Introducing The Scandal Recap and Roundtable

by Fashion and Entertainment Editor Joseph Lamour

Every week, your resident entertainment buffs (that is to say…Kendra James and I) will recap the plot of Scandal. Then, the following Thursday morning, we will invite some Racialicious friends in for an in-depth discussion of the previous episode’s events, their implications, and thoughts of what’s to come.

MAJOR Plot Spoilers for Scandal 2.10, “One for the Dog,” after the jump. You’ve been warned…

Egad.

This week, we were all greeted with a rather ominous “Violent Content” warning.

I had assumed, since President Fitzgerald Grant had been shot already, that he was headed for a turn, which would lead to some gross surgery sequences. But no–the “interrogation” of accused assassin Huck was underway, and we were pretty much treated to a how-to on waterboarding. Something that happens off camera indicates something of Huck’s is being stabbed (or pulled, or plucked…or removed?). This whole situation begins to freak out the present and newly reinstated US Attorney David Rosen, who wants the whole thing to stop. Shonda Rimes-brand speeches ensue, David to creepy Pentagon guy and creepy Pentagon guy to David. Interrogations continue. Sorry, Rosen.

Meanwhile, the circle of power–Olivia Pope, First Lady Mellie Grant, Verna Thornton, and Cyrus Beene–meet without fifth member Hollis Doyle to discuss the possibility that (gasp!) Hollis may have ordered the assassination of Fitzgerald Grant. The evidence? Verna’s mistrust of people with two cell phones. So, maybe not. She also makes some compelling arguments about Hollis’s thirst for power at any cost and his mentioning on his second-and-therefore-much-more-seedy phone the hotel where the assassination attempt occurred, so (again) maybe. Pope’s minions manage to get the number Hollis calls on his burner phone through a little espionage involving a Hollis employee with enormous hair.

We’re treated to a very inspiring signing of the President’s reinstatement papers. But by who? While in the middle of a fight about Olivia’s dedication to the President, current beau Edison–at the breaking point of not having sex for. a. week.–receives the papers in question while at Ms. Pope’s apartment. This turns Olivia into a pile of happy mush, of course, and she rushes out of the apartment in a flurry of eye moisture. (Claire Danes and Kerry Washington really need to have a cry-off.) But tears turn to anger when we find out that Mellie Grant is actually the one who signed the papers (seriously, First Lady…), leading to a game of cat-and-mouse between Pope’s camp and the staff of Acting President Sally Langston. Through seamless manipulation by Olivia, Harrison, Quinn and Abby, we are all again shown how we, the media, are ridiculously gullible.

Back at the made-for-TV interrogation, Huck manages to tell David, through a gross spit-take, that Becky (the assassin with a babysitter’s name whom everyone loves to hate) is likely not done and will try to kill Fitz again. Tensions run at a fever pitch, and a Round 2 fight in the hallways of a hospital between Olivia and Edison leads me to believe they probably* just broke up. Becky receives a call to finish the job. Again, we aren’t treated to whom…so maybe it isn’t Hollis involved after all…even though the phone was in his desk, we never actually see him use it. Red herring, perhaps?

“Hi Becky.”

Newly released Huck greets Kate (Becky’s real name) as she prepares to take a shot at the President again–but this time, she’s captured. Again, Pope and Co. save the day. Is there nothing they can’t do? They really should work on the whole Kennedy thing–we might be able to shut that case file as well.

At the end of the episode, resident conservative villain Langston employs graphology (and a sworn affidavit from one of Fitz’s physicians) to force Mellie’s hand. But Fitz, at that very moment, wakes up. The luck.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel for our favorite fixer? (Yeah, sure.) What do you think?

*No one can sit down and share a delicious bowl of labneh at Zatiniya after the fight they just had, right?