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This episode makes me desperate to know when KW had her baby and when she started filming a regular schedule again. I can't take these character-focused episodes anymore. A big problem for me with this episode is that it felt like I was watching a different show. An even bigger problem for me was that I don't understand why this organization wants Mellie to be president so badly, they're willing to kill a bunch of people. Six seasons into this show and suddenly it's very important to someone that Mellie is president? The reason better be good because the villains aren't scary, just annoying. And isn't it a huge mistake to keep the audience in the dark about a motive this long? The most interesting reveal for me is that someone is watching Olivia and has orders to kill her at a moment's notice. The only person I can think of in the "inner circle" is Charlie. But maybe the person isn't in the inner circle, and they don't even know him/her? I knew Sandra was a goner the minute Rowan clocked the cameras and started doing research on her. I thought he was going to kill her when he was trying to convince her to go to The Island. When he didn't, I thought she just might be safe, so I was surprised when he did shoot her. I was also surprised when the shadowy people killed that first guy talking to Rowan. It was right out of season 4's kidnapping plot when the kidnapper was killed by one of his lackeys, so I wasn't expecting something like that to happen again. I was surprised Rowan killed Vargas. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I thought he had rigged some kind of mechanism to make it seem as if Vargas had been shot and we'd learn that Vargas and his wife had been warned by him and were in hiding somewhere. I know Rowan has killed, and ordered the murders of, many people, but this feels like a new level. Is he not long for this world, or will we see him take off to The Island for a while? So Alex Vargas is not involved. Does that mean he can return and flirt with Olivia some more? He was hot. /shallow. It was sad when Rowan wanted to go to The Island. It was also sad to realize that Rowan killed Frankie Vargas to protect Olivia. I thought they did a decent job showing that he didn't want to do it. (I didn't really buy Rowan's right hand man. He was too nervous. I thought his last mission - taking the fall for the shooting - was sad, though. If the show had any intention of getting rid of Jake, Huck, Tom or Charlie, they would have used them for this job. It would have been pretty powerful, too.) Yes, the show has been trying to say everything Rowan does is for the Republic and for Olivia, but it's going about it in such a messy way, I just end up feeling confused about everything. I mentioned in the spec thread that I think episode 9 or 10 will see Olivia in danger, and the season will focus on "the gang" trying to keep her safe, or trying to save her. But now I think there's going to be an even bigger twist and it's going to be the reveal of who is working with this shadowy group against Olivia: Abby? Quinn? Charlie? Mellie? Fitz? Cyrus??? The story is not Rowan-is-the-assassin. I bet the story is going to pivot back to Olivia and the person she trusts who has been given the task to kill her. From next week's promo,

Interview with Scott Foley about 6x05: Scandal: What Was Jake Ballard Doing When Frankie Was Shot? I had a strong feeling the season's focus might turn to Olivia's safety after watching 6x05. Scott Foley's comment in this article that Rowan may be afraid because the new mystery person/people may do something to Olivia makes me even more convinced we're going to see Olivia in danger. I wasn't a big fan of the kidnapping story line, so I kind of hope Olivia-in-Danger is more about the bank account stuff leading to an investigation or arrest. I don't want to see her kidnapped again, or physically hurt. Though a kidnapping, or hospital stay, would give them an episode or two without her. I'm not sure how they worked around KW's pregnancy - whether they filmed the last episodes after she gave birth or she was pregnant for the entire season, but if she needed some weeks off, a story line that makes her disappear for a few episodes could have worked for her. ETA: The interview indicates Jake saved Jennifer on his own, which I wasn't sure about, and that he probably knew about the assassination plot, which surprises me. I'm going to assume from the latest press releases that the next few episodes

Thank you. I'm sorry for your loss, as well. I actually didn't like Scandal when it first aired, but I continued to tune in because I was curious where it was going. I've stopped watching it several times over the years, but always came back to it. It wasn't until I decided to rewatch all the seasons over this past hiatus that I realized how enjoyable seasons 1 and 2 are. And, yes, the B613 story line is really what hurt the show for me. I really enjoy watching Jake/Scott Foley though, so my hope is that he's able to move away from B613 and work at OPA the way Huck does. I know the show can't "go back", but I'd really like to see it do cases of the week again.

I think Olivia behaved this way once before. It's a scene I really dislike in 4x22, "You Can't Take Command." She's telling Jake she doesn't want to be her father's little girl anymore, or something like that, and she pacing back and forth screaming "I want this. I want this and I'm going to take it." It seemed like the Vanessa scene to me, and Jake is just standing there, staring at her, waiting for her to get it out of her system.

