What does Papa Pope want from Mellie/Foxtail??? Get a sneak peek of tonight’s Scandal finale “You Can’t Take Command”, airing at 9:00pm ET|PT on ABC.
In last week’s Scandal, as the Gladiators were trying to figure out what was Foxtail, they were hired by Vice President Ross (Artemis Pebdani) to investigate a case of rape in the Navy.
While Susan was visiting some sailors, she noticed that one woman, Ensign Amy Martin (Emily Rios) had bruises on her wrists. When Susan spoke privately with Ensign Martin, the servicewoman tried to say that she was hurt in a training accident. But VP Ross knew that this was a sign of rape and took Ensign Martin back to the White House with her. Both Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) and Cyrus (Jeff Perry) were livid and repeatedly told Susan to “put her back”. The military had their own judicial system and POTUS couldn’t interfere. But Susan Ross wasn’t a figurehead…she went to Liv (Kerry Washington) for help, but Ensign Martin didn’t think anything could be done. She admitted that it was Admiral John Hawley, the ship’s commander that raped her.
Liv tried to get support from the White House, but since it wasn’t forthcoming, went straight to the press. However, to intervene and hold a civilian trial for military personnel wasn’t possible. Mellie’s (Bellamy Young) campaign was also taking a hit. An official military inquiry and depositions began with the JAG Corps. Unfortunately, Ensign Martin’s judge-advocate, Virgil Punkett (Dan Byrd), wasn’t very experienced or knowledgeable. Admiral Hawley was very abrasive, even calling Liv a barnacle, but he eventually claimed that he wasn’t on the ship the night Ensign Martin was raped. (*SIDENOTE* This entire situation was giving me A Few Good Men feels, which was probably the intent. I loved it!)
Things took a more unfortunate turn with Ensign Martin reached out to Liv for help to get of the ship so she could have an abortion. She didn’t want to wait to get DNA evidence from the fetus. Sadly, Ensign Martin was restricted to the ship, except for emergency medical leave. After getting permission to see a “sick relative”, Ensign Martin had the abortion while Liv held her hand. After getting ahold of the ship’s security logs (thanks to an intervention from Fitz), Liv figured out that Captain Weaver (the Admiral’s #2) was actually covering for Hawley. The footage of the rape was leaked online (Liv’s doing) and Admiral Hawley immediately resigned from his post.
Elsewhere, Jake (Scott Foley) was recovering while Huck (Guillermo Díaz) and Quinn (Katie Lowes) held Russell (Brian White) hostage and were questioning him about Command’s (Joe Morton) plans. They bound him, removed his finger nails, drilled his kneecaps, and prevented him from taking a cyanide kill pill embedded in his tooth. But Russell wouldn’t break. It was actually Jake that made Liv realize that Russell wasn’t the average B613 agent. Like Jake, he’d been trained by Papa Pope in all things Olivia and Russell wouldn’t break. (*SIDENOTE* Isn’t it crazy to think that Papa Pope has been training men to be Liv’s sidepiece?!)
Jake went to see Russell, offered him a beer, and they spoke, agent-t0-agent. Interestingly, they bonded over being Rowan’s special projects. They traded impressions of Command (which were hilariously good…”You can’t take Command, son!”) Then Jake shared the truth…for Rowan, he derived pleasure from Liv figuring out that Russell was a plant, thereby reinforcing his power over his daughter. Russell asked Jake to promise to look out for Liv, which Jake did. After all, Jake loved her…that was his defect. Later on when Huck returned, he was interrupted by Judge-Advocate Virgil, who was actually a B613 agent (OMG!). He knocked Huck out and removed Russell from the apartment.
Meanwhile, Mellie was still in campaign mode, but refusing to travel to Springfield, VA for an event. The last time she was there was the day Jerry died, and Mellie had no intention of making herself into a spectacle. However, according to Lizzie (Portia de Rossi), to appeal to progressives and women, the campaign stop was necessary. After support from Fitz (and shared grieving over Jerry, Mellie went to Springfield and gave an amazing speech. She even called her husband out for not intervening on Ensign Martin’s behalf. Mellie promised that when in the Senate, she would create an independent judicial body for military rape cases. She was feeling good…even better when Lizzie took her to meet a potential billionaire donor…who just happened to be Rowan Pope (OMG!). And what was Foxtail? IT’S MELLIE!
In tonight’s finale episode “You Can’t Take Command”written by Shonda Rhimes and Mark Wilding and directed by Tom Verica:
WHEN YOU DANCE WITH THE DEVIL YOU WILL GET BURNED—Everything comes to a head in the shocking season finale when Olivia and the team finally make some big moves to take down Command, and Mellie’s fate is sealed as the election results are announced. (via ABC)
Watch these two clips from the upcoming show. In the first sneak peek gives us a glimpse into the meeting between Papa Pope (posing as a billionaire named Damascus) and Mellie. He seems keen on supporting her campaign, but Mellie quickly realizes that this man is more than who he says. And in the second clip, Liv calls Fitz to say hello and congratulate him on the recent passing on the Brandon Bill:
LOL FOREVER at Papa Pope saying Mellie is a good role model for his daughter. How gauche! But what’s in that folder? And why is Mellie Foxtail so important to whatever plan Papa Pope has brewing? And of course I’m all up in my Fitzlivia/Olitz feels! Whenever they talk and that Vermont music is playing in the background…*WEEPING* Is it just me or did Liv’s “goodbye Fitz” sound kind of…final?
Remember to tune into ABC at 9:00pm ET|PT for “You Can’t Take Command” (as if we’d forget!) and join me on twitter to live tweet while we see if our fave Gladiators can finally put a stop to Papa Pope!
Bring on the blackmail, backstabbing & OMG! Tonight’s SEASON FINALE of #Scandal is the number one must-watch event. https://t.co/49FHwnkJ74
— Scandal (@ScandalABC) May 14, 2015
