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After so many years dedicated to this show, I'm sad that Olivia is moving backwards. I actually like Fitz, but when Olivia moved out of the White House in season 5, I left Fitz behind with her. I felt that she moved in there unwillingly and finally made a decision to end a relationship with a man she loved, but didn't want to be with. I thought we would eventually learn that she was afraid to leave Fitz because being with him was easy, but once she was with him, she realized she was not the person she wanted to be. I started shipping her with Jake because I thought the show was laying groundwork for Jake and Olivia eventually moving each other away from "the darkness" and learning to be equals in whatever twisty universe they chose to live in. I don't know if that was the plan, but I feel as if everything has changed since Trump won, so whatever story they were building is being tossed. I think that's a huge mistake for a show runner to make. I get that Shonda and co. want to tell a different story after the real life election, but should they do that if it means the show and characters will suffer from bad writing and rushed storylines? The cast and crew keep thanking the fans for our support, but I wish they'd respect us and the show by paying more attention to the plot and character. In the end, I wish they had kept the Russia storyline (I bet they do, too), and just told the story they wanted to tell. I read an interview a while back that said the first episode had been shot before the election, so the assassination was always in play. I hope one day they discuss what was supposed to happen after that. I don't see how the Russia storyline would have been so different from these two Americans. Maybe the Russians wouldn't have targeted Olivia's friends? I missed this line. I didn't like her scenes with Fitz, but I like this line. I will have to rewatch.

Good point. Mellie was clearly in on part of this assassination. I don't know if she was aware Frankie would be assassinated, but she knew something was being done to help her win. She seemed annoyed with Liz for introducing her to her "backers". I'll have to watch the scene again, but it really seems as if Mellie was aware of Peus and the woman, but not 100% sure what they were doing for her. Edited to add that I've rewatched the episode and I was wrong about Mellie. I forgot Olivia had shown her pictures of Peus and Ruland earlier. So Mellie had never met them - she recognized them from the photos. Also, Liz called them "benefactors", not "backers". Thanks for this info. I didn't think her character would stick around, and now I'm sure she'll be killed off before (or during) the finale. In her exit interview, Portia de Rossi said she asked to be let go. She wants to pursue a career outside of acting - sounds like she wants to start an art business. I'm sure if she had wanted to stay, she wouldn't have been killed. A lot of this episode seemed tacked on. I think Trump's win really threw the showrunners and cast, and a lot of these decisions were last minute. I hope they can get it together before they destroy the show even further.

Olivia really came off poorly in this episode. So did Mellie, for that matter. When Olivia was standing in Cyrus's doorway, asking to be let in, I was so angry with her. I was happy Cyrus reminded her about their last phone call and how awful she was to him when he needed a friend. What the hell are Shonda and her writers doing to Olivia? She used to be loyal to her friends and now she's someone who turns her back on them when they need her. What also irked me about Olivia's behavior in this episode was everything with Rowan. As someone has already mentioned upthread, Olivia has tried to have her father killed, and she has worked closely with Fitz and Jake to have him arrested. Now she wants Fitz to forgive the man who killed his son? This show really needs to make a decision about Rowan and Olivia's relationship. When Rowan was telling her not to rally for Cyrus because it would put his (and her life) in jeopardy, she was all "Too bad", and then when his life was in jeopardy, she freaked out. I'm also over Fitz and Olivia. I'm an Olake shipper, but I can admit that even if I didn't ship anyone, I'd be annoyed by Olivia screaming in Fitz's face that they're over if he arrests her father, and then leading him into the bedroom mere minutes after he showed her a video of her father in "the oval". Not to mention they are smack in the middle of a crisis. I'm all for Olivia, and any woman, having as much sex with as many partners, as she likes, but was sex really necessary at that very moment? They couldn't wait until after dinner? Mellie came off poorly to me because she clearly did not care that Liz North had been murdered and that Frankie Vargas is dead. When Olivia walked in, Mellie was shocked, but also couldn't hide that smile when she said "I'm president." Maybe that was the shock, but I don't think Mellie has ever seen the big picture. I think she wants what she wants and doesn't care about everything that goes on around her to get it. The clean up is someone else's problem and I hate that this task is now Jake's. Angela Webster. Did you really think you could go after Olivia and still date Fitz? Her story line seemed tacked on because her scenes with Fitz were so cold. Why have them sleep together and be a couple, only to have Fitz look at her like a stranger and tell her she was being transferred? I'm glad she's gone, but it just seems like more wasted time.

