Scandal: First Lady Sings the Blues Review

I have to say, I am usually decent at figuring out whether or not a characters is actually dead. However, I am seemingly numb by shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead that ingrains a fear in me that no one is safe and that any life is at stake, no matter what. Well, I am happy to say that Jake is alive! Incredibly bloody, unable to breath on his own, and considerably motionless… but alive!

No thanks to Scott Foley’s tweet that night after his assumed death, thanking and bidding farewell to our beloved show. Also, cast member, Joshua Malina saying how great it was working with him. They really played it up and had me and the rest of America in hysterics. I must say that I’m SO glad last week wasn’t Scott Foley’s last.  

Watching Huck plunge his fist into Jake’s chest had to be one of my many favorite scenes of the night. In moments, the gladiators were trying to save Jake’s life while simultaneously trying to plot their next move. Quinn, of course, recruited sketchy Charlie who calls in a sketchy doctor, who then requires a favor of Liv in order to perform in surgery on Jake. This lands Liv a new client: a reformed Russian spy hoping Liv will get her out of another kill.  

Recently the gladiators and the White House have not been linked at all. Mellie running for senate has been its own storyline entirely, showing Fitz as the supportive husband for the first time ever.

Shocking. 

I love seeing Mellie as more of a political figure, rather than only the first lady, a battle she was fighting for most of the episode. Of course, this separation bliss between the two worlds was short lived when Fitz called Liv for advice about Mellie’s campaign. Liv fights her urge to help him… for about 60 seconds. Her brief pep talk led to a successful turnout for Mellie’s speech and she finally started to gain support from Virginia, much to Cyrus’s dismay.

Cyrus is practically forced by the president to speak on Mellie’s behalf on the Sally Langston show after her negative comments against Mellie began to affect her campaign. She decides to call Mellie out on not taking her role as first lady seriously because she did not refer to it as a “job,” but a privilege. Cyrus, though reluctantly, totally takes Sally down, defining the word “job” and throwing in lines like, “Are you getting paid in fried chicken?” Thanks Shonda Rhimes for that one and thanks for a classic Cyrus “tear down” monologue. We need those every once in a while. 

Speaking of masters of killer monologues, Papa Pope didn’t have too much screen time in last night’s episode, but he was still very present. He will stop at nothing to send a message and send a message he did. While the Russian spy was worried the KGB would end up killing her, it was under Rowan’s hand that her and her grandchildren were killed. He even shot his cohort, Russell, so he could get close enough to the gladiators and Jake in order to finish his job to kill him. However, he was unsuccessful. I guess Rowan’s associates aren’t as skilled as he would like.

Sorry Russell…

Finally, Liv put the pieces together and realized Russell was her mole. The next episode doesn’t look too happy for his character. 

Once again, Scandal won’t be back for another two weeks, but from the preview, Jake is looking stronger and Russell is looking… a bit tied up. While Liv and the gladiators have called it quits for the moment on the B-613 case, there seems to be something new up Rowan’s sleeve. #Whatisfoxtail was trending last night after Rowan gave orders to Russell that it was time to move on from the task at present and onto Foxtail. Whether it has to do with Olivia or not, I’m sure it’s just the beginning of another long ride.