Scandal - S4E4 - Like Father, Like Daughter
Previously on Scandal, ‘Inside the Bubble’
Jake Go Boom
For some reason Jake is walking back to his car, at night, in what looks like a pretty sketchy neighborhood. Something gives him the wiggins and he reaches for his gun before noticing the undercarriage of his car flashing a red light. Well, you can’t threaten the head of B613 in his home, while eating his pork tenderloin, and not expect him to at least try to assassinate you. Jake sets off the bomb with his key chain and walks away like a boss.
Jake’s car trouble makes him late getting home to Olivia where she has dinner waiting. Before they can swap stories about their day, Olivia gets a call and has to rush out.
Karen Goes to Paris
Karen Grant has learned a lot from her dad including: When your ass is in trouble, call Olivia Pope. She’s wasted at a party 500 miles from her school. Olivia and Quinn manage to hustle her out to the rooftop where Cyrus has a helicopter waiting. Huck has shut down all cell service in the building to avoid a drunken teen getting an Instagram pic of Karen looking like she’s covered in questionable fluids.
However, as soon as one boy got somewhere with four bars, he sends Karen a video of her taking two boys to Paris. Google it. Olivia calls Cyrus back and demand that he wake Fitz.
Fitz is furious. First he assumes Karen was raped, but she admits to sneaking out, convincing a girl to jack her father’s private jet, drinking, doing drugs, and willingly doing dirty things to two boys at the same time. I’m telling you: Google it! Olivia stops Fitz from putting his foot up Karen’s ass by telling him his daughter needs to meet with a doctor. He instructs Cyrus to look into the Secret Service who allowed his daughter to dip out and he begs Olivia to identify the boys on the tape and shut it down.
Abby, Don’t Be a Hater
When Abby spies Huck and Quinn walking the White House halls like they work there, she demands to know why. They can’t tell her is not the answer she wants to hear, but Cyrus pulls her aside and explains it’s the only answer she’s getting. Abby feels she’s constantly being undermined and made to feel small. Cyrus suggests she have a come to Jesus meeting with herself and realize she will never be Olivia Pope, and that maybe, just maybe, being Olivia Pope ain’t all that anyway.
Guess Who?: The X-Rated Version
After a quick stop so Karen can say hello to her mom and take in that Mellie is basically a hot-ass mess right now, Fitz hustles Karen off under the guise of “spending some time with her dad in the Oval Office,” but really she’s sitting down with Liv, Huck, and Quinn playing the dirtiest game of Guess Who ever. Karen finally manages to narrow it down to one of the two boys she had sex with.
Tom in the Middle
Eli is not happy with Tom. He wanted Jake dead and Tom has failed. Tom tries explaining that Jake is good - he was Command for fuck’s sake - and knows all of Tom’s moves. Eli instructs him to try harder. Jake sits down next to Tom on the park bench after Rowan walks away and tells Tom why Rowan wants him killed to begin with: Jakes knows what Tom did to Jerry. And how long, Jake asks, do you think it will take him to kill you after I’m gone? Tom has to make some damn life decisions.
Tell Me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies
Olivia reports to Fitz that they’ve found one guy and they’re still looking for the second. That’s all fine and well, but Fitz doesn’t want to talk about the two guys who ran a train on his underage daughter and made a sex tape about it. He wants to talk about what’s really important: where her ass was all summer long. She lies and says she went away alone.
Olivia. Look at your life. Look at your choices.
Jake The Bully
Jake wants David’s word that if something should happen to him, David will release the B613 files. David refuses. Fine. Jake wants the files. David refuses again because he has clearly forgotten who he’s fucking with. Jake reminds him by snatching him up by the throat and slamming him on the desk. David hands over the keys to the storage facility and his dignity.
Smelly Mellie
Now that Jake has the files, he’s on the phone with Liv and tells her they need to talk. She has to cut the call short because she has just seen Mellie in the halls of the White House. Mellie runs after Liv, screaming her name, and grabbing her by the arm. She wants to know why Olivia is in her house. Olivia wants to know if Mellie has bumped her damn head to be gripping her up like that. Mellie sees the error of her ways and Olivia says she should probably take this up with Fitz.
