Thursday night’s new episode of Scandal season 4 found Jake going into survival mode to stop David from prosecuting B613 — until one of the show’s signature twists shook things up.

Meanwhile, Mellie welcomed her annoying sister to the White House and Olivia helped a person on death row clear his name.

The case against B613

With Jake uninterested in helping prosecute B613 out of fear of Papa Pope’s wrath, David brings B613 associates Simon, Max, and Margo on board to present in front of a Grand Jury. Unfortunately for David, Jake set up a bug in the Attorney General’s office and overheard the plans.

Viewers are led to believe Jake kills David’s B613 trio in order to stop David’s trial from going forward. Now that they can’t rely on other agents, Charlie figures the next step is to kill Jake, who is nothing but a threat to the case. Quinn scoffs at the idea, but Huck agrees: Jake is in survival mode and has to be stopped.

Huck and Quinn begin tracking Jake and realize he’s in Olivia’s apartment building. Concerned about Ms. Pope’s safety, they head over there only to find her having some quiet time with the new man she’s been sleeping with. When Olivia closes the door, Jake opens Lois’ across the way and vows he won’t kill Olivia so long as they don’t try to kill him. It was a bit of a weird moment that had us laughing instead of feeling scared.

The next day, David, Charlie, Quinn, and Huck sit on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and try to figure out their plan forward. Huck and Quinn conclude that it’s time to throw in the towel, but David pleads for justice.

With no options left, David decides he himself will testify against B613 since he’s seen Jake kill a couple of people. Silly David still doesn’t realize Jake could be listening via the bug he planted in the office, so he continues to repeat his “command must die” mantra to drive viewers crazy.

But there’s a twist! Holly, David’s secretary, who’s been lurking in plain sight, is working for B613, too. She was the one who killed the agents David brought in to prosecute B613 because she was working for Papa Pope. What’s more, Jake and Olivia are aware of everything that’s been going on, and are actually on David’s side because they know that Papa Pope must be stopped.

We’re glad to see that starting next week everyone will be working together to take down Papa Pope. Will he finally die by the end of this season? It’s a little frustrating that Papa is so easily able to plant B613 team members anywhere he needs them.

The case of the week: Save a life, ruin another

The case of the week finds Olivia trying to save Congressman Reed’s father George from execution. He is believed to have killed a man named Dan who broke the heart of the Congressman’s sister, who killed herself over the trauma of the relationship. Dad is uninterested in helping clear his own name, but Olivia insists on representing him. (It was very easy for the Congressman to persuade her to take on the case — it would’ve been nice to get a better reason for why she cared so much.)

Later the Gladiators manage to connect Lisa, the recently-deceased wife of Dan, to the murder via a weapon at her home. But wait — there’s a twist! Olivia connects the weapon to Congressman Nick because the gun hasn’t been there long. Now that the truth has been realized, Nick reveals his dad wanted to kill himself if his son ever confessed. In other words, Nick is stuck between a rock and a hard place — his father is dead either way.

Nick ends up publicly confessing to the murder of Daniel Hoffman after Olivia talks George into letting his son be truthful. Nick is happy to get his innocent dad out of jail after all these years, and Dad seems like he’s happy to finally be free. Olivia, you’ve done it again!

Not in Harmony

Lizzie, in the role of Mellie’s campaign manager, visits the First Lady’s sister Harmony down south for vetting purposes. Although her vetting interview checks out okay, Harmony hints that something else is up. Lizzie concludes she’s “fifty shades of angry” because the half-sister hasn’t been welcomed into the family.

It turns out Fitz and Mellie both hate her guts. By extension, so does Cyrus.

At family dinner, Mellie and Harmony get into a fight after the former can’t handle another moment hearing about her soap business, amongst the other reasons she dislikes her sister. After verbally duking it out, Harmony threatens to use dirt against Mellie one day.

Mellie talks Fitz into using kindness to win over Harmony — something he’ll have to do more often when he’s First Man one day — so he does his wife the favor and they become one happy family thanks to hugs.

What did you think of ‘Scandal’ season 4, episode 18?

It wasn’t one of the best episodes, but it set up the return of the Olivia vs. Papa Pope arc. And for that, it was a good one.