ABC 'Scandal' Season 3 Episode 17 Review

This week is the last episode before the season finale and we all know that a lot of things are leading to an explosive end (pun intended).  Maya is on the run with Anand and it turns out they have recruited Dominic, Maya's former lover, to join their plan of destruction.  A senator dies of a heart attack and Fitz is expected to give the eulogy?  At a time like this?!

With Maya bomb plans underway, Olivia Pope and Associates is under fire from Fitz, Cyrus, and Jake. All are outraged that the team shut down B613 and so they call in the big guns: Eli Pope.  Who better than Eli to take down his ex-wife and has a vast knowledge of everything B613?

When Eli demands Olivia choose between having him or Jake around, she shockingly (or not so shockingly) chooses Eli.  Frustrated and concerned, Jake lets Olivia know exactly what her father is up to.  He tells her that her father will make Olivia comfortable and safe in his arms, then he will break every bone and walk over her body because that is exactly what Eli trained Jake to do.

While all the B613 dismantling drama is happening, Huck is reunited with Charlie and Quinn as the two join the team in capturing Maya.  Charlie has yet to figure out that Quinn and Huck have been hooking up and it's just a matter of when for when that bomb is going to drop...

Jake, now kicked out of the gang's investigation, goes to David to demand his help.  David was trained on a new facial recognition software that the city has installed recently and Jake wants David to use it to find Maya.  The software works and it is discovered that Maya was seen at the dead senator's hotel room before and after the heart attack that killed him.  It was Maya all along.

The White House is conducting their own research: trying to find out Jerry's real father.  Is he Fitz's or is he Big Jerry's (Fitz's dad)?  When Fitz's father forced himself on Mellie, it left her with a mathematical equation she couldn't solve.  She enlists the help of a White House doctor, but the doctor turns on Mellie and lets Sally's camp know about the paternity test.  Luckily, Olivia's team squashes the probe but gets the results for Mellie's sound of mind.  It's just a matter of whether or not Mellie will put down the booze to open the envelope.

During all the digging, Huck digs up Dominic and Quinn is thoroughly impressed.  However, Eli attempts to use Dominic as a lure for Maya to come out of hiding.  With a gun to Dominic's head, Eli forces him to call Maya.  Maya, knowing that the team is trying to track her location, tells Dominic goodbye and hangs up in time to escape the trace.  Eli goes ballistic and kills Dominic, right in Olivia Pope and Associate's offices.

Eli had been waiting his entire life to kill Dominic, as it was Dominic he believed to break up their marriage.  Dominic was with Maya before Eli and her got together and Dominic was there after the two of them broke up.  Eli had been waiting for this opportunity for the longest time, but Olivia is entirely shocked that her father could be to vengeful.

For Olivia, the fact that her mother was willing to let someone she loved simply die at the hang-up of a phone call shocks Liv to her core.  She contemplates her own actions with Fitz and Jake, wondering: am I my mother's daughter?  Everyone knows that this is not the case, especially Jake who Olivia freed from B613's grip.  Her heart is with Fitz, but Jake still holds out hope that Olivia will stray long enough to realize she's happy with him and not Fitz.

Speaking of Fitz: Even though Olivia demands Fitz stay safe and sound at the White House under lockdown, but he defies her and goes to Defiance, Ohio.  Yes, the one place where Fitz's entire presidency relies on the biggest lie of voter fraud.  It's Fitz's moment to prove himself to himself, but he's doing so at the risk of blowing up everyone in the process  because it turns out Maya may have placed the bomb in the high school he's speaking at...

So, Olivia under Eli's instructions goes to Defiance.  Eli tells her that her mother does actually love someone and that someone is Olivia.  She may have not loved him or Dominic, but she has always loved Olivia.  Maya would never detonate the bomb knowing Olivia stands above it.  So Olivia flys to join a drunk Mellie and defiant Fitz while he campaigns just days before the national election.

When Olivia is seen at Defiance, Maya and Anand's plans change and Maya comes to Olivia's offices to demand Eli bring her baby home.  When Jake contacts Cyrus, he tells him that Maya actually hid the bomb at the funeral for the senator.  Luckily for the Fitz campaign, Sally has already arrived at the funeral but Fitz has not left the White House yet.  Cyrus keeps the information to himself, knowing that a dead Sally means the Langston campaign is dead in the water.

Olivia returns to her offices after Defiance and discovers her father shot, presumably by Maya.

It's never an easy day for Olivia Pope and Associates.