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Thursday 7 November 2013

Scandal 2.18 "Seven-Fifty Two" Review

Five years ago Olivia (Kerry Washington) takes the Metro and notices Huck (Guillermo Diaz) as a beggar sitting on the floor, well he almost looks like that, she gives him money.  Today at the office he sits in his corner with his back against the floor and feet on the ground which Quinn (Katie Lowes) says makes him feel safe.  He keeps repeating, "752" frantically.  But no one knows what that means.  Harrison (Columbus Short) says he's found Olivia and she's at the hospital.

Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) remains there also and Jake (Scott Foley) waits outside still, would like to use lurk here, ha.  He tells her he loves her, Fitz that is and sits by her side.  No clients this week for the Gladiators cos Olivia is out of commission and well, Huck is there client, of sorts.  He has a flashback to 14 years ago and he's a Private First Class in the Marines who's just returned home and surprises his girlfriend.  he then has a meeting where, Kim (Jasika Nicole) he's been tested and told he passed with flying colours.  Also present is Charlie (George Newbern) sucking on a lollipop so we know this is how Huck came to be part of the CIA and B-613 specifically.

Charlie trains him and teaches him they torture for info before they kill and he has to learn "the tricks of the trade."  Huck refuses and wishes to stay where he is but then he doesn't want to return to Kosovo either. They take out the bad guys and it's on home soil but then Huck used to kill anyway, only they were enemies. He's given his first assignment,a  man accused of selling secrets to China.  Huck approaches him in the garage and his watch goes off, his son gave it to him so he has to wear it.  Huck injects him and tortures him before finally killing him.  He's taught to do his killing on garbage day so they can be collected and will be under landfill before anyone realizes they're missing.


Huck is nervous at first but becomes more proficient and eventually comes to enjoy his job.  Then one day Kim tells him she's pregnant.  He will stay beside her and he won't leave her like her father left her.  Until they come for him.  Charlie finds out he has a family and Huck is thrown in the hole.  Each day he's asked if he has a family and he replies yes.  Charlie must do this for two months and says he didn't sign up for this. One day Huck finally relents and is broken saying he doesn't have a family.  Charlie tests him and he's unable to go through killing a test subject but Charlie lets him go.

Harrison isn't allowed in to see Olivia cos the Secret Service is there even when he tries to talk himself through as he's got rights to do so.  He sees Charlie walking in with flowers, well he saw a man with a cap and wearing a baseball cap but he shouts to him and Charlie gets away dropping the flowers in the lift. Er, fingerprints/DNA on the flower wrapping people!!  Did he not think of that!  Olivia is called by Harrison who tells them not to leave Huck's side.  So each one of them talks to him about themselves.  Quinn about how she was going to get married and dreamed of it for a long time.  She tells Huck he'll snap out of it on three and they'll go for coffee.  He stops but then continues with his "752" chant.

Abby (Darby Stanchfield) talks about her and David how she felt safe with him and found someone who wasn't controlling like her husband and how she loved him. But she stole the Cytron card and now he won't love her anymore.  Harrison talks about himself, his law degree, getting women and how Olivia saved him but nothing makes Huck stop.

Cyrus (Jeff Perry) visits Fitz and tells him it's risky being here cos the press will get wind of it and Fitz will stay here until Olivia gets out, he can use whatever measure to do his job and prevent the press from finding out.  Just then Jake walks in and hands Fitz coffee.  Fitz intoduces him to Cyrus, who gets onto calling Charlie quicksmart.   Jake tells Fitz he found Olivia beaten at her apartment first cunningly asking if she didn't tell him herself.  Jake meets with the mysterious man (Joe Morton) again and tells him he can't so this anymore since he's conflicted, but he replies he knows the rules, there's "no getting out."  He wants Albatross.  Later we see Charlie and CIA guy handing the same mystery man Huck's file with his photo and "terminated" written all over it.  Which is meant to show us everything's connected and El Mysterioso man is connected to the CIA in a big way, which means Jake must be too.

Fitz admits to Olivia he loves her but she can't do this.  She hates him.  He tells her he hated what they did with Defiance since he wanted to be the President and own it.  He had the peoples' vote but they all messed it up for them.  She didn't fix him or help him but Verna, Hollis, Mellie (Bellamy Young) Cyrus and Olivia were all involved.  Olivia can't fix him and she shouldn't even have tried.  Olivia hated what she did cos it went against everything he believes in and admits she loves him, sharing yet more passionate kisses but she can't do this anymore. Finally leaving the room, but he could have always followed her through the door, ha.

Olivia returns to the office and helps Huck through his bad time.  She stopped at the Metro cos of his eyes. She never stops to give anyone money (stingy ha) but stopped for him.  She didn't save him, he saved her. Harrison says they won't know what 752 is now.  But we see Kim and son get off the train and he gives Huck a dollar.  Huck looks up at the time, 7-52, when his train arrives at the station.  Of course it was time, I thought that too, cos there really can't be that many figures which could have such a significance other than time.

Mellie is told where Fitz was and she's leaving him and taking Ted.  If he tries to stop her she'll tell the press everything about his mistress.  Fitz wanting, no demanding a second chance from Olivia was a bit rich especially after everything he's done and all the hurt he caused, which she tells him and rightly so.  He got everything his own way and yes he did treat her like a whore.  He left her all alone and particularly when she needed him the most.  But that doesn't matte to him as long as he gets his own way.  Until he doesn't with Mellie as she takes his son too, he should be with his mother, thus he loses both women in his life and some would say, and so he should.  He can't have it both ways, wife, mistress and putting on a face, a front to the 'free world' of him being a good and selfless, righteous president.  Mellie begin able to halt his second term and running for it if he so chooses, you know, woman scorned and all that!

Finally we get to see more of Huck's background and how he was recruited to his dark past.  How he relished his torture until it was him in the hotseat, or hot hole becoming a broken man himself and they have the threat of his family too.  He can't go see them or be part of his son's life, Javier. One reason which is made clear from this episode is why he needs a family and why he adopted the perfect family to call his own. He couldn't 'watch' his family cos it was too dangerous but he could get satisfaction in whatever way possible in seeing others.  Until that too was taken away from him when his adopted family was murdered.

Then there's Jake, in too deep, falling for Olivia also and working for who he does, knowing there's no way out for him either, just as there wasn't for Huck.  Look how that turned out, he was going to be terminated if Charlie didn't let him go.  Then Cyrus is after Jake too and it won't be too long before Fitz finds out about him and Olivia too.  Think there's some foreshadowing here in that what happened to Hukc for defying them can happen to Jake too, especially since he doesn't want to do this anymore, seems like his fate has been sealed though.

It appears everyone in this show has been affected by family in some way shape and form.  Olivia doesn't want to admit her shortcomings, Quinn mentioning her father, Abby her husband and how he was no good.  Everyone except Harrison, but Olivia tells Huck they've all done bad things.  Harrison will keep her secret it seems as he put two and two together when he went to the hospital and saw the Secret Service there, but how long for.  Considering is Abby or Quinn found out they'd want explanations and it wouldn't stay a secret for long.  Well it's true, especially since Abby doesn't really like whats he does, she said as much when telling Huck if he had to do what he does 751 times, she'd lose it too on the 752nd time.

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