New Show Recap: Scandal, Season 2, Episode 22, “White Hat’s Back On”

OK, I’ve got some blood on my hands. But I had good reasons. I had to get rid of the CIA guy. It was the only way to get the heat off me. And that Wendy girl, which I know I framed you for. She screwed things up, so she had to die. Same with Molly. I didn’t have a choice, OK? I was boxed into a corner. ~ Billy Chambers, who forgot to mention the journalist he killed, but hey, as he might point out, nobody’s perfect

After seeming out of sorts last week, Olivia has found her bearings. Her wardrobe reflects this, because she is wearing a dazzling array of creams and ivory throughout the episode, which, in addition to emphasizing the perfection of her skin, is a sign that Liv feels powerful. So powerful that she fears no coffee.

How Do You Handle a Problem Like Billy Chambers?

The Defiance gang gets together, minus Verna, but plus her killer, Fitz. Olivia homes in on the best solution: they need to get the card back from Billy.

Olivia’s team is on it, and they are quickly able to learn that Chambers is partnering with Governor Reston, AKA the guy who should have won the election, AKA Olivia’s client who got away with murdering his wife’s lover. Reston approaches Fitz with a deal: lose the current vice president, the immensely self-serving Sally Langston, who is already making noise about challenging Fitz for the presidency, and make him the new running mate. Fitz throws him out of the office. Olivia theorizes that this proposed deal was actually just an attempt to get Fitz to admit something incriminating on tape. Fitz was not that stupid.

Huck and Quinn attempt to torture Billy Chambers into giving them the Defiance disk. They have a power drill all juiced up and ready to go, but Huck can’t do it. Quinn stops him, then grabs the power drill and gleefully tortures the information out of Billy, including the fact that David Rosen is Billy’s contact, NOT Charlie. They get the disk, but it turns out to be a fake. David Rosen still has the real one.

In the No Surprise Department

After roaring around sputtering with impotent rage about the news that Governor Reston is collaborating with Billy, Cyrus finally has that heart attack we all saw coming. However, that doesn’t shut him down; he is frantically calling Fitz even as the EMTs in the ambulance attempt to stabilize him. He remains in the hospital room long enough to receive a few important visitors: Fitz, Mellie, and James. Fitz’s visit seems to be without agenda, but Mellie seizes the opportunity to meet with Fitz directly and negotiate terms. Fitz isn’t buying, and terrifies Mellie with his version of how things will proceed from there.

James is teary and begs Cy not to die while they are fighting. When Cy responds weakly that he’ll try, the two men embrace, and James just can’t resist getting a little inside information on the president’s supposed efforts to repair his marriage. Truly, these two are a match made in heaven.

Turn! Turn! Turn!

Like any good Shonda Rhymes show, the season ends with some storylines neatly wrapped up, and new ones presented.

• After negotiating a honey of a deal with Fitz, David hands over the Defiance disk as well as a tape with Billy Chambers’ confession. In exchange, he ends up the subject of a press conference where he is hailed as a national hero for unmasking Billy Chambers when no one else was able to do so. He is also the new U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, which I guess he deserves. The good news is that he sets things right for himself; the bad news is we probably won’t be seeing him as much as we used to.
• After saving her life yet again, Jake explains to Olivia that he is really part of some secret division of the CIA. There was a special name for said division, but NO. I am a little albatross/mole/Defianced out and can’t deal with another Mysterious Name. Talk to me next fall. He tells her that his mission was to sleep with her, and that she shouldn’t regret seeing the last of him. Olivia has him close his eyes, then tenderly kisses him good-bye. Later, we see Jake being shoved into that box in the ground where Huck spent so much time. Watching him from above is Rowan.
• Quinn is high as a coked-up kite on the violence, and she is talking rapidly and raving about the experience. Huck doesn’t want any part of it, and he ends the season really rattled by Quinn’s transformation, which echoes the way he used to feel about the torture biz.

Olivia Wears the White Hat

Ultimately, Liv and Fitz decide to take a break (or something, who knows with these two). She urges him to go back to Mellie so he can win the election. The last thing we see of Fitz is him literally groveling at Mellie’s feet. Cue wave of nausea at that sight.

Liv returns to her loyal employees, who have sacrificed so much for her. Seriously, these people are a mess. (Only Harrison seems relatively unscathed, but then again, he did have to wear that shirt in the last episode. Look at your life, look at your choices, Harrison.) She needs to help them now.  As she tells Fitz, “I’m their gladiator.”

Also, at some point in the episode, Olivia literally dons a white hat. Now, Kerri Washington can get away with almost anything, but that fedora made her look like she was in a vintage Virginia Slims ad.  It was a hat not worthy of her, and a little obvious to boot.

Uh-Oh

Presumably safe because she has walked away from Fitz, Olivia steps out for a run wearing a sleek white running suit. When she opens the door, she is surrounded by reporters demanding to know if she is having an affair with the president. Before she can respond, she is whisked into a limo where Rowan is waiting. However, Olivia doesn’t call him Rowan, she calls him “Dad.” What what what WHAT?

Things to Ponder this Summer

• Well, now we see where Olivia gets some of her strategic political skills. It will be interesting to see the dynamic between Olivia and her dad. However, was anyone else immediately intrigued by the idea of eventually meeting Liv’s mother? And, also, may I suggest that for Olivia’s grandmother, the only person who should be considered is the legendary Miss Diahann Carroll?
• Quinn has always been a weak link in the show, at least to me. I’m hoping that her new blood lust means that she is on her way out, since having two torturers on staff is redundant, especially in this economy.

And Finally

It’s time to say goodbye for a while to Olivia’s shawl-collared coat. Coat, we will miss you.