Scandal - S3E6 - Icarus
Previously on Scandal - ‘More Cattle, Less Bull’
Flashback with Fruit Loops
We see Olivia when she was 12, saying goodbye to her mother before she left to take that fateful flight.
In present day, Olivia is staring into space in her office, remembering that day. Harrison and Abby want to know what’s wrong with her. They have Josie Marcus’ campaign and the White House calling, both wanting to know if she’ll take their job offers. Jake and Huck tell the two to leave Olivia alone without telling them what’s wrong with her.
Olivia finally breaks out of her daze and does her fierce stomp down the hall towards the elevator. She tells Jake and Huck she’s going to see Fitz. He’s the only person she can ask about their theory. Well, she could ask her dad, but she reasons he’d kill all three of them to teach her a lesson about asking questions.
At the White House, Mellie is all atwitter because Liv is on her way.
Cyrus compares the whole situation to a Greek tragedy or myth. He can’t decide which. Finally he settles on Icarus. And blurts out as much when Olivia arrives and asks to speak to Fitz alone. She ask hims about Operation Remington and Fitz tells her he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She breaks it down a little. Nope. Still don’t know nuffin’ bout nuffin’. He says he’ll talk to her about anything she wants, but when it comes to that he’s the president and he ain’t saying shit. With that, Olivia turns down the job offer.
Counter Attacks
Later, Mellie is furious. She did all but roll up Olivia’s whore-ass in a rug and unfurl her at Fitz’s feet, she says. She’s in serious Why Can’t You Do Anything Right, Fitz mode. When he’s alone with Cyrus, Fitz tells him that Liv knows about Operation Remington. And for the second week in a row, Cyrus quietly shits his pants.
Meanwhile, Liv is advising Josie to put out some big media ads to counter Reston. Right now she’s all baking pies on morning shows while he’s touring the Middle East. Josie has refused big campaign dollars before, but Liv tells her that time is over. Josie meets with a string of big interest boys, telling them all what they want to hear.
Cyrus meets with Rowan and tells him that Liv knows about Remington (thanks to Jake) and now she’s working for Marcus. Rowan tells Cyrus to focus on shutting down Marcus and he’ll handle Jake. Ruh roh.
Jake meets with a female B613 buddy and asks her to help in getting access to the sub basement level of Langley and the cockpit recording for the flight Liv’s mom was on. She’s all flirty, but Jake shoots her down. No pun intended. A man seated in the restaurant nearby watches Jake.
Liv and Abby break the bad news to Josie: none of the people she met with will back her financially because they don’t think she will win. She refuses to go negative to show that she’ll go hard. Liv advises her to do a big live interview with someone reputable like Diane Sawyer or James Novak… really? James? OK.
Cyrus calls and subtly blackmails Harrison with the return of Adnan Salif. He’ll approve his visa back into the United States if Harrison doesn’t tank the Marcus campaign. Later, Fitz questions why Cyrus is so calm about Olivia knowing. He realizes Cyrus must have been in contact with Rowan (or B613). Cyrus implies that Jake is going to be punished for disobeying orders. Fitz isn’t happy about that, but Cyrus reminds him that they best not piss off B613.
One Question
That night, Olivia is getting to’ up drinking bottles of wine out of those super-size wine glasses. She calls Rowan and asks about her mom. She wants to know the last thing he said to her and if he loved her. He allows her one question. She goes with, “Did you give the order to have my mother killed?” He says no. She tries asking if Fitz shot down the plane and he’s all, “Didn’t I say you get ONE question?” He tells her to leave the past in the past.
Cyrus tries to get James to hit Josie with hardball questions in his interview that evening, but James refuses to talk about it. Cyrus notices an interview with a Tea Partier who is going to organize a rally against Fitz. He calls Sally for help to get her religious people in line. He also tells her Fitz wants to have dinner that night to discuss re-election strategy. She agrees, but she hangs up, she tells Leo Bergen that they’ve fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
Harrison is looking at a news article on Adnan Salif’s extradition to Switzerland. He looks afraid that Salif may be coming back to the States.
Temper, Temper
Liv and Abby are trying to prep Josie for her interview and when she pushes back and goes the hell off on them, they realize that little Josie the Pussycat has claws.
Harrison asks Huck to make it so that Salif doesn’t get back into the country. Huck says he’ll delete Salif’s visa application.
At dinner with the president, Sally’s husband flirts with Mellie and Sally notices. Sally offers to get the Tea Party reverend off of Fitz’s back.
Quinn’s at the gun range again when Charlie appears and offers her help on improving her shots. She tells him to get lost. But when Quinn later wants to ask Huck if people in B613 can ever leave and have normal lives, Huck blows her off.
Slick Moves All Around
Sally and Leo call in the Tea Party reverend and he thinks he’s about to get chastised for speaking out against the president. But they reveal their plans for Sally’s run for the White House and asks for his support.
Before Josie’s interview, Abby and Liv show her a leaked Reston attack ad that slyly implies she’s unfit to be president because she’s a woman. They tell her not to get her head out of the game and focus on the interview. When Josie sits down with James, she does lose her shit, but in the best kind of way, calling out Reston, James, and the media for being sexist. Abby and Liv are impressed.
Cyrus takes a call from the reverend, who was being a spy for him, and learns that Sally is intending to run for president. When Cyrus tells Mellie, she tells Cy that they need to use Sally’s husband’s wandering eye to their advantage.
Kate, the CIA spy lady Jake met with, calls him and they meet at a shipyard. When she reaches in her bag to give him the recording, the man who had been watching Jake appears and shoots her right between the eyes. He tells Jake to check her bag. The only thing in it was a gun.
The donations are now rolling in for Josie. Her sister Candy confronts Abby about being the woman in the “leaked ad.” Abby shrugs it off because it worked.
Harrison visits Cyrus and tells him that he won’t issue an admissibility waiver on Salif’s application because he won’t go on record as bringing a criminal back into the country. When he leaves, Cyrus calls and has a whole new visa issued for Salif.
Charlie helps Quinn at the range and later calls Rowan to say that the seed is planted. Rowan tells him to keep watering it and sees that it blooms.
The man who helped Jake was working for Fitz, and he brings Fitz to the White House. Jake wants to know where Fitz was the night of the mission. He says it will be his only chance to bring down Command, but Fitz says it’s Jake’s only chance of sleeping with Olivia and refuses to help him anymore.
Time
Fitz shows up at Olivia’s house and asks her to come back to his campaign. She tells him he shouldn’t have come there. He begs her to leave it alone. Olivia tells him about the plane of 329 people being shot down. He still says he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She tells him that her mother was one of those people. Surely that will get Fitz to talk now, right? Nope. Olivia tells him she was 12 when her mother died and then asks him to leave.
Welp.
