Scandal Season 4, Episode 22
“You Can’t Take Command”
Posted by Sage
A thousand apologies for leaving you alone with season 4’s penultimate outing, Gladiators. But we’re back with another rollercoaster of a Scandal finale. Shondaland gave us plenty of twists and turns to mull over all summer, plus the toxic reunion I’ve been dreading. Let’s get right to it, shall we?
“Please! I am not Mr. Bainbridge…to you…” I see what you did there, Rowan.
“You have set quite an example for my daughter, I will tell you that.” This is so twisted and cruel. I love it.
“Does it interest you?” Rowan/Mr. Bainbridge hands Mellie a folder of photos of Mellie and Andrew bonin’, plus the particulars of Fitz’s participation in Remington.
“You don’t ask me who I am, Mrs. Grant. You ask me what I need.”
“You’ll go down. Your husband will go down. It will be a bloodbath.” Rowan needs a list of names. Mellie seems ready to comply.
Jake is about to testify about Remington in the B6-13 hearing. Good luck with that, you gorgeous target.
“You tell the truth. You tell the whole truth. No matter what happens, no matter who gets hurt.” I just…do they really think they’re going to win this?
“Susan is a national treasure.” TRUE. And of course Liv realized that before anyone else.
“And congratulations on the Brandon bill. That…is the man I voted for.” Congratulations on doing your job that one time in eight goddamn years.
The entire grand jury (and their bus driver) has been executed. That was the list of names that Mellie gave Rowan.
“Normally, I’d be all white hat, woo-hoo. But I got a call from Oregon. The court stenographer, Faye? That’s her name, Faye. She knits hideous scarves that I have to wear so I don’t hurt her feelings. Faye was killed by a hit and run driver while out walking her dog. Except she doesn’t have a dog.” Everyone involved in this trial is at risk or already dead. Message, received.
“And while I live for justice, I don’t wanna die for it.” What kind of attitude is that, Rosen??
“I need you to keep your mouth shut, can you do that?” Lizzy Bear is the only other person on the planet besides Mellie and Rowan who knows the role Mellie played in the murder of the jurors.
“Cyrus? I killed those grand jurors.” Until she tells Cyrus, that is. The guilt, my friends. She is weighing on our Mellie.
“No, DON’T hug me. I’m sick of being comforted. I’m sick of fighting and losing.” “Don’t Touch Me” is a complete and separate emotion.
“I go where you go.” “It doesn’t matter where I go or what I do. I’m still trapped. I’m still his prisoner.” Liv tells Jake that she wants Rowan dead. She’s had enough of looking over her shoulder.
“You got that ‘I been in the hole’ look all on your face.” Olivia goes to see her mom for help.
“Did you father and I not tell you you were special enough when you were little? Did we not give you enough hugs?” Marie says Olivia needs to come back down from her “uppity world.”
“Are you going to tell your teammate you added slaughter to your resume?” Mellie did it for THEM though. HOW IS IT WORSE THAN ANYTHING FITZ AND CYRUS HAVE DONE? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
“I’ll take care of it.” “You will?” “I will.” I doubt it.
“Forgive me, Miss Pope. But that must be one of the most preposterous things I’ve ever heard.” Jake and Liv meet with the director of the FBI to talk B6-13. Jake takes credit for all their work.
“B6-13 is real. And I think from that look in your eye that you already knew that.”
Rowan tells Cyrus that he’s done him favors. Not killing Rosen was one. Thanks for that at least, you monster.
“Well, it stops now. I am having this Rowan arrested brought in and brought down. I won’t have it.” I appreciate this lady’s tenacity, but…
“Honey, I’m gonna call you honey because I can’t remember your first name and I don’t care: Honey, you wanna be reasonable about this. Because a shadow intelligence organization operating quite happily in power and in secrets for decades inside the FBI, the CIA and the NSA, if there was such a thing, well that would be like a sleeping lion. And isn’t it safer to tiptoe around the lion? What do you think happens when you poke the lion? Whose face does the lion rip off first? I think it rips off Honey’s face first.” CYRUS.
