ABC 'Scandal' Season 3 Episode 14 Review

"Who got shot?"  James.  That's who got shot.

Cyrus is in shock.  A murder he actually didn't plan or try to cover up.  A shock!  But throughout the episode, we receive flashbacks to when James and Cyrus first meet on the campaign trail.  The flashbacks give a glimpses into the couple's life before Cyrus became entirely corrupt and influenced James to have an affair with Sally's husband that ultimately led to Sally murdering her husband in a blind rage.

It's Scandal, folks.

The rest of the white house team is equally in shock.  However, Olivia always has her gears turning and she notices that the other white house journalists are missing from the white house press conference.  She gets her team to work in the hope that they'll dig something up.  Unfortunately when Olivia calls Jake, questioning him to see if he knows anything, he's busy burying the other two journalists' bodies.  

No big deal.

Abby continues to question David about what he might know.  David responds to anything she asks, "He was a friend of mine, I miss him, I can't believe he's gone."  He wants to just do his job.  He wants to put the bad guys in prison and make things right in the world.  Unfortunately for David, he has kind-of aligned himself with the head of B6-13 if only just to save his own life.

Olivia Pope's mom "Maya" and Adnan are continuing their work together, however it is obvious Adnan is afraid of her.  Maya is plotting something, planning to pin her terrorist actions on another terrorist but she assures Adnan she has nothing to worry about.  Adnan, knowing she can't trust Maya's word, runs to Harrison's side but at the last minute backs out of getting his help.

In an attempt to move her campaign forward, Sally tries to fly using Air Force One, but Cyrus (still in a state of awful grief) blocks Sally's move.  Cyrus sends Mellie and Andrew go hang out with the gun lobbyists in order to sway their votes for Fitz.

When Olivia goes to Jake to see if he can do anything, Jake admits to Olivia that he was responsible for James and the journalists' death.  Olivia is mad for a number of obvious reasons, but mainly she is mad that Jake is becoming her father.  He one-ups his confession and tells her he directly murdered them because he had to do what it took to save the nation.  They all knew too much and they all had to go.  He says "Bad things happen to good people all the time."  

Is that a threat on her life?  Did her father use the same threat against her?  Yes.

Olivia takes the next, obvious steps and meets with her father.  She asks him, "Can you be a dad, a kind normal regular dad?"  She wants to know things, she wants to know the reasoning behind all that has happened, that will happen.  She says, "I don't know what the point is... if there are no white hats, if everyone is evil."

183 people.  Rowen Pope is responsible for at least 183 deaths.  He says, "Being the Hand of God is already the worst punishment in the world."  He is referring to himself, but he is also referring to Jake.  Playing the "dad" role, he knows she is torn and that she is a loss at what to do anymore.  The "white hat" has been dirtied and everyone is responsible, even Olivia herself.  He says, "If everyone you love is a monster, then there is someone worth saving... Everyone is worth saving... In the face of darkness, you drag everyone into the light.  I think that is the point, at least that is the point of you."

Points to Rowen for being a dad.

Meanwhile, the gun lobby agrees to backing Fitz in the election after Mellie tells them Fitz will do a speech backing their rights.  However, Cyrus wants to push to change some blue states red instead and uses James' murder as leverage to push more legislation on gun control.  Though successful in their mission, Mellie and Andrew are getting drunk together in their perceived waste of time.  Andrew looks longingly into Mellie's eyes and says, "it's a shame he can't see you the way I do."  He then pounces and the two engage in a very Olivia/Fitz scene.

Abby confronts David again, saying she knows he's in danger or trouble.  She knows something bad happened and she wants to share the burden.  David says, "He killed them right in front of me... they're all dead and I'm alive."  Abby is shocked and goes to Olivia for her help.

At the same time of the Abby/David confrontation, Huck meets Quinn to "put her down."  His attempt to euthanize Quinn fails after he kisses her and they have their own passionate moment.  Quinn shuts it all down by saying, "If you're not going to kill me, then get the hell out."

Abby, Huck, and Harrison all confront Olivia demanding what they all should do about their problems: David being forced to cover up Jake's murdering ways; Quinn being in too deep at B6-13; Adnan needing help (Harrison doesn't know exactly who Adnan was fleeing from).

The only move Olivia knows she can make is to tell Cyrus that James was murdered in a car jacking (the cover-up Jake pushed for David to go for).  Cyrus goes to the press and tries to tell them the news, but he is too overwhelmed with grief.

In the last moments of the show, we see James' last moments with Jake.  Jake kneels beside him as he slowly dies from the bullet wounds and says, "I'm sorry I had to be so sloppy with you.  It has to look like an amateur did it... I'm sorry...  You're not alone."  Jake attempts to make a change in B6-13 methods and stands beside a man he didn't want to kill but had to kill.

We all know Huck, Quinn, Charlie, and Rowen would have done differently.