SCANDAL Recap: We Do Not Touch First Ladies

Olivia and Fitz are fighting post sex. That isn’t the problem though; they are fighting about why Jake is there, outside their hotel room. Yeah, Jake is outside the hotel room listening to them fight about why he is there. He’s Mr. Fake Boyfriend and since there are reporters about Jake is also about. At least Special Agent Tom is out there to keep him company.

“I don’t trust Jake with you!” is pretty much screamed by Fitz. Olivia has had enough. She tells Fitz she didn’t do this whole fake relationship for him. She did it for herself, so she wouldn’t hear the whispers about being the Presidents mistress. No more scarlet A for Liv. Well, none anyone else can see. She has a point. She needs to run her business and support her Gladiators and she can’t do that as a public joke.

Elsewhere Harrison and Adnan are getting dressed. He admits to missing parts of her but he has to get to work. She opens a briefcase of money and Harrison says whatever it is for he wants no part of it. Adnan asks him if Olivia knows about Clearwater or if she thinks he is just guilty of insider trading. That stops his arguments.

Abby is watching Rosen sleep. She has a dreamy look on her face and then tells him she loves him. This is met with silence and when his phone rings he answers it. It is James calling, stressed because he thinks Cyrus is going to figure out he is the one feeding the reporter, Vanessa, the information about Daniel Douglas. He is of course but now he’s worried about it.

At B613 Jake is given a briefcase with all sorts of top secret, classified intel. He reads it while looking like a child in a candy store at first and then a drowning man he is so overwhelmed when he is done. It also states there is a trusted asset in the White House and to “Protect the Republic” basically at all cost.

The Grant campaign has another problem, a reporter hears about drugs being used in the Governor’s Mansion when Fitz was Governor and she is going to break the story. Andrew says it was true. He hurt his back and needed some pain killers. He didn’t want it to be public knowledge so he didn’t get a prescription.

It occurs to Olivia that it was probably her father who leaked that story. He did say he was going to take Fitz down. She calls Jake who tells her he is busy and then of course says he will help.

Poor Quinn is in bed with Charlie. Jake has put Charlie on the Olivia’s Dad angle. Poor Quinn wants to help and starts talking computers, something Charlie isn’t great at. “I love it when you go all Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” He doesn’t let her help though. Poor Quinn.

Mellie runs Andrew down in the White House halls; she wants to know why he is saying the drugs were his. It could ruin his career. Andrew says because someone has to look out for her, be on her side, and clearly it won’t be Fitz.

Flash back 14 years. Andrew finds Mellie passed out on the floor. He calls her Mrs. Grant, which for some reason seems sweet. Andrew finds an empty bottle next to her. He carriers her to the bathroom makes her throw up and holds her hair while doing so. Without question he saved her life.

Cyrus is getting impatient waiting for James to find out who Vanessa’s source is, which is amusing as it is James. James runs to Rosen. He is freaking out. He is sure Cyrus will have him killed when he finds out he was the source. Rosen suggests James leaks the phone conversation between Cyrus and Sally to Vanessa. Yeah, that will help the situation.

Olivia is having dinner with her father while Charlie watches from the street. Charlie is being watched by Poor Quinn. Isn’t that what got her into this mess in the first place? Charlie gets a call from Cyrus to find the mole and finish this whole mess and takes off. Olivia tells Rowan she is worried about him and accuses him of spilling the story to the press about the drugs. He is rude, as per his usual. “I had hoped you held your own Father in higher regard.” Really? That kind of thing is earned and he has for sure not earned it.

Of course Poor Quinn is caught spying because she is not good at this. She is like some child playing dress up in her parent’s things. Olivia gets into the car with her and tells her she is lucky it was her that spotted Poor Quinn and not her father. Like a child Poor Quinn is mouthy. Olivia tells Poor Quinn to come back to work for her but Poor Quinn says she can’t. She goes a step further and pulls a gun on Olivia telling her to get out. I just can’t take her seriously but Olivia does and leaves.

That night Jake uses his, “Official Boyfriend of Olivia Pope Key” to let himself into her apartment. She accuses him of assigning Poor Quinn to watch her father. He denies it stating he is not stupid. He then tells Olivia she can’t tell him how to do his job and while he is at it she needs to stock her fridge. If he is going to be a fake boyfriend, he needs real food. “Wine is not beer and popcorn is most definitely not food.” Now while he is saying this he is taking his shirt off so I may have had to rewind a few times to get the quote right. Also, as an aside, Shonda tweeted that she wrote the Jake with his shirt off scene because she is a Patriot. I love that woman. Olivia wants to know what he is doing and Jake quips he had a long day and is going to take a shower before they have fake sex. Even mad/annoyed Jake is still pretty charming.

