Courtesy of ABC
YOLO the term: super douchey. YOLO the episode: a fantastic set-up for next week’s Scandal mid-season finale. Nothing like terrorists, ruined marriages and murder to get you in the holiday mood.
Let’s bitch it out…
After last episode’s cliffhanger ending when Liv (Kerry Washington) discovers her mom is alive, the race is on to keep Mama Pope (Khandi Alexander) safe. The gladiators are successful thanks mostly to Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Jake (Scott Foley), who get her to a safe house and cut a tracker out of her back. It’s gross, but not “eating your own wrists” gross. Scandal has taught me that everything’s relative.
To answer Abby’s (Darby Stanchfield) question – “Where the hell have you been the last 20 years?”- Maya was on her way to tell a reporter in London all about Rowan’s (Joe Morton) role in B613, which is why he faked her death and captured her. The team runs into some road blocks when Rowan puts Maya on the No Fly List under “Marie Wallace”. When Liv finally gets Maya on a plane to Hong Kong, thanks to Tony Goldwyn’s Fitz, she remembers someone calling for her mom asking for Marie. Uh oh, seems like Liv’s mom may be a terrorist after all (!).
Remember last year when you thought “Huckleberry Quinn” would be a cute couple? Oh come on, you know you did. Well, I hate to break it to you, but I think that ship has sailed. That’s what happens when you strip someone down, duct tape them head to toe, and yank out their teeth. As you know, I am normally not a fan of any storylines revolving around Quinn, but this just 100% worked for me. Huck is sufficiently creepy, licking Quinn’s face, equal parts giddy and sad that he’s going to torture “family.” And Katie Lowes nails it. Even though half her face is covered by tape, the fear in her eyes is palpable. In a well laid out twist, Quinn gets to keep her second tooth (which is good, because “bicuspids are important for dental health”), and she convinces Huck to let her go to spy on B613.
Meanwhile, my hope that James (Dan Bucatinsky) staged his sex pictures with Daniel Douglas (Jack Coleman) to teach Cyrus (Jeff Perry) a lesson is extinguished. James did sleep with Daniel, and eggs Cyrus on by making over the top threesome comments and continuing to spend time with Daniel. During the inevitable Cyrus/James confrontation, James makes a great secondary point: Cyrus not only pimped him out, he’s also a gay man shaming another gay man for being in the closet.
While Cyrus is physically devastated by the situation, he heeds Mellie’s (Bellamy Young) guidance and stays the course. Even though he promised James no one would see the pictures, he shows them to Sally (Kate Burton) to get her out of the presidential race. Priorities, Cy, priorities. The act however, gives us one of the two main shockers of the episode: Sally murders Daniel. My question: why on earth would Sally call Cyrus when she kills her husband? There has got to be a better person who can cover it up and not hang it over her head forever. Then she could make a presidential run as a widow, even better!
Courtesy of ABC
Other Observations:
- In a great quiet scene, Maya tells Liv she imagined her having a husband and a son. She’s sad that in reality there seems to be no laughter or happiness in Liv’s life. It makes us think about what Liv’s life could have been like if she never met Fitz. Would she be happy? Or is it in her nature to get into these complicated situation?
- Why is the hair and makeup department against brushing Khandi Alexander’s hair? In both flashback and present-day scenes she looks a hot mess.
- When did George Newburn’s Charlie become fun? I like him more than ever this episode.
- It’s interesting that becoming pro-choice is the republican issue that’s so hard for Sally to swallow, though she concedes on immigration or gay marriage. Didn’t her 15 year old daughter have an abortion a few years ago? Couple that with her own issues regarding her husband’s sexuality and I would think she’s pick pro-choice in a heartbeat.
- While I love a good Jake/Fitz conflict, their scene together seems a bit recycled. Haven’t we been here before? That being said, I love that Jake calls Fitz out for being ridiculously selfish: “For you, there’s only two people that matter in this world, Olivia and yourself.” Not the best trait for the leader of the free world. But seriously, has Fitz inquired about his constituents…or his own three kids for that matter, in the past year?
What did you think of ‘YOLO’? Did you see either Daniel’s murder or the reveal that Maya may be a terrorist coming? Sound off below!
Scandal airs Thursdays at 10pm EST on ABC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKP7Tcez-h8