Director Lowery’s people grabs Jake and Liv. They throw them in jail.
“Mostly though, I’d like to thank my wife….and maybe if you’re as flawed a person as I am, you start taking them for granted.” Fitz gives a toast to Mellie’s victory. He’s all over her dick right now, because Fitz likes to be associated with winners.
“Losing a child. Most people never recover from that. It destroys families, upends marriages. Not ours. Her love, her friendship means anything. As a team, we’ve never been stronger. So please, join me in raising a glass. To my best friend.”
“Rosen, why would I fire you? You’re the Attorney General. MY Attorney General.” Cyrus’s voice is all soft and scary. Run, David, run.
“With you, David, I already know your pressure point. You only have one: Abby.” *Record scratch*
P.S. WHERE IS LEO.
“Though, if something were to happen to her. Suicide. Aneurysm. Car accident.” “You can’t threaten me like that.” “Actually, I can.” LEAVE RED ALONE 2K15.
“You want me to recant?” “On signing this document, you will be free to leave this room.” Rosen visits Jake and Liv in prison. He forces them to sign a document stating that they’ll disavow all knowledge of B6-13.
“So much for being the good guys, huh, Rosen?”
“I can’t have a soul. If I had one, I’d never accomplish a thing.” I want this on a t-shirt.
“There were only a few agents left who could identify me as Command.” Rowan takes out every last one of them, including that little bb from Cougartown.
“And in case you were hoping your mother was still an ally, don’t. She loves you, just not as much as she loves her freedom.” Anyone surprised by this has been watching the wrong show.
“Well, I’m gonna need a pen, baby.”
“Well, now, I’m just an old, innocent, doddering paleontologist.”
“What’s behind us? What are you talking about?” “I’m sorry. I overstepped. I thought you knew.” Lizzy tells Fitz about Rowan and plays reaaaaaaaaaaaaal dumb.
“That money has been run through so many off-shore accounts, it could’ve come from anywhere.” “Say that again?” The $2 billion that Huck stole from B6-13 could be put to work to bring them down.
“Rowan did that. Command did that. He had power. But you?” Liv takes some of that money makes it look like Eli Pope has been embezzling from the Smithsonian. He has no dead-behind-the-eyes agents left to get him out of this.
“You were right. We couldn’t take Command, but we could take Eli Pope.” GENIUS.
“Why are you working with Rowan?” Quinn asks Huck. She recognized his “work” on the grand jury bus. Shit, y’all.
“I will shoot you. I will shoot you like the animal you are. You wanna test me.” Remember when we thought QUINN would be the one to turn? She’s white hat all the way now, and she’ll do what she has to to protect Olivia.
“You don’t deserve them. You don’t deserve US.” Huck claims that he did Rowan’s bidding to protect his family. Both families.
“Do it. Please, Quinn. Do it.” He begs her to kill him.
“You, Cryus. When I am president, there will still be a place for you here.” Bestiessss.
“You think I’d let you be President after what you?” UM. LET her?
“I was wrong to take care of us?” “Get out.” How is this any worse than Fitz’s greatest hits. HOW? I’m so baffled. God, I hate him so much. I’ve never hated any character to this extreme degree.
“Pack your bags and get out of my house.” MY house. You can do better than this, Mellie.
“Before I throw you out.” Blood is coming from my ears and my eyes at this point.
“Sir, please.” “You’re fired.” He fires Cyrus too, because those years of loyal service also mean nothing.
“The mission is complete. And it has been my pleasure.” Jake bids Liv an emotional farewell. I’m not ready.
“They asked me to look out for you. Your father, the bad guy, and the president, the good guy.”
“I am in love with you. But you are in love with him.” She says nothing. Where’s my cocktail.
“You are owed, Olivia. You want what’s yours? Go and take it.” But it’s the WORST thing. She wants the worst thing. MAKE HER UNDERSTAND, JAKE. DO NOT GIVE UP.
Lizzy move into Cyrus’s office with a smug smile on her face.
But okay, Fitz’s term is going to be over in a few years. If Lizzy had stuck with Mellie, she would potentially have had eight more years of employment in the White House. Maybe not as Chief of Staff, but still. The motive is a little muddled here.
