As any O.G (Original Gladiator) knows, it can be difficult to keep up with the fast-paced world of Pope & Associates. So, now that season three is in full swing, let’s break down the top 5 key moments from tonight’s episode to help us prepare for next week.
**Spoilers below. Scroll down at your own risk**
1. “YOLO QUINN”
The opening scene was ridiculously hard to watch. Almost harder than seeing Mama Pope chew through her arms..Almost..
The episode kicked off with Quinn naked and taped to the floor, waiting for Huck to begin torturing the truth out of her. He gives her the rundown about how he would torture her if she was just a stranger, but says that he would be giving her the “family and friend discount” instead.
What does that “discount” entail? LICKING HER FACE AND THEN PULLING HER TEETH STRAIGHT OUT OF HER GUMS WITH PLIERS.
After he pulls out the first tooth, Huck leaves Quinn tied up on the floor to go help Olivia with her Mama drama. But, he probably should’ve stayed around to babysit. Quinn decides to try to escape somehow by using broken glass to break free. She really believes she’s some kind of ninja, doesn’t she?! Right before she breaks free, Huck comes back and just tortures her even more by pulling out another tooth.
Apparently, the house she’s being tortured in belongs to Charlie, the B613 assassin, and when he gets home, he seems genuinely concerned when he finds Quinn tied up on his floor. He gives her something to help with the pain and then they have sex (ew). I still don’t get Charlie’s intentions with Quinn..
Quinn and Charlie then clean up and go to Command’s office where Quinn demands that he give her the tape of her and the security guard that she killed. The scene ends with Quinn pulling a syringe out of her pocket. Is she going to try to kill Rowan!?
We also flashback to Huck as he’s torturing Quinn where she tells him that instead of giving him information, he should let her actually do something to help. Is he letting her risk her life by trying to kill Command?
Too. Many. Questions.
2. “Politics over God”
Sally Langston’s new campaign manager is a BEAST! He actually twists Sally into becoming pro-choice in the public eye, therefore putting politics over God. Her super-conservative stance was probably one of the main reasons that she lost the first time around, so could this be how she turns the tables?
When Sally tells Fitz that she’s officially running against him as an Independent, you can see as the hatred he already had for her begins to explode. The scene went down as so: “You will regret this day forever” – Fitz, “See you on the battlefield” – Sally. OOH. BURN.
3. Searching for Mama Pope
In the last episode, Maya escaped and is now hiding out with Olivia and the Associates. Rowan and his team of