Miss Boxy Frown: Scandal: It's Handled

Every other week I will recap Scandal at Heroes and Heartbreakers. This week check out Kwana Minatee-Jackson's take on Scandal!.

The premiere of Scandal’s third season had me on the edge of my seat! Let’s take a look at what happened, shall we?

When the episode opens, we see the media blowback of Olivia’s name being released to the press. Her father, the enigmatic Rowan Pope, has jumped into his own crisis mode, and we definitely see where Olivia gets it from. He has spirited her away in a limo and has a plan. Calm as you please, Olivia asks him why he tried to have her killed. Calm as you please, he explained that he actually tried to have Jake killed. (Their family dinners must have been a riot.)

Rowan explains to Liv that since she “opened her skirt and spread her knees and gave it away to a man with too much power” she now needs to protect herself-who does she think the White House is going to support? We get a glimpse into the Pope family dynamic as he berates Olivia, even calling the aspiration to First Lady “mediocre”. Despite his disappointment, he has arranged an escape plan via airplane wherever Liv wants to go, but a quick chat with Cyrus convinces her to stay and attempt to fix this problem.

Cy tried to strong-arm Sally Langston into taking over some appearances for Fitz while they came up with a game plan to deal with this media storm. When they didn’t work, Fitz charmed her with the truth. He confessed to his affair (no names mentioned) and asked for time to arrange his affairs as he prepares a speech to come clean about his affair. She agrees (a Festivus miracle!)

Olivia goes to work like it’s a normal day, and the Gladiators are worried when clients start dropping like flies. Spearheaded by Harrison, they decide they need to take action. Meanwhile, Cy and Mellie sleuth around and find out a piece of the puzzle regarding who leaked Olivia’s name. However, footage of Fitz leaving Liv’s apartment surfaces, and Cy reluctantly requests info to start a kill folder on Olivia. Notably absent from the dossier was Rowan (no pictures of him at all!)

Rowan contacts Olivia again to extend help to her, but she demands information on Jake. Rowan tells her Jack-Nicholson-A-Few-Good-Men-Style that she doesn’t get to ask those kinds of questions. He tells her she is running out of options, and Liv lets him know she is “never out of options”. Next we see her cracking open her secret black folder, and calling in a special number, password Providence. After a slick escape from her office with the aid of several limos, Olivia ends up at a bunker with Fitz...and Mellie.

Olivia brings them together to strategize the fix in this crisis. To say the tension in that room was palpable would be an understatement. Bravo to all three actors for that scene-it was tense, honest, and emotional.

Fitz suggests telling the truth as a way through the storm, instead of trying to figure a way out of it. At first Mellie balks at standing with Fitz, possibly having to give detailed explanations of his affair with Olivia. Stunning both women into momentary silence, he admits falling in love with Olivia. Mellie promises hell on earth if he recounts that “disgusting fairytale” to the press. Liv asks Mellie how many times would be acceptable to her that she and Fitz slept together. Mellie says two times, and the trio comes up with a plan.

Mellie leaves, and Fitz has to take a moment to check in on Olivia. Despite her insistence that she is fine, Fitz sees right through it. She allows him to comfort her shortly, then leaves the bunker.

Sally takes another meeting with Fitz, where she reveals that her own husband is “having a lot of fun” and (one can assume) perhaps unfaithful? Fitz tells Sally to take advantage of this moment, and be the moral high ground of the party. Meanwhile Mellie and Cy conspire a bit more, and thanks to some footage found by the Gladiators (thanks to Mellie?), Cy leaked it to James. The footage was of a drunk communications aid talking about how hot Fitz was. The ravenous press fled from Olivia to this innocent young woman, calling her the mistress.

Olivia is incensed with the Gladiators (“What.Did.You.Do!?”) but that was nothing compared to the showdown between Mellie and Fitz. Mellie bragged to Fitz about leaking the aide’s name to the press, because if they went public with Olivia’s name, there would be too many repercussions. She also called Fitz out on being the one who leaked Olivia’s name to the press, thinking it was an romantic notion. Fitz laid it all out on the line and told Mellie they were at war, and he had been playing her since he went to her on his knees in the Blair House. He told an astonished Mellie that he released Olivia’s name so that Mellie couldn’t hold it over her head indefinitely. Boom! How do you like them apples?

Back at Gladiator HQ, Olivia is still pissed at the crew, and decided to take on (of course) a new client-the communications aid being eviscerated in the media.

Just when Cyrus thought it was safe to go home, he finds Charlie waiting for him, gun drawn. Apparently Charlie is back with B613, and Rowan has some information he wants Cy to read-it was the declassified debrief of the mission Jake and Fitz were on years ago. The reading was enough to shock Cyrus Beene, so I’m sure it will have the rest of us reeling.

There are so many questions! What is in the file? Will Fitz get back with Olivia this season? She is trying to fight it, but she still wants him so bad. Did anyone notice Abby’s makeover or Quinn’s bloodlust? And WHY did Harrison have clothes on? I suppose we will have to stay tuned, Gladiators!