I don't like Olivia at the moment, and I'm disappointed with the path her character is taking, but I've never considered her a whore. In the context of the original discussion, I thought that technicality was important. I doubt Olivia's silence when Mellie calls her a whore, as opposed to her reaction when Vanessa called her one, is because when Mellie calls her a whore, it's true.

But would a woman stand by and allow herself to be called a whore? Even a woman who is being called out by her lover's wife. I would think anyone would say "I'm not a whore." Viewers may believe Olivia is a whore for sleeping with a married man, but, technically, she is not. She was not paid for her services. And I doubt she would allow anyone to think she thinks she is. I think Olivia's reaction to Vanessa vs. her reaction to Mellie could be because Olivia is never sure of Fitz's love for her as anything other than his mistress (as she has called herself), but is very clear that Jake loves her and she loves Jake as equals. It could also have been that Olivia needed to take control of Vanessa in that moment because she needed Vanessa to stop misbehaving. With Mellie, as you say, Olivia didn't need anything from her and there was no point in reacting to Mellie's pain and anger. But whatever Olivia's reasons were, I hope this isn't going to be a regular thing.

I was paying 100% attention and I still thought I missed something when she showed up. Later, I read she was Jeff Perry's daughter and someone commented (here, or on another forum) that Shonda tweeted this is the first time we've ever seen her. So, most viewers were confused. I had also expected Jeff Perry's daughter to look and sound younger, so it didn't even cross my mind that she was already making her first appearance. I read some commentary (probably on Tumblr) that Olivia has been called a whore by Mellie numerous times, but never reacted, yet when Vanessa called her a whore she got physical. I don't remember what the commenter's conclusion was, but I'm wondering if that's because Olivia knew any number of secret service agents would have taken her down if she shoved the first lady, or if deep down she did believe she was Fitz's whore. It could also just be Olivia thinks Vanessa's tacky and felt "going street" was the only way Vanessa would calm down.

I'm very sorry about the loss of your son, @tabbybear. My brother passed over a year ago and I use TV shows as a way to take me out of reality. I've been rewatching older episodes of Scandal and really enjoying them. I hope something happens to make Olivia a bit more likeable.

Yes, I remember that. It was a strange episode in my opinion. I think episodes like that are why it's easy to get confused watching this show. I rewatched that episode recently, but I didn't really understand why they wanted the audience to think Jake was going rogue. Same with last night's. If these character-centic episodes are really just about trying to give Kerry Washington less screen time while she was pregnant, I would understand. Otherwise, it would have been easier to make everyone seem like a suspect in just a couple of episodes. The fact that both Cyrus and Jake are innocent make the last two episodes pointless to me.

