Scandal Season 4 Episode 9 Review: Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
Miranda Wicker
at
.
Updated at
.
Was it just me or did Scandal Season 4 Episode 9 feel way more like a season finale than a winter finale? At least until the final cliffhanger, that is.
For one thing, that might be as dead as we're going to get for now with Rowan Pope. And by that I mean not dead at all, but just gone somewhere and waiting until the point when he's needed for something; good or ill.
And Olivia decided to choose herself. You know, until she was chosen to be kidnapped.
Not being clairvoyant despite my desperate pleas to make it so, I can't say for certain that Rowan Pope is out of the picture for the foreseeable future. But it definitely seemed that way after tonight.
He cleaned out his offices, his house, his everything, and then he started cleaning up after B613 by killing all of his old agents. Or by trying to kill all of his old agents.
Anyone who didn't know where Quinn was going and what would transpire when she left OPA suddenly hasn't been paying attention, but even if it was telegraphed, it's always nice to have Charlie back for a visit. Until a Quinn-face Kill Card falls out of his wallet and I remembered just how evil he was when we first met him. For a split second, part of me thought he might off her, or at least try.
But he didn't, and he actually ended up redeeming himself a bit by handing over some files that will help Huck with his family. FINALLY! Someone is helping Huck!
I spent far too much time this season focusing on just how easy it would be for any one of them to walk up to Kim's house, knock on the door, and corroborate his story. Finally someone did, even if that someone was Charlie and it doesn't seem possible to me that Rowan would know his connection to Quinn and still give him the task of switching the files.
(There's no way Rowan didn't know about Charlie and Quinn. He knows about everything else.)
The showdown between Rowan and Olivia was an incredibly intense and well-done scene. Joe Morton for an Emmy! For real.
The shock on his face when she pulled the trigger and he realized she was capable of killing him, plus his reaction and her reaction to his reaction? Man, that was just...really, really great.
Rowan is this evil, evil man, but throughout the episode, actually throughout the last several episodes, one theme has been floated throughout and that is that Olivia is her father's child. She is capable of doing very bad things for what she deems to be very good reasons if the situation calls for it, and while she does try to take the high ground, she often fails.
She wouldn't have killed Jerry to win a Presidency, but she might have ruined an opponent or another person or family. Doing what she does, fixing things, is in her blood, even if she and her father have very different ideas of what it means to fix things.
In the end, Rowan will always Rowan. Tonight Olivia chose Olivia, maybe foreshadowing some endgame for us for the series.
I refuse to get caught up in the shipping wars tonight, or to say a single thing one way or another about either relationship, as I really don't think that's what this episode was about, but I will say that what many of us have wanted for a while was for Olivia to choose herself and tonight that's what we got.
Our incarnation of that might have had Olivia choosing to be alone, but for now, Shonda Rhimes' vision has Olivia choosing to do what makes her happy when it makes her happy. She's taking care of Olivia first after spending so much of her time taking care of everyone else.
I can't say that I blame the woman for wanting her me time, and if she wants a little company during said time, then so be it. It's her time. You do you, Olivia.
Of course now she's been kidnapped, by Andrew, all so he can have a war with West Angola. Her kidnapping will no doubt send both Fitz and Jake into a tailspin of machismo as they both try to work separately to bring her back, inevitably have to work together, and then continue to preen like peacocks for her attention and affection.
My gut says Rowan helps them save her from Andrew. (My gut, unlike Olivia's, is totally capable of being wrong.)
Then again, maybe it'll be Cyrus Beene who helps her after she put him back on solid ground once news of his affair with Michael the hooker broke the fictitious Internet. He does owe her a huge solid after that.
I'm not sure that I buy the "I'm in love with a hooker" angle, but hey, it's TV. It works for TV and politicians and political figures have gotten away with worse and with less outrage. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that Michael will probably be sticking around for a while, but I guess time will tell whether or not he's a good fit with the cast.
Other notes from the night:
- Oooooh, Mellie! She was quite the firecracker with Liz, outing her own affair to the VP's lover and telling Liz to put her money on the right horse. Mellie for President!
- The scene with Abby and David needed to hit the cutting room floor. It served solely as a way to alert him to her relationship with Leo Bergen and could've waited until never.
- We didn't need to trot out Maya Pope as another way to show that Olivia is like her dad. Show don't tell. Maya Pope just straight up said "you're like your dad." We're smarter than that.
What did you think of "Where The Sun Don't Shine"? Will Rowan Pope be the one who saves Olivia? Will the file fix things with Huck's family? Let's chat in the comments until the next Scandal Round Table hits the site.
The series returns in January, but we can always watch Scandal online to relive every crazy, twisty moment until then!
Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