You may be right!

From Entertainment Weekly's Spoiler Room: What’s next on Scandal? — Carlos I’ll let Shonda Rhimes take this one: “The end of the season really hurdles toward a really great conclusion,” the Shondaland boss tells me. “We’re getting to the point where we finish out this big storyline that we’ve been unfolding. Up until then, I think we’ve been telling a lot of very individualized episodes. Then, with the Huck storyline, you saw it start to come together with group episodes. After the 100th, we stop going from one person’s point of view to another’s and it comes back together to our team of people by necessity.” But whether we actually get a new POTUS by season’s end is up for debate. “We are breaking and writing the finale right now, and there’s a large debate in the room about whether or not we’re going to get a new president,” Rhimes says. “I think we are.” I do not like to think about the fact that the finale hasn't been written yet. I can't imagine they write in a third term for Fitz, but I just have no idea what they could possibly do.

I didn't love it, and I feel a little annoyed that another episode has been wasted on things that didn't move the story forward. I don't know what event in the "what if" scenario made Olivia decide she wants to focus on getting Cyrus out of jail. Are we to take from this that she's now ready to wear the white hat again? Or was it because she thinks working together with Fitz will bring them back together for a happily ever after? Because if that was all the goal was for the episode, Olivia could have reached that decision another way. "What if" scenarios bother me, mainly because there's rarely an explanation for why the character - in this case, Olivia - sees certain things happening to other people while she isn't in the room with them. A "what if" scenario should include things that are in the back of the person's mind already, I would think. Like, if your boyfriend is traveling a lot for work with a female coworker; if you're in this position to imagine a "what if" AU, you would probably imagine your boyfriend married to his coworker, not your college roommate he hardly knows. So I kept wondering why Olivia's "what if" scenario included a moment when Lindsey/Quinn almost gives Fitz a blowjob. I know Lindsey being on "The Grant Report" was to trigger Fitz into realizing his path sucks, which leads to him nearly accepting a blowjob from Lindsey, which leads to him returning home for the talk with his wife, but that was a weird way to come to that. "The Liberty Report" has never had to invite a Bachelor contestant onto the show, and I think it would be more likely that a network exec would force a female host of a political show to do something like that, if at all, so it rang so untrue and convoluted to me from the start. And in Olivia's reality, the person who spends the most time with Fitz is Abby, and there's a closeness between them that Olivia has noticed (in 5x17, Thwack) that bothers her. I would think her mind would cook up a scenario in which Abby showed up at the set to tell Fitz something for Olivia, or Fitz visited the office while Abby was there alone, and they almost got it on. Marcus's importance in Liv's life made no sense to me. I don't remember The Lawn Chair that well, so maybe there was something in his first episode that implied she was aware of him back in the day? Otherwise, the decision to rig the election doesn't have anything to do with him so why would he be in her subconscious? Fitz's jealousy would have made more sense directed at Stephen or Harrison. I'm sorry they couldn't get the actors for the 100th episode, but I would have believed it if Fitz just mentioned one of them by name "How's Stephen?" New viewers wouldn't know who he was talking about, but it was the 100th episode and loyal fans should be the focus. If it was just about having Cornelius Smith in the episode, he could have opened the episode with Olivia and Fitz instead of Jake... Since that scene in the oval was ridiculous. Having Jake say their lives would have been worse if they hadn't rigged the election was stupid, especially since I doubt Jake believes that. They needed a line to trigger the "What if" stuff and having Marcus walk into a room and say "Hey, how's Huck?" could have done that. Speaking of Jake and Huck: I liked Huck in this world. It was cute that he loved reality TV and was drawn to Lindsey. That was a nice touch. The moment when he's watching the show with Liv and Abby sitting behind him stuffing envelopes made me nostalgic for early Scandal. After reading an interview about the episode yesterday, I was confused by what Scott Foley said about Jake's role in it: “So Jake is not as evolved as he is now, but his motivation and the actions that he takes in this episode are what people have wanted him to do for a long time. It’s really satisfying.” Jake was barely in the episode and that scene with Fitz at the bar wasn't satisfying at all. Maybe he had a different scene that was cut. I admit, as an Olake shipper, this was an extremely disappointing episode for me. For me, I think Cyrus's "What if" life was most satisfying because it really did show how different he would be without Fitz in his life. Because Fitz was supportive of Cyrus & James. Without Fitz and Olivia and his work in the White House, I definitely believe Cyrus would have stayed in the closet. Marrying Mellie made little sense to me. I think Cyrus could have been married to a different woman and still come to the decision to run Mellie's campaign because he and Mellie get together to drink and talk about life before the election. It would have been more satisfying to me if Mellie had been happily dating a very mature, attractive man and that one note of unhappiness comes into her life the moment she decides to run for president since it really does seems as if being president makes people miserable. Overall, I feel disappointed. I'm frustrated that we have 10 episodes under our belts over a 12 week period and we're no closer to understanding what the hell is going on. At least, I'm not. I still have no idea what anyone's true motivations are and I'm sick of wondering who Olivia can't trust. I was pretty excited about the release date news for the new Shondaland show, but after last night's episode, I've decided to pass on it.

Yes, exactly. He's a mercenary. This just reminded me - I was rewatching an old episode and Charlie told someone (Jake or Huck, I guess) that he goes where the money goes, or something like that. It was in reference to Jake (or Huck) finding him doing one job when they had just caught him working for the other side. I wish I could remember the context, but I meant to bring it up here after I saw it. I thought it was another clue that he could be the mole.

Excellent point about Charlie. I thought it was suspicious that he didn't want to use the spray that would show them the blood in the room. The only thing making me doubtful was his pep talk to Olivia. Why would he do that if he didn't want them to find Huck? Maybe he was so sure Huck was dead, and so sure Quinn would want to find the body, he decided the pep talk would keep him off everyone's radar longer?

I just rewatched the episode at ABC.com and Huck's hairless face looked bigger so I'm going to assume they added makeup/prosthetics to cover his facial hair. I know they really wanted that car pushed into water, but that location was huge mistake. They should have taken some time to work out a different way to put him in danger for a few hours. Even a freezer in a warehouse would have worked better.

I was bothered by Olivia slapping Abby because Abby is a domestic abuse survivor and has turned to Liv when she has moments of fear and rage. And Abby's look of shock and fear when she was being slapped was kind of heartbreaking. But, man, did I love when Mystery Villain said, "I don't like you. You're annoying." Because it felt as if she was saying the thing that needed to be said to Abby since season 1. This was easily my favorite episode of the season. Which isn't saying much since I've hated the first 8 episodes. I've been so hungry for Olivia and her team to work together, I was able to ignore the distasteful line about using a chair on Abby (and I can't stand Abby, so you know it was bad). I even loved Charlie's pep talk. I still think he's the mole with eyes on Olivia, but this was the first time since he was introduced (in season 2?) that I liked his presence. It was the first time I saw some potential for his character. I'm still holding out hope that OPA rises again, and I'd be okay if it consisted of ex-B613 agents with dark pasts and penchants for random uncontrollable violent urges that have to be reined in. I thought last night's episode hinted at that so I'm still feeling a bit high from that. It's taken my mind off the 6x11 synopsis that seems to imply Marcus is kind of boring, but it warmed my heart when he refused to leave. I know it was cheesy, but I liked when Jake and Charlie smiled at the end of Olivia's speech. The show makes a mess trying to get to certain moments but I'm trying to suspend my disbelief more and more since I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not giving up on it. So, Fitz appearing at the hospital to tell Olivia to forgive Abby was ridiculous because he should have been working on getting Cyrus out of jail and tracking down these evil people who killed Vargas, but I did like the last scene with Olivia holding Abby's hand. I feel they didn't need Fitz to get us there, but they wanted a Fitz/Olivia moment. I admit I'm tired; I want these character-centric episodes to be over with and I'm hoping we will get more OPA-Centric episodes after the 100th airs next week. I think it's a travesty that we are 9 episodes in without any clear idea what the hell is going on. But I'm suddenly hopeful after last night's OPA moments that we may be heading to something interesting.

