Tonight’s Scandal season 3, episode 4 saw Olivia handle a sexting senator and Mellie get caught up in a scandal of her own.
The storyline was so stressful for Ms. Pope that it made her consume at least three large glasses of wine.
On tonight’s Scandal season 3, episode 4…
A scandal for Mellie. At breakfast, Mellie and Fitz are watching a morning political show when Lisa Kudrow’s character – Democratic Congresswoman Josephine Marcus – is verbally smacking around the President, telling him he needs to “tame his cobra” after the recent sex allegations. Mellie and Cyrus discuss the matter while Fitz reads in the paper that a man named Peter Foster has died.
Later at an event Mellie is caught on a hot mic talking smack on Congresswoman Marcus when she thinks she’s speaking to someone in confidence. Mellie’s hurtful comments naturally set off a media circus, and Cyrus yells at her because the Congresswoman now has political power and could potentially run for office. While Mellie likes the idea, Cyrus doesn’t and gets her to write up an apology statement. Congresswoman Marcus buys the apology but still throws a bit of shade at Mellie. Meanwhile, Marcus’ approval numbers are up and it has Cyrus in a tizzy. Fitz sticks up for her Mellie, affording them a brief moment of affection. Previews for next week’s episode show that Marcus will continue to rise to political power and will run against the President in the election.
Jake versus Rowan. Jake warns Olivia that her father needs to be stopped. She doesn’t want to be a part of it, however, and wants to go back to being unaware of B613 — and Jake. Even if Jake agreed with her, the game plan can’t last long. Fitz goes to the funeral of Foster and pays his respect to the man’s widowed wife. She questions his appearance but Fitz explains that he too was in the Navy. She seems confused by this, and rightfully so. Viewers know that Foster was the person Huck killed on last week’s episode due to his associations with B613.
Cyrus’ beau James hears about Fitz attending Foster’s funeral and tells Cyrus who then meets with Rowan about the surprise development. Meanwhile, Jake is spying on them and reports back to Olivia about their encounter. He learns that Foster was a pilot and he took a secret mission. Olivia stops him from saying more, reminding Jake that she wants nothing to do with this case because she wants a normal life with her father. Huck overhears this conversation between Jake and Olivia and finds Jake’s voice recorder that captured the Cyrus/Rowan meeting.
At the end of the episode we see Jake and Olivia supporting each other. “I’m not going anywhere,” he tells her after she admits she’s about to scream in frustration. A phone call interrupts their make out session because Fitz is on the line and he’s had a hard day too. Jake asks Olivia if she’d like more wine loudly so Fitz hears him. It turns out that during this phone call, Fitz was driving to meet with Rowan (the episode’s cliffhanger).
Fitz was going against Cyrus’ word. Always looking to keep the Commander in Chief in the Oval Office, Cyrus confronts him about attending the funeral and tells Fitz he needs to stop doing things like this. “Leave things in the past, in the past,” the Chief of Staff warns his boss.
May Huck and Jake take out Rowan? At the beginning of the episode Huck is at an alcoholic’s anonymous meeting and confesses he’s back on the bottle, but not the type alcoholics would assume. A phone rings in the room, and it’s Quinn’s. She’s been spying on Huck and he notices. Quinn confronts him later about it, voicing concern that he’s been acting different lately and wants to know who the person was he killed when he said in the meeting he was drinking whiskey. Huck storms out of the room, and when going into the garage he’s confronted by Jake. The latter character suggests that they try to find dirt (like a murder) on Rowan to bring him down.
A sexting scandal. Senator Richard Meyers aka “Redwood Johnson” has been sending pics of himself in his underwear to a woman who’s been murdered. Olivia reluctantly accepts the case because of the pay. The congressman’s fingerprints have been found at the woman’s home which connect him to the murder. Despite this, he and his wife tell Olivia he was nowhere near the dead woman’s home that night. Olivia’s plan is to point out to the public that the congresswoman’s wife believes in her husband.
Speaking with Olivia privately, the congressman’s wife assures Ms. Pope that he is absolutely innocent and his only mistake was sending the photos to one person.
… But the congressman does seem to be a sex addict. In court, David calls up several women to the stand who testify that the senator sent them sexts. It’s bad news for the senator and Olivia because David’s making the jury believe he is an addict. The problem gets worse when the next day, more allegations come forward that go so far as to describe his private parts (he’s got a mole on his special place!). These latest accusations push his wife over the edge and she temporarily disappears.
The case begins to twist when we learn that the dead woman has multiple sugar daddies, thus Olivia can prove to the jury that there could’ve been numerous people who murdered the woman. Olivia tracks down the senator’s wife at the Grand District Hotel, and Olivia meets her in her room over glasses of wine. The wife wants to see him in jail, but Olivia says it wouldn’t be right. The wife doesn’t want to lie, so Olivia concocts a story that prevents her from lying.
But there’s a twist! At the verdict, the senator is found not guilty, and Olivia learns from the senator himself that his wife wasn’t his alibi. It turns out that his wife pulled off the murder to protect him. Olivia confronts her about this, and the wife reminds her, “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
What did you think of ‘Scandal’ season 3, episode 4?
Check out a preview for next week’s episode below in which we see Kudrow’s Congresswoman character rise in political power:
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