Get Low

Gladiators!

My 9-5 is kicking my ass, so I fell asleep on my favorite broken people. This is a situation that needs to be addressed. Stay with me while I get my blogging rhythm back.

Jake has healed from the sleeping, bandaged mess he was last week, and seems to making himself at home in Liv’s beautiful apartment. But it’s time for him to go, says Liv. She wonders if he’ll be safe from Command, he wonders if Fitz knows her father is command, and she’s all…nah, my Dad is okay. Crazy assassin maybe, but mostly fine. Again, only on Scandal can a crazy assassin be “mostly fine”. Jake, understandably pissed off that he’s been in a box and tortured for God only knows how long, wants to band together to take down her father and she’s all… ”Nah Cuz, that dude is too powerful even for my fixing”. We see a lot of uncharacteristic fear in Liv’s eyes this episode, saying that her father is way too powerful, noting that he got Huck to fall of the wagon. Jake leaves, and Liv gets a call from Hamilton (who, so far, has been powerfully UNDERUTILIZED this season. C’mon Shonda! We are waiting for that backstory!), who says the bills will be paid because they landed a new client. It’s kind of refreshing that ShondaGirl hasn’t forgotten that the firm was basically involved in a huge scandal this year and their client based had dried up.

Quinn continues to lean on my nerves (I’m being generous here. She’s plucking every single one of my nerves). She follows HUCK (and seriously? Trail the assassin?) to a heartbreaking AA meeting where he admits that he’s had a drink (killed) again, and he loved it. Huck calls Quinn out for following her, saying friends don’t follow friends. Then later, in a painfully accurate exchange, he tells Quinn she’s not worried, she’s curious, and for her own sake, he wants her to stop being curious. One of the reasons Huck is such a wonderfully complex character is that he’s one of the few in the Scandal-verse who truly gets how broken he is. He doesn’t want anyone to be like him. Jake foolishly tries to sneak up on HUCK THE ASSASSIN. Huck lets him live thru this exchange, which, not surprisingly, happens at gunpoint. Turns out, Jake wants Huck’s help to bring down command, and is met with his second “is you crazy” expression of the episode.

The Scandal of the Week has been ripped from the headlines. A senator has been texting his junk and is on trial for the recipient’s murder (okay, so only the beginning has been ripped from the headlines. Shout out to my main freak Anthony Weiner!). Abby gets off an early line of the night – “a perving sexting pervy perv” – he’s sending the texts, but this girl turns up dead, and that’s a problem. OPA has some morality issues accepting this case, but the lights gotta stay on, and even gladiators have mortgages. The senator (played by none other than Professor Laskey from Saved by the Bell, the College Years. Don’t judge me.) insists while he has this bad habit of putting his phone in his pants, he’s not really a killer. His wife (played by Melora Harding who was Albert Ingall’s love interest on Little House on the Prairie. Okay, judge me now.) will be his alibi – she was home with him the entire night. He assures the Gladiators that he’s put this all behind him. Even his wife says they’ve been through marriage counseling and he’s all better and he deserves a second chance after this one mistake. And those were lovely “famous last words”.

I must say, part of why I enjoyed this episode so much is that we spend a lot of time with this trial, and in the courtroom, which means…DAVID ROSEN. Apparently, he and Abby have been spending time together and are slowly working their way back to each other. And after a lot of back and forth, by the end of the episode, they appear to be back together. And. Aw….Anyway, the courtroom scenes do a fantastic job of showing just how pervalicious the good Senator is, and it appears this guy is headed to jail. The jurors are giving him the “you are all guilty” stink-eye. To help the Senator, the gladiators need to “slut shame the dead girl”. And ouch. This case just gets dirtier and dirtier (and funnier and funnier to me). They do too good of a job painting her as…ahem…someone who enjoys the company of wealthy men. But then! ANOTHER woman comes forward to prove, in fact, that he’s not quite over his sexting. In fact, he has been doing it during the trial (personal shout out AGAIN to Anthony Weiner! And a life lesson to everyone – please, let your freak flag fly, but discretion really is the better part of valor. Camera phones will be the downfall of our society. You read it here.) But in the end, his disgusted wife still provides the alibi – she admits that she can’t stand him and his dirty ways, and that he’s ruined her marriage, but since he’s on trial for being a murderer, and not a pig, and he was home with her, they have to acquit. This works and he’s acquitted…but but BUT!! Turns out, she was lying. She wasn’t home – she was out MURDERING the girl. Yes – turns out Senator McSextingPants was her alibi. And wow. I can’t help but think this wouldn’t have happened if she’d stayed with Albert Ingalls.