Which means it makes no sense at all, I know.

If Olivia isn't involved - and I don't believe she is - I think we will see the rest of this season focused on her trying to fix things for Abby, Cyrus, Rowan, Jake and Huck. Possibly David, too. I posted on reddit that I like the idea that all of Olivia's people have been targeted by this Mystery Villain. I wish it had been handled differently and more interestingly, but the Mystery Villain either has it out for Olivia, or knew that Olivia's team needed to be neutralized before moving forward with the plot. I'm hoping the show goes in the direction of Olivia surprising the villain and being able to handle it without her usual resources. The only people fully out of commission are Cyrus (prison) and Huck (shot or dead), so Olivia can still use Jake, Rowan, Abby and Quinn/Charlie (as long as Quinn and Charlie are okay after 6x09). She can also use David, as long as he's okay. I'm leaning toward Mellie being the mastermind, with Leo as the handler who helped her put the plan in place and hook up with the team that is terrorizing everyone. And Charlie as the mole who can kill Olivia at any time.

I wasn't sure what her deal was either. I just assumed she was originally an agent/spy for the villains, but I was wondering how long she had been undercover as Jennifer Fields' friend and why she was tasked to date Huck if they didn't know Jennifer was alive. I'm unwilling to rewatch the first 8 episodes of the season, but last night I was wishing I'd kept all of them on my DVR in case something came over me and I decided to rewatch and take notes some day. Because so much of this doesn't make sense to me. And the timelines they're using are insanely confusing. These last 2 - 3 episodes I've had a hard time figuring out what's happening in present day.

Another episode that only offered about 10 - 20 minutes of relevant information. While I'm glad we know how Abby got involved, it was annoying that this all started because she was annoyed with Fitz. and that she took 300 million dollars without really understanding what she was getting into. I also don't understand why she was willing to sacrifice Huck to save Cyrus - unless she had no idea Huck would be hurt. Was that clear? And she's still seeing Leo? I'm looking forward to learning who is behind all of this. Hopefully next week since I felt as if this episode was close to my final straw. My guess is now Mellie. Or Mellie and Cyrus. Question about the promo for next week:

The sneak peek for 6x08 shows Someone pointed out that Abby looked really pissed when Fitz yelled at her for going behind his back and taking the death penalty off the table. What if that moment between them is really all it took for Abby to say yes to 300 million dollars to... I'm actually still unsure what her role in all this is. To kill Jennifer Fields? To set Cyrus up? Anyway, maybe she's just fed up. I've wondered for a while now whether Fitz and Abby would hook up. It may just be Tony Goldwyn's acting choice, but the way Fitz stares at her when she walks in makes me wonder if he finds her attractive. No shade to Goldwyn, who I like, but Fitz often looks hungry when he looks at Olivia and there are moments when he looks at Abby that way. Part of me feels as if Fitz's future relevance on the show will relate to Abby in some way. I agree she is no mastermind. I think her involvement will be like Rowan's: She was approached and, unlike Rowan - who was forced to do the deed - offered money for the job. Maybe Fitz will step in to stop her from going down a truly irredeemable path. I only managed to see a clip from Sunday's PaleyFest panel, but some people noted Kerry and Bellamy seemed very emotional and were crying. It made me wonder if the rumors are true and next season will be the show's last, or if a cast member is, indeed, moving on. I don't recall if Darby was also crying, but maybe Abby is going dark and not long for the show? I also want to note the other reason I'm sure Huck is alive: When characters die, certain sites do "post mortems" with headlines like "Yes, [Character] is really Gone" followed by an interview with the show runner or actor. It's possible Shonda requested the sites avoid doing those pieces, but I'm pretty sure there would have been more "noise" if these TV sites really thought Huck was gone.

I would love it of the show would do this. I think the audience would get on board with an Olivia who knows she needs redemption. When Rowan killed Jake's wife in season 5, Jake did say something about Olivia preaching about white hats and not realizing she's as awful as her father.

Thanks. I'd still like to hear her say it. During my recent rewatch of all the seasons, it was something that really stood out to me. I remember when Olivia had to "chastise" her for judging their Republican clients. That Abby would never approve of the assassination of Vargas, no matter who she was working for. Even trying to get Mellie elected, she would have never approved.

Did Olivia apologize to Huck after she watched the video of Eli? I think this is a mistake the writers make with her - she rarely says "thank you" or "sorry" to her team. I assume the backstory on this is that she was raised to believe these simple words show weakness, but I'm embarrassed every time someone does something risky for her and she just walks away or barks an order. Isn't Abby a Democrat? She wouldn't want Vargas killed. I think the theory that the Shadowy Bad Guys (I really wish we knew their name) have something on Abby and are forcing her to do this may be (kind of) right. I mean, I fully believe she would try to hatch some twisted plan that goes awry in order to become a bigger, badder Olivia Pope, but would Abby really agree to the assassination of a Democratic president like Frankie Vargas? Something truly sick must have happened to her to make her go along with this.

I know I keep bringing up The Walking Dead, but it's the only other show I'm watching regularly and I'm surprised how similar the current season is to Scandal. So many episodes were dedicated to new characters and that show didn't even have a pregnancy to contend with. It really lessened my desire to watch and I'm not even watching the episodes live anymore. I'm pretty sure Olivia and the others will get back to normal by episode 10, but that's a long time to expect viewers to stick around. I'm not sure how else Scandal could have handled KW's pregnancy schedule, but wasn't season 3 16 episodes to accommodate her pregnancy, too? I don't remember episodes being dedicated to minor characters though. Maybe they'd had more notice about her pregnancy then. Thanks, Abbey. I think this is a good theory, but I'll have to rewatch the scene because I thought the first part of the video that Olivia watched showed the moment Eli/Rowan first learns about the project and is really excited about it. Wasn't that before he noticed the cameras and learned of the Shadowy Cabal? I don't remember much about Rowan's episode now so I can't remember if he kissed her before or after he figured out she was working for someone else. I should probably pay closer attention to what Charlie's been saying, too. I feel as if we're going to be hit with some double or triple agent type stuff.

It wasn't clear to me whether she was involved with the entire assassination plot, or just making sure Jennifer Fields was dead. I remember how desperate Abby was to make sure Cyrus didn't get the death penalty - which was a big sign, I guess, that she was involved. But she could also be working for Fitz or Mellie. And I still think there's a chance the "eyes on Olivia" are not Meg's. It was a bit obvious when Meg was all "I'd like to see Olivia face-to-face" so I'm going to speculate that Meg was a last minute hire by Abby to kill Jennifer Fields after Huck told Abby Jennifer was still alive. The actual mole is probably Charlie. The promotional pictures for episode 9 are Charlie-heavy, so I'm going to take a wild guess that 6x09 is a Charlie-centric episode with a lot of Quinn. This leads me to believe the big reveal in that episode will be Charlie is the real mole and takes Olivia hostage, or tries to kill her and fails when Quinn arrives. And I'm sure Huck is alive. Jennifer got a head shot; she's gone. Huck got a chest shot; he'll probably be in a coma for a few episodes. Scandal is never subtle and, in my opinion, shoots way too many characters in the head. Jake always gets people in the forehead. So do most of the other agents. It's horrible. What I hope doesn't happen is the bad guys keep Huck in a makeshift hospital and all of OPA begin to believe he was the mole. That would annoy me. I actually believe the opposite. I think - like the writers on The Walking Dead, who also wrote a bunch of character-centric episodes the first half of this season and seemed surprised when the ratings started dropping - the Scandal writers think they've done something new and edgy. I remember reading an article about this season and they said at one of the table reads, the cast cheered. People working on these shows are in such a bubble and I'd be willing to bet they were all clapping each other on the back when they filmed that twisty ending with Huck.

Can someone explain the camera that Huck found behind Sandra's ear? Who would have put there and why didn't they remove it before dumping her body?

I've also hated Abby since season 1, so I'm okay with this twist. When it seemed as if the villain might be one of Olivia's friends, I was hoping it would be Abby. I just hope someone else isn't pulling Abby's strings. I was pretty sure Meg was a bad guy. I decided if Huck managed to hurt or kill her, she would be innocent, so as soon as he let her go, I knew Jennifer Fields was dead. I doubt Huck is dead. Scandal always goes for head shots when they want to kill a character. Meg shot Huck in the chest. I guess Huck will be out of commission for a while. That's probably why Overall, I thought it was kind of boring - focusing on one character doesn't work. And while I'm still hoping Olivia will grow on me again, tonight's episode was not the night. Wow, she was awful. But the twist at the end made me curious so I'm looking forward to episode 9, which is 2 weeks from now. I am not interested in next week's Abby-centric episode.

I keep asking myself why Olivia still lives in her apartment. It's a fabulous apartment, but just about everyone has broken into it. In season 2, Jake routinely went in to refresh his spy equipment, not to mention remove it just before Huck did his sweeps. And then Rowan sent someone in to kill Olivia in the episode she slept with Jake for the first time. Olivia's kidnappers got in there and set up cameras, and then kidnapped her. I would also think she'd live in a doorman building. In the season 2 finale, we do see a man sitting by the front door, but why doesn't he ever let her know when various people are coming upstairs. I've also had the same feeling about Rowan's house. How it's so accessible. Why hasn't someone tried to assassinate him? All that time everyone was searching for him, why didn't they just ring his doorbell?

I really wish I knew why the Cyrus episode was moved up, and what has changed. I know the original subplot was that Russia had rigged the election to mess with the US government, but that was changed after the news that Putin really did mess with the US election. I doubt this new organization has been well thought out since they're probably last minute stand-ins for the original Russia story line. In another article I read in EW, Shonda said they decided to change the storyline to be less dark (paraphrasing) since people are feeling a certain way about the real US election. I don't know what that means since the season so far is dark. Maybe she's going for a redemption arc for Eli? Wait, what? That was the guy from the episode with the FBI director? I don't even remember why Jake interrogated him. Who was he again?

Maybe you're being unfair, but what you've written is true. She's awful. Well said. I think this season would be perfect for a class on how not to tell a story. I've never watched an interview with Shonda Rhimes, or anyone from her staff, but I would love to know what they're going for with Scandal. This episode was the first time I had any real sense that Eli loves Olivia. I know he's always telling her that he loves her - and I think he loves Jake, too - but he's tried to have them both killed. Actions speak louder than words. Is he a psychopath? (And before anyone says it, I don't think it's obvious that he's supposed to be a psychopath. I think it could also be the show's premise that the government turns men into machines and they really believe they do all this for the good of the republic. I'm just not sure.) This episode made me sad. I really loved Joe Morton when he was on SyFy's Eureka. He played a physicist on that show, and last night's episode reminded me how sweet he was when he was running around, excited about dinosaurs. To make last night's episode work, they really should have shown Eli/Rowan being geeky about his work more often over the past 3 seasons. When he was being somewhat sympathetic last night, I only felt annoyed with the show for trying to manipulate me. That armpit shot, though, should have been edited out. In case anyone is curious, the show's first 5 episodes were filmed last year, when KW was still pregnant. The Cyrus episode, which was originally supposed to air as 6x06, was the first episode filmed in January. I read this on Tumblr. I'm not sure how accurate this is since I thought KW looked thinner in last night's episode, which was apparently filmed while she was still pregnant - I don't remember what she looked like in the Cyrus episode.