Scandal - Season 3 Episode 3 - Recap - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

ABC brings us another episode of their absolutely bonkers roller-coaster ride of a political thriller, Scandal, and this week is especially off-the-wall. Olivia Pope's machinations within machinations knock into everyone else's, including her father and President Fitzgerald Grant (Olivia's secret lover!), in ways that can scarcely be anticipated.

The Past

We start in the past, five years prior, following Olivia with her weekly dinner with dad. their relationship in present-time is strained at best, and the past isn't any better. We also see a bit of stuff with her ex (not the President), and then... a mugging!! Huck saves her, and she runs off, then a smash cut to the present time (see next section). The episode kind of wavers back and forth between the past and the present. Anyway, in the past, Olivia confronts Huck about how he learned to fight like he had during the attempted mugging. He tells his story about working for his little secret homeland security CIA torture/murder squad. Olivia asks how she can help, who she can call, and Huck asks if she can bring him a cheeseburger. This actor does such a good job showing Huck's disturbed, pathetic side. You can't help but feel bad for him; he's just got so much pain inside of him. Anywho, Olivia asks dad about this secret CIA org (B613 is the name), and he demands that she drop it, to the point that it is exclusively suspicious and ensures she won't drop it. In the continuing cheap parade of slightly younger characters, Olivia asks David Rosen to check Huck's prints, but he's not in the system. Which is odd, considering he'd been arrested recently. All the secret stuff comes out in the form of a pen from a company called Acme Limited (Huck mentioned them in his rant), which Olivia drops on the table during dinner with Dear Daddy. Dad ends this line of questioning harshly, without an admission of guilt, but also without leaving Olivia any doubt about the truth of the matter. Olivia introduces Dad to her fiance whose name I do not remember (if you read my recaps, you know I'm terrible at remembering tertiary character names), and the next day, the fiance has been in an "accident" and Huck has been returned to his train station spot. Dad says Olivia's got to give the ring back or worse will happen.

The Present

Fitz/Jeannine

President Grant calls her about Jeannine Locke (remember how she's been framed for boning the prez?), telling Olivia to just slam the White House. He's sabotaging his own time in office which is fascinating as a plot choice. Olivia is going to represent Jeannine is her battle with the White House, coming out in a press conference to accuse the President's staff of slander! Oh man! This is thrilling, and we're under ten minutes into the episode! Fitz is pissed at Mellie and Cyrus, telling them to fix the lie they told. Then, Jeannine has an alibi for the times the White House says she got on the express train to The Bone Zone with Prez Grant: Some IM convos from exactly those times! Jeannine is still very upset, being accused of having an affair with someone she's never even been alone in a room with. Late one night, she gets a call and meets with... The First Lady!! Aaahhhhh!!! Mellie admits that the affair is a lie, but the next day, Jeannine's having a press conference to talk about her fake affair. Turns out she's been paid off. BUT THEN, President Grant interrupts the press call with his own affair-centric press release. My head is spinning at this point!

Olivia/Dad

In the present also, Olivia's dad shows up in the office, being really cagey about where Jake Ballard (Olivia's handsome sort of boyfriend from season two (who was also spying on her (but actually was protecting her))(sorry about all these nested parenthesis)) has vanished to. She asks Huck, who recounts with the energy of a kicked puppy the sort of stuff B613 does to agents that disobey orders. This info goes to Fitz, who says he's on it. That makes sense, since Ballard was also his bro, protecting Olivia in a time of danger (season two; check it out on Netflix if you haven't!). Cyrus tells Fitz this is a no-go, that B613 doesn't answer to even the PotUS.

The plot threads reconverge as the President preps for his press conference and Olivia searches for Jake Ballard. If she lets Jeannine lie and admit the affair, Jake goes free. But the President interrupts to control the situation, also trying to determine which thing will get Jake free. Fitz goes on and admits to an affair with Jeannine (which didn't happen) and then Daddy Pope calls his daughter Olivia and tell her to open her front door where ohymgodJAKE is there!! He looks... haggard!

In another subplot this episode, Huck finds out that Olivia did make a deal for his freedom. He attacks her, demanding to know if her Dad is command of B613, since she stopped talking to him right after Huck went back off the radar. She admits it, which probably ruins their trust forever. I hope he stays on the show; I really like Huck!

This show is crazy. Crazy. I love just how much the writing staff is willing to take really nutso chances. There's nothing they won't do to up the stakes, and whenever it seems like they can't push the drama even further, they do! It's absolutely enthralling in ways few shows manage. Check out a preview for this episode below!