Like father, like daughter. Scandal 5×17 sent Liv to the one part of the White House where no one can hear you scream.

The Scandal baby was a red herring. A frustrating, irritating red herring that almost made me turn away from episode 17, “Thwack!” Luckily, the annoying bird spread its wings and got out of the White House and into a rehab facility where the former Vice President has taken up residency as he recovers from his stroke.

The reveal of Andrew Nichols highlighted the hidden depths of Scandal‘s leads. Mellie felt the pain of longing, Abby felt her backbone straighten, Fitz leaned on his sword of righteousness, and Olivia finally showed her human side, feeling the weight of returning to “normalcy” too soon after trauma. For weeks I’ve been ready to write Liv off simply because I felt the writers had done the same thing.

It turns out there were letting Liv stew and dragging the audience through her story without all the details. Much like her team, I was getting frustrated with her actions and lack of words. There is no more room to skate around Olivia’s PTSD. “Thwack!” finally handled it. Now who is going to handle Liv?

What led her to the point of standing over a body with blood splattered on her face? Let’s take a look at what’s been pushing Liv to the edge over the last few weeks.

Arguments, especially ones fueled by helplessness, pushed Liv into fantasies where rooms turned into labyrinths that she could not escape. Liv has been trapped inside her own head, a place where she once sought solace, a place that made sense and could map out twenty steps ahead of everyone else. Now littered with land mines that threaten to throw her off course at any moment, Andrew’s games push her closer to their edges.

Olivia keeps dipping her toes in the Papa Pope pool. So often now that the water is no longer frigid. In fact it’s starting to feel quite nice. Jake and Eli are happy to serve at the pleasure of the prodigal daughter, but they knew what is coming. Soon Liv will be at their doorstep and she will not be leaving, she will be coming home. Papa Pope doesn’t issue a warning so much as a point of fact– there is no other route around killing Andrew. And she is going to be the one to do it.

There was no lack of effort on Liv’s part to make that happen. Gather $10 million. She did it. Bite her tongue and join Andrew’s book campaign. Fine. But Andrew doesn’t care about the money, or the book deal, or what story some news outlet decides to run. He wants to push Liv until she falls into the darkness.

Fitz, for all the cruel and unforgivable nonsense he has put me through, shined in this episode. Perhaps Tony Goodwin gave himself better lighting while directing, but Fitz finally crept toward redemption. He was ready to fall on his bloodied sword and take the fall for a staged terrorist attack and get the hound off Liv’s scent.

But the same issue is still not being addressed. No one can do Liv’s job, but Liv. She is blind to other outlets, blind to her loyalties, and blind to all the help she has right in front of her. Abby, bless her, takes matters into her own hands and saves Fitz’s name and Olivia’s by throwing Mellie under the bus. This was the straw that broke Olivia.

All control was finally stripped away. She had nothing to hold onto, except a chair. And she used that chair. Over and over and over again. Beating Andrew to a bloodied heap was reckless, un-calculated, and the final blow, after he was far gone was a turning point. Liv set off a chain reaction of pain, guilt, fear and rage that culminated in her grabbing onto Fitz knowing he cannot hold her up in the face of this.

In the end, the world keeps spinning when Liv decides to push it back to spin on her axis. Everyone uses Nichols death to their advantage. Liv reminds Abby that she still has the upper hand, Mellie take an endorsement of Cardinal proportions, Fitz honors a fallen friend and reconnects with the Nation.

The only people who don’t benefit, Olivia’s team. Huck and Quinn dropping Liv off at Papa Pope’s sends up a distress flare that they cannot do anything about. Everything is about the get messy, but in the best way.

Stray Observations:

• Brunch club with Jake and Papa Pope is my new favorite show coming to the Food Network.

• Second runner up, Kitchen Confessional with the entire corrupt White House staff.

• Seriously, why is Jake always eating?

• Cyrus was having far too much fun, in more ways than one, this episode. Looking forward to seeing him get off the sidelines and back in the dirt. Even if that means Alex Vargas is the one to give him the push.

Scandal season 5, episode 18, “Till Death Do Us Part,” Thursday, April 21 at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.