I really wish they had edited, rewritten or cut that scene with Jake and Olivia in the car. Yes, it was full of tension, but Tension shouldn't be more important than Character 6 seasons into a show. If I'm still here, watching, it means I'm here for the characters. I'm certainly not here for B613 or the convoluted, extra-violent storytelling. Having Jake utter that line about the second location was just stupid. This is the second episode in a row that Olivia is acting out-of-character to me. With Cyrus, I simply didn't understand how/why she would be so gung-ho about letting her friend get the death penalty for a crime he swore he didn't commit. We know Cyrus was very capable of doing it, but I thought it was weird for Olivia to just jump in and act all "He's guilty, hang him!" especially after he called to beg for her help. (Though she did turn her back on Jake when he begged her to save him in season 3.) Now we have Olivia believing Jake was actually taking her to "the second location" to harm her? I knew Jake wouldn't kill her; Olivia should have known this, too. It would have made for more interesting TV. Though Jake was acting really weird, I'll give her that. So for me, the car ride at the end was overly dramatic for no reason. I knew Jake wasn't taking her somewhere to hurt or kill her, and I was just annoyed that it was being played that way. It was also really obvious to me that he was taking her to show her that someone was alive - though I really love that @WhosThatGirl thought he was taking her to a romantic cabin! This show would be 1000x better if that really happened because it would have been more WTF than any B613 plot ever. I actually thought he was taking her to see an alive Frankie Vargas - don't ask how I thought this was possible and now that I wrote that, I realize that would have been more WTF than the romantic dinner considering we saw Frankie flatline in the hospital. The woman in the red dress is Jeff Perry's daughter in real life and this was the first time we saw her. I like the new twist that someone else is pulling Rowan Pope's puppet strings, but the idea that there's a new B613, or some other spy organization, crushes me. I've never liked the B613 story line and really don't want to deal with another one like it. Rowan also seemed out of character to me and I didn't like it. I dislike him intensely and don't want to see a cowed Rowan. In any case, what I got from this is Jake was not behind Frankie Vargas's assassination and possibly didn't know it was going to happen. The timeline in this episode was very messy, but my understanding is that Rowan gave Jake the order to kidnap and kill Jennifer Fields (?) before Frankie was shot - Jake was called out into the hall before the assassination. I had the impression Jake didn't know why he was given that order because he told Olivia he was given a task and he did it. And he was probably already looking for Jennifer while Frankie was being assassinated. I assume he learned of the assassination and decided to keep Jennifer alive. I wasn't sure if that was a Rowan/Jake plan, or just Jake's plan after learning Frankie was shot. (What we'll probably learn is that Jennifer is a B613 agent Jake used to date and she was tasked with trailing Frankie on his campaign by this Lady in Red, and setting Cyrus up for his murder. As soon as she found out she was also going to be disposed of, she contacted Rowan and/or Jake for help.) Vanessa is a mess. I'm not enjoying the new casting either. I don't believe Rowan would have chosen this Vanessa for Jake. She's too high-strung and messy. Jake was really cruel to her, too, so I hated their scenes together. I guess Mellie will be president and Jake will be VP, so Vanessa is here for the long-haul and I'm sorry about that. I had known the actress was from Glee, but I couldn't remember what role until she started shrieking. I really hated her character on Glee and I can see I will hate her character on Scandal, too. Scandal really makes it hard to stick around. But I will say I'm eternally grateful that Olivia believing Jake was behind the assassination (and vice versa)didn't last longer than half an episode.

Thanks for the clarification. I never give my full attention to Fitz and Abby scenes, so I easily read your post as a reminder of something that I wasn't paying attention to. Now I see what you meant.

I didn't remember that Fitz told her to do it. Her expression makes more sense now.

As much as this show is driving me crazy only 4 episodes in, I'm disappointed the next episode isn't until March 9th.

Thanks! I agree about asking for the death penalty for a friend. This group has behaved so badly, the idea that they're outraged by Cyrus assassinating his running mate rings false. Cyrus killed a young woman Fitz slept with in season 1. Olivia killed Fitz's ex-VP. Fitz killed a Supreme Court judge. Tom killed Fitz's son. Huck's girlfriend worked on the Vargas campaign. She was friends with the young woman who left the voicemail about Cyrus killing Vargas, and who was later killed in the cabin explosion.

After last night's episode, I'm leaning toward Cyrus being involved in some way. It's just too obvious for Jake and Rowan to be behind this. And it's too soon for Cyrus to be innocent already. (I read on a different forum that this episode was supposed to be episode 6, but they pushed it sooner. I don't know why.) Maybe it will be a Murder on the Orient Express type thing and everyone was involved? Maybe it was his brother? (Who I liked and kind of wanted to date Olivia.) All I know is that Vargas seemed a genuinely great guy. Whoever killed him will have a hard time being redeemed.

