SCANDAL Recap: Life’s a Beach

You know those recaps that succinctly retell the main plot points of an episode? This is not one of those recaps. I ramble and I make assumptions and I call characters names. Wanted to let you know what you were in for. Now – on to the episode.

First can we talk about the music? Scandal only uses music from the 70’s era. It’s awesome. Know what else is awesome? Olivia with her curly hair on a beach reading Gone Girl. That’s not all though, the best part is Jake, shirtless Jake and Olivia all smiles and kisses and some other…stuff. Can we start a hashtag for #scruffyjake?

They get supplies, important things like rare wine delivered via boat. With this shipment comes a letter addressed to Olivia’s alter ego Julia Baker. Side Note: Julia Baker is a shout out to Diahann Carroll who played the character of Julia Baker in the TV Show Julia in the late 60’s. It was one of the first weekly shows to depict an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role. Shonda Rhimes is amazing.

Anyway, back to the letter. Jake doesn’t want her to open it. If she does the sun will go down, bad things will happen. Olivia of course opens it. She finds an article about how Harrison was found dead. Next thing you know the previously happy couple are in a car in DC. Either Olivia stopped to get her hair relaxed or she had a straightener on the plane. Either way she looks like Olivia Pope again. Sadly Jake has a shirt on. He reminds Olivia they are only in town for a few days. “In and out.” She agrees.

She gets to Pope & Associates to find it empty. Sheets over the furniture, dust everywhere, mail piled up. Only it isn’t completely empty. Quinn is there (I’m reserving the right to call her Poor Quinn again after I see how she behaves – I’ll let you know) Looks like Quinn tracked Olivia down and mailed that letter. Thanks to Olivia’s affinity for “rare, complex, fantastic red wine.”

Olivia just wants to know where her Gladiators are.

Huck is going by Randy. Side Note: I don’t go by another name nearly enough it seems. I’m going to look into that. The best part about Randy? He is a “Smart Guy” at a Data Stop. Think Chuck Bartowski working for the Nerd Herd at BuyMore or the Geek Squad at Best Buy. Olivia and Quinn stop in but Huck won’t talk to Olivia after she responds that she is only back for now, not for good. He won’t talk to Quinn either, even though she stops by once a week to check up on him.

Abby has become Press Secretary. She has her work cut out for her. Fitz is a changed man. He has fired most of his cabinet and is now looking for a new Attorney General. In fact Fitz is being called Fitz 2.0. His main agenda right now is to get the equal pay bill passed. His Republican friends aren’t happy he is starting to work so closely with Democrats but he could really care less.

Mellie 2.0 is a scary sight to behold. I’m talking silk robe over a dirty looking t-shirt, sweats and Uggs. Hair a mess and eating right out of a cereal box. If I had lost my child I’m not sure I’d be behaving any differently. It is quite a change from the always made up proper Mellie though.

Cyrus gets back to his office to find Lizzy Bear (that’s what he calls her) aka Portia de Rossi aka RNC. She is not so pleased with Fitz 2.0. This whole work with the democrats, refuse to fundraise when they could be making so much money, or as she calls it “grief dollars” since the death of his son, it’s not working for her. Now she hears Fitz may appoint a Democrat for Attorney General. The nerve. Cyrus sends her on her way.

Quinn calls Abby, who reluctantly agrees to meet. She calls Quinn, “Super Freak” and fast talks about how she doesn’t want to see her, hear from her, etc… Only Olivia is there with her. That keeps Abby quiet for about 10 seconds. Abby is clearly mad that Olivia took off. She interrupts Olivia and says she is not planning a funeral for Harrison with her because they are no longer a team. Abby blames Harrison’s death on Olivia leaving and that’s the straw. Olivia fast talks right back and calls Abby out. Abby abandoned the team too. She is no Gladiator.

Jake is using his free time to check in with David Rosen. He wants to know what Rosen did with all of the B613 files. Rosen read the files and created the best (and probably most accurate) color coded system ever. Orange = scary. Red = very scary. Black = crap your pants and wait for someone to come kill you scary. Most of the files coded under the black label. Jake isn’t impressed that nothing was really done.

Meanwhile Olivia meets with her Dad, he’s as dialed in as ever as he already ordered her a glass of wine. I can only assume he has her on some sort of Google Alert. He wants to know why she is here. So maybe he doesn’t know everything. She wants to know if he killed Harrison. He lies, says he didn’t do it. He says he did however take care of her Mother. At the request of the President. Again lying. Well the killing her part, I do remember Fitz telling Rowan to make it so. Their family dynamic is an effing mess. Rowan has the nerve to say he is sorry for the loss of her friend. Cold-blooded.

