Edison wants to but she hasn’t said yes yet. He asks why not and then answers his own question, “All Roads lead to Fitz.” Quite possibly the best episode title ever, by the way.

Huck tried the fancy restaurant with his date but they were both very uncomfortable so Huck shows her a family he watches. The family has a perfect life and Huck likes to watch them living their happy existence. He asks what his date likes to do and her answer is to kiss him.

David is at his apartment taking down his conspiracy wall while we hear the Secret Five plotting. Verna got David his job back and the fake lead came from a guy Olivia knows, but if David Rosen doesn’t drop his questions Hollis is going to take matters into his own hands.
Unfortunately Abby shows up at David’s apartment to tell him the guy at the café was a plant. She also says after doing some digging she found out Cytron didn’t just do internet security they also created software, the kind of software you would find in a voting machine. I’m worried that Abby just got David killed. I also understand what it is Olivia got out of the Secret Five deal. She got the love of her life the job of his dreams.
The end of the episode shows Olivia has a bug in David’s apartment and she heard everything Abby just told David.

Scandal airs Thursday 10/9c on ABC