You know the tale about Icarus, son of Daedalus who flew too close to the sun, got his wax wings melted and perished in the sea? Yep that tale, only set in Washington this time where the past is catching up to the present. This is drama at its finest.
So Liv’s mama, played by Khandi Alexander, makes her first appearance in this episode but it won’t be the last we see of her. We open the episode with a flashback to the last time Liv saw her mother and then a flash forward to Liv sitting silently in shock in her office, trying to process what Jake and Huck have told her about her mother’s death. Whilst Liv is in a state of shock the world is still moving on, the phones are ringing off the hook with the White House and Josephine Marcus vying for her services. A swift turn of events from the beginning of the season when OPA was swinging close to the red, a deep dark hole Abby would rather they did not visit ever again.
Before she can make any decision Liv makes a last ditch effort to get some answers and verification of the story from the man she loves. Has loved for a long time. She gets herself to the White House to confront Mr President but he is under the delusion that she is coming to personally accept Mellie’s offer to run his campaign. HA! I love this scene of power between Liv and Fitz. FINALLY!! Olivia Pope emerges with her white hat firmly resident on her perfectly coiffured head of hair.
FITZGERALD THOMAS GRANT III IS A BITCH!! FACT. Fitz is such a bitch he couldn’t be more bitch worthy of the title. He actually throws Defiance in her face when she demands answers about Operation Remington. AS IF DEFIANCE WAS BECAUSE OF HER AND NOT HIM!! He brings up the past which makes me to believe he is one of those pathetic lovers who will never let things go but always bring them up at his most opportune time. HE IS A GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH! I HATE HIM. And now he wants to wag his presidential balls and throw the weight of his office in her face. An office he wouldn’t have held if Liv did not give him said presidential balls. BULLSHIT FITZ.
‘I can’t work for you.’ She says. Door slam.
That look on his face alone was all I needed. Now she is going to go to war with Fitz and I want her to win.
She accepts Josie Marcus’ campaign and gets to work immediately trying to butter up her image and pit her as a viable Candidate against Reston and Fitz, she is in it to win it. Olivia Pope is back in business and Cyrus knows this is bad for business for the Grant campaign. Mellie is furious, after everything she had to do to his whore back on side, Fitz screws it up but she doesn’t even know the half of it.
Meanwhile Quinn is out here going all gun totting crazy on us in the gun range and who should she run into? Charlie. Remember Assasin Charlie with the sweet tooth who has refuses to die? Well he has a plan and Quinn is the target. Bloody hell Quinn…Charlie is working Papa Pope’s angles in his corner and will obviously get to Liv and Huck through Quinn who is too damn dumb to think twice about anything. She steps up to Huck to ask questions about B613 and Hucks gives her the cold shoulder because she has overstayed her welcome where their friendship is concerned. I don’t know about Quinn so lets just leave her where she is.
In a quest to get more Jake reaches out to one Kate, I guess they are former B613 BFFs and he tells her to look into details of a certain flight. Kate seems nice and lovely but you know what happens to nice people on this show don’t you? They come up missing or dead and that’s just what happens to Kate when she tries to take Jake out, I suppose on Papa Pope’s command…Well she ends up with a bullet to her head at the hands of Fitz’s detail on Jake. Does everyone in B613 just want to kill everyone else who’s not? Now Fitz thinks its enough to get Jake to stop looking into Remington but Jake is not buying it because to go to so much extent means Papa Pope and Fitz know something that could ruin everything and its that very thing that they would go to any extent to cover up that could end up saving his life. He cannot just walk away.
Cyrus Bean is the devil. No he really is and I love that he will go to any extent, by any means necessary, to see Grant back in the White House, even if it means granting a felon visa back into the country in order to scare Harrison so he can sway Liv away from Josephine Marcus. I mean Cyrus is the devil sitting on the throne in Hell waiting to welcome fellow devils. His character is deeply dark and deviant and this is the same flaw that will see to his demise eventually. Like Icarus he is swaying very close to the sun and cannot help himself. Harrison is shaken up enough to be stirred over this and there in lies his own test. I for one am glad for this dimension to Harrison’s character because he needs more screen time. He is Liv’s gladiator through and through. He is the voice of reason behind Liv’s senselessness when it comes to Fitz, something about her reaches him and I like that he never backs down from her. Now we need to know who Salif is and what he has on Harrison. If we remember from the first season, Salif was the reason why Harrison was in jail before Liv got him out.
