SCANDAL Recap: A Woman Scorned

Olivia is swimming in another fabulous white swimsuit to clear her head only to find Jake at the edge of the pool. She doesn’t speak to him but that doesn’t matter because later when she tries to leave her house he is standing outside her door. He is there to protect her and he isn’t going anywhere. He says he is there under military orders, you know POTUS being the Commander in Chief and all, and Jake being Captain Jake Ballard, Navy Officer. Olivia does that laugh women do when they are not amused. She grabs her phone and calls Fitz. He’s not calling Jake off though. She hysterically calls Jake a puppy, something he takes a little offence too. Furthermore Fitz says Mellie moved out. This gives Olivia pause, but not for long. She wants Jake gone. Fitz says if she doesn’t want to talk about Mellie moving out, he doesn’t want to talk about Jake. He refuses to stand Jake down so she hangs up on him.

At the White House Cyrus is yelling press release blurbs at a secretary to explain why Mellie is across the street when he looks up to see his husband in his office. James is there to announce that BNC offered him a job as on air talent, just out of the blue. He is so excited he can barely sit still. Cyrus can’t think of anything to say except, fine. James is sure he can be the next Anderson Cooper.

Over at Pope & Associates the Gladiators & David Rosen are looking at footage of baseball hat guy trying to figure out anything about him. Quinn is doing her best but what they need is Huck. Luckily for them Huck slowly enters the room and asks if he can help. They play the video for him and Huck confirms it is Charlie.

Fitz is out doing some glad handing when Cyrus pulls him aside to say he needs to talk to Mellie. Fitz refuses, he compares Mellie to a child throwing a tantrum, he will not indulge her. Cyrus doesn’t think calling Mellie’s bluff is a good idea. So Cyrus heads into the tunnels to go talk to Mellie. He gets over to her and tells her to knock it off. Fitz isn’t backing down. Well either is she, in fact she has an interview set up for prime time tomorrow with BNC. Fitz has 36 hours to apologize in person or she will be on national television calling him out on his affair. She actually uses, “whore loving bastard.” I’m all for pet names but really Mellie? My word. Even Cyrus is taken aback.

Olivia gets to the office with Jake in tow, making him stay in the hallway. I’m wondering when we are going to talk about how they slept together a few weeks ago or the fact that she was falling for him, but that will have to wait because Cyrus calls Olivia to find out where she and Fitz are in their will they won’t they cycle. He relays Mellie’s threat to go public. Olivia insists she is done with Fitz.
She goes out into the office to find her associates huddled around whispering. She wants to know what is going on. Finally Huck speaks; the guy who hurt Huck and broke into Olivia’s apartment is Charlie, Cyrus’s Charlie. They think Cyrus is the mole.
Speaking of Charlie he is in Jake’s apartment looking at video footage of Jake and Olivia in various states of undress, I guess Jake has his own apartment wired? Anyway, he calls Cyrus to say he has proof. Cyrus says to hold onto it, they don’t’ want to use it if they don’t have to.
Olivia wants to know if Charlie has other high profile clients that would have access to the classified information in the Albatross files. She looks very worried because Cyrus is one of her best friends. She has to be sure. If they are wrong and they accuse Cyrus he could end up dead.

Huck puts Charlie’s picture up on the wall but when the team starts asking him questions, his last name, where he lives, etc…Huck doesn’t have the answers. Charlie is a very talented ghost. All Huck can come up with is Charlie really likes pastries. Olivia says okay, who has the best pastries in town? It’s somewhere to start at least. Wouldn’t you know Charlie does come into the bakery Quinn and Rosen stop in at. He is there every Thursday at 6:00AM, unfortunately that is three days from now.
Their next step is to try to track his phone. Since they don’t’ have Charlie’s number Abbey suggests Cyrus calls Charlie, probably a lot. Maybe they can get his number from Cyrus’s phone records.