Mellie storms into Fitz’s office and demands answers. He was supposed to tell her before he saw Olivia. He confesses that he didn’t call Olivia, Karen did. When Mellie starts going off about how she’ll be the one to solve the family’s problems, Fitz has finally had enough. He’s not going to put up with this Mellie when he’s already dealt with Drunk Mellie, Smelly Mellie, Fuck It Mellie, No Fucks to Give Mellie, and Dem Chips Tho Mellie. Not when he’s had to watch a sex tape of his daughter with two guys doing a move called The Eiffel Tower. Google it. Mellie is shocked, but manages to get in one dig about how Karen must take after her daddy.
Worst Parents Ever, Even Worse Than The Grants
Quinn grips up one of the boys at his job and threatens him. This leads Olivia to bring in the parents of the second boy in the video. She asks for access to make sure all copies of the video are destroyed. They agree… for $2.5 million.
When Olivia delivers their demands to Fitz, he’s outraged… but just for a moment. What he really wants to do is feel Olivia up, rub on her tit, and kiss her while she admits that she missed him while she was gone. She goes along for a moment… well, a few moments. Then she tells him she didn’t go away alone. He figures out she went with Jake and makes her say it. Then Fitz turns belligerent, as he does when he doesn’t get his way. Has he forgotten he’s married?
He orders her to pay the ransom.
Like Father, Like Daughter
The blackmailing parents are just about to receive their money when they try to double it to $5 million. Olivia has had e-fucking-nough. Olivia goes full Rowan on dey asses. She Papa Pope reads them for filth. She threatens to plant evidence, leak their blackmail attempts to the press, and pretty much shit on their whole existence. They have a change of heart and are suddenly quite happy with the $2.5 million, thank you very much.
Mommy Mellie
Mellie confronts Karen about what happened. While she would love to believe her daughter had sex with two men at once because she wanted to, felt empowered, and felt sexy, she suspects it was because Karen was in pain. And even though people would be high-fiving her if she were a boy, she’s not a boy. She’s the daughter of the most famous man in the world and therefore she’s gonna need to keep them knees together. This was Karen’s one free pass to show her ass because she’s grieving. She will not get another. Yes, Mellie. Yes. Karen admits to missing Jerry and then asks if her mom is okay because, not for nothing, Karen has been home for two days and Mellie is wearing the same shit.
Tom Under Fire
During the course of investigating the Secret Service in Karen’s escape, it is discovered that Tom’s schedule has raised red flags. Namely, why he was at Fort Dietrich two days before the election and not on duty in D.C. as he claimed? When Fitz hears the name of the place, he is clearly concerned. The strain of meningitis that killed Jerry was stolen from there. Fitz places a phone call.
Meanwhile, Tom calls Jake. He’s nervous because he’s being called in for questioning. Jake advises Tom to tell the truth because he has proof. Jake arrives at the White House and tries talking to Fitz, but Fitz is rushing out to listen in on Tom’s interrogation. Jake decides to wait for Fitz to return.
Just as Tom says he killed Jerry under orders, Rowan comes strolling in the interrogation room while Fitz and Cyrus look on from the other side of the glass. Despite Tom’s pleas to speak to the president alone, Rowan continues to interrogate him until Tom finally says that Jake Ballard ordered him to kill Jerry. Back in the waiting room outside of the Oval Office, Jake is arrested.
Thoughts & Questions:
- Jake has a plan, right? He had an envelope that he wanted to show Fitz. I have a hard time believing that Jake didn’t make copies of the evidence or that he didn’t take precautions against this. I mean, he threatened Papa Pope to his face! You can’t do that if you don’t have a pretty good plan.
- Papa Pope held Tom’s hand before he was taken into custody. Did he slip him a suicide pill?
- Will Mellie finally start giving a fuck again?
