Scandal Season 6, Episode 6
“Extinction”
Posted by Kim
What I am loving about this season of Scandal so far is that every episode has focused around one character and the events that brought them towards Election night. We’re spending this week with Papa Pope and we were promised ANSWERS as to who was behind the Vargas assassination. Boy, did we get them…as well as many more questions. To the gifs!
We check in on Papa Pope 53 days before the election. I love that he makes himself breakfast on a tray every day.
A mysterious box is delivered to his door. Me, automatically:
(It’s a toy dinosaur, btw)
Eli pops in on a college lecture given by Broadway’s Tonya Pinkins and looks endeared by her.
“It’s the Predators who are the most vulnerable.” That’s not what the Jurassic Park movies taught me.
Eli regresses into his FULL SCIENCE NERD life when he banters with Sandra about Dinosaurs.
“We are a long way from grad school…” OH THEY WERE A THING.
Sandra takes Eli to a lab that would make Frankenstein jealous.
SO MUCH FLIRTING OVER SCIENCE AND DINOSAURS.
“I could use a partner.” Yessssssss.
“This is the part where you’re supposed to give me some advice.” Olivia comes to her dad about the Mellie and Marcus situation which reminds me: FREE MELLICUS 2K17 AND LET THEM BE IN LOVE.
“You’re here, pretending you don’t already know what you have to do. You know. It’s clear.”
“She wants it almost as badly as you do, but there is a difference. She is weak. She is undisciplined. She is soft.” Excuse me, SIR.
“She has never learned the hard way that love is a privilege reserved for the victor.”
“I raised a warrior!”
“Eyes on the prize, baby.” I mean even with all the Marcus Drama, Liv’s eyes have never LEFT the prize, she just has a modicum of a conscience.
“Don’t you ever get lonely?” Is that Scandal‘s version of “Don’t you think she looks tired?”
“There he is. The nerd I remember.” I feel like we’re getting a glance of the real Eli here and I am sad.
BUT WAIT THERE ARE HIDDEN CAMERAS IN THE LAB.
“Anything you need, you just give me a holler.” Remember that lady who scared the bejeezus out of Eli last week? THAT’S HER.
That benefactor that’s paying for Sandra’s dinosaurs? Doesn’t exist. The whole thing is a lie.
“I’m surrounded by children! They don’t know who Marvin Gaye is!” Eli goes to Liv’s house under the guise of raiding her record collection for the lab.
“I don’t play them, I’m busy making a President!” No time for dance parties when you are Queen-making.
“Um how long has that car been out there?” Someone is getting paranoid and it’s Eli.
Eli shows up at the lab with booze and memories about his last dig with Sandra.
“That’s not what I remember most about that trip.” Soooooo, she’s the one that got away.
“I don’t have a lot of regret in my life. I regret that.” Eli leads Sandra to a closet to make out and I totally buy that this is genuine…
UNTIL ELI PULLS A GUN ON HER IN THE CLOSET.
“They want you. That’s all I know. They brought me here. They told me to get you.” Poor Sandra is just a pawn in whatever this bigger game is. LET HER STUDY HER DINOSAURS.
“They’re everywhere, don’t you understand?” WHO ARE THEY?
“You want to talk to me? I’m right here.” Eli does his best Jennifer Love Hewitt in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
“You will regret every second of this.” Somehow I think that these people knew that’s exactly what Eli would say.
“I’m giving you an opportunity to explain yourself. To help me understand why you thought you could lure me into a cage and get away with it.”
A guy in the background speaks up. “Who exactly is in charge here? Him?” AND THEN HE SHOOTS THE GUY ELI WAS TALKING TO IN THE HEAD AND BRAINS FLY ERRYWHERE.
“Now I’m in charge.” I know this is true because Eli actually looks scared.
“You want something?” “Mellie Grant in the White House.” I mean…don’t we all?
“But you do understand what’s at stake should you opt out? Olivia will be fine. But Sandra won’t be.” OH SNAP.
“Sandra walks free. You and I? We never cross paths again.”
“I had hoped we could become friends.” WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE?
“Of course I’m upset. Also confused and terrified.” Sandra very much wishes to be excluded from this narrative.
“That wasn’t you! That was someone else.” Oh, honey. That was exactly him though.
“It means I’m protecting you.”
“What I need, Adam, is a win.” Eli finds out about Jennifer Fields and sees his path. Also for those of you keeping track, Adam is the one who is eventually brought in as the Vargas Assassin.
“Start with San Bernito.” Ohhhhhh. Another Defiance on our hands.
“I want to know the feeling of walking into an Oval Office I EARNED. I undid it, Dad.” Liv and her sense of honor, y’all.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Eli’s panic is real.
“Don’t you have any faith in me at ALL?” Liv just really wants her Dad to believe that she can win this election on her own.
Eli tries to ship Sandra off now that he knows he’s going to lose.
“That’s what I was? A liability?”
“I thought we were going to spend our lives together.” I never thought I would feel sorry for Papa Pope, but here we are.
He tries to re-rig the machines, but it’s too late. Mellie’s gonna lose.
“Sandra, poor thing, she was so scared when I showed up.” Oh no.
“YOU MESSED UP COOLIO.” I don’t know why Sarah is calling him Coolio, but I’m here for it.
“You are going to kill Frankie Vargas when he takes the stage tomorrow night.”
“You want me to frame Cyrus?” “DING.”
“For the record, I am the one who is going to give YOU nightmares.” BLESS SHONDA RHIMES AND HER LITANY OF POWERFUL AND TERRIFYING LADIES.
“The plan is for you to shut up and do exactly what I say.”
We’ve seen the “Make the damn call” scene so many times and it never gets easier.
Eli is LITERALLY under the stage when Frankie gives his victory speech.
Eli’s hand SHAKES and Frankie steps away and it appears that Eli may have thrown away his shot.
But Frankie steps back into his frame and Eli shoots. The horrible thing is that Frankie SEES him and his poor face is SO CONFUSED before Eli makes the final kill shot.
SO MANY BRAINS IN THIS EPISODE.
“The mighty conqueror returns!”
“NOT UNTIL I HAVE SANDRA.” Eli refuses to put the Cyrus plan into action until he gets his girl back.
“Jennifer it’s me, make the call.”
“Here’s the problem with doing good work, Eli. You make yourself valuable.” I wonder if Eli KNEW all along that they would go back on the deal.
“We found your weakness. It’s standing right next to you.” OH MY GOD STOP GOADING HIM.
“Don’t beat yourself up, we’re just better than you.”
“You people, always thinking you’re better than us.”
AND ELI SHOOTS SANDRA IN THE HEAD.
“I have no weaknesses, Nobody owns me.”
“I gotta give it to you. I did not see that one coming.” Really?
“Wherever your daughter goes, we have eyes on her.” WHO IS CLOSE TO LIV AND A TRAITOR?
“Oh look, your bones arrived. FUN!” Salt in the wound.
“How could you let that man outplay you?” This scene has so many new layers now.
“I am your father, I am not a predator.” HE DID IT ALL FOR YOU, OLIVIA.
“I am very smart prey trying to help my species survive.”
“Survival of the fittest, Olivia.” It was so heartless when he said this in the premiere and now it’s like he’s repeating this as a mantra to justify EVERYTHING he’s done.
Once Olivia leaves, Eli unwraps Sandra’s body and cries.
Did this episode make you feel for Papa Pope? Or did he have this coming? Let us know in the comments!
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