Cyrus is reporting to Fitz on Mellie’s Last Stand as I like to call it.
Cyrus: You won’t be running the country if you don’t do something about this incoming nuclear winter that is your wife.
Fitz says Mellie was top of their class in law school, she is brilliant and ambitious. All Cyrus has to do is pull out his crystal ball and show Mellie what her future will be like if she does this. Explain what mutually assured destruction will look like.
As soon as Cyrus leaves Fitz calls Olivia. He tells her he needs to see her – now. She says no a lot but he won’t take no for an answer. If she doesn’t come to him he will come to her. Next thing we know Jake is walking as fast as he can down a hallway in the White House to keep up with Olivia. Olivia barges right into the Oval Office shutting our poor Jake out in the “hallway” again.
I hope the Oval Office is sound proof because the fight they are about to have will not be quiet. Fitz tells her to sit down but she says she is busy, she has a job. She is not at his beck and call, now what does he want?
Fitz: You.
She doesn’t take that as well as I think he would have hoped. She yells that she will not be summoned and he yells that he will not be walked away from. This is going well. She says they are done. Again Fitz has to disagree, they are never over, he will never, not ever, be over her. Olivia can’t believe he is putting his chance at a second term in jeopardy over his mistress. If Mellie goes public, his career is done. He says she is more than a mistress and she knows it, just forgive him and come back to him. Unfortunately for him she isn’t going to be so easily swayed by his words of devotion. She reminds him she isn’t a toy to be played with on a whim, if he wants her he has to earn her. If not, they are done.
Olivia grabs her purse and leaves. Of course Jake is in the hallway, he couldn’t hear what was going on in there exactly but he is pretty sure no one has ever raised their voice at The President like that. She tells him to leave her alone, she needs just one second alone. He agrees and lets her sit in a chair by herself while he stands guard quietly outside.

Cyrus meanwhile is marching back over to Mellie. He has a plan. Mellie comes back, support Fitz through his reelection and then they find her an issue, a big issue (like gun control or immigration) that will be all hers. She will get it passed into a bill and in her final year as First Lady they will launch her career with the full support of a successful President. She could win a Senate seat no problem. Mellie is such a stubborn heifer that she declares it isn’t enough, it isn’t what she asked for. Cyrus stresses that this is a take it or else deal. The or else is he will ruin Mellie’s chances for any kind of political career. Whisper campaigns, outright lies, he doesn’t really care. She will have nothing left.

Even though Mellie has said no, Cyrus has an idea, he asks, “What if I could get rid of Olivia Pope?”
I think it is a little amusing that he used her first and last name like maybe Mellie would be confused about who exactly he meant if he just said Olivia.

Anyway, Olivia is back at her apartment with Jake in tow. He wants to know what is wrong, she hasn’t snapped at him in at least six blocks. He also stresses that she is in danger, despite her denial to the contrary. She leaves him in the hallway. Jake’s phone rings, its Fitz’s secretary. Jake is to come see Fitz, it is urgent and he should leave Olivia at home. It won’t take long. Red flag anyone?
When Jake hangs up we see Cyrus thanking the secretary for making the call, when Captain Ballard arrives she is to tell him Fitz had an emergency meeting and has to reschedule.

The Gladiators are still in the office going over where Charlie might be. Huck and Quinn figured it out and can tell them where Charlie has been for the last month. They found a bookstore that Charlie goes to every Thursday night so Harrison, David and Abbey make a trip out there to see what is going on. David finds a flyer for a book club that meets there every Thursday night. Charlie is in a book club. Really? Looks like Charlie may also have a girlfriend at the book club. Huck seems as surprised as I do.

Mellie calls Cyrus to make sure he has taken care of Olivia. He assures her he is taking care of it right now. As he is telling her this he steps off the elevator at Olivia’s place. Only Jake is still there in the hallway. Cyrus is surprised to see him – obviously – but he doesn’t let that last very long. He tells Jake to step aside or he will be forced to tell Fitz about Jake’s, “hands on approach” to protecting Olivia. Jake is a baddie though and he isn’t fazed. If he is going to discuss anything with Fitz it will be how his secretary called him off his post a few hours ago. Good thing he only takes orders from Fitz himself. Cyrus gets back in the elevator and as soon he is gone Olivia opens her door.
She pours Jake a glass of wine and says Cyrus is her friend. She doesn’t answer when he wants to know why she didn’t have him let Cyrus into her apartment though.
He’s finally had enough, he can’t keep going along with this thing they have. The thing where she hates him while he spends his days making sure she remains breathing has to stop. He wants them to be honest. He will tell her something if she will tell him something true in return. His truth, he broke in a few weeks ago and copied the Albatross flash drive. He went over those documents and there are secrets in there that only so few people have access too that the mole can only be one of about 4 or 5 people. He thinks Cyrus is the mole. Olivia repeats that Cyrus is her friend so Jake repeats his question, “Why didn’t you tell me to let him in?” Olivia claims that Cyrus just can’t be the mole, he is a lot of things but disloyal to Fitz isn’t one of them.
Jake changes the subject a little and muses that Olivia is mad at him because she likes him. Something she denies, she does want to know why he slept with her though. He tells her she is amazing and there is something between them, and at the time he didn’t know she was the President’s Girl. She says he is mistaken but when he asks how deep she is in with Fitz she figures it is best to just end the night now. She tries to go to bed but Jake reminds her it is her turn to tell him a truth. He wants to know how deep she is in with Fitz. Instead of answering she sets her wine glass down and kisses him. He lets her distract him for a moment before asking again. She reiterates she doesn’t’ know what he is talking about before going into her bedroom, alone.