At the White House Cyrus is pissed. He found out Olivia is back and Abby didn’t tell him. Abby is wondering if Cyrus is following her. I’m wondering if she could possibly be that naïve about what Cyrus is capable of. Also what is with Cyrus’s hair? It’s very distracting. Cyrus doesn’t want Olivia back. Her being here will ruin his functioning White House.

Cyrus makes his next stop the Oval Office. Fitz thinks he is there to talk about Mellie who has started washing her hair, granted she isn’t brushing it but hey, it’s clean. Nope that’s not it – Cyrus is there to tell him Olivia is back. Cyrus says, “Olivia Pope is back.” First and Last name like maybe Fitz wouldn’t know who it was if he just said Olivia? Fitz is suitably taken aback. He wants to know how long she is going to be in town.

Olivia is at home watching a news program about Fitz when Jake comes in with burgers. Just then there is also a knock at the door. It’s a woman who works for Senator Vaughn. Senator Vaughn gets on the phone and says she thinks she just killed Senator Sterling. Side Note: does all of DC have Olivia on some sort of Alert? Friend Finder? How do these people know she is home?

Rosen is at a storage facility in a not so pleasant looking part of town looking at his B613 files when Cyrus calls him. Cyrus has him come to the White House where he offers him the job of Attorney General.

At Senator Sterling’s house Olivia asks what happened. Senator Vaughn says she came over to get Sterling’s vote on the equal pay bill and agreed, stupidly, to stay for a drink. When she came out of the bathroom he accosted her. She tried to get him off of her and he fell over the railing. Guess what though? He is still alive. Olivia orders them to get out of there and then call an ambulance. Olivia is still set on leaving so the next day she tries to give the case to an attorney who she calls the best. He makes the’ you are bullshitting me’ face but he agrees to take the case anyway. He’ll talk to Senator Vaughn.

Next Olivia goes to visit Huck again. I don’t have to start calling him Randy do I? She tells him about Harrison’s funeral and asks what happened with Huck’s family. Huck insists he stopped being Huck when she left. He doesn’t want to deal with this. She needs to stay away unless she is back for good, he can’t afford to hope. Olivia’s face is sad.

Across town Mellie and Fitz visit their son’s grave. Mellie still in her grieving clothes and Fitz looking Presidential. The aerial shot of Mellie lying by the grave while Fitz stands by is heartbreaking. They are not a unit.

Jake and Olivia meanwhile are still quite the unit. She tries to talk about how Senator Sterling is being turned into a saint while he adorably tells her this is his turn and his turn involves a lot of things, talking however isn’t one of them. Jake is shirtless again. I feel like I should write out word for word what is being said here in case you can’t focus because – Jake is shirtless. Olivia is charmed but she still wants to take her turn now. He obliges and she fast talks about how wrong it is the Senator Sterling, a sexual predator, is being made out to be the good guy when the woman he assaulted can’t say anything because it would hurt her career and who knows, people might not even believe her. It’s wrong. I’ll give it to Jake; he seems to really know Olivia. I don’t know if it was the months watching her via video feed when he was spying on her for her Dad or if it was all the months on a deserted island with her but when she says her turn is over he says wait for it and then counts it down. Sure enough she’s not done with her turn; she starts talking again and reaches for the phone. She calls her attorney friend and says she is back on the case.

Poor Jake, he wonders if they should talk about the fact that they agreed not to stay. Or the fact that as long as they are in DC it isn’t his turn anymore, it’s “his” turn. She is out of the sun and in the shadow of 1600 Pennsylvania. She badly wants to say that’s not true and then Jake (still shirtless by the way) says this, “…I’m the one you like to ride, that I’m the one that makes you moan, that I’m the one that reaches you in places that he can’t begin to touch.” I may have swallowed wrong and choked the first time I watched it so I had to rewind that part and play it again. I may have also been making the face you make when someone is telling you a very uncomfortable truth. Poor Jake. Poor shirtless Jake.

The next day over at Pope and Associates Quinn and Olivia are running the Vaughn/Sterling case just like old times.

Cyrus and his hair are talking to Fitz about Sterling but all Fitz wants to know is if Olivia is staying. He hasn’t told Mellie Olivia is back and he won’t if she is taking off again. Cyrus says they all know what happens next; Fitz and Olivia end up in the same room together. I really wanted him to flip his hair as he left but he didn’t.

Senator Vaughn, Olivia and the attorney whose name I am not going to bother to learn are talking, getting her statement. Her story isn’t matching up to what she said originally. Olivia sends the attorney out of the room and calls Vaughn a liar. She wants the truth. Olivia calls Quinn to fill her in and Quinn makes an observation. Vaughn’s aide Katie looks like Sterling’s type. Whereas Senator Vaughn does not. Olivia tells Katie she knows the Senator is covering for her.

