'Scandal' recap ('An Innocent Man'): season 4, episode 6

Instead of sending him to court and having him fry or having Rowan kill him B613 style ("a quotidian burial of a terrorist and a traitor"), Fitz sends Jake to SuperMax and lets him live. Is SuperMax out of B613's hands?

Fitz to Jake: "Consider it a gift from the woman we love."

Fever dream: Liv has a ridiculous dream where she's swimming and she imagines having sex with a blend of Jake and Fitz but not at the same time. It's hot and almost porn like in its imagery. Then her dad pops up and she wakes up. Lucky for her: this was going to end up a Cinemax flick if that hadn't happened. Near the end, she is actually swimming and daddy shows up, peeved that she had "intervened" and kept him from torturing the heck out of Jake before killing him.

Final line of the night: "You're Command dad, but I have weapons at my disposal, weapons you can't possibly possess."

Story of the week: President Cooper (e.g. Ronald Reagan) was shot 30 years earlier by crazy man Leonard Carnahan. Carnahan sat in prison awaiting Cooper to die. When he did, he asked Liv to prove he's innocent by getting the bullet out of Cooper's head. But he tricked her. The ballistics proved he was the killer so he can go down as a famous assassin, not would-be assassin. He even asked for the electric chair over lethal injection. He wants to die in a  blaze of glory. Liv got played.

Favorite line of the night: "I beat Olivia Pope. Eat it, sucker!" - David Rosen, as if he just beat Liv in a game of one-on-one pick-up basketball..

Mellie is back in form: Despite eating copious amounts of chips and fried chicken after the death of her son, Mellie didn't appear to gain copious amounts of weight. She can still fit in her fancy work clothing. And she gains some lessons from Cooper's widow, who is apparently is a lot like Nancy Reagan and ran the White House while her hubby slept around (I'm not sure that was like Ronald Reagan. Make that more like Bill Clinton or JFK.) She encourages Mellie to get involved in policy.

Gabby or Abby? Earlier in the episode, Abby tries to help out Liv by asking the president about what he had done to Jake, noting his bloody knuckles. Sure, he respects her so much he calls her "Gabby" but he doesn't fire her for prying.

Back together again: Abby inspires the prez to come to Liv's pad. There, she tries to convince him that Jake is innocent, that she knows him like she knows Fitz. He isn't buying it. "He played you," Fitz said. "You don't know him the way you know me." He shows her evidence. "I need to see Jake." He doesn't grant her the honor so she drinks a huge gulp of red, red wine. (Yes, let the UB40 play in your mind.)

Justice served? Fitz at one point wants Jake tried in a court of law and killed in the eyes of the public. He doesn't want what Rowan would prefer: B613 justice. But Rowan accepts Fitz's desire. He also recommends that Liz see Jake to erase doubt in her mind he did it. "Give her what she wants. Let her see what she needs to see with her own eyes. Satisfy her. Then do what needs to be done. Stay objective. Stay clear. Don't let love cloud your judgment."

What's in that account? Jake tells Liv a Cayman Islands account he has so his mother supposedly will be covered. He knows he's a goner. "My word is not going to change anything," he said. "We know in the end you are not going to choose me. Not choosing me is okay."

Lizzie Bear using Cyrus: For some idiotic reason, Cyrus is blind to the fact his boy toy is using him. Only when Abby finds out that a leak from his email came from said boy toy that he realizes he's been played.

Huck isn't just playing games: During the episode, Huck seems distracted playing some war game online. We find out in the end he's secretly playing with his son Javi and getting great joy out of it. Awww... warm and fuzzy Huck!

Rowan speech of the night

Jake: "I love her. Does that matter to you at all? She is loved?"

Rowan: "I handed my greatest treasure to you on a silver platter. All you had to do was pay your respects to her father. And you couldn't handle that. It stops you every time. The arrogance. The need to swagger. To show everyone who you are. True power hides in plain sight. I played this president like a fiddle to get you back in my possession. I was his daddy, his buddy, his priest, his valet, his wet nurse, his concubine, his best friend. I danced for him. I made him feel pretty. I held him in the palm of my hand until he believed I was the better man, until even he believed it was his idea. That is how the job is done. That is how the work happens. Need I really need to remind you after all this time solider? You take Command? Command takes you."