“The sun went down a long time ago, and it’s not coming back up,” Olivia told Jake in a bit of foreshadowing during the Scandal mid-season finale in November.
Indeed, the sun went way down when the show last aired. Now that Scandal season 4 returns this Thursday on ABC, let’s refresh ourselves on what happened last time we saw Olivia and friends fighting Rowan and the Vice President!
Olivia was desperate to find Rowan, but Mama Pope wasn’t helping
Olivia and her two men tried to get some information out of Mama Pope, but she refused to offer any assistance. All she wanted to do was help Olivia free herself from the three men in her life (more on that later).
“Hunt him, find him, and kill him,” Olivia instructed Jake and Fitz at the top of the episode. Jake was the one who did the brunt of the investigating over the hour, and quickly discovered that Rowan was “cleaning house” with fun kill cards (perfect for television!).
Huck really wanted to see his son
After re-establishing a relationship with his son using video games, Huck tried to get some face time. Unfortunately, his wife continued to block him.
In a last ditch effort, Huck decided to show his wife some documents revealing how he ended up the way he did. This was a cliffhanger that we hope to see play out in the mid-season 4 premiere. Are viewers going to learn some new dirt on Huck too?
The President committed to peace with West Angola
… as suggested by Cyrus, who reminded Fitz that going to war would be a huge mistake thanks to several repercussions. This promise was repeated to the media throughout the episode, but a twist at the end (more on that in a bit) suggests that they’ll have to go against their word after all.
Lizzie Bear and the Vice President were screwing
But more importantly, what are these two up to? They’re working together to start up a war in West Angola for a reason we still don’t know.
Mellie was pissed about it
Can’t the First Lady have Andrew all to herself?
Cyrus’ nude pics were leaked and almost broke him
“Oh sir… oh… sir.” Yep, those photos of Cyrus making love to Michael, the prostitute hired by Lizzie Bear to get dirt from the Chief of Staff, were all over Scandal’s fictional world.
Marriage is the only way to solve this leak, according to Olivia. She wrote up a deal for Cyrus and Michael to wed, but the Chief of Staff wasn’t into the idea at first because it was a disservice to James.
Abby was forced into telling David she hooked up with Leo
She hooked up with Leo Bergen after telling him about being abused by her ex-husband, an alibi statement revealed. This upset David, her former flame, who walked into the revelation accidentally.
Charlie was ordered to kill Quinn, but had sex with her instead
The two got into a fantastic fight after she learned this critical nugget of information. Quinn won the brawl, of course. “The worst part is you wanted to screw me before you [killed me]!” she reminded him.
A talk after their fight found the two reconciling. To win her over further, Charlie offered up the B613 documents that had been switched before David got a hold of them. These are crucial because they can help prove Rowan killed Fitz’s son Jerry.
Olivia came face to face with her father
Jake was desperate to find him, but Rowan put himself where everyone least expected him: Olivia’s home. She walked into her abode and was shocked to find Papa Pope there, then tried to shoot him point blank. Unfortunately, the weapon she stole from him wasn’t loaded.
Joe Morton was stellar in this scene:
Mama said Olivia needed to move on
Olivia can’t help but agree that all of this drama has caused her to reach a breaking point. She started to cry before her mom put a stop to even that nonsense.
‘You are not a bitch baby!’
Olivia took her frustrations from the Mama Pope argument out on Cyrus by convincing him to return to the White House. “So they’re Mean Girl-ing you? […] So what, that’s how it is!” she told him. “Guess what: Grow the hell up, because that is how it is. The Cyrus Bean I know doesn’t hide in his half empty closet and wet his pants like a little bitch baby!”
Kerry Washington turned up the heat in this scene and delivered one of the best moments in Scandal season 4. “WHO ARE YOU CY? WHO ARE YOU CY? WHO ARE YOU CY?”
The pep talk inspired Cyrus to take the deal Olivia offered to him and Michael earlier in the episode. They conducted a TV interview to clear the air, and Cyrus declared his love for Michael. Will their relationship become something real? We’ll see.
WACO captured Olivia
The Vice President’s people grabbed Olivia moments after she tried to free herself from all the drama she’s been facing in recent episodes. Poor Olivia – she can’t catch a break!
How will she be saved? Presumably the President will have to agree to go to war with West Angola, as the Vice President requested.
What’s next?
The Scandal mid-season 4 premiere will jump straight into the action. The show will follow Olivia in the moments after she was captured by the VP’s men, according to the synopsis released by ABC.
Catch episode 10 this Thursday, January 29 at 9 p.m. eastern/pacific on ABC.