I See You: Scandal Episode 514 Recap

You’ve probably been wondering where I’ve been on the Scandal front lately. I’ve missed the last 2 episode recaps because I have been traveling the last 4 weeks. So much so that I haven’t been able to catch up to watch the eps until much later after they aired. But last night, I was finally at home and able to watch Scandal live on a Thursday night. I’M BACK, YALL!!!

For those of you who don’t watch Scandal but read my recaps, sorry. You’re going to be slightly lost because A LOT has happened in the last 2 episodes. Here’s a quick recap:

Susan Ross is running for president now, at the behest of David, who is also sleeping with her to manipulate her on Liz North’s orders. Yes, he’s still sleeping with her too.

Fitz is now the first single President in like 2 centuries so he is taking full advantage of it and slutting. He’s been dipping his stick in every love pocket in a 10 mile radium, and Abby has to be the one managing his shit so it doesn’t leak. But after Liv read him for filth to get his shit together and Susan Ross told him he’s too dirty to be endorsing her, he finally got some act right.

Jake has a girlfriend (Vanessa Moss) and at the end of the last episode, says he’s getting married to her. Olivia is stunned about it.

Cyrus found him a new project in the governor of Pennsylvania, a really good man named Frankie Vargas. He is hellbent on making him the next President. So much so that he sets the guy up to be shot, so he can become a hero so he can get national media coverage. Beene is ruthless.

 

Anywho, let’s get into this latest episode, yall.

Dinner at Daddy’s – Olivia, Papa Pope, Jake and his new fiance Vanessa are at dinner. Liv and Jake are exchanging glances, because clearly this is weird. Vanessa says the two met at a coffee shop and then they ran into each other again and he basically spit game. Hmm… sounds familiar. Homegirl tells Liv that Jake sings her praises all the time. Oh word?? What does he say? “He says you’re like the sister I never had.” YOU BE FUGGING YOUR SISTER, JAKE FROM STATE FARM? Chile… look at this shady goat.

As dinner is happening, Huck and Quinn are bugging Vanessa’s apartment so when Liv gets back home, she turns on her TV and can see directly inside her home. The tables have turned. Olivia is the one who is now monitoring Jake thru a live feed.

Lovers of Liberty – Scandal’s Miss Pearl, Sally Langston, is on her Liberty Report, kicking it off with “Hide your wallet, update your spam filter and unplug your phone.” How can you not love her nosy ass?

Back at the White House, Ethan lets it slip to Abby that Cyrus and Frankie Vargas are possibly working together, with his ship sinking loose lips, ass. Sir. Wtf. Abby summons Quinn and asks her to look into Beene for her but her girl ain’t going. She says she ain’t got time now that she’s basically running Olivia Pope and Associates. Shady ass Red says “Keep pretend running OPA, Quinn.” LOLL shade. But for real. Quinn has kept OPA afloat in the last year.

Huck is watching the feed of his son Javi playing soccer when his ex-wife’s boyfriend shows up in it. You know our boy is jealous. He meets up with Charlie with a picture of the guy, not saying how he got it. He is worried that he is someone he tortured back in the day, cutting off 4 of his toes. Silently to himself, he thinks the guy wants to get revenge on his family.

Mellie’s Move – Mellie calls Olivia and says Hollis Doyle wants to meet with her. He has gobs of money and her campaign will need it, but Liv tells her nah. Ain’t no amount of money worth getting in bed with the devil over. You would lose your soul.

Hollis Doyle has been too quiet. ALSO remember the last time we saw him, Charlie was supposed to kill him. That’s gon be trouble.

Meanwhile, Hollis is the rich tycoon who has no one to answer to but he got his hands in all types of things. He’s so Donald Trump it hurts.

Beene’s Polygamy – Abby meets with David who confirms to her that Cyrus and Frankie Vargas are definitely working together. They’ve spoken 27 times in the last couple of weeks. Professionally, Cyrus is in bed with 2 different men, running the Fitz White House and attempting to run Vargas’ affairs.

All-Knowing – Liv is barely doing anything nowadays but spying on Vanessa and Jake, so when the couple starts going at it, she is right there, watching. All of a sudden, Jake looks directly into the camera and smirks. Liv can’t be surprised that Jake knows. He IS the director of the NSA. Everything he does is swept. Come on. You knew that.

