In this episode of Scandal, we learn right off the bat who Jake killed; however, we have to wait until the end to find out what exactly happened that night. Meanwhile, Olivia questions everything (again) when she finds out that B613 was behind the murders. Why she is surprised still is beyond me. And we only get another sliver of Olivia’s mother and her plans in DC.

B613 Strikes Again

Not only does Jake shoot James, but he makes David promise to cover up the entire event or he’ll kill him, too. So, in the end, both lives were destroyed as David has a very hard time going along with B613’s cover-up and eventual arrest of an innocent man.

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James’ death is meant to look like a carjacking gone wrong. But it doesn’t take Olivia very long to figure out that B613 is behind it. She asks her team to investigate. Huck reviews footage from a secret camera in her safe and sees that Quinn broke in and looked at the Daniel Douglas files. When she confronts Jake, he has nothing to say other than he’s doing his job and protecting the country. She, of course, is not happy.

When Charlie and Quinn find a random guy to pin the murder on, David isn’t so quick to make the arrest as he wrestles with right and wrong. However, Jake goes to see him to make sure it’s wrapped up sooner rather than later.

Sally Doesn’t Wait For the Body to Cool

At the White House, Cyrus goes into crisis mode, but not in his own life. He tells Fitz he must keep the campaign going because Sally is going to use the mourning period to gain traction, specifically the gun lobby endorsement. Fitz and Olivia urge Cyrus to slow down, but he can’t be stopped. Fitz finally agrees to let Mellie and vice presidential candidate Andrew go to Texas to try and get the endorsement. In the end, Sally ends up getting the endorsement, but Fitz, on the advice of Cyrus, plays the complete opposite angle and gives a speech to end gun violence, which of course gives him a higher approval rating, given the recent events.

Random And Not-So-Random Hook-Ups

Fresh off trying to get the gun lobby endorsement, a tipsy Mellie and Andrew verbally spar over guns and then get to hook up. Part of me cheered when this happened, because it makes what Fitz and Olivia keep doing somewhat okay.

And when Huck confronted Quinn about her B613 life, he originally planned to kill her but has a change of heart. He suddenly believed that she knew the camera was there and wanted to get “caught” so they knew what Jake was up to. He believes she’s still a gladiator. Quinn has no idea what he’s talking about, or rather she does and just doesn’t want to deal with it. And instead of killing her, Huck makes out with her. She barely responds and when he pulls away, it’s clear it was very awkward for the two of them. To be honest, it was awkward to watch.

Cyrus Breaks Down

Throughout the entire episode, we get to see glimpses of how James and Cyrus met, as well as when Cyrus finally came out at the inaugural ball three years ago. When they finally release the name of the killer, Cyrus insists on addressing the public, but barely makes it past the first sentence, when he breaks down, finally. But my question is whether he is truly breaking down because he lost James. Or is he breaking down because he loved James and had him killed?

At the very end, we learn that Jake, though he’s commanding and needs to be touched, actually has a heart. But we’ve seen this all along. Turns out, he sat with James as he died. He apologized for being “sloppy,” but explained it needed to be done to look like a carjacking. It was very, very sad. More so that Jake was so serious as a man lay dying in front of him.

The 14th episode titled “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” also touched a little, and I mean a little, on Olivia’s mom. She’s working with Adan Salif, but it seems like Adan is in over her head when Olivia’s mom not only requests they find a terrorist, but then kills one of the terrorist’s workers. Makes me wonder what she’s up to and how that will come into play in the next four episodes.

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Lastly, Olivia goes to see her dad crying, as she always does. She questions what the point is of democracy and freedom when everyone is so evil. But what she’s really asking is what’s the point of life when the government essentially controls everything, anyway. His only answer is that there is hope and it’s in her. I’m assuming she thinks this means she needs to take down B613 because she later goes to David Rosen and tells him they should try to do it together. Oh Olivia, this never works. It didn’t work with her dad and it won’t work with Jake. I wonder when she will realize she’s really just a pawn in all of the lies and deceit.

Next week should be interesting, since after three years of Scandal, we finally get to meet Fitz and Mellie’s kids.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 10pm on ABC.

(Image courtesy of ABC)

Christine

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV