Scandal “Where’s the Black Lady?” 

Scandal is back. For real this time. This is the kind of episode I like to see.

Fitz is his office when a group of men come in telling him they are there to watch out for him, but actually explaining that they are there to make sure he declares war on West Angola. If he doesn’t, Liv will die.

This is the President of the United States we’re talking about here, but he has basically lost all power. He’s being watched from every angle, and he can’t even explain to Cyrus why he’s starting to agree with the Vice President.

Okay, but let me back up a second. Before he does anything else, Fitz asks for proof of life. So they have Olivia hold up a newspaper and read from poster to explain what will happen if Fitz doesn’t declare war. But this is Olivia Pope we are talking about here, and she uses any opportunity to leave a clue that she possible can. A drink of water? Yeah, we all knew she had a plan with that.

In fact, Olivia has been leaving her team clues from the start. Thanks to a little old lady who has been demanding to see Olivia, they figure out that Olivia had been watched from her neighbor’s apartment. There, they find an internet connection and a ring that Olivia dropped for them to find. Breadcrumbs. Did you expect anything less?

Meanwhile, Fitz visits Tom Larsen in hopes of learning who he can trust in The White House. Remember what he said about Olivia being “Helen of Troy” before? That was foreshadowing at its finest. He says it again to the president, and it turns out Olivia really is a modern-day Helen of Troy – “the face that launched a thousand ships.”

Still, Fitz struggles to be an honorable president, telling Mellie in secret that he has to let Olivia die. What kind of president would declare war and kill that many people to save one? It’s Mellie who changes his mind when she says “I thought you loved her.”

And so, he launches those metaphorical ships and declares war on West Angola, with a shocked Cyrus and Abby watching from the sidelines.

Cyrus knows something is wrong here, he just doesn’t know what. Yet.

In case you had forgotten the sort of things Huck is capable of, we get a brutal reminder when we see Huck in the bedroom of Elizabeth North’s child. Then, we see her scars when she shows Mellie what he did to her, begging for a way to save Olivia and keep her family safe.

Mellie ends up being the one to lead everyone to the place where Olivia was being held. How? She seduces Andrew, red dress and all, then gets information from his phones while he’s passed out. Elizabeth delivers that information to OPA, but not quickly enough.

Tragic, that as Jake busts in to save Olivia, she’s already gone. Why? Because she’s had a plan all her own. She convinces Ian to sell her on the black market.

Let me say that again. Olivia asked to be sold on the black market.

Well, that’s a heck of a plan, and it at least gives her a chance to shower and fix her hair.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.