Right after, Jake shows up at Liv’s door with her equipment, telling her she needs to stop because he didn’t take her as the jealous type. She’s all “whatevs.” She wants to know why he chose this girl, and he launches into a shady ass diatribe where he basically says unlike her, Vanessa’s stable. “You’re just another textbook example of daddy issues… but I am in love, Olivia.” OUCH, Jake. Oh and about all that spying she’s been doing. “Did you enjoy it? Did you pretend that you were her? Did you get off when she got off?” WATCH YOUR DIRTY MOUTH, JAKE!

Gotcha! – Abby shows up to Cyrus’ office and gets all up in his face. She knows who he has been chummy with and she is about to snitch! I have never seen Cyrus Beene beg like this but he pleads with Red for his professional life. He begs her not to tell Fitz, because this job is all he has now. He turns red as he promises her that he will drop Vargas like a bad habit.

Dambit, Harold – Huck pulls up to help a man who is struggling with his broken down car on the side of the road. Surprise, surprise. It’s his ex-wife’s boyfriend. Our man put on some glasses, called himself Harold and offers to take the man to the nearest gas station. Thinking he’s a good samaritan, homeboy gets into the car. And I’m like “shit. He might don’t make it now.”

Meeting with the Devil – In the Oval Office, Hollis Doyle meets with Susan Ross, who is pressed to get in his good graces. The President, knowing about how bad it is to even entertain him has no damb time. Susan is all but jumping through hoops when Fitz says “What do you want?” Hollis, being a part of the squad that cheated him into office says some slick shit and Fitz is done entertaining him. He tells him they don’t need his money. OOP.

You know who goes against all sense and advice? Mellie. She meets with Hollis, who tells her that her ex-husband was rude as hell to him. But he’s ready to support her. Facepalm She’s grinning like a cheshire cat, and he tells her “Let’s get into the issue of those freeloading illegals.” Look at Hollis Trump. Just look at him. I already know where he’s going with this.

Good Person – Abby goes to see Liv on her couch, where she has made a fort, to tell her about Cyrus’ latest shenanigans. Should she snitch on him or not? Liv tells her that if she snitches, she’s gonna open the power pandora’s box. Being so close to the Oval Office is starting to corrupt her and once she gets her hands dirty for real, she cannot get it clean again.

Team Bad Decisions – Sometimes, I wonder if Mellie isn’t the queen of sabotaging herself. As she’s meeting with Hollis and he starts spewing nonsense, she refuses to STFU. She tells him that her campaign slogan is “Embrace America’s tomorrow” and she’ll announce it at her old elementary school so folks can see where she came from. The entire time, I’m yelling at my screen talmbout “SHUT THE HELL UP, MELLIE.” Ugh. She don’t wanna win.

Family Affair – Charlie comes into OPA with a picture of Huck’s wife’s bae, looking for Huck, since he was looking for old boy. Marcus recognizes it and identifies him as such. Charlie didn’t have that context before and him and Quinn immediately get what’s going on. Huck is about to hurt that man. The Gladiators ride out with Liv to go find him and they find Huck’s empty car. Aw shit. HE DON KILLED HIM.

Marcus keeps asking questions and Liv tells Quinn to give him information since he’s family now. FAMILY?!?!?! Quinn flips the fuck out. They ain’t no family, bih. They used to be, but not anymore. Liv abandoned them to go run the White House, and they barely even see her anymore. She don’t check up on them or nothing. She don’t never buy them nothing. Liv admits that she HAS been MIA. She got kidnapped and it messed her head up and she is taking the time to be selfish.

After this blow out, Huck shows up with the unconscious dude, realizing he made a mistake. IT WAS THE WRONG GUY. HUCK. DAFUQ, man? You reckless summagoat. He is not a guy who is trying to get revenge on him through his family. He still has all his toes.

As Huck drives with Liv, he admits that he needs to let go of his ex-wife and their son. The man he knocked out’s name is Sean and is ready to marry her, and he is not a villain and he needs to just stop trying to save them. Pretty much, Batman. Let Gotham live. Sean is alive, but will remember nothing about the next couple of hours. He will wake up behind the wheel of his car and remember nothing.

Dropping Dime – Abby goes into the Oval Office to give President Ghost a report and when she’s about to leave, she changes her mind and spills the beans. Cyrus Beene is trying to run Frank Vargas’ presidential campaign. Fitz, being the ball-less figurehead he is, merely sighs but Red ain’t having it. Whatchu mean there’s nothing you can do??? Whatchu mean you can’t find a new Chief of Staff?? You can fire Cyrus and let him tell everyone he resigned, and you can appoint her your new Chief of Staff because she’s basically been running the joint for months anyway.

