Scandal “Gladiators Don’t Run” 

Olivia Pope is up for sale with a plan that looks like it has backfired pretty terribly.

As both of Olivia’s men find ways to join in the auction (effectively bidding against each other to get her back), Ian is shot dead by one of his men who takes the whole thing over. Olivia is going to come out of this whole mess completely scarred. She’s already been through enough. Now a man gets shot right in front of her, with his blood spattering on her face.

Meanwhile, Abby realizes that Olivia is missing. She isn’t there to meet for coffee and she isn’t answering her phone, so she goes to Olivia’s apartment to find the mess and the spilled wine. She bursts into OPA demanding to know where Olivia is, but Abby and Huck shut her out, with Huck coldly telling Abby she is no longer a Gladiator.

I understand the idea here, especially since Abby works for the White House now, but it seems they would have told her something.

This episode came with a warning about violence at the beginning, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the scene with Huck and the dismembered bodies. Somehow, I keep forgetting what this guy is capable of, and I think we’re seeing that he’s even more capable of these things when Olivia isn’t around to keep him grounded.

Jake walks in to see the blood bath, and he’s incredibly calm. He doesn’t even seem surprised, but instead helps Huck to move on, quietly cutting off the head of one of the bodies so that Huck can get out of there. Um, yikes. It’s also easy to forget what Jake is capable of, isn’t it?

Fitz and Cyrus are working behind the scenes to make some major changes in the White House. Fitz will have new security that he can trust (hopefully) and Andrew is asked to resign. The thing is, Andrew won’t go so easily. He tells Mellie that if they expose him, he’ll tell the world about their affair.

Mellie and Fitz’s relationship has come a long way. It’s one that is much more honest, especially about their various affairs and Fitz’s feelings for Olivia. When Mellie asks what Fitz wants (that could actually happen) he says he wants Liv home safe. Then she tells Fitz to ask her. I swear, I knew what she was going to say.

Mellie wants to be the President of the United States.

Even better, it looks like Fitz is going to support that idea. He agrees they should let Andrew off the hook in favor of saving Mellie’s reputation for a future campaign. Mellie Grant 2016!

It’s actually infuriating the way this episode ends. I suppose that’s the point, but it’s time to get Olivia home! Just when it looks like they’ll be able to buy Olivia back, the auction is closed. Why? Because someone offered immediate cash for her. If someone doesn’t figure out how to save her, and quick, Olivia will be headed to Iran.

What we don’t get to see just yet, is the face of the person who paid for Olivia. I don’t know, guys. Something about this smells a little like Papa Pope, but either way, it looks like it’s going to be a shocker.

Other thoughts:

-When Fitz announces he wants in on the auction, he says “Who has more money than the U.S. Government?” He expects he’s asking a rhetorical question, but Cyrus and Mellie spout off a few answers. It’s a brief (and I really mean brief) humorous moment in an otherwise dramatic episode.

-I love Cyrus so very much. When he means business, he means business, and Elizabeth North has certainly learned she’s been screwing around with the wrong people.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.