Unless there's some major twist that Cyrus actually did kill Vargas, or that Olivia helped Cyrus figure out how to get Tom to confess Cyrus is innocent, I don't see how anyone can root for Olivia this season. Was that whole thing with Tom, the cannibal, and the guard straightforward? It felt convoluted to me, so I'm not sure if there's room to learn someone (Olivia? Jake? Michael?) helped Cyrus convince the cannibal to help out. I assume Cyrus's storyline will focus on the fact that all of his "friends" turned on him while he was imprisoned, and he may have power over them if he is made president, so he can make their lives hell. They will have to apologize, grovel and make amends. Abby was trying to save him, so she'll get some top job if Cyrus becomes president, but his friends, and husband, abandoned him. I'm usually into that type of storyline, but Cyrus isn't our leading man, and the people I'm supposed to be rooting for are the ones who turned their backs on an innocent man. To me, that's a bad road for a show to go down. Olivia is our leading lady and, though she has been impossible to like lately, I've been hoping things would turn around and I would be able to root for her again. Even tonight, when she was on the phone with Cyrus, I started to hope that she would say, "I'll look into it." That's how open I am to trying to find a way to root for her. I don't even need Olivia to be good. I'm generally okay with anti-heroes. But I can't even get on board with this anti-hero because she still thinks she's some kind of hero! Her conversation with Cyrus was a mistake, because it just highlighted how little right Olivia has to tell someone else they have to pay their dues. So now I have to question the writers' decision to have Olivia jump all the way into blaming Cyrus the way she did, and then show me Cyrus's suffering for an entire episode. I get that Cyrus is an awful human being, but falsely accusing him of a crime that set him up for the death penalty is unforgivable. And the fact that Olivia went right into it because Rowan put it in her head, and then because she heard one message from a woman she didn't know, makes this plot unbelievable. The scene with Mellie was very stupid. I didn't understand why it was wrong to watch her dance. Mellie was so unaware of her surroundings, it didn't matter. It was also a mistake to show Mellie and Olivia celebrating in between scenes of Cyrus being spit on and beaten. It's a bad sign when I'm hoping Cyrus becomes president over Mellie. Maybe he can ask Jake to be his VP and we'll learn that was Rowan's plan all along. I've never been a fan of Quinn or Charlie, so another bad sign is that they were the most bearable characters on the show for me. I was like, "Where are Quinn and Charlie?" I've hated Abby since season 1, but she hasn't bothered me much lately. Until last night. Wow, my hate for her returned. Her facial expressions when Fitz was yelling at her infuriated me. Who the hell does she think she is? I really don't want to watch much more of her. Fitz and the FBI director didn't ring true for me. They're already so comfortable with each other, they're sitting in bed sharing a pen? And she's wearing his shirt? I may have a real issue with this show and its characters right now, but at least the original cast has chemistry. I'm also not excited about Huck having a love interest. I find he's okay when he's standing around, making observations and agreeing to handle things, but he creeps me out when he kills and when he smiles. What I took from this episode is that I probably will not be able to watch Scandal live anymore. If I had waited to watch the episode today, I would have fast-forwarded through 90% of it and felt happier. I will watch Jake's episode live though. I'm going to assume he's the final piece of the puzzle and we learn who really killed Vargas next week, and have a better idea how the season is going to play out.

I think Jake will be president by the end of the season, or next season. It always struck me when he visited Fitz on the White House balcony in 5x10 and said he had to get himself a view like that. He said it twice. (Fitz's response was "There's only one way to get this view and it's a bitch.") I thought this was foreshadowing that Jake would eventually end up with that view. The only issue for me is how Olivia would fit in. I'm of the belief Jake and Olivia are meant to be endgame, but if Jake is president, that would mean a rehash of what she went through with Fitz. Jake's married. I can't see Olivia having another affair with a married president.

Any Jake fans still around? After 5 seasons, I've decided to choose a team and it's Team Jake. I'm very frustrated with the show (and Olivia), but after spending time rewatching all the seasons, including the many episodes I missed when I gave up the show 3 times, I really can't see how Jake isn't endgame for Olivia. On a normal show, all the signs clearly point to Jake being genuinely 9and openly) in love with Olivia, and Olivia being in love with Jake without really knowing it. But this is Scandal. I read an Entertainment Weekly article (Probably from January) and there was a line about Shonda deciding to scrap some long term arcs because of the real-life election results and now wanting the show to be more hopeful. I can't work out if that means Fitz or Jake or neither. Maybe (hopefully?) it has nothing to do with Olivia's love life and the long term arcs they're scrapping are the political ones with Rowan. Since I'm now solidly Team Jake, I can't see myself sitting through multiple episodes of Fitz and Olivia, or Olivia and another guy. Or Jake slowly falling for his wife. I know Scott Foley said in an interview that he believes Olivia chose Jake at the end of season 5. I agree, she did. But Olivia can't seem to give Fitz up because she's so used to him. I still think episode 5x02 "Yes" was a perfect example of what this show could be if they went with Jake and Olivia as a couple running OPA.

