One Part Be My Lover

This week in ShondaLand, Olivia and Eli are having dinner (apparently, Sunday dinners are back on the table), but without any of the pretenses of the other dinners. He says they are making progress because she hasn’t accused him of any crimes against humanity, she says she’s only there so he won’t make her friends kill people. He takes a little pride in that she’s a lot more like him than she wants to be. When she says she’s who she is in spite of him, and not because of him, he notes it’s “two sides of the same coin”. And, word. Ever notice the more people try to get away from being whatever it is they detest – they swing so far on the dial they are still pretty closed to it? He leaves her with an ominous warning that as long as Huck and Jake leave him be, they’ll be okay. Loving Joe Morton even more, loving the Jake and Huck bro-mance (because I’m still not speaking to Quinn) LOVE MY SHOW!!

I mention the JaHuck bromance because Jake is currently breaking into Eli’s place and stealing files, and I cannot stress enough how much I do not understand the freakish chances these people take with this man. He’s an assassin, and he’s a mean one. So really? B&E on his property, is, at best, misguided. It’s a nail-biting scene, but he doesn’t get caught. He has “it”. And no, I don’t know what “it” is…something to do with Remington. I’m gonna need them to let me in on this secret.

In the Oval, Mellie and Cyrus are showing the male version of Tyuana Bailey around, because he is so elated to be in the office he is looking at every single artifact as if to say…WHOA!! THIS IS THE OVAL OFFICE! Turns out, Leo is another campaign guy they want to run Fitz’s campaign…and while he is appreciative of the offer, he says no because there’s NO way Fitz is going to win (he’s got problems – big problems – character problems, credibility problems…and a penis problem). To his credit, he tries to have this conversation without Mellie, but she won’t leave because he’s not her husband, he’s “their guy”. I probably would have left though when he called me a frigid shrew. But that’s me. Anyhoo, Leo can’t back a loser. He also says…everyone knows they pissed off Olivia Pope, so why would he take them on? He plays the part of Greek Chorus here – asking them why America would reelect this guy who’s head is so clearly not in the game…and it’s a good scene considering we all know he’s going to get reelected somehow. Really, who would CARE about the heart of Scandal if Fitz was not the POTUS, so whatev. But it was a great scene.

OPA has been hired by Phoebe to work her campaign, and what gets her hired is her brutally honest speech on what her shortcomings are and how she can fix them. Phoebe doesn’t want her to manage her campaign, she wants her to ensure that the baby she gave up for adoption before she decided to go into politics stays hidden. And I loved this – she doesn’t want her to not come to light because of her politics, but because she wants that child, now woman, to enjoy the life she’s built and not have it be destroyed by the political machine. She says she won’t use it for political gain and needs it fixed. So we (and by we, I mean the Gladiators) all head to Montana to keep this secret, and find out the real secret is that Phoebe’s sister and manager is actually her daughter she gave up for adoption. Olivia knows this is going to come out, and encourages her to come clean, as if she wants to be the president, her personal life is going to be on full display. She warns her of the upcoming ambush during a debate, and when it goes down EXACTLY how Olivia tells her it will, Phoebe looks like a hero, and Cyrus gets closer to that second heart attack. Pheobe, now America’s sweetheart walks off, and fires Olivia for her great work. Because her sister Candy has figured it out and she’s pissed.

Other things we learn in Montana:
- Huck has bugged Eli’s office and has a tape of his meeting with Fitz (Presidential Fitz, who we know I love). Fitz wants to take Eli to task for having Pete Foster killed. He calls him on the bs card that he (Pete Foster) committed suicide and asks who else will die to “protect the secret no one is looking for”. Eli knows Pete’s files have been accessed so he knows someone is looking into it.
- The term…”Poped”. Cyrus’s sweet assistant (whose name escapes me) realizes Olivia’s people are quicker than he is, and he’s so afraid to tell Cyrus (and. Word.), and he shrieks, we got Poped. I love that, and it will surely make it into my business lexicon in the near future.
- Huck told Harrison and Abby about Quinn’s newest appetite (Harrison: drill baby, drill), and she’s basically grounded from helping them. Huck really is trying to help her, but this fool buys a gun while she’s out in Montana. And please, Shonda, I beg you…bring her back.
- Abby and David are back together, but she’s having a hard time. Turns out, David invited her to the White House Correspondent’s Dinner and she stands him up because her husband is there. We know her husband abused her, but I’m not sure if we’ve seen him yet. Maybe it’s Leo???

