Everyone's favorite TV character spiraling into darkness? That would be Quinn Perkins.

While it’s been beyond fun watching Perkins grow heavily intoxicated while entering the dark, murderous world of Huck, Scandal Season 3 Episode 7 showed us that maybe saying she’s in over her head is the biggest understatement of the century.

With Huck freezing her out, Perkins has been seeking her own rush and that made her vulnerable to Charlie, the B613 baddie who played Quinn to the point that now she is beholden to the villainous organization.

Who better than Katie Lowes to talk about where things are heading for Quinn and just how fun or scary it was shooting some of last week’s scenes? Read on for our exclusive Q&A...

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TV Fanatic:  Katie, I watch The Walking Dead and all these other intense shows and I don’t generally scream at my TV but I was screaming at the TV when Quinn was with Charlie. ‘No, no, no! Get away from her! I don’t like it!’

KL: I always like the girl in the horror movie. ‘Don’t open that door! Don’t answer that door!’ And everyone is like screaming at the TV like, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t kiss him.’ I mean it was just such a fun storyline that came out last week and my tweeting was blowing up like crazy. I think my entire Twitter page for like half an hour was just, ‘No!’

And then they might throw in a couple of like, ‘Wow. That was really steamy.’ Or like, ‘Whoa. That’s Bryan MacKenzie from Father of the Bride.’ You know, people are just devastated that Huck and Quinn are on not great terms at the moment.

TVF:  In last week’s episode, when Quinn is telling Huck how she’s not just an adrenalin junkie and how she’s interested for the right reasons, I couldn’t help but think that she sounds like an addict trying to justify everything. Do you see it that way?

KL: You know, I definitely think that she has an addiction problem similar to Huck…however, I think when she was saying ‘I’m doing things for the right reasons,’ I do think her moral compass is still of a good person.

And I think that kind of what she meant is that, ‘Yes, I might really, at the end of the day, really yearn for controlling people and yearn to do it in a very unhealthy way, but at the same time I also just really want to be on your side.’ I will go wherever Huck and Olivia go. I think she is one of the most loyal characters I’ve ever played.

TVF:  We saw Quinn at the shooting range last week. Is that about control, is it about protection, or is she just trying to find something for that rush since Huck’s not letting her in?

KL: I think definitely it’s a combination of all of those things. What’s funny is that there were scenes last season where I begged Huck for a gun. And ‘hey, you know, give me a gun already, and when are you going teach me, and when are going to take me to this [shooting] range,’ and things like that and they were cut out. They ended up on the editing room floor a bunch last season. And I kept wondering like ‘oh, is it because obviously our scripts are like 85 pages?’ and a lot of everyone’s things wounds up on the editing room floor.

But when these scenes came about in at the gun range I was so happy because I really feel like they are there for a reason now.  I mean, it’s there because she needs it. She desperately, desperately needs it. She’s not getting the outlet she used to get. She’s been grounded and Olivia Pope and Associates and Huck isn’t giving her the responsibility she used to be able to have.

I think it’s definitely an outlet for her for control, for power, to do something bad and naughty, and to also maybe do something for herself. You know, we you haven’t seen Quinn in a long time doing something alone in her own life.

TVF:  With Charlie, does it start out because he feeds that thing that Huck’s not feeding her at the moment?

KL: You nailed it on the head. I think Quinn, obviously from the past, she has boy issues. She has Dad issues, for sure. Her father basically threw her away like she was trash and wanted nothing to do with her and so she invested all of her eggs in one basket, which is Huck and Olivia. She feels kind of homeless at the moment. I mean, when she had nowhere to go Huck introduced her to this world and then said, ‘Nah uh…’

I think, at first, Quinn has learned a lot in the past two seasons from the Quinn we first saw, and I guess she doesn’t trust [Charlie] right away, which is why she’s says to Huck, ‘is anyone in B613 ever normal?’ because I think her senses are up, like not sure if she should trust him or not, but in the end it just gets to her. Like a mix of everything.

One, he’s giving her what Huck is not. Two, she hasn’t been pursued by a man in like two years. [laughs] So I think that’s just like major overall shock and overload. And then he’s a bad boy. Come on, what lady out there can honestly say, and men too for that matter. I mean who…any human being out there has not been attracted to a bad boy at some point in their life? I mean, give me a break. It’s hot!

TVF:  When Quinn stabs the security guard in the hand with the injection, as an actor what is going through your head to do that scene?

KL: There is this really dark little section of [Quinn’s] heart and her mind that I think because she’s had so many horrible things happen to her that when the roles are reversed and she gets to inflict that on someone else…I just think she does feel that kind of relief and glee that Huck feels. And I think that’s what happened in that split second.

She’s also an overachiever. Like, she loves to be amazing at her job. That’s why she became a hacker so quickly and how she got responsibility from Huck so quickly. So when Charlie gives her the assignment to inject this dude and put him out, she’s like, ‘Yes, someone is giving me a job. Someone’s giving me an opportunity to prove myself, and not only do I get to prove myself but I’m going to kick ass at this job and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.’ Which she does and she’s psyched about it and then she quickly realizes ‘oh, no!’

TVF: So moving forward, what is the next step because we already know that she’s in over her head. Is it even worse in this next episode as she gets more into B613?

KL: Oh, I am so flipped out for people to see what happens with Quinn and Huck, and Charlie and B613, and Olivia’s mom and, again, it’s all part of Shondaland and it’s all this big huge thing. I’ve been given the most incredible opportunities in the episode coming up this Thursday and the next two. In episodes eight, nine and ten. I will literally get to do an acting scene I’ve never done.

And especially episode nine, I emailed Shonda after I read that because the opportunity to go to these really mental places where I’ve never been asked to go to before and it’s why my job is so challenging and a once in a lifetime gig. It’s amazing.

But yes, you're going to see a lot of…everyone just seems really scared for Quinn. Like that’s what I keep running into on the streets, like fans, and they’re like, ‘No, no. What’s going to happen to her? What’s going to happen to her? She’s screwed! How is she going to get back?’ And I cannot wait for you to see and my answers are, I don’t know. I just don’t know anything. It’s crazy. All my trust is in Shonda Rhimes as the writer.

TVF: Does Quinn tell Huck or does she reach out to Huck in this episode, or is she at the point now where she can't?

KL: Well, I guess what I can say is what you know from the past is Quinn is very persistent and she doesn’t give up very easily, so I’ll leave it at that.

TVF:  This being an addiction, I’m still kind of thinking there’s going to be a chance that Quinn still might find some joy in this with B613.  

KL: Oh, for sure. It’s always a possibility. It’s always moving there. You’re a hundred percent right. I mean you're a hundred percent right. I mean that’s what gate has been opened.

TVF:  If anything, I know that I need to be watching Scandal live from now on!

KL: It’s amazing because we got so much attention from the episode this past week and Bellamy Young’s performance and the storyline and how much was packed in those 43 minutes, and it’s just laying the roadwork for how much crazier the train is going to fly off the tracks.  

Scandal airs Thursdays at 10pm on ABC.

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.