Jake killed James Novak, not David Rosen. In my recap last week, I called that correctly while many thought otherwise.
James was clearly more disposable than David in the world of "Scandal." He was whiny and annoying and his death will greatly impact Cyrus, which should make for interesting future plot lines.
Will Cyrus become even more evil without a loved one keeping him centered? Or will he try to be better, in memory of his late husband. Nahh... that wouldn't be any fun, would it?
And look for Fitz and Mellie's kids to show up for the first time next week! The trailers show that this is not exactly "The Cosby Show" family. Naturally.
Here are ten big plot points from this week's episode.
1) The big bang: Sally Langston tries to tie up NRA support behind Fitz's back while Fitz suspends his presidential campaign in honor of Cyrus. Fitz's VP Nichols tries to do the same but Mellie is more convincing, at least keeping the NRA man from going full Sally. But Fitz won't get any love from the NRA after Cyrus recommends Fitz decides to support gun control in the wake of James' murder. So Fitz wins points with independents and Mellie's efforts are for naught.
2) A bigger bang: Mellie is a hardcore gun rights woman. Nichols? He argues with her that a three-day waiting period is not a bad thing. This disagreement creates more than just verbal heat. Mellie may have resisted Nichols' entreaties 13 years ago but she already slipped once recently kissing Nichols two weeks ago. Now they just do the dirty. That's a lot of pent-up sexual frustration inside Mellie.
3) Cleaning up: Jake sets it up so James was a victim of a carjacking, as part of a crime wave in D.C.. And he has to make it look sloppy and James dies a painful, slow death under the watch of Jake. (How did Jake know wherever this murder happened would have no witnesses for that length of time?) He later uses Charlie and Quinn to find someone who could take the fall for the murder of James Novak. They pin down a dude named Lance who has six months to live with a bad liver and lousy health insurance. If he gets pinned for James' death, he gets a new liver - in prison! Does this make sense? I have no idea. Jake used a silencer to kill the two women who had info related to the vice president's hubby murder, then a regular gun to kill James. He wanted James' murder to be known as that of an amateur but the other two? Not so much. Those two disappear in a hole.
4) Not so clean after all: Of course, Huck figures out that Quinn knew about the Douglas murder, which means Jake and B613 were in on it. Liv immediately knows it's Jake. She enters his office and starts haranguing him for killing innocent people. "Innocence is in the eye of the beholder. You're smart enough to know my definition is different from yours," Jake says. Later: "I am command... This was my call. I am protecting the republic. I keep this country running. I do what has to be done! It's my job!" "You immediately became my father," Liv said. Instead of having some awful soldier do the dirty work, he said he did it himself. If she doesn't follow his lead and accept James' death as a random carjacking, "bad things happen to good people all the time." Meaning -- he might have to kill her, too.
5) Survivor's guilt: District Attorney David Rosen saw the murder of three people and Jake convinced him to cover it up. His prize: he got to survive. But at what cost? Jake, as noted earlier, handed him a suspect. But David for a time held back on pinning it on Lance. He is racked with post-traumatic stress and won't tell Gladiator/girlfriend Abby until she forces it out of him. (Okay, more like a firm cajoling.) Good news for him: Liv is willing to work with him to take down B613 "brick by brick." An army of two. In the short term, that means sticking with Jake's story. "Lose this battle so we can win the war," she advises David in front of the Lincoln Memorial. (I'm not sure if that meant anything symbolically. It's been awhile since I studied the Civil War.)
6) Flashback alert! With James Novak dead, we get to find out in flashbacks throughout the episode how James and Cyrus became a couple during the Grant campaign, which adds resonance to the final scene "You're intense, you're strong. Even though you're a Republican, you have a very hot mouth," James says in form of flirtation. Then they kiss for the first time. Later, we see James upset that Cyrus didn't invite him to the inaugural ball. "I am not your dirty little secret," James whines. "I am your boyfriend!" At the state dinner, Cyrus changes his mind. He asks James to dance in front of everybody while Gladys Knight's "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened" plays. This leads to present day when Cyrus announces the capture of his husband's murderer to the press. He breaks down in front of them and Fitz has to lead him away. Even the devil has feelings!
7) More reasons to drink wine and whine: Liv, seeing Jake do some bad things for the sake of the republic, is so filled with angst, she actually goes to her dad to tell him everything. "I don't know the point of this, of democracy and freedom and patriotism, if there are no white hats, if everyone is evil, if the deck is always stacked, if everyone I love is a monster, if no one is worth saving. What's the point? I'm asking you. I'm actually asking you. What's the point?" At least her dad says that everyone is worth saving, that her job is to bring people into the light. (She wears white, right?)
8) How many again? When Liv's dad Rowan ran B613, he said he was responsible for the deaths of 183 people. He didn't necessarily kill them himself (like Jake) but he made it happen. "You are making decisions about who lives and who dies. You become... the hand of God!" he says. The weight marks him, stains him, never leaves him. "Being the hand of God is the worst punishment in the world."
9) What's "the terrorist" up to now? Maya, Liv's mom, is up to no good. She's working with Harrison's ex Adnan Salif, who is funding whatever Maya is doing. The evil Maya kills someone who doesn't get her who she wants to meet, Ivan. Adnan is now having regrets she hooked up with Maya and approaches Harrison. Then she changes her mind.
10) Huck and Quinn did what? Huck comes to "put down" Quinn. He instead kisses her. "If you're not going to kill me, get out," she says. So he leaves.
HIDING KERRY WASHINGTON'S PREGNANCY
She sits at a desk. We see her from behind. We see her chest up. She sits on a bench, with the camera angles set so you can't see her stomach. She is not seen walking very much.
RANDOM OBSERVATION
I must be an idiot because I can't understand half the things that come out of Huck's mouth.
NOTABLE QUOTES
"You think I'd take fashion advice from a man with a neck beard?" James Novak.
"I'm in the middle of something." - Jake, talking to Liv by phone, while burying two of the folks he had killed the night before.
"I'm more of a facilitator. I don't make bombs. I make money." - Liv's mom Maya, waving off the idea she's a terrorist.
"Stop crying or you're fired." - Liv to Cyrus' poor assistant.
"Can you just be, like, nice to me for a minute... I need my dad!" - Liv to her dad Rowan, who is seldom "nice" to anyone.
"You've come for teeth. A finger?" - Quinn, to Huck.
"Somewhere inside you, you're a gladiator!" - Huck to Quinn.
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