SCANDAL Recap: “Baby Made a Mess”

In “Baby Made a Mess,” Scandal Pope’d us all —
and it felt so good. Everyone, particularly the
ladies, are back on track. Olivia did some old-
school gladiating, while Abby dealt with her past
head-on. Even Mellie is back from being Drunk/
Crybaby/Smelly/Chicken-Fried Mellie, leaving Fitz
potentially regretting his tantrum that brought her
back. We, on the other hand, are ever so
pleased. Hit the jump if you want to drink a little
more bourbon, and I’ll touch your boob.
Let’s start with a celebration of the fact that
Olivia did some active political fixing in this
episode. When Fitz endorsed Abby’s slimy and
abusive ex-husband Chip ( Michael Trucco ) to fill
the Senate seat of a man who likes to poop in
diapers and be changed by sex workers
(#America), Olivia stepped in to ensure the
opposition would prevail. Her makeover and
prepping of Susan Ross ( Artemis Pebdani ) was
classic Scandal , plus the inspired twist of having
Susan’s daughter ultimately star in the campaign
ad ( The Good Wife‘s Eli Gold would most
certainly doff his cap to that).
But Chip’s campaign manager Leo Bergen found a
flaw in Olivia’s plan when he discovered Susan
was not actually a grieving widow — she was
never married to the father of her child. Abby,
who had refused to come out publicly and
discuss Chip’s abuse of her, conceded in telling
Leo instead. He did the right thing, sinking his
own client’s ship, but his motives weren’t
altogether altruistic — he was trying to grope
Abby, after all (though she seemed ok with it).
What was more important though was that Abby,
who had been reduced to a crying, vomiting mess
after seeing Chip again, was able to compose
herself enough to hold him at gunpoint later,
telling him to back the hell off. Cheers all
around.
Meanwhile, Liv remained in dogged pursuit of the
truth that could set Jake free, but found Tom
unwilling to change his story about Rowan’s
involvement. Tom’s monologue was one of the
best and strangest of the season so far; his
delivery might have been part Huck and part
Jake, but his wavering from creep territory to
adoration to accusation and back was his own
unique spin. Olivia Pope’d him hard, though, by
telling him to watch his back; Rowan would be
tying up that loose end shortly (in fact, it was
pretty stunning that he hadn’t already). But it
was Liv who actually ordered that non-fatal hit
that spooked him into telling a truth that even
Fitz could believe. Well-played.
Improbably, yet awesomely, Fitz, Jake and Liv are
now a team moving forward against Rowan,
which is a really great place for the show to go.
Each have their weaknesses against Command,
but together, they might be able to take him
down. Is Liv really ready to allow for the
possibility of Rowan’s death, though? Because
let’s be honest, nothing short of that will stop
him (and even then, I bet he ends up having a
really vengeful ghost).
With all of this going on, “Baby Made a Mess”
still managed to find time for some decent side
stories about Cyrus realizing who the leak is, as
well as Huck’s son finding him held a lot of
interest on their own. Scandal is at its best when
it focuses on the emotional side of things, and
the hour was full of revealing character moments
and twists. Some worked very well (like Olivia
out Pope-ing her own father by using his tactics
— masterful) and some didn’t (like the revelation
that Liv’s landlord ain’t worth shit, and will let
anyone into her apartment, including a Fitz
making dying seal sounds). But they all added up
to a really fun and fast-paced episode that has
beautifully set up the remaining hours before the
mid-season finale. “I’m back. That’s what you
wanted.” Amen!
Episode Rating: A
Musings and Miscellanea:
– We need to talk about Fitz’s dirty talk on the
phone. “Then I’ll kiss you on the lips so you can
taste yourself” — is this after watershed?! Also,
Liv’s “ugh” afterwards was the perfect reaction. I
detest Fitz too much to find that conversation
steamy, but I did find how thirsty he was funny.
– So Liv, Jake and Fitz are totally going to have
a three-way in the war room to clear the air,
right?
– Olivia’s got the shine, apparently, as even Tom
is in love with her at first sight.
– Two excellent cameos this week from Michael
Trucco (BSG!) and Artemis Pabdani, who was the
best part of Masters of Sex‘s second season.
– What was that roving camerawork on Fitz
when Liv brought up his suicide attempt?
– “Yahtzee!” – Leo.
– David Rosen hasn’t been on the show much
this season, but the writers are making it up to
him by giving him so many excellent lines: “That
place holds people who eat people,” “This isn’t
jailhouse-mingle.com,” “I’ve been Pope’d and I
didn’t even know it,” as well as his discussion
supermax being called supermax.
– The story about Jeremy Winslow and the
photos of Liv was really downplayed this week …
I wonder if it’s related to Rowan somehow?
(Isn’t everything?)
– I assume Huck didn’t mask his IP address in
the hopes that his son would find him, but do any
of these buildings have doors or locks? People
just seem to come and go as they please.
– “Against me, you will lose” – Rowan.
– “What’s clear is that you seem to have wasted
a lifetime doing all of the wrong things” – Liv.