He looks up, realizes she’s right and tells her to fire Cyrus as her first task. Abby said “Fuck LinkedIn. I’ma just tell on Cyrus and become Chief of Staff.” GET IT, RED!

Stolen Announcement – Mellie is watching a huge nightmare unfold on TV as Hollis Doyle announces his run for president while at an elementary school. He loudly declares he wants to “Embrace America’s tomorrow” and her jaw hits the ground. Mellie, Olivia TOLD YOU. Do not meet with Hollis Trump. But what did you do? You met with him. And then you handed him your campaign strategy on a platter and here you are looking like a sucka ass sucka. Do better.

Freak Out – In the Oval Office, Susan Ross goes the hell AWF. What part of the game they had set up had Hollis Doyle running for president? She’s pissed because she thinks it was caused by Fitz being hostile to him when he was in his office. He tells her “No one will take him seriously.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FITZ HOW WRONG YOU ARE. Susan tells everyone to get out that damb office because she needs a word with the President. She pours herself a glass of scotch too. They don drove our girl to drink. Whew. She tells him he needs to respect the Susan Ross show.

You better stand in your power, Susan! YES! She’s even wearing a deep purple. she’s usually in some pastel cutesy shit. She means business now.

In the Know – Olivia comes into OPA and tells Quinn that the reason she’s been able to be selfish is because she knows she’d pick up any ball she drops. His is true. She’s been the glue. Liv stumps out and Marcus is all WTF? So Quinn gives him a quick run down. “After Liv found out that her mom is a terrorist and her dad killed the President’s son, she went to a secluded island with Jake.”

Marcus looks like he doesn’t even know where to start. He asked to be in the know. He just doesn’t know how much dirt there is. He asks her if she’s ever killed someone and she tells him Q&A time is over.

The End – Abby goes to Cyrus’ office and tells him he has 15 minutes to collect his things before security shows up. He’s done. He doesn’t look too shocked but seems slightly defeated. Afterwards, Red goes to the Oval Office to tell Fitz she’s done it, and he invites her to join him and Susan for a drink.

Huck watches the feed of Javi and then shuts it off. For good, it looks. For the best, maybe.

Liv goes to dinner with Jake and tells him she misses him and that’s why she’s been stalking him.

“I know how selfish it was to have him and to have you and not choose. I’m sorry, Jake.” It’s an earnest moment, and short-lived, because Vanessa shows up right then. She’s joining them for dinner. SURPRISE.

Vanessa drops her phone and Liv looks at the screen and gets the realization she shoulda grasped before. Jake and Vanessa met the EXACT SAME WAY her and Jake did. He isn’t just a man in love like he said. He is at something. SHE is his next mark, like she said. Liv excuses herself, says she has an emergency work thing and calls Quinn. “Let’s step up our surveillance of Jake.” That nuglet is up to something FOR SURE.

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Of note in that scene, Liv is wearing a dress that is mostly white, with black stripes and splashes of orange. I feel like it shows she was being honest with her intentions when she told Jake she missed him. She showed a bit of her heart there. And then she got the cold water of realization poured on her head. This ain’t the man who is being vulnerable. That is when she’s like nah, son. And bounced.

Meanwhile, Cyrus has been fired from the White House more times than I can count. He is basically Roger from Sister, Sister. They keep telling him “GO HOME, ROGER” but he always comes back. I hope Abby is watching her back, because you don’t take Beene down without repercussions. She might need Huck to be her security and I hope she got a plan in place. He is going to destroy her. I’m afraid for Red, because anyone who unseats Cyrus has gotten their asses handed to them. We gon #PrayforAbby.

Now, on to the giant matter at hand. Hollis Doyle being back and running for president. I peeped what Scandal was trying to do a month ago, on one of my recaps, because there were more than enough parallels to the current election season. This only makes sense.

Mellie is Hillary. Susan is Bernie. Hollis is Trump. Vargas is Rubio.

Some think Vargas is Bernie but the reason I have Susan as Bernie is that she’s also the do-gooder who people see as an underdog and don’t take serious at all. Also, it makes sense because the show switches the party lines. The folks who would be Dem on Scandal are Republicans (Mellie and Susan). Vargas could be Bernie, though. I see him as Rubio.

Hollis Doyle is about to fuck shit up. BELEEDAT.

Gladiators, roar in comments.