I barely remember them and I just rewatched. I find that even though I'm rewatching the episodes in order, I still can't remember which seasons certain things happen. For example, the times Jake was beaten or nearly killed. It took 2 rewatches for me to retain that the first time Jake recuperates in Olivia's bedroom is because he was beaten repeatedly by Rowan's men and kept in a hole. I still can't remember if that happened in season 2 or 3, and I vaguely remember it happened because Jake killed a B613 agent sent to kill Olivia. Olivia agreed to Sunday night dinners with her father, so he released Jake to her care. Later, Jake is beaten to a pulp by Fitz after being accused of killing Fitz's son. This has to be season 4 because Fitz's refusal to believe Jake is innocent stems from Jake being on the island with Olivia. Jake thinks he's going to be executed but Olivia saves him. And then Jake is stabbed nearly to death by a B613 agent. This time he recuperates in Olivia's guest bedroom as Huck tortures the agent in the next apartment, but I just can't remember why the agent was sent to kill him and I already don't know if that was season 4 or 5, even though I just watched it last week. I'm sorry for the OT. I'm really glad people are still enjoying the show. I feel genuinely disappointed that I'm so frustrated with it. I was reading comments on another site after their review and I was surprised that all of the early comments were very positive. I haven't been back to see if later comments were negative, but most people seemed pleased by the episode and felt this new season was better than the last. I want to like Olivia and I hope the show does something to make me willingly forget the things I've started hating about her.

I thought Tom got out of prison at the same time as Rowan? Didn't they show up in the tunnel with Mellie to meet Olivia? It had something to do with Senate hearings, and then all of the Senators received compromising pictures (provided by Mellie, Rowan and Tom), so they dropped the hearing and Olivia didn't have to testify. Soon after, Jake's wife was killed by Rowan and he blamed Olivia. And then Olivia was arrested and Fitz visited her in the room that Jake had previously been kept in - he was devastated she helped her father and Tom escape, but didn't break up with her. It's all vague to me, even though I just recently rewatched it!

I've always appreciated this about Shonda, but it gets to a point when it's distracting. I loved that James was into Cyrus, and I really loved that moment when Olivia realized Michael had real feelings for Cyrus. But Tom being this into Cyrus? I don't believe it.

I almost forgot - I really liked the very brief VP debate scene. I liked seeing Jake thrown (and a little nervous?). It was a nice touch. What I'm sure not to like is Olivia's inevitable verbal abuse toward Jake if we ever get to see a post-VP-debate flashback in the future. I hope the writers change things up and Olivia is actually gentle and supportive about Jake's bad performance, and able to inspire him to do better during the campaign. Now that would be a twist.

I was wondering this the entire time I was watching the episode. And that doesn't say much for the episode. Too much Cyrus and too much Tom. The problem with that is I never bought Cyrus and Tom the way I was willing to suspend my disbelief for Cyrus and Michael. So to showcase their relationship this way made the ridiculousness of it really stand out for me. I wasn't even trying to figure out the convoluted plot because I was distracted by Tom's weird attraction and devotion to Cyrus. WTF? I've always thought it was a mistake to give Tom a bigger role on the show. He's creepy and doesn't deliver the Scandal-dialogue well. Now he's obsessed with an older, out-of-shape man because....? Is the sex that good? Is he looking for a father-figure? Are we going to find out that all of Rowan's boys are psychopaths with daddy issues and just need love from the first person who shows them the kind of affection that doesn't include daily beatings? That doesn't bode well for the Jake and Olivia relationship either. I still think Rowan is behind Frankie's assassination, but that also seems too obvious now. ETA: If we find out Tom isn't the killer in a few episodes, what was the point of this episode?

I was searching for spoilers - without luck - and came across a comment on a different forum that episode 6x06 will be from Jake's POV and we will learn where he went when Vargas was assassinated. The commenter made a passing observation that Jake and Olivia seem to be avoiding each other so far this season, which I agree with, and maybe we'll learn why in episode 6. So while my comments are speculation, I feel the unconfirmed info about episode 6 is a spoiler and I want to be safe. I think Jake and Olivia's distance (which I honestly can't confirm because I've only watched the episodes once and don't even remember Jake in 6x02, so there may have been interaction I missed?) has something to do with how ruthless Olivia probably was during the campaign. But I also wonder if Jake found out about Olivia's pregnancy during this time. I just posted a question in the Scandal Questions and Answers thread about Jake and Olivia's last sexual encounter before she moved into the White House in season 5. I think Jake and Olivia didn't have sex after she was kidnapped, which would negate any chance of Olivia's baby being Jake's, but I wanted to be sure. (I'm never really sure about the Scandal timeline.)

My question is about Olivia's abortion in season 5. Is it possible she was carrying Jake's baby? Does anyone remember the last time she had sex with Jake before moving into the White House? I know it is far-fetched, especially since I don't know how much time passed between the end of season 4 and the season 5 premiere. And I'm pretty sure Jake and Olivia weren't intimate post-kidnapping, but I wanted to put it out there to see if anyone knows the timeline.