Rosen is talking to Abby about how odd it is that the President would want him for Attorney General. He thinks they are trying to buy his silence. She cannot believe he is accusing her of telling them about his super-secret crap your pants and wait for someone to come kill you scary B613 files. They are both annoyed/mad but still have time to make me smile with this exchange:
Rosen: They don’t even know your name.
Abby: They know my name.
Rosen: They call you Red.
Abby: I have red hair
Rosen: You have a colorist

I think line of the night goes to Rosen. Abby, less amused by this than me tells Rosen that those stupid files killed their relationship, all his time spend with them while her world was falling apart. If he really wants to do some good and change something become the Attorney General. “Get yourself some power and use it.” She does a very effective storm off.

Olivia is still talking to Vaughn. She is saying how amazing a boss Vaughn is to possibly face manslaughter charges for an aide. Then it hits Olivia. Vaughn knew Sterling had a type, she sent Katie over there knowing Sterling would like her. Not going to be Boss of the Year now is she? Vaughn was hoping to get a yes vote out of Sterling on the equal pay bill and she thought this might help. Wow. Really? Olivia is as disgusted as I am. She calls her attorney friend back in and says she is out of here. She has a funeral to attend and then she is leaving. DC is a terrible place.

At the graveyard Olivia and Jake show up first. The rest of the Gladiators show up one by one. They are the only ones there. Harrison didn’t have anyone else. No family, just them. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was a little emotional to watch. Goodbye Harrison. The Gladiators don’t stay long leaving Olivia there to be comforted by Jake. While Jake is holding a sobbing Olivia he notices Rowan watching from his car across the cemetery. He leaves before Olivia sees him though so that is good.

At the White House Mellie is still drinking and still dressed like she is part of Macklemore’s Thrift Shop video. She tells Fitz not to worry, she isn’t going to jump. Then because she’s being a little mean she says, “I’m not going to try to kill myself. I’m not you.” He responds, “I had a bad night. One bad night.” He doesn’t ever want to hear about it again. She snarks that she will add it to the list of things they don’t talk about; dead kid, missing mistress, Mellie’s rape, Fitz’s suicide attempt. That is a dark messed up list. Now it’s Fitz’s turn to be mean, he tells Mellie Olivia isn’t missing, she’s back. For his part he maintains he isn’t going to see her, nothing has changed, and he is still going to be there for Mellie. She actually smiles. However the smile turns sour and she reiterates that monitoring him is something she isn’t going to do anymore. She has some perspective now that she has lost a child. Trying to keep tabs on an errant husband isn’t something she is going to do anymore. And I lied. Mellie gets line of the night. Apparently waxing isn’t something she is doing anymore either, perspective and all. “So….It’s 1976 down there.” Fitz skips right past that comment (how I have no idea) and insists that he will not see Olivia.

Jake and Olivia are getting ready to leave, that is until he sees Liv’s face. She has that I’m staying in DC face. She can’t stop thinking about what Harrison would say, “Are we Gladiators or are we bitches?” Okay I feel like I’m a big fat liar but that is another good line. An oldie but a goody. Can we agree on a three way tie for line of the night?

Over on the Hill Fitz is announcing his nomination of Rosen for Attorney General. Lizzy Bear is not pleased but Cyrus tells her to deal with it. He said it more eloquently but his hair is too distracting to remember what he said exactly.

At the same time Olivia is doing a press conference with Katie and Senator Vaughn. She says she is representing Katie against Senator Sterling. She heads over to Pope and Associates where she is met by Huck and Quinn. I have decided I refuse to call him Randy and I don’t dislike this new calmer less sure she is a badass Quinn.

As Olivia, the aide and the Senator are going to leave we see Secret Agent/Service Man Tom which means Fitz isn’t far behind. Olivia and Fitz pass by each other. They do not make eye contact but their hands/pinkies reach for each other – never quite touching. Olivia’s speech is playing over this, “We know what we are capable of. We know who we are, who we’ll always be and we have a choice. We can hide in the shadows or we can stand in the light.”

I never have trouble picking a side when it comes to couples. I pick a team, plant my feet and defend my position but when it comes to Scandal I am torn. I love the playful, sweet, happy way Olivia and Jake are together and I equally love the dysfunctional, dark, burn each other alive passion Olivia and Fitz have. It is such good TV.

So – what did you think? Oh how glad I am Scandal is back!

Scandal airs 9/8c on ABC