Huck is giving Jake details of the meeting between Fitz and Eli when a Suburban rolls up and tells him to get into the car. Jake thinks he’s being kidnapped by command (making me wonder why he didn’t run like hell), but actually he’s escorted to the White House’s basketball court (seriously? There’s an outdoor court there?). Fitz admits he wanted to get into Jake’s head by having him kidnapped, and says everyone takes it easy on him and doesn’t expect this game to be easy.

And cut. I readily admit right here, my comments are not at all objective. I love basketball. I love to watch basketball. And Tony Goldwyn and Scott Foley look like they can ball a bit. So it’s kinda gratuitous, but I don’t care. And Jake’s crossover dribble made me forget, just a bit, that I am all about Fitz. The point of this game, after a few hard fouls – was that the President is OTHERWORLDLY pissed off that he sent him to protect Olivia and he instead shakes the sheets. Jake ain’t talking about Olivia. Period, and that doesn’t set well with POTUS. Olivia could do worse – these are some pretty pretty boys fighting over her.

And speaking of Olivia – she watches the phone. This is so…normal. She’s waiting for the president to call on “their” phone, and when the phone rings she’s so hopeful, but no, it’s her other phone. It’s Cyrus calling looking for dirt on Phoebe, and gives her enough information to know the gladiators are not alone in Montana. In a snit, she throws the phone in the trash can, after Jake (rightly) points out that waiting for “the secret Fitz phone” to ring is so beneath her. You can tell from her face she’s not leaving the phone in the trash, but she wants to. She so wants to – but when it rings, in the trash, she answers, and it’s Fitz. I wanted to think about how this was a crucial scene showing how they enable each other, but then. The conversation that takes place is so honest, so ordinary, so mundane, and so electric because the whispers of two people in love tend to be electric. He admits to her that he’s afraid of the correspondence dinner, because he’s ashamed of his image. She helps him by vetting his jokes, and her ability to help him thru it despite his failings is why he loves her. It’s the type of conversation that should NOT be heard by your wife. And watching Mellie overhear this conversation is why I just can’t help but root for her character.

Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when, during the correspondence dinner, Mellie uses the “secret Fitz phone” to get Olivia to a hotel room to BEG her to run Fitz’ campaign. Because he is “her guy”. Because she knows Leo was right and that the only person that brings a spark to Fitz’ eye and makes him presidential is Olivia Pope. They wisely cut this scene with montages of Fitz’ speech where he’s killing it – it’s clear he needs Olivia. Mellie [and girl! What happened to your hair?] breaks my heart, admitting that Fitz isn’t alive when she’s not around, that he can’t breathe, “because she’s everything to him.” And wow. I got nothing.

Harrison calls Live back to the office, where Phoebe is waiting to offer her the job back. She turns it down (over Harrison’s ‘dafuq’ expression. Remember. He knows they have a mortgage), and leaves him standing there. And for you Jake fans, she goes to the office after Jake leaves her at the correspondent’s dinner, telling her, he “won’t be second, not even to the president”. And Yowsa. BUT BUT BUT! (and there’s always a BUT BUT BUT!, isn’t there?) Huck has continued to put the pieces of the puzzle together on the flight that never was. It would seem, according to Huck (who tells Jake this after breaking into his house, and really? Have these people heard of doorbells), that the big secret is Fitz shot a commercial plane out of the sky. A commercial plane carrying Maya Lewis, who was still using her maiden name. Her married name is Pope. JaHuck interrupt Liv’s reminiscing about her days as “banged Olivia” (election rigging not withstanding)to deliver this very disturbing turn of events – that quite possibly the President caused the death of her mom.

And…credits.

There’s more to this story and we will not find out next week. I’m convinced the previews are filled with red herrings. So, in my mind, Remington remains a mystery. Because why would Eli want this covered up? Did he not realize his wife was on the plane? And what else was on this commercial airline? There’s more questions than answers! I can’t stand it!

Until next week!


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