Meanwhile Leo calls Hollis to find out where the check is he offered to writ in exchange for getting to name the Energy Secretary when Sally is elected. Hollis says he is moving assets around but it will be there. As he says that he enters Cyrus’s office. Hollis tells Cyrus about the Energy Secretary bit and Cyrus says that is only going to work if Sally wins. Can they count on him? Hollis says he will be at the donor dinner tonight. Playing both sides seems about right for Hollis.

Rosen meets with James under some underpass somewhere. He is still freaking out. Vanessa wants to meet with the source. Rosen tells James to calm down. Rosen will go in James’s place. He isn’t scared. He knows what Cyrus is capable of so he should be. Cyrus meanwhile tells Charlie about the meeting and says it cannot happen.

Mellie goes into the Oval Office to talk to Fitz who doesn’t have time for her – as usual. Flashback to 14 years ago. Andrew wants to talk to Mellie about what happened. She does not. She is angry and snide but he is calm and wants to know why Mellie would attempt suicide. Mellie tells him about the rape, the questionable paternity of her child and how she doesn’t know if she wants to live now.

That night before the donor dinner Olivia tells Mellie the story about the drugs was killed. Olivia handled it. She also tells Mellie she knows it was her that Andrew was covering for. Olivia isn’t going to ask Mellie any specifics but Andrew and Mellie have to stop. They have an election to win. Mellie can’t believe she is hearing this from Olivia. “I kept my knees together and I said no. We are not the same.” I don’t blame Mellie for saying it but that was a little mean.

This gives us one more flashback to Andrew and Mellie. He finds her sitting in the living room. She says not to worry about her she is fine now. He admits that he likes her. He likes being near her, talking to her. She says she likes him too but she can’t do anything about it. She leaves him sitting alone.

Rosen goes to meet Vanessa when he is grabbed and thrown in a trunk. He calls Abbey first and tells her he loves her, he should have said it when she said it but he is saying it now. That’s nice as I would have called the cops first but whatever. The car stops and Huck and Abbey open the trunk. They thwarted the plan to kidnap him.

At the donor dinner Adnan stops to talk to Cyrus. She offers to help the campaign with her unlimited funds. Cyrus looks intrigued. Turns out that is what she had Harrison do with the briefcase of money. Buy her a plate at the donor dinner.

At B613 Jake is talking to Poor Quinn. He tells her Olivia is worried and so is he. Her skills are not exactly up to par with B613 standards. She pulls out her phone and sends him an email. It’s a picture of Leo and Rowan meeting secretly. Poor Quinn thinks she schooled Jake or something by using a back down into the Parks Service cloud. I’m not impressed. She sure thinks she is a bad b*tch though.

At the office Huck keeps bringing Olivia coffee, it’s a gesture to say he is sorry. He needs Olivia to stop being mad at him. She says Huck went too far with Poor Quinn but he says no, Olivia went too far. She made Huck loyal, but he is still a monster. He did it to protect Olivia. Besides, Olivia never should have given him someone to love, “Monsters eat people, Liv.”

After the donor dinner Mellie finds Andrew looking at a picture of Jackie Kennedy. He is a little in awe and says he could just grab it off the wall right there. Mellie says, “We do not touch the First Ladies.” They are in a room covered with portraits of past First Ladies on the wall. Andrew leans in and asks Mellie what would happen if he kissed her right now. She steps back and he echoes her words, “We do not touch the First Ladies.” He turns back to the portrait and Mellie grabs him and kisses him while the other First Ladies look on. Mellie pulls away and rushes out of the room.

Olivia is in the Oval Office going over campaign things but Fitz wants to talk about other things. Mainly Fitz asks Olivia if she has feelings for Jake. She doesn’t answer.

At B613 Secret Agent man Tom enters, he is the B613 mole in the White House. He brings Jake a flash drive with everything that happened at the White House that day. Something he will continue to do every day. Jake plugs it in and sees video of Fitz asking Olivia if she has feeling for him. He watches as she says she doesn’t know, “I honestly don’t know.”

Adnan gets back to her hotel where her partner is waiting. Her partner is none other than Olivia’s Mom. Adnan tells her they are in.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Scandal, but it feels like there is just so much going on right now. Almost too much. I’m not sure what the main goal of the season is. I’m going to stick it out of course because I love Scandal but rereading what I just typed and it seems scattered. Not everything matched up in this episode for me.

Scandal airs 10/9c on ABC