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Thursday 24 October 2013

Scandal 2.17 "Snake in the Garden" Review

                                                 
Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Quinn (Katie Lowes) follow Osborne (Kurt Fuller) and find they've been made cos he's not heading to his usual drop point but instead heads to Olivia's (Kerry Washington) apartment. They give her the heads up viz text and he tells her he's onto her and wants them to leave him alone.  Jake (Scott Foley) watches and his camera signal fails at a crucial point.  Funny that!  Or not.  Does this mean someone else has her apartment bugged too? Anyway Jake sees Olivia hiding something in one of her vases, silly hiding place, yes it's in plain sight but if anyone breaks in (emphasis being on anyone such as Jake, ha! knew that was coming) he'd or anyone else would easily find it and what about it falling or dropping in an accident, struggle, etc.  SO he's going to find a way to find out what's in there but has to get in anyway to secure his camera feed.

Hollis Doyle (Gregg Henry) arrives with his fourth wife, Deborah (Melinda McGraw) as their daughter, Maybelle (Andrea Bowen) has been kidnapped.  She sent them a video message, at least the kidnapper did and hell yeah like Hollis, I too was cynical and said straightaway that she planned it herself.  They way she kept looking over to the alleged kidnapper but we couldn't hear him.  Of course sitting in front of a window was amateurish since anyone can figure out the location.  She says she got into trouble cos she met this boy Justin and he led her into drugs so they got into stealing etc, but Deborah wants her back.  Did none of Olivia's team think of checking where Justin was right about now even after Harrison (Columbus Short) and Abby (Darby Stanchfield) found his apartment empty.

David (Joshua Malina) finds his apartment has been ransacked and thinks the person is still there as he hears a noise and ducks for cover behind the sofa.  The others find him at the office the next day and he suggests they should contact the FBI who will have a better chance of finding her.  Huck disagrees and tells them if his family was kidnapped he'd want Olivia and her team finding them and on his side.  Quinn thinks Huck should get a new family and that they should look for one for him, she shows him one, they even have a dog, a very small dog which he says isn't a dog.

Hollis won't pay the ransom and takes things in his stride,even eating breakfast until he finds out he has a special delivery, her ear.  Of course it'll be too late for DNA testing cos they have 24 hours in which to pay the ransom of $20 million.  Olivia says they should pay half now and then wait for the call, that's how they deal with kidnappers.  Deborah says they should go ahead and pay it.  Huck makes Quinn analyze the video footage for sounds and tell tale signs showing the location of the building.  They find it's a warehouse and when they turn up, the place is empty but there are signs of blood showing she was there.  Again it's cos she's behind it.

Hollis wants them to pay the entire ransom and the call finally comes.  Olivia asks for proof of life in a meeting place before they send through the remaining ransom.  They meet at a location and see she's alive so the ransom is paid.  Hollis is relieved to have her back and Huck analyzes the ear properly and tells them it was staged by her since the ear is not cut perfectly as it has jagged edges.   Hollis gives Maybelle an ultimatum and tells her she can have the money or family.  She opts for money but not before Olivia gives her the whole speech on having everything and being selfish and spoilt.  Clearly this is close to Olivia, well family is as you can tell she has family issues of her own, otherwise this wouldn't have meant so much to her and she wouldn't have had that outburst.  Though Harrison et al can't decide why they helped, Hollis being the devil. Olivia repaying, "even the devil loves his children" Again a reference to father and children.  Her father?  Oh and Cyrus's (Jeff Perry) funny line about this being karma.

At the Whitehouse Mellie (Bellamy Young) and Cyrus are still having their problems with trying to outdo each other for Fitz's (Tony Goldwyn) grace and favour.  Cyrus telling Mellie he's working on finding out who the uniform man is, as he's given the file to Charlie (George Newbern) to dig the dirt on him.  Fitz has invited their children down for the weekend from boarding school.  They're going to play tennis.  Mellie tells Lauren (Sharmila Devar) to fill Fitz's schedule so he can't fit them in anywhere.

Jake calls Olivia for lunch but she's busy giving him ample opportunity to break in and steal the flashdrive files and fix his camera.  Sly old Jake, knew he was up to something more and here he's playing both sides.  He copies the files and gives them to Fitz telling him that Osborne is the mole.  He can't tell him the source's name but it's the same source who got the hostages freed.  Osborne tells Cyrus his place is being raided but he's not the mole.  He's a patriot and for years he's worked and never saw his family or wife.  He always put work first and you know he sounded sincere enough to be telling the truth.  Cos this is Scandal and is never straightforward.  He couldn't be the mole and that'd be the end of things, no there has to be more twists and more behind this.

Charlie gives Cyrus info on Jake and he confronts Fitz with Operation Remington.  When he was in Iran and he probably had to do things he's not proud of, things that could earn him honours and medals and he can't tell anyone about them.  Well that's what Cyrus compares Ohio to.  But it's not the same thing.  He said he's done things for the good of the Republic and that history will judge them and have the final say on whether they did good or bad, not them.  Cyrus is told about Osborne being the mole as Mellie listens in.

Fitz is angry she cancelled his meeting with the children as he pours himself another scotch.  She tells them they didn't want to come cos he's changed.  He drinks a lot and they don't have fun with him.  He forces their daughter to play tennis and she doesn't like it, then quizzes her on political questions.  Fitz is becoming Jerry, his father.  Which is something that I said some eps ago.  Olivia gets ready for a date with Jake as Cyrus calls her and tells her about some man who's threatening his marriage, not to his husband but his other marriage to Fitz.  Obviously he doesn't mention names and Olivia doesn't mention who she's seeing either, no, that'd be too easy!  But she tells Cyrus to "go for the juggler."  Oh Olivia but it's your beau! Ha.

Jake pays her a visit surprise, surprise and she's wearing her casual clothes saying she can't go out.  He sees her pain and she tells him about the man she was seeing and she was on the phone talking about him not five minutes ago but he's still in her head.  He tells her to close her eyes and kisses her.  Then asks her if he's still in her head and then leaves.  Cos he's got his own date.  This time with a mysterious man in the park who he tells everything's been taken care of concerning the mole.  The man walks off.  Disn't he look like Harrison from behind?  The news reports the suicide of Osborne in his car but again he was killed.

A bit of a spoiler in the next para so if you don't want to find out what that is  DON'T READ!
Since there was a lot of talk of family in this ep, Fitz's family, Hollis's family, finding a new family for Huck, but he finds one for Quinn, one where it's just a and father and daughter like her, since her own father won't talk to her.  Well since there was family talk I guessed the man on the park bench with Jake is Olivia's father. Hand on heart I did not read up on the next series.
END OF SPOILER

Oh Jake, we knew he wasn't that good of a guy in that he was watching Olivia cos Fitz tasked him to do that, but also knew he had an agenda since he wants Olivia for himself and hasn't told anyone about that. Well he wouldn't would he.  Which leads me to ask will he also betray the man in the park?  But this is Scandal as said and everyone uses everyone in it!  That's part of the fun!
Oh and didn't Hollis not recognize Quinn or did he just not care?

SO was the snake in the title of the ep, Jake, Mellie, mysterious man?  I liked that scene with Mellie and Cyrus when he told her everyone must do what she wants and finished off with saying, "as a friend of mine says, it's being handled."  Sure was.  A lot was being handled in this show, but it kind of weighs heavy that Jake took care of Osborne like that.  Then again no one in this show has 'clean' hands.  Everyone has been or is involved in some sort of underhand activity, including killing and getting away with it.

Maybelle was played by Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives) so knew she'd be up to no good, ha. I just wanted to say, "maybe it's Maybelene" throughout and now I have! Ha.  She did used to play her mother a lot in that show.  Not surprised she took the money and not family having Hollis as her father. Doesn't exactly spell role model or devoted father.  The opposite to Fitz, I don't believe he's a bad father and yes he is drinking but the way he spends time with Ted and is completely devoted to him, does not make him a bad father.  Conversely Mellie is the bad parent and Fitz was right about that but she turned it round on him and made him out the bad guy just cos he's been drinking a lot of late.  Hated that scene, but liked how Fitz left his glass on his desk and didn't pick it up after she left.

Huck found Maybelle pretty quickly, should have handed her into the police and have done with it.  Cos she was a spoiled little rich kid, having a father like him did not give her an excuse to behave in that way.  Olivia telling Cyrus she smells something fishy about Jake so she's going for it, she's "jumping."  Shouldn't that be a warning sign to her to keep away.  Then again as we know she doesn't like easy or comfortable, as Edison said, "love shouldn't be painful."  Yet here with Jake she's going to put herself through the wringer all over again.

Also Olivia didn't realize how Jake said she thinks of wine as another foodgroup cos he only took her out once, she couldn't really have drunk the entire place down since they ended up at the Jefferson Memorial, not so much wine on tap there!  Olivia dropping her guard again.

Some choice quotes this ep too.
Olivia: "Poor little rich girl. What was it? He worked late, she missed your dance recitals, they threw you in reform school, rehab, they tried to buy your love instead of earning it? Whatever they told you in therapy, whatever sad cliché you’re still holding on to after all these years, it doesn’t matter. No one feels sorry for you, not anymore."

Also Jake to Olivia: "You don’t know me. I might be the worst guy in the world. Or I might be the best. Whoever I am, I like you. I like you a lot. I like how you say ‘What?’ when you answer the phone, how you always seem to be wearing white, how wine seems to be a food group for you. I like that you know who you are and that you fix everyone around you, but you seem...sad to me, Olivia. I like you, but you seem sad."  SO he could be right about himself in the first line, he looks to be both bad and good guy, but which way will his loyalties turn or lie in the end?  Yes Jakey will keep us guessing!

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