Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} In the Moment by Olivia Jake Kerry Washington’s Favorite ‘Scandal’ Season 3 Moments. The Emmy-nominated star of ABC’s smash-hit drama tells the stories behind Olivia Pope’s wildest, craziest, and most scandalous moments from the show’s third season. Kerry Washington. Craig Sjodin/ABC. Season 3, Episode 1 “It’s Handled” Olivia’s name is leaked as Fitz’s mistress. Hunkered down in a bunker, she, Mellie, and Fitz argue over what details about their relationship they want to make public. I don’t remember exactly, but this scene was maybe seven pages, which, in television, is an eternity. It felt like shooting a play. It felt like doing a play, to have three of us in a room for that amount of time. And the scene had such a huge beginning, middle, and end, and such an arc. It felt like a beautifully written one-act play. Everybody has their own moment. I love both of those actors so much, so to be able to get that opportunity with them was so fun. The three of us are all Broadway actors. We all brought the same excitement about the theatrical element of it. We rehearsed it like a play, thought about it like a play, and lived in it like a play. I feel like the three of us could have done that scene for weeks. There’s such a shift, too, in the way Olivia is speaking to Mellie. For me, that’s one of the important dynamics of the show. It’s impossible for there to be a good guy and a bad guy. Everybody’s relationships are just so complicated. Their personal histories are so complicated. I think Olivia goes from being angry at the judgment that she receives from Mellie to having to be in touch with that compassion and shame around her own choices. Season 3, Episode 8 “Vermont Is for Lovers, Too” Fitz brings Olivia to the house in Vermont he had built for the two of them. I thought this scene was so beautifully written. It was so unexpected, that the house in Vermont would be for her. And then there was this beautiful journey from anger into passion for those two. I think even just the idea, the very, very romantic idea, that he built this house for them is so breathtaking. And Tony’s monologue, what he did with it was so beautiful. We had the pleasure of being directed by Ava DuVernay in that episode. It just was so much fun to break down the moments of that scene with her. She really loves actors and gets actors. She gives such a beautiful space for actors to explore and dance and do what we do. So it was thrilling to be able to do that scene with her. Season 3, Episode 9 “YOLO” Olivia hugs her mom and puts her on the plane to Hong Kong, only to realize seconds later that she’s a terrorist. I thought that writing was so great in this scene. I did not see that twist coming in that episode. There’s this thing that happened this season, because of the storylines with Olivia’s parents, that you got to see the sort of unraveled Olivia Pope. This scene was really fun for me because I felt like you start with seeing little girl Olivia, when she runs out to her mother and hugs her you see some of the innocence of heartbreak and how she’s never been able to have a relationship with her mother. So it’s so vulnerable and raw, and there’s a real sweetness to that connection. And then it so quickly turns to horror. I loved the challenge of that moment. It was one of the many moments that I give credit to our writers for being so courageous and bold in their choices. Then that cliffhanger last line—“He’s not the monster. She is.”—we all were like, “This is not the season finale!?” Season 3, Episode 10 “A Door Marked Exit” Olivia goes to the bunker where Fitz and Papa Pope are after realizing that her mom is the terrorist. I really liked this scene because it was a moment where, finally, Olivia one-ups her dad a little bit and figures out what he’s all about. And I just love all the stuff with Tony Goldwyn and Joe Morton as well. Again, our show moves so quickly, so when you have those moments of two or three people in a room just laying into each other, I think it’s such a treat. You don’t often get the opportunity to do that in that way. It’s really only theater. So much of our show reminds me of really great theater. I used to say in Season 1 that Olivia Pope is always the most powerful person in the room, with the exception of one room, the Oval Office. That man has so much power. But I think now we’ve come to a place where it’s her dad and Fitz who she struggles with, in terms of how to stay in her power. Season 3, Episode 16 “The Fluffer” Olivia confronts vice presidential candidate Andrew about his affair with Mellie. To me, this scene was like old school Olivia Pope. Like old school pilot on the park bench. And I loved it! It’s a version of Olivia Pope that we hadn’t seen in a while, because so much of that season was about the unraveling of Olivia and the vulnerability behind the mask of Olivia Pope. That to me felt like a moment where she really needed to put on her “Olivia Pope,” quote unquote, identity. I loved playing that version of Olivia in the context of all the trouble. She was becoming so unraveled and undone, so it was nice that she was forced into that old ray of dealing with clients. We kept joking about the show evolving and blossoming from this love triangle into this five-pointed star. It’s no longer Mellie and Liv and Fitz. It’s Mellie and Liv and Fitz and Jake and Andrew. It’s much more complicated, which is wonderful. I also loved that moment because Jon Tenney is so fantastic, and his character is so unafraid of Olivia that she lays into him in that really old school way. His response to her is about Fitz, like wow, what has he done to you. I love that, too. They really have the capacity to battle, those two. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds, because I love his relationship with Mellie. He really sees Mellie and values Mellie. That was put to an end at the end of Season 3, but one never knows… Season 3, Episode 18 “The Price of Free and Fair Elections” Olivia tells Jake that she is the scandal and asks him to stand in the sun with her. I really love this because I think Jake is a person who is really just down for Olivia. He is truly, unconditionally supportive of who she is and wants to be with her. I really liked that scene because it was the moment of Olivia expressing that in order for her to get her life together she has to press the reset button. She has to deal with herself and walk away from it all. The fact that he says that he can do that with her is so powerful to me. I think Olivia believed, in that moment, that to reset she’d have to do it completely alone, so being invited to have a partner in that felt really special. And I love, love, love working with Scott Foley. I find our scenes to be some of the more challenging scenes, because their relationship is so complicated. They don’t have the unbridled passion of Liv and Fitz, the kind of sweeping, romantic, idealistic pining for each other. Their relationship has much more angles and complexities. Liv and Fitz have complexities in the dynamics and outside circumstances of their relationship, but their relationship—how they feel about each other—is very clear. It’s very different with Jake and Liv. How they feel about each other is really complicated. Even though she tells him that she’s in love with someone else, he’s willing to go with her, and you don’t get the sense that he’s doing it because he has low self-esteem. He’s very masculine, he’s very empowered, he’s very smart, he’s very sophisticated. He just is willing to be on this ride with her for who she is, not who he wants her to be. It’s funny because Shonda Rhimes keeps calling Season 3 the dark season, because it was very, very dark. And not just for Olivia, but for her parents and Mellie and so many other characters. So the idea to need to be in the light, to be in a place where secrets aren’t hidden, where you can just be in the sun—it’s such a powerful metaphor. At the end of Season 2 when the big reveal happens and I said, “Dad,” Joe Morton and I kept asking what our relationship was and the writers would say, “Oh, we’re not sure yet.” So we had to do it 17 different ways. I had to say, “Dad,” as if I was happy to see him; “Dad,” as if I was upset to see him; “Dad,” as if I was scared to see him. So it was really fun to see in the edit of that season finale what they chose, because I feel like it gave he and I a little bit of a clue of the direction Shonda wanted it to go. It was similar this season. I did a few steps on the plane where I was really excited, a few takes where I was really conflicted, and a few takes where I was really sad. And Shonda chose the one where I was really conflicted and hiding that from Jake. I thought, “Wow, that’s really interesting… Am I hiding it because I really want to move past it? Am I hiding it because I’m ashamed that I’m not going to be able to move past it?” We’ll have to see! Scandal WATCH: In Which Relationships (And Buildings) May Blow Up. Last week’s episode ended at a tense moment: Specifically, Jake had his hands around Olivia’s neck and was telling her that by dismantling B613, she had essentially killed the president. We find out that this isn’t true (yet) when Fitz storms in to also reprimand Olivia for breaking apart the organization. Now Olivia’s mom is on the loose with a bomb meant to kill the president at an undisclosed location, and there’s no secret spy organization to stop her. This means that Fitz has to stay in hiding days before the election to avoid, well, an explosion. But the bomb wasn’t the only thing in danger of blowing up this week. Relationships were at risk of combustion as well. Here are our biggest questions throughout the episode. Some were answered, others weren’t: Why didn’t Mama and Papa Pope work out? When evil Russian terrorist Dominic — Mama Pope’s first and only love — rhapsodizes about how, “Today, American blood will flow,” he gets cut off. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Marie sighs, “We got it.” If Mama Pope can’t handle a soliloquy, it’s no wonder she and Eli weren’t a good match (terrorism aside). Eli hates Dominic, and captures him, giving Marie the chance to save his life if she divulges where the bomb is. “Goodbye Dominic,” says ice cold Mama Pope. She loves no one. Refusing to let Marie’s passivity ruin the moment, Eli decides to shoot Dominic in the head in the middle of Olivia’s office anyway. Olivia is not pleased: 1) because there’s blood on her carpet, 2) because her mother is an evil monster who doesn’t even care about her evil monster match. Eli refutes Olivia’s claim that Marie loves no one and convinces her to go on the campaign trail with Fitz to keep him from getting murdered because Mama Pope would never let her daughter be a casualty. Who is Jerry’s Dad? Leo Bergen is onto the fact that Jerry might not be Fitz’s son, so he has the boy’s field-hockey-playing girlfriend collect DNA samples in exchange for an acceptance—”not off the waitlist”—into Harvard. She comes back with a bag full of semen (ew) and a small additional request. She wants in on Yale, too, and Leo complies. That would be quite the reveal six days before the general election. Whether Jerry is the product of a loveless marriage or a horrific rape waits to be seen. What was in Mellie’s cup? (And can we have some?) Mellie was pure gold throughout the episode, and it was all because of a mysterious substance in her big coffee cup. Spoiler alert: it’s booze. Mellie is drunk in every single scene: When Fitz is considering speaking at a dead Senator’s funeral in spite of death threats (“I get to stannnd by my man”), during phone banks, and even onstage during a campaign event. “Are you drunk? Take a mint,” Cyrus finally says. Most importantly, drunk Mellie quasi opens up to Olivia about Fitz’s father (Big Jerry) and that he ordered a paternity test to see if little Jerry is actually his. And she wants this fact to destroy Fitz:”I want his head in the fire and I want to see him burn.” Mellie then reconsiders, not about wanting Fitz’s head to combust but rather about exposing the true father of her son. Olivia handles it, results are forged for Sally and Leo (“Can’t win them all,” says Sally), and Mellie gets the real results — which we don’t know — at the end of the episode. Who does Olivia love? Jake spills the beans to Fitz that Olivia had sex with him to steal his files on B613. But instead of having a meltdown, Fitz seemed to understand. “It makes me crazy,” he told Olivia softly over the phone without actually going crazy. This episode finally allowed the audience to see Olivia and Fitz share sweet moments, exchange banter. She loves Fitz, as she tells Jake during an inexplicable late night phone call, “And I felt something with you last night and it feels like betrayal.” Jake replies: “It feels like a first step.” We won’t have to see Quinn, Huck, and Crazy Charlie lick each others’ faces, will we? When Quinn wasn’t acting like a bitter intern coming back to her old workplace — “I see you make your own coffee now,” she fumes when at Pope’s office., because even her zingers lack any zing — she was a part of Scandal’s most uncomfortable love triangles. Crazy Charlie, who is unsurprisingly overly protective of Quinn, is onto the fact that there is something between his lady and her tooth puller/face licker. Quinn tries to diffuse, until she and Huck are alone and start having sex on the hood of the car. No, no, no. Who is the most evil person on the show? That’s a trick question. Everyone is a soulless murderer. The real question is who was the most evil person on the show this week. The answer: Cyrus. Jake finds out that the bomb meant to kill Fitz was never in the school the President was campaigning at, but rather it was planted in the place a high profile Senator will be having his funeral. Jake warns Cyrus to call the police and keep the president away. Cyrus decides to only do the latter. Sally is on her way to the funeral and Cy wants her dead, no matter how many people go down with her. Cy officially gets to skip the line when entering hell. Will Fitz ever win an election on his own? I mean, probably not. It looks like Cyrus is killing the only competition. Fitz ignored risks of murder to go back to Defiance, Ohio — the very spot in which a voting machine was rigged to help him win the first election — to regain control of his presidency. But unfortunately it just served as a reminder to audiences about how helpless he is. Who’s gonna die in the season finale? No one? Everyone? Quinn? (Sorry, based on her tonsil hockey and sex on the hood of a car, we’re guessing she’ll be here for a while.) The episode ended with many hints at doom: Papa Pope was found bleeding out on Olivia’s office floor (maybe he tried to give a monologue in front of Mama Pope); Harrison is being held at gunpoint by terrorist Adnan Sharif (there’s no justice if he goes before the former Gladiator who shall not be named; and a bomb that we found out from next week’s previews will go off at a high profile Senator’s funeral could kill Sally Langston, Leo, Andrew (poor Mellie), and a bunch of other innocent mourners. Best quotes of the night: Jake: “All it takes to kill us is a good quick tug on the zipper.” Olivia: “I’m telling you, I’m black. Sally doesn’t have the NAACP.” (This is one of the few times Liv’s race has been mentioned.) The Scandal Love Affair Is More Like Emotional Abuse. Every Thursday night, we gird our loins for the new episode of Scandal . But ladies, I have to say, I’m worried about Olivia Pope. If it isn’t obvious that her romance with President Fitz Grant is unhealthy by now, drop those rose-colored Shonda Rhimes glasses and let’s walk into the light together, eh? Like the force used in physical abuse, the Department of Health and Human Services states that emotional abuse “ … attempts to scare, isolate, or control you. They can affect your physical and emotional well-being.” Does this sound familiar? Last year, Parlour Magazine detailed the many ways Liv’s sidepiece status was dangerous. For example, during season two, Fitz damn near broke into tears telling Liv that he “waits” for her and she “owns him.” All that sniveling would be romantic — if he weren’t married to Mellie, refusing to leave her and seemingly enjoying throwing his philandering in his wife’s face. This drama makes for great television, but it also leaves Olivia in the middle of their weird, self-hating love triangle as a plaything to be tossed around the White House. That’s a problem, yo. Here are a few of Parlour ’s alarm ringers drawn from the Department of Health and Human Services and Scandal’s last season: Control & Intimidation – One partner makes all the decisions and tells the other what to do, or tells the other person what to wear or who to spend time with. Fitz, repeatedly referred to on the show as “the most powerful man in the world” by his wife, his chief of staff, and Olivia, has no problem exercising that immense power to exert control over his mistress. Since the very beginning of their trysts, romping around on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, the Secret Service has been privy to all of their “intimacies.” Taking it a step further, President Grant ordered the Secret Service (taxpayer money!) to put Olivia under surveillance. Not because she was a terrorist or traitor, but because he needed to see what she was doing, who she was doing it with, and why the heck she wasn’t returning his phone calls. Extra. Dishonesty & Disrespect – One partner lies to or keeps information from the other. One partner steals from the other. There’s no stealing going on here unless you count Liv’s panty-drawls every episode, but lying is definitely on the table. Olivia lies to Fitz regularly, from her role in fixing his election to teaming up with his wife behind his back, to manipulating their relationship and her access for the benefit of her non-White House clients. Fitz lies to Liv whenever it suits him in the interest of foreign policy, when he’s having her stalked, and when it comes to his wife. Physical abuse – One partner uses force to get his/her way (for example, hitting, slapping, grabbing, shoving). While we never see Olivia Pope’s face splashed across TMZ like Rihanna’s, this relationship is very hands-on. Even allowing for some latitude for those of you who “like it rough,” I submit that what we’re seeing is aggressive, not sexy. Hit up OnDemand and see how many times Fitz has Olivia gripped up by the shoulders. He’s slammed her into a tree. Summoned her to the woods where he brandished a hunting rifle and held onto her tightly while she tried to pull away, crying. Dependence – One partner feels that he/she “can’t live without” the other. He/she may threaten to do something drastic if the relationship ends. The moment when I could no longer deny that Fitz and Olivia were in an unhealthy relationship was, oddly enough, the same moment when so many people on Twitter seemed to be falling in love. I’m talking about the scene in S2E8 when, thanks to a flashback, we see “secret” lovers shouting loudly in the White House Rose Garden. Now, if you’re still in doubt that Olivia should move on from Fitz-y or that her romantic choice has put her in the line of fire where others are all too happy to attack her as well, here are a few examples from this year’s season three: Notice how Olivia is unable to have an actual relationship with anyone else who is, you know, available (Remember Edison? He was Cosby Show- corny, but still). And don’t say Captain Jake Ballard! He’s barely trust-worthy; we still don’t know how he escaped “the hole” or Rowan Pope, better known as Papa Pope . Papa Pope slut-shamed Olivia during his “look at me when I’m talking to you!” speech, saying “You raised your skirt, and opened your knees and gave it away to a man with too much power.” He says this as he’s putting her on a private plane to no man’s land because if she stays in Washington, the world will eat her, thanks to her poor sexual judgement regarding Fitz. Let’s take a minute to review the number of times Mellie has called Liv a “whore” to her face and she’s accepted it (at least twice in the emergency bunker), or to Fitz and he’s accepted it (at least once, most recently after the bomb scare). The President authorized a Secret Service agent to leak their affair to a journalist so Olivia could be “free” of Mellie. What that really meant was Olivia was slut-shamed (again?), drained of all her company’s clients and publicly attacked by the media she so loves to control. And crying into the arms of the man who orchestrated it all. Scandal Eyes: Your Olivia Pope Moment of the Week. Scandal is back! Now that the megadramatic Washington DC-oriented ABC show has returned, it's time. Is this love? Probably not. Sounds more like emotional abuse. But you know what? As season three reveals more backstory about Olivia’s relationship with the manipulative Papa Pope, it’s all too clear why Liv always ends up downing yet another glass of delicious (I’m assuming … ) red wine during at the episode’s end. Her character has never had a relationship with someone who wasn’t conniving, secretive or control happy, unless you count Edison (boring) or Harrison (but Shonda won’t, all I want is a love story arc for that man but no dice). Each night, I watch and pray that the storyline gets better (I’m not here for bland bomb episodes) and hope that Liv gives a new man a chance. But that wouldn’t be as much fun, would it? P.S. If any of these signs sound familiar to you or your friends, put down the remote and check out the Department of Health and Human Services . Share This Story. Get our newsletter. DISCUSSION. I totally agree in fact at some point I suggested that Olvia/Fits is Heathcliff/Catherine or Jane/Rochester (if you prefer). In which case we can look at Mellie as either the crazy (ex) wife in the attic or poor little Isabella. The way Fritz treats Mellie is insufferable. Here is this well educated woman with a great career in law and ambitions to presidency and he treats her like a petulant child! He is rude, cruel, abusive, and wicked to Mellie. He calls her names. He tries to degrade her. He belittles here every chance he gets. He uses her as crutch when he feels pathetic and his great love won't have him. I cannot tell you how much I despise Fitz for his treatment of Mellie. I hope she triumphs over that dull witted, spoiled, man child. Liv should help her do it too. It'll be like Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin. Sisters are doing it for themselves! Scandal recap: Dropping a bomb. The Capitol bomb scare isn't the only explosion in Olivia Pope's D.C. Scandal. Streaming Options. The Scandal love triangle is back and in full effect. Now that Jake’s back in town — and playing house with Olivia — where does Fitz fit in? The episode even starts with Olivia crouched on the floor, keeping watch over a sleeping, bloodied Jake, just as Fitz calls. But is he upset about Jake living at his mistress’ house? If he is, he doesn’t let on. Olivia, for her part, is more concerned with another man in her life (Huck), but he doesn’t have time for Olivia because he’s busy tracking down a different Pope (Eli/Rowan/Dad). Our girl needs to get her mind off all these dudes, and over at Pope & Associates, there’s a new client in the building: Mary Nesbitt. She drops a fat check, but we don’t know what she needs… yet. The gang is also short a member. Liv lets them know Huck is taking a personal day. “We get personal days?” Abby marvels. At the White House, Cyrus is lording over one seriously dysfunctional family. Fitz and Mellie argue over feeding Teddy, mostly because this is the first time they’ve ever bothered to feed their baby themselves. Cy informs the pair that they’ll be heading to Camp David with their older kids for a picture-perfect family vacation ( picture -perfect, not actually perfect).] “You WILL make the magic happen!” Cyrus barks at the First Family. We learn that the new client has cleaned out her bank account to pay Pope & Associates (someone has to keep the sauv blanc flowing and the Neiman’s credit line open), but why has she left herself without a dime to her name? Olivia heads out to investigate Mary’s “meeting on the Hill,” and viewers find simultaneous altercations: first, a White House tour-goer yelling about Operation Remington, and second, Mary with a bomb strapped around her waist. Olivia picks door No. 2 and becomes her client’s hostage, along with eight other people. Mary’s real target is Congressman Jim Struthers, whom she begged by phone, letter, and carrier pigeon to look into how her son, Chris, died at the FBI’s hands. With her hand poised over the bomb’s trigger, she sneers to the senator: “You care now, don’t you?” We also learn that Mary came to Olivia because she read a profile that said the fixer always trusts her gut. What’s your gut telling you about that publicity now, Liv? NEXT: Huck doesn’t understand how vacations work. Meanwhile, Peter Foster, the Remington rabble-rouser, gets Cyrus’ attention, and he gives Rowan a call — just as Huck is approaching with a gun. (Don’t you wish Huck would use his PT for something a little more relaxing? Maybe a spa day or a beach vacation? He could probably use some Vitamin D after his time in the hole.) Olivia’s Huck-free team mobilizes around Mary’s son, with Quinn told to hack into the FBI in her mentor’s absence. (She really earned that Baby Huck nickname this episode.) The hostage negotiator tells Liv that they can declassify Chris’ file only when Mary turns herself in. Her response? “You tell him he’ll be scraping nine bodies out of the carpeting first.” So that’s a no. But Liv is able to convince Mary to let six of the hostages go. This is the point when Mary makes the case for her own HGTV show as she murmurs about the jumper pattern she used for her bomb vest — she had to upgrade to an industrial glue gun and find a “recipe” on the Internet for her explosives. A real DIY-er! Fitz must not be a big crafter, though, because he orders snipers to try to get a clear shot at Mary. Olivia gets word of this through Harrison, and pushes Mary away from the window, standing defiantly in her place with red laser targets covering her baby-blue power suit. Fitz might not love Liv’s house guest at the moment, but he still commands the snipers to stand down. My viewing buddy Annie Barrett insists Olivia looks like a snowman. Must be the coal buttons. When Olivia is told she can’t speak to Fitz, she comes up with a workaround — having his frenemy Jake call instead. Is siccing one corner of her love triangle on another corner really her best move? Fitz isn’t budging, and he definitely gets in the last (sassy) word: “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to tell her you couldn’t save the day.” NEXT: Is D.C. in constant White House Down mode? Huck, meanwhile, has tracked Rowan all the way out to a trailer in the middle of the woods, where the other D.C. intruder lives. (There apparently is no link between Pete and Mary. Seriously? We’re just supposed to believe that unrelated security breaches of that level happen simultaneously? I’m not sure why this is the moment I’ve chosen to question the crazy Scandal -verse…) Rowan throws money and threats at Pete, but he just seems to want a meeting with the president. As Rowan makes his exit, he’s greeted by Huck’s gun. When we return to Jake, who is still bloodied and bruised from his stint in the hole, he’s just worried about Liv sharing a room with a bomb. I’m not giving up on Olitz, but Jake seems a hell of a lot more concerned about Olivia’s safety at the moment than the president does. So far, all he’s done is stop snipers from shooting her. Olivia reassures Mary that her team can handle it, but Abby’s not so sure. “Baby Huck’s choking,” she tells Olivia as Quinn tries to hack into the FBI. Abby decides to work the David angle, although that doesn’t work quite as well as it used to. Harrison is told by an FBI agent that Mary’s son was a terrorist recruiter, but when David looks up the supposed agent, she doesn’t exist. Which gets the White Hat thinking — and leads him to noted Black Hat Cyrus Beene. When David asks for the file, Cy reminds him that he wouldn’t have the U.S. Attorney job if it weren’t for him. But when David begins rattling off names of agents who seemingly benefited from the death of Mary’s son, Cyrus is paying attention. David’s stunt works. Fitz spills everything to Olivia under one condition: She can’t breathe a word of it to Mary. It turns out Chris was a CIA agent who had infiltrated a terrorist cell, and the FBI didn’t know his true identity when they raided the home. Olivia follows orders, telling Mary her son really was a terrorist. And when it all seems over, and the senator and Olivia step