New Show Recap, Scandal 3×10, “A Door Marked Exit”

After the gory, over-the-top dramatics of last week, I was bracing myself for more of the same. Instead I got an episode that was really quite underwhelming, although it served to solidify a few next steps.

Also, remember how I expressed irritation last-week at the terrible promotional photos Scandal provides? This week, in honor of Charlie, I’m illustrating events with donuts.

Cy Pulls it Together

First of all, Cy was contrite and sad and weepy and defiant about James for much of this episode. That was kind of boring, even though the acting was great. Mellie has to give him another pep talk (she’s so good at this). He gets it together and arranges for DD’s murder to look like a heart attack (Charlie and Quinn are assigned to do cleanup) and pours out his heart to James.

James figures out that DD was murdered, although he suspects it’s by Cy. He visits David Rosen. In response, David Rosen shows James a history test he administered when he was a teacher (after he lost his job because he was investigating election tampering at James’ behest). The answers to the test are drawings of penises. Not surprisingly, David does not want to return to this world, and he tells James to get to stepping.

I’ll just jump ahead on this one: By episode’s end, they are back together, at least in residence. And James has a new position: White House Press Secretary. Why do I bother with you, James? You are clearly getting what you need from this relationship.

Quinn Tries to Find a Home

Quinn gives it the old college try about killing Rowan, but circumstances conspire against her. Faced with her failure, she tears out her tracking device and the syringe of poison and flushes them. Later she “spends some time” with Charlie, but then heads back to Huck in the middle of the night (although it seemed like everyone was in the office). Huck rejects her, telling her she wasn’t a gladiator anymore, and that if it weren’t for Liv, he’d tear the skin off Quinn’s body. She returns to Charlie, who is touched and happy she came back. Charlie is a square dealer in romantic relationships, too: he likes Quinn a LOT, and he doesn’t hide it. He also said that her hair looks great without highlights. Boy’s got it bad.

I’ll say it: I’ve gone from being profoundly irritated at Quinn to being profoundly irritated at Huck. Quinn was ready to spill on B316 — in fact, if Huck looked at his phone he would have seen that Quinn had been trying to call HIM after she was tricked into murdering the security guard/witness, and maybe could have put two and two together. Instead, he’s sullen and focused on how much he would like to torture her for her “betrayal.” I’m putting “betrayal” in quotes not because Quinn didn’t betray OPA, but because is he forgetting that he and Olivia were the agents of the destruction of her entire life?

Also, Liv has a lot of plates in the air, but she has failed to respond adequately to the news that one of her employees has been torturing other employees. (I’ve worked in places like that before; they always say they reward entrepreneurial spirit.) She’s actually kind of a bad boss. I see that now.

Fitz Can’t Help Getting Worse

Fitz has Rowan taken to the Pentagon, ostensibly so Fitz can keep Rowan from capturing Maya. In reality, though, he decides it’s a good time to bring up how good Olivia is in the sack. Fitz, you are such a colossal jerk that you deserve the withering takedown that Rowan provides: that you are nothing but an entitled boy who isn’t worthy of Olivia and who sees her as a way to escape from being president. Rowan’s absolutely right.

Meanwhile, Liv’s team has found that Maya is a mercenary rather than a violent terrorist. For Liv, that means the pieces all fit together. Liv interrupts the Fitz/Rowan tête-à-tête to ask Rowan if he was also conned by Maya: that there wasn’t a bomb on the plane at all, meaning Rowan shot it down and killed 300-plus people for nothing. Rowan doesn’t say yes, but it’s clear that Maya played him and made him a mass-murderer in the process. (I don’t quite understand WHY Maya did that, considering that she is a mercenary rather than an idealist.)

They learn that Maya’s plane didn’t make it to Hong Kong; it ended up in Mongolia, with both pilots dead. Rowan is allowed to go. He returns to his job to find out he has been fired. B316 has a new boss, but one who also loves Olivia Pope; Jake. This was all Fitz’s handiwork. (Command Jake is sexy. ~ed.) (All Jake is sexy. ~ed.)

I Just Called to Say I Love You

Olivia gets a call from Maya, who apologizes and says she’ll see Liv soon. Soon is an understatement, since Maya is standing across from the White House when she makes the call. She is also dressed in a fabulous-looking white coat.

My poppets, we will not be discussing Scandal episodes again until February 27, 2014. To get you through it, I suggest that you wrap yourself in white cashmere, pour yourself a mason jar of red wine and nibble on some donuts. The time will just fly by.