Flashback to the day of the crash we see Papa Pope visibly shaken about his wife’s death. This scene almost leads me to believe Papa Pope may not have had a hand in his wife’s disappearance or maybe he knows and they are in this game together and she had to disappear… I know, conjectures, far fetched theories, but here’s the thing, either Fitz was set up to take the fall for something bigger than Remington or Liv’s parents are in on something to do with her disappearance and she’s just chilling someone only to come out later on and be like “hey”. What if she is Command’s Command? What does Papa Pope know that he is so certain Jake won’t find out? Is he leaving these crumbs for him in order to cover up the whole truth? These questions are dying to be answered. Olivia in present day too is reliving that same moment, with a bottle of red wine, trying to piece things together but nothing makes sense. A call to her father only deepens this emotional turmoil, there are so many questions she wants to ask but can’t because Papa Pope may kill her friends. Olivia so distraught, its heartbreaking.
Papa Pope gives her a pass; One Question and that’s it.
“Did you give the order to have my mother killed?” BOOM. Talk about a question.
“No.”
From these scenes its obvious Papa Pope shares the same amount of hurt only he is able to compartmentalise his so very rationally what with B613 and all and he would rather leave it all in the past.
Not so easily done Papa. Not at all. Liv is a dog with a bone and she won’t stop chomping at the bit now that she has her teeth sunk in.
Josie Marcus’ interview with James is another BOOM dynamite scene. Liv and Abby have set the time bomb ticking with their fake video of Restin’s ad calling into question her sense of leadership and foreign policy. Josie lets loose on James, setting him and everyone else straight, disputing the the feminist cliches that are often attributed to female politicians. What a scene and what a play. Sarah Palin, this is how its done ma’am Lady.
Meanwhile Sally the bible thumper Langston is already marshalling her arsenals in her bid to run for election. She and Cyrus are playing cat and mouse game and for now Cyrus is the cat because he has her pegged and played. Sally has a problem which the bible cannot solve; a husband with a roving eye, a thing Mellie immediately informs Cyrus will be good leverage to bring her to heel. Something tells me there are a few aides in his closet or something of that nature. On a side note; Mellie is the Queen of all Shades, her digs know just where to hit when it comes to Fitz and she finds common ground with Mr Langston, zoning in on Sally’s jealousy.
Misery, meet Company go forth and let the Scandal brew. Mellie, Mellie what’s up your sleeves?
Fitz and his presidential balls show up at Liv’s apartment- seriously isn’t there like a buzzer system so she can screen her visitors? I digress. But anyways he shows and offers her some half assed shit, about try to be us again. HELLO FITZ THERE IS NO US WHEN IT COMES TO YOU AND LIV. He wants her to come on the campaign trail so they can be us again; WHAT US? HOTEL ROOMS and STOLEN MOMENTS? ELEVATORS AND HALLWAYS? HALF ARSED MEASURES? FLIPPING HELL!! WHAT US? Liv is like “You shouldn’t have come here.” So then she asks about Operation Remington and he still wouldn’t tell her the truth not even when she informs him that his actions, whatever they were on that Operation killed her mother (I know she’s not dead but you know he doesn’t know…) He’s all “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Again FITZGERALD THOMAS GRANT II IS A BITCH.
Liv shows him the door. Defriending on Facebook and blocking on Twitter and LinkedIn are necessary actions to be taken.
A lot of questions remain to be answered;
Is Liv’s mama dead or alive? I believe she’s alive somewhere and may be a part of B613. Farfetched I know but this is Scandal nothing is ever easy. Besides look closely at the scene with Liv and her mother, there is something about that hug, it says so much more.
Papa Pope- what does he know about Liv’s mama being dead or alive? What did he have to do with the downing of that flight.
Fitz; did he pull the trigger or is he taking the fall for something to cover up something else?
Jake- what is his eventual play? Is all this just for Liv?
Is Quinn now going to be recruited into B613? Will Papa Pope use her to spy on OPA? Goodness she is such a dunce, she’s a pun for everyone’s play in this.
Will Josie become the President?
Will Liv unravel what happened to her mama?
QUESTIONS. SO MANY DAMN QUESTIONS….