out of the office, Mary slams the door behind them and detonates the bomb, killing herself. Liv, listless outside the Capitol Building, is informed by Quinn that Huck has spent his day off researching Rowan — and Olivia knows exactly what that means. NEXT: Mellie gets into some moonshine. The day’s events left Mellie in need of a drink — or 10. And her accent is in full Britney Spears mode, y’all, as she drinks her hooch and propositions her husband. But she’s not drowning her sorrows; she’s “celebratin’.” Fitz is confused: Doesn’t she wish Olivia had been blown to bits today? No, she explains, because Fitz would spend the rest of his days worshiping “Saint Olivia Pope.” But since Olivia’s still alive, she tells Fitz, “She’s your flaw… which makes her my weapon.” Huck is waiting in the shadows for Olivia when she gets back to the office, and while he tells her he’s “all killed out today,” Rowan wasn’t his victim. Instead, Rowan is still his master, instructing Huck to kill and torture the White House intruder, Pete. “He still owns me, Liv,” Huck wails. “He still owns me.” She’s greeted by a more cheerful (but no less tortured) face at home: Jake. He kisses her on the check and suggests Gettysburger delivery (recalling their doomed date from last season), but she just wants to know one thing: “How are you here?” He swears he doesn’t know; she’s sure her father has ulterior motives. (But what are those motives, Gladiators?) Jake tells her what it was like for him in the hole and how he imagined her face to get him through it. Didn’t he know her for only months before that? Is Olivia really the only meaningful relationship in his life? Well, if she is, here’s his reality check: “This is not a fairy tale. This is not the happily ever after.” Rowan owns Huck. Rowan owns Jake. And Rowan (or Eli) has always owned Olivia. The symphony of phone-ringing drives home his omnipresence in all their lives, but he can’t make them pick up tonight. What did you think, Gladiators? Do you wish Huck had taken care of Rowan? Where does Olivia stand with Jake and Fitz? Will David regret taking a stand with Cyrus? And can Baby Huck ever really replace Adult Huck? Sound off in the comments! In the Moment by Olivia Jake. Display preferences: Use the options below to adjust the size, style and colors, and click 'Apply' below. By the time she got out of the shower it was 7:15. She dressed quickly in one of her meeting suits — slim fit suit slacks that accentuated her long runner’s legs and hugged her well toned ass, a sleeveless silk cowl neck shell and tailored, two-button suit jacket. Her jewelry was always the same —her grandmother’s diamond wedding band from 1940, simple diamond earrings, and a Rolex watch. Classic. Elegant. Tasteful. Enough to make it clear that Sam was successful, but not in any way flashy. She quickly dried her long blond hair, fastened it back into her usual sleek ponytail at the nape of her neck and after telling her boys to be good, she was off. “So, you ready to go charm the pants off ‘Laurent the Loverboy’?” Steve, Sam’s Creative Director asked with a wink as he greeted Sam in her office. “Yes, that’s exactly my plan. Get him pantless. In front of the rest of the room. That’s sure to win us the account, Steve.” Sam’s tone made it clear, she was in no mood. She was focused and tense. “Jesus, Sam, have a sense of humor.” Steve said as he rolled his eyes. “It’s a $50 million account. There’s nothing funny about this. And get your head in the game. We’re presenting in two hours. Stop thinking about what’s in his pants and make sure you know your shit, Steve.” Sam wasn’t usually this brusque, but the reality was that there was a lot at stake. “Yes ma’am.” Steve said as he sulked away. And then he said under his breath, but loud enough for Sam to hear, “When was the last time you got some guy’s pants off? Might help take the edge off…” “Jackass.” She said loud enough for him to hear. Ugh. Steve could be such a bitch sometimes. The truth was, it had been a while, not that she needed her staff reminding her, much less aware of Sam’s sex life. But if Sam were being completely honest with herself, it had been years. Difficult even for her to believe. This wasn’t just a dry spell, this was the God damned Sahara desert. There just wasn’t any time for men. She had put everything she had into building her firm to what it was — the premiere entertainment advertising agency in Los Angeles. There was no time to date. She tried. Not very hard, but she had gone out on blind dates that all of her married friends had set her up on. God she hated dating. Give her a project where she had to work until midnight every night for a month and she’d take that any day over another wasted couple of hours out with some stranger that her friends thought would be “perfect” for her.