Scandal 'The Last Supper' Recap, S4 E8: Rowan Pope Escapes

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This episode of Scandal, Olivia wants to team up with Fitz and Jake to put her father in prison for the murder of Fitz's son.

Now that Jake Ballard's name has been cleared, Olivia and Fitz sit down with him, and as you can imagine, Jake is not so pleased to see them. "I'm innocent, is what you're telling me.

Good. Please to hear that," he says. "Should we each take turns hugging, or how does this work, exactly?"

Fitz tries to reason with him, calm him down, but Jake is having none of it. "Captain Ballard. Jake is what my friends call me, you're not my friend, Mr. President.

Friends don't put you in prison for crimes you didn't commit. They don't refuse to hear you when you're telling them the truth.

They don't hit you, when you can't hit back. So from this point forward, when you refer to me you'll do so as Captain Ballard, is that understood."

Now. First things first. Last episode, Rowan Pope (Olivia's father) was revealed to be the brains behind murdering the President's son.

However, there isn't enough proof against him to have him imprisoned. "Good," Jake said. Jake wants Rowan dead, and its easier to kill someone who isn't surrounded by guards.

"No one's killing anyone," Olivia says. "We want justice too, Jake, we all want justice."
"I don't want justice, I want to kill your father," Jake said. "And I want you to let me do that."

Fitz argues that they need to compile more evidence, but Jake knows it will never get that far. As soon as he's released, Rowan will know they're on to him.
"Which is why we're not releasing you," Fitz says.

So with Jake remaining in prison while innocent, he relucantly agrees to help, and informs Olivia about a number of confiscated B16 files that can be used as evidence. Then Fitz and Jake kiss and make up, so to speak.

In a turn of events, Elizabeth North approaches Olivia for her help. She believes her phone is bugged, and needs Olivia's skills to investigate. So the team gets to work to figure out who her enemies are.

"I don't like you," Olivia says to Elizabeth. "You cut corners, you're mean to assistants, and you lie." But Olivia respects her, and agrees to help her.

Suddenly, the Vice President was injured in a surprising bomb explosion, and the President's team get together to look for a suspect. This prompts Rowan to call Olivia, but Olivia is unhappy to speak with him.
"You're disgusting," she says, and he laughs, saying while that is true, he is still her father.
"You will always have a place at my table," he says.

"I will always be there. Waiting. For you."

Meanwhile, Mellie runs to the Vice President's side to check that he is ok, and decides to throw herself at him.

Luckily, he responds in kind, and the two seem to hit it off quite well even hours after the VP was almost shot to death.

David Rosen meets with Olivia, Fitz and Jake because the trio want him to prosecute Rowan.

Jake tells Rosen about the files, and they tell him he needs to handle it "discreetly and creatively." When the truth surfaces, not only would Olivia be exposed as the daughter of the man who murdered the President's son, but the command would be put in jeopardy for imprisoning an innocent man.

Rosen promises to see what he can do.

Fitz leans in for a kiss from Olivia, and when she rejects him, he gets frustrated. "Is it disloyal to want me, or is it disloyal to want him, you don't know," Fitz says.

"Kiss me. It's just you and me." Olivia finally agrees, and kisses Fitz, but is still apprehensive about being with him. However, Fitz is pleased with himself.

Back at OPA, Huck is narrowing down the culprit behind Elizabeth's phone hack. Huck traced a worm on her phone, and knows Cyrus is spying on her.

Cyrus admits that he was bugging North's phone because she set him up. She sent Michael to sleep with Cyrus, and he needs to know what she has on him.

"They want to destroy us," Cyrus says. "Clients are plenty, friends are few. Your friend is asking for help."

Olivia asks Huck to go behind Elizabeth's back to find the dirt she has on Cyrus.

She was holding pictures and videos of him with Michael. Olivia tells Elizabeth that it was nothing more than a virus on her phone, and Elizabeth completely believes her.

Later that night, Michael knocks on Cyrus' front door. "I know I shouldn't be here, but when you canceled I pulled some strings, got your home address," he says "Can I come in?" Cyrus lets him, but reluctantly. The next day, Olivia confronts Michael by seeming happenstance on the street.

"My associates and I hacked your email and your phone," Olivia says, and knows he was working with Elizabeth North.

She pressed him with answers about West Angola. Olivia finds out that Elizabeth keeps a secret apartment, and if she's having an affair, Huck can find proof there.

Meanwhile, the pentagon has the files, and Jake suggests he goes in to get them. But Fitz thinks its a bad idea, and refuses to cooperate, which sends Fitz and Jake into an argument. Frustrated, Olivia calls her father, crying.

"You were right," she says to him. "About me.

They just want to fight, they just want to win.

It was never about me at all." She makes dinner plans with him, and arranges to meet with him in an open public space at 7:30--a perfect time for his arrest.

The Vice President approaches Mellie after their hook up, and they clear the air about their relationship. She admits she was angry at him after he chose the vice presidency over her, but after her son died, and the vice president was near the bomb site, she changed.

"That bomb went off, and I woke up. My body woke up," Mellie said. "I'm not the same person I was, but if you give me a second chance, I will try." And he forgives her.

Olivia tells Cyrus that the source was Michael, but that he gave Elizabeth nothing. Michael cares about Cyrus, and didn't give up any information.

"It's ironic. It's the one's that care about that do the most damage," Cyrus says, and promptly hangs up on Olivia.

Meanwhile, Huck and Quinn discover their stake outs--Elizabeth North and Dan Kubiak--meet together at Elizabeth's apartment.

Surprisingly, the Vice President turns up, and he and Elizabeth are having an affair. Suddenly, Kubiak finds Huck and Quinn's van, and attacks them through the van of the window, but Huck kills him.

Olivia and Rowan meet for dinner, and Rowan apologizes for his failures as a father. "I never put my job before you, I never put anything before you," he tells her.

"What I've done, all that I've done, is because of you." Meanwhile, David Rosen is opening the files that contain the evidence to put Rowan away.

But as he and his team begin to open the boxes, the pages of every single file are all blank.

"I'm leaving Olivia, because of you," Rowan says to Olivia. "And the men outside. The ones waiting for me. Are dead. Because of you." Suddenly, the gunmen surrounding the restaurant are shot down.

"For you the first time in your life, you are on your own," he says to her.

"You think the world is so terrible with me in it. Wait until you see what it's like without me." Rowan then gets into an armored car, and leaves.