Jeannine’s reputation must be sacrificed in order to save Jake in the end.
This week’s Scandal takes us on a trip down memory lane as it flashes back and forth between an incident that occurred five years prior to its current setting and the present scandals of the White House.
In the opening scene, young Olivia Pope meets a then-homeless Huck in the metro station on her way to meeting her father, Rowan Pope, who goes under the alias Eli, for their weekly Sunday night dinners. Olivia takes special interest in Huck and treats him with extraordinary kindness.
We soon learn that Olivia and her father meet weekly as part of a deal they made: She will attend Sunday dinners and he will pay off her law school debts. Olivia does not enjoy the time spent with Eli; in fact, it is clear that she resents the meetings, but after Eli expresses his efforts to hatch their broken relationship, Olivia agrees to be more accepting of the position.
As the episode progresses and the flashbacks continue, secrets about characters, specifically Eli Pope, are revealed. Olivia finds out about the secret governmental assassin unit B6-13 from Huck, who after saving her life from two muggers, briefly confesses to her about the team and the torture they put him through.
Olivia, being the caring and curious woman she is, discloses this information to her father because she wants him to inquire about it to his friends in the FBI (Olivia thinks Eli works for the Smithsonian, not as an agent).
Of course, Eli is not thrilled that his daughter is aware of B6-13’s existence. He brushes Huck’s claim aside, stating that Huck must be mentally unstable, and later has Huck taken to to an unknown location for torture under the pretense of an arrest.
After much digging, Olivia finds out that Huck was not arrested and deduces that her father is part of the B6-13 mission. Horrified, Olivia demands Huck’s release. She is disgusted by her father’s job and refuses to speak to him ever again; their relationship is ripped apart by their differences once more.
Back to present day: Olivia’s relationship with her father is still as rocky as the day she found out the truth about his profession. Since the press still believes Jeannine Locke is the president’s mistress, Olivia makes it her personal mission to clear Jeannine’s name from all the negativity that is now associated with it.
However, Olivia’s father is not pleased with his daughter’s actions and gives Olivia an ultimatum that haunts her throughout the episode: let Jeannine live and Jake Ballard, the B6-13 agent who refused an order and save Olivia’s life, will die. Let Jeannine burn and Jake will live.
Of course, Olivia does not even know that Jake is alive for certain. At this point, she has not seen or heard from him in a while because he was taken to some undisclosed place to be tortured just as Huck was in the past.
Olivia therefore decides to go on with her plans to save Jeannine’s name. She tells the White House to be prepared for an attack and sets up a press conference and private media interview for Jeannine in which Jeannine will deny the affair and accuse the White House of slander.
Meanwhile, Olivia tells President Fitzgerald Grant that he must find out if Jake is alive and have him released immediately. Fitz soon realizes his power does not extend to B6-13 and must make an ultimatum of his own, which ironically is very similar to that of Eli Pope’s.
Although he is the only one is the White House who does not want to condemn innocent Jeannine Locke for something she did not do, he tells his assistant Cyrus Beene that he is willing to admit to the affair with Jeannine if it means Cyrus can have Jake released. If not, Fitz will announce to the world that the White House falsely accused Jeannine Locke, putting them in a horrible position with the press.
Cyrus, of course, pulls through and Fitz confirms the affair with Jeannine at a press release. As a result, he loses the battle with Jeannine, but instead wins a much greater one: Jake’s life is spared and is able to return to her at last.
However, no victory comes without a price, especially if it is handed to you by Eli Pope — who we soon learn is not only an agent in B6-13, but is the commander of the unit. In return for Jake’s release, Olivia must return to the father-daughter Sunday night dinners she tried so long to avoid. Funny how things come back full circle, isn’t it?
