Courtesy of ABC
In ‘Full Circle,’ the lucky people get blackmailed, while the less lucky ones get their heads blown off, body parts chopped off, or sold to Iran.
Let’s bitch it out…
In this truly dark hour in Scandal history, everyone continues to spiral downward in the effort to save Liv (Kerry Washington). The auction for everyone’s favourite handler has begun, and unsurprisingly Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) and OPA have decided they want in. It’s like Fitz says: who has more money than the U.S.? A: China and the United Arab Emirates, according to Mellie (Bellamy Young) and Cyrus (Jeff Perry).
On the B613 side of the house, as our team tries to pull their money together for the auction, Huck (Guillermo Diaz) reveals that he has more than $2 BILLION in the bank (!!!). That’s right, when B613 went under, he kept all the money they had been syphoning from the government (it’s back pay for years in the hole…fair enough).
However, money isn’t enough to get into the auction. You need to be invited to the party. This is where Liv’s mom (Khandi Alexander) comes in. In exchange for a TV (with basic cable of course), Marie agrees to set our team up with a cartel leader that has access to the auction. Naturally there is still a catch: in exchange our team needs to kill some of his competitors.
If you thought Huck had lost it when he flayed Liz’s back, you ain’t seen nothing yet. When he murders Gustavo’s enemies, he goes off the deep end (well…deeper end) and the room looks like a Jackson Pollack painting with blood everywhere. Not to mention detached limbs <shudder>. Later, Quinn (Katie Lowes) tries to tell Jake (Scott Foley) that Huck will go back to normal once Liv is back. But seeing how Huck considers Liv already dead, it is not looking good for his mental health.
Over at eBay Headquarters, just when we’re starting to hate Ian (Jason Butler Harner)…a little less (after all, he was going to let Liv choose which of the final three Bachelors she wants to go home with), crazy Gus shoots him in the back of the head. That’ll leave blood in your wine glass. First her couch, now this. She should stop drinking wine around these guys!
When Liv realizes she is not going to be able to control Gus, she turns her attention to the two techies running the auction site. She tries to appeal to their desires to build and create new technologies, that this detour into the criminal world is just that (a detour), and she can help them pursue their dreams if they rig the site so that the U.S. wins the bid. Hell, at the end of her speech I’m ready to pack up and move to Silicon Valley. In a great twist though, Techie #1 calls her out on her miscalculation. He’s in it for the money. She’s really SOL now…
At the White House, Fitz is fighting back against Andrew (Jon Tenney). He’s replaced his Secret Service and drafted a resignation letter for the VP. Unsurprisingly, Andrew won’t leave (did they seriously think that after blackmailing the President, kidnapping his mistress, lying about being shot, and starting a war, that he’d just throw in the towel because they asked him to?). Initially, Fitz and Cy are ready to go to war and get Liz to testify against Andrew. However, Andrew promises Mellie that if he goes down, he’s taking her with him. Sadly, he’s right. A man in politics can be forgiven for cheating, but a woman? Not so much.
When talking to Fitz, Mellie finally admits what we all can’t wait for: her dream is to become the President. Fitz, because through all the ups and downs he and Mellie are still partners that lost a child together, concedes to let Andrew walk in order to keep Mellie’s secret. Can these two get a matching BFF necklace now?
Back to the auction. Let’s remember that Gus hates Liv, he’s got 17 stitches and a dead best friend to prove it. So while everyone is bidding their heart out to save Liv, he accepts an off-the-books offer from everyone’s favorite Human Rights Organization: Iran.
S&#*. Just. Got. Real.
Other Observations:
- I actually got physically sick to my stomach when Huck started talking about what would happen to Liv in the coming weeks after she’s under Iran’s control.
- Fitz gathers his security council in the Situation Room to bid on Liv. I understand everyone is sworn to secrecy, but it seems doubtful that every member of the Department of Defense or CIA in that room would not someday write a Tell All, outing the President for starting a war and spending taxpayer dollars to get back his mistress. He’s starting to open this up to way too many people.
- Quinn gives us a nice reminder of just how long this show has been on the air, referencing the office that once belonged to both Steven and Harrison. Who are they again?
- Though I have been enjoying the friendship between Mellie and Fitz, Fitz once again shows how selfish he is. After Mellie asked him what his dream was, she had to prompt him to ask her in return. It doesn’t occur to him to find out?
- It’s ironic how Jake can be worried about Huck’s sanity as he’s simultaneously chopping a guy’s head off. Such is the life of a B613 agent I guess…
- Abby (Darby Stanchfield) spends the episode getting caught up on events. She had a nice run-in with David (Joshua Molina), which I assume is to reconnect the two characters after Leo Bergen (an unseen Paul Adelstein) found a permanent role on Girl’s Guide to Divorce.
What did you think of ‘Full Circle’? Do you think Liv will make it all the way to Iran? What’s Huck going to do next? Is anyone else getting their “Mellie for 2016” buttons ready? Sound off below!
Scandal airs Thursdays at 9pm EST on ABC