Meanwhile, my girl Mellie ALSO has a very uncharacteristic blunder – talking trash about the constituents who are supporting Josephine Marcus - and since I hear Lisa Kudrow has joined Scandal in a multi-episode arc, we will be referring to her as Phoebe. Mellie says something really hurtful about trailer trash and a push up bra. It was completely snobby and hysterical, and lands her in hot water with the public, and especially Cyrus. He reminds her of the rules of politics – apparently the first rule is “the mic is always on”. Despite her apology, Mellie helps Phoebe become a real contender in politics. Cyrus calls it “minting her ass”, and sends his adorable new assistant off to help find some dirt. Cyrus is letting Mellie have it pretty good when Fitz comes to her aid, and shows her compassion that knocks her so off kilter it pisses her off. And I get that. Don’t be treating me like gum on your shoe and then surprise me by being kind. That would piss me off too. And I’m kinda looking forward to more of this story.

Presidential Fitz is clearly my favorite Fitz, as when GSSG is giving him the details of Pete Foster’s less than stellar life and the plans for this final resting place [a pine box], he “pulls a few strings” to get him buried at Arlington National Cemetery. And. I cannot continue here with anything snarky because Arlington National Cemetery is what it is, and this entire scene was incredibly moving.

When Cyrus gets wind that the President is being all independent and making his own decisions by burying Pete Foster at ANC, this does not sit well with him and he goes to see Eli. I can safely say now that I am loving Joe Morton in this role – he tears up every scene he’s in. He’s a great villain, with no discernible Achilles’ Heel. Cy and Eli’s conversation are being (somewhat poorly) monitored by Jake (who clearly, doesn’t work for NSA), and he takes his concerns to Liv. And again, he’s shot down. Why this guy just doesn’t leave the country – disavowed assassin, tossed aside by his lady love bug, given the look of death by Huck – really REALLY bad week – is beyond me. [side note, he goes to Olivia when she’s watching the horrible press on herself…and again, nice touch of realism of how your career can just go to sh!t in the blink of an eye]. Jake gives us a little insight into Remington – as best I can tell – it involves a flight that has not been recorded anywhere in the US Military. Maybe it’s the flight that was scheduled to take PFC William Santiago away from Gitmo. Sorry. Not focused. Liv tells Jake to take his files and his conspiracies and leave.

But he’s not giving up that easily. The next time he shows up at her apartment, he has Huck in tow, who has either recorded this conversation as well, or gotten the recording from Jake. Pete Foster, I *think* has been killed because he had an original flight plan, and the flight number tattooed on his body. This is FAR too confusing for me right now. But I know something is indeed rotten in the state of Denmark.

Jake and Huck implore Olivia to see what they are seeing, and she’s caught between her loyalty to these two, her fear of B6-13 and what they can do to these two men, and what I think is her love for her Daddy. She’s understandably confused. My heart goes out to Olivia, who has been thru a lot lately, and she just can't seem to land on terra firms. She admits to Jake that she’s scared, and he promises her he’s not going anywhere. They lean in, and it’s a slow, hot kiss and Jake fans all over the world swoon. But then her phone rings, and she answers.

"Mr. President”.

"Why so formal?”

"What can I do for you?”

"Do for me? Does everything in this town have to be transactional, even with us?”

And my heart that has Fitz tattooed on it starts beating wildly. These two have more chemistry on the PHONE than most, because my answer would not have been one that would have been airable even on a 10:00 show! Jake stops short on marking his territory by peeing on Olivia, but instead offers a “more wine, Olivia”, so that a) Fitz knows that he’s still in the picture, and b) Olivia knows he’s not afraid of Fitz knowing. Fitz’ beautifully tortured face crumbles, and understanding he has no right to keep her from her life, hangs up. He goes back to the secret bunker with crazy flattering fluorescent lighting, gets all “Presidential Hot” as he’s flanked by Tom and Hal and goes into an office...ELI’S office. And says, "this is a reunion. One that is long overdue."

Annnnd…credits.

I have so many questions! Does Fitz know this is his boo’s father? What will Cy do when he finds Fitz being independent again? And why was Fitz holding Mellie’s hand? More importantly, with OPA being in financial ruin, will Olivia resort to Boone’s Farm? Tell me your thoughts!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad