Scandal season 5, episode 7 found Olivia assuming all of the power that the White House can provide.

Even if we did see Olivia essentially become the President of the United States, tonight’s new episode of Scandal was largely filler as we approach the winter finale.

At the beginning Fitz finds out that Rowan and Tom have both escaped, and Olivia acts like she knows nothing about it. It may not’ve been her best decision because the President decides to task Jake — who already knows how he escaped — with figuring out how Rowan escaped (lol). This makes for an awkward situation in the Oval, and to make matters worse, Jake vows in front of Olivia to put a bullet in Rowan’s head.

While the repercussions of Olivia’s decision to help Mellie and Rowan have yet to play out, previews for next week’s episode show that Fitz will probably be finding out that his beloved was involved. Once he does, we doubt she’ll be holding as much power in the White House as she does right now.

Case of the Week

In an attempt to complete more “easily digestible achievements,” Fitz awards a Presidential Medal of Honor to a feminist activist who — as it turns out — raped someone two years ago. A victim goes to Olivia for help after seeing her rapist receive the award for all the good he’s supposedly done.

It turns out that the man has a history of taking advantage of students after drugging them. This plot line reminds us of the non-fictional Bill Cosby case currently making headlines. In both cases the rapist would drug his victims after coercing them with encouraging remarks about their careers. In Scandal, the rapist’s wife defends his actions because she’s interested in defending his legacy.

Olivia initially struggles with how to tear the guy down, but later she decides to get all of the victims to appear at one of the rapist’s events and protest. There’s no saving himself after a slew of victims came forward at once.

Lizzie returns, and Olivia takes over

Lizzie wants her job back at the White House, and to do so she appears on Sally Langston’s talk show to say nice things about Fitz. Sally, of course, doesn’t know that this is her plan.

Earlier, Cyrus has a bad feeling about Lizzie going on air so he tries to keep her off TV. Meanwhile, Olivia suggests they let her do it. It turns out that Olivia and Cyrus’s premonitions were both correct since Lizzie gets herself a new job at the White House: Vice President Susan Ross’s Chief of Staff. It’s bad news for Cyrus because she gets her job back, and good news for Olivia because she was right about what would happen!

This pisses off Cyrus on multiple levels: Not only is Lizzie returning to the White House, but Olivia encouraged Fitz to let Lizzie go on air. It’s Olivia helping Fitz call the shots now, not Cyrus! Over the past few episodes we’ve seen Cyrus profess his love for Fitz, and seeing someone else take care of his “son” stings.

Later, Cyrus tells Olivia that she has pulled off a coup — she is now the President of the United States! She’s gotten so close to Fitz that she can control him in any way she wants.

Olivia doesn’t agree. “This is what a couple looks like,” she counters.

Cyrus’s idea initially alarm Olivia, but not for long — at the end of the episode she stands in the center of the Oval and continues to call the shots. Again, we doubt this control will last for long, because Fitz is about to find out that she teamed up with Mellie to help Rowan escape.

David and Lizzie?

One of the most “omg” moments of the episode came when David and Lizzie started hooking up following a hell of a lot of tension. The scene was kinda gross considering how it came out of nowhere.

VP Ross almost caught them in the act when she dropped by David’s office for another wine cooler date. Though she ended up not barging into his office, we have to think she’ll be finding out about David and Lizzie in the near future. Will this be the VP’s final straw in keeping her position? We know she’s been on the fence about staying in office.

This is about to create a beautiful love triangle because Lizzie is now Susan’s Chief of Staff, and both of them apparently have the hots for David. Can this be the new “scandal?”