President goes to see Olivia at her apartment; she’s not there.
The best part of this season is that Olitz were separated for most of it. This delicate ecological balance is about to be truly fucked.
“Nice view.” Olivia is on the balcony with a glass of wine. “Here Comes The Sun” fades in. Fuck my life.
“What happens now?” “Whatever we want.” Fitz and Olivia make out. I cry like a grieving Barry Allen. Didn’t we almost have it all?
SIGH. Whelp. Here we are.
BUT. I could be very into Mellie and Cyrus going rogue. B6-13 had outstayed its welcome as a big bad; I’m ready for a new villain next year. And I don’t expect that Jake will stay away for very long. Would that he had that kind of self respect, but no. Plus, the premiere will bring us closure on that Huck and Quinn cliffhanger!
What did you think, Gladiators? Were you satisfied by the finale and by season 4 in general? Thoughts in the comments, thank you kindly.
Olivia still loving Fitz just does not make any sense anymore. It hasn’t for a long time. Their relationship is like that of Ted and Robin. The writers/creator insist upon it despite where the show/characters have gone during the show’s run. I hated that ending so much I don’t know that I’ll keep watching. Olivia choosing Fitz over and over in spite of everything drains me of all respect for that character. I don’t know why Shonda won’t do better by her. Also, Fitz is a bag of shit with legs.
I already ranted about this all over the internet and one more time really couldn’t hurt. What really gets me is that Fitz is not upset about what Mellie did so much is he is upset that she made that deal with Rowan. And there was no way Mellie would have worked with Rowan if she had known he was behind Jerry’s death. If she had known, he wouldn’t have been able to get far in that meeting with her. If Fitz had handed her a picture and said this is the guy behind our son’s death, she would walked out of that room. If Rowan had forced her to listen, she would have went to Fitz with all of it. These two have always worked to keep each other out of the loop in the bad things they do as much as tell each other to work it out. Fitz really has no one to blame but himself if he had told Mellie everything about Jerry’s death. But he doesn’t tell her. He even says in that scene “You don’t know what you’ve done.” Yet he still punishes her for it. Why? So he could feel righteous and good and better than everyone else when goes back to Olivia. Fitz has no problem being morally repugnant so long as he can convince himself that he less repugnant than everyone else around him.
Now it is at a point that I want Mellie & Cyrus to take Fitz down. And sadly that means that I’ll have to be opposite Olivia because of course she’ll be pulled in to look bad. She’ll win because she has to win but that means so will Fitz. I don’t want Olivia to suffer but I want Fitz to suffer so much. What I wanted was for Liv to run Mellie’s campaign and Fitz to die horribly in some way that he proves he is terrible… like holding a bunch of kids and puppies hostage and having to be shot by his own secret service (the kids and puppies would be okay).
The twist with Huck is just so stupid. He started this. Quinn needs to shoot him because at this point he is going to snap one day and kill his own family. Plus, if Huck was Rowan’s inside guy, why did Rowan need the list of names? Why need it if most everyone was going to be killed at one place? Did Huck go rogue on his own? To me it feels like crappy writing to get Mellie into this storyline so Fitz feels justified in pushing Mellie away so he can be with Olivia. While I know Fitz isn’t smart enough to run a gambit that would get all of these things into place just so he feels justified in getting back with Liv, I would almost love that twist so long as Olivia found out and then killed him.
Thank you! For a while there I was starting to think I was some crazy lone wolf with all the “Fitz was justified in being mad at Mellie because she didn’t come to him first and they were supposed to be a team” I was reading. She didn’t know who Rowan was because he didn’t tell her who killed their son. The minute Fitz decided to get on Team Mellie he should have told her everything about Rowan and B613. Mellie is an intelligent woman. If she’d had all the pieces she would have come to him first, then he could have gotten Olivia involved, and Team Mellivia would have solved all their problems and gotten rid of Rowan. Fitz is a poor excuse for a human being on so many levels and I can’t understand why either of them (Mellie and Olivia) is still willing to be bothered with him at this point.