At his own house Cyrus has fallen asleep on his bed when James comes in. He kisses Cyrus and starts to undress him. Looks like Cyrus is finally back in James’s good graces. James is really excited about his new job offer. He is going to be in a suit, in the studio at BNC, on camera. Thanks to Cyrus not fighting him on the job offer, he gave James what he wanted.

The next morning Pope & Associates is interviewing Charlie’s girlfriend under the guise of vetting him for a high level government job. She is happy to help.

In his office Cyrus is yelling at his secretary to get Mellie on the phone, there are news vans in front of her house, he knows she is there. Cyrus goes into the Oval Office to tell Fitz he has tried everything he could think of, they have two hours left and Mellie isn’t budging. Fitz really doesn’t care. Cyrus says Mellie is thinking like a woman scorned, she is a credible threat. Cyrus wants Fitz to fold, just give her what she wants, that is what you do for what you love. Fitz nods and leaves his office. Cyrus is sure he is heading to Mellie but really he heads over to Olivia’s apartment. Jake is in the hallway, as per his usual, and Fitz dismisses him. Olivia opens the door to watch Jake get into the elevator. When the door is closed she wants to know why Fitz is there. He quotes Cyrus, “Give the person you love whatever they want.” He’s there to find out what Olivia wants. Olivia reminds him he has 22 minutes before Mellie tells a reporter everything. He needs to repair his marriage or he will never get reelected. He doesn’t care. Fitz is there to find out what she wants. Does she want him or not? Either way he is going to sit there and run out the 22 minutes he has left with Olivia. Fitz says he loves her more than he loves being President. Every time he says he will give it all up for her he hasn’t had to make the choice and he doesn’t think she believes that he would. So now, he is going to sit there and watch the clock on his marriage run out, watch him chose her.
Olivia is at a loss for words but she sits down in a chair across from him and watches the clock. Watching the clock is something Mellie is doing over at her house as well. The clock rings 9:00PM and Mellie looks shocked. Fitz looks at Olivia and says it is done, unless she doesn’t want him. She gets up out of her chair and sinks into him on the couch.

Charlie’s girlfriend is over at Pope & Associates, Charlie stood her up for their date. She can’t believe it either since Charlie is so sweet, he even bought her a new laptop when hers was stolen. Oh and didn’t she mention, she is a court stenographer who handles Grand Jury cases. She transcribed the cases on her laptop, her stolen laptop. This obviously raises a few flags with the team. They figure Charlie stole the laptop to read the Grand Jury file on Defiance, which means the mole couldn’t be Cyrus since he already knew everything about Defiance.

Jake is walking in the park with his boss, he thinks he has been compromised, by Cyrus. His bosses says to find out who Cyrus is working with or for, to fix it, be neat about it and whatever he does don’t kill him, they might need him.
Jake goes home to watch his video of Olivia and himself having sex. He fast forwards through the tapes until he sees Charlie enter his apartment.

Meanwhile at Mellie’s interview you will never guess who is doing the interviewing, it’s James. I don’t think that was mentioned to Cyrus ahead of time so that will be fun. Cyrus finds out and runs through the tunnels towards Mellie and James. Cyrus doesn’t make it in time, Mellie announces Fitz had an affair.
Leave it to Rosen to be the funny one, at Pope & Associates they are watching the interview on TV and Rosen says, “I wonder who he banged?” The rest of the team just looks at him in silence.
Cyrus finally gets there in time to watch Mellie finish the interview.
Fitz however truly doesn’t care though as he is in bed and then the shower with Olivia.

Oh wow…so much was happening in just one episode. Seriously, I’m not sure I will be able to stop thinking about it long enough to fall asleep tonight. On a speculation side note does anyone think the mole is the Vice President? She didn’t seem like a go quietly into that good night kind of woman and we haven’t heard from her since Fitz ruined her plans to take over the country when he recovered from being shot.

Scandal airs Thursday 10/9c on ABC