Scandal Recap: Jake in the Grass
My, what a difference a six-month time jump can make.
When we left Olivia “Surprise Abortion” Pope in December, she was downing wine by the Christmas tree and dreaming of a brighter tomorrow. But Thursday’s midseason premiere of Scandal found the Gladiator slipping back into old habits: dinner with dad — and dessert with Jake.
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At least things were looking up for Liv at work, as OPA agreed to help the first female NSA director figure out who hacked her top-secret files — but it wasn’t long before the other shoe dropped there, too. And it landed with a thud.
It turns out she wasn’t hacked by her programmer boyfriend, as initially believed, but by someone we all know and love tolerate. Need a hint? His name rhymes with Fake Mallard, and by the time OPA got to the bottom of his plot, he’d already been named the new Director of the NSA.
Think it can’t get worse? Man, you don’t know this show at all, do you? Upon arriving at Jake’s apartment-of-lies, where she planned to give him a piece of her mind, Liv was met by her father, who tried to convince her that “the world is a safer place” with Jake heading the NSA. He also went on a familiar tangent about power, and how Liv needs to figure out a way to get some — and then I’m pretty sure he compared her to a drunk suburban mom. (Remember when Rowan was behind bars? I miss those days.)
Elsewhere this week…
CODE ‘RED’ | Over at the White House, Abby struggled to find her place in her marriage with Fitz (a sentence I never thought I’d find myself typing, yet here we are). After a little coaching from Cyrus — who’s now apparently the Mickey to her Rocky in this twisted game of political boxing — “Red” finally found her words, telling Fitz to stop treating her like a “companion animal” and more like the semi-competent press secretary she is. (Now if only she could get him to answer Olivia’s phone call next time, we’d really be in business.)
BOOK CLUB | Are Liv and Mellie actual friends now? The next President of the United States of America (sorry, Trump!) paid OPA a visit this week looking for help… with her book. Despite the million other things going on in her life — including, but not limited to, her father helping her boyfriend kill an innocent man to usurp a major position within National Security — Liv found time to read Mellie’s book, which apparently sucked. “Write a real book,” Liv told her. “Tell the people who you are and what you’ve been through.” (Um, does anyone else think Liv will eat her words on that one?)
Odds and Ends:
* You might disagree, but this episode felt very Season 1 to me. There was a case of the week, a dash of “Olitz” drama and, of course, a little nugget about Jake to remind us what an attractive gentleman untrustworthy weasel he is.
* Did anyone else get an uh-oh feeling when Rowan referred to Jake as his “son”? I’m pretty sure siblings aren’t supposed to do… what he does with Liv. Let’s never call him that again.
* I titled this recap “Jake in the Grass,” but I almost went with “Cold-Hearted Jake.” Good luck getting that Paula Abdul jam out of your head. I know I never will.
OK, enough from me: Grade the midseason premiere below, then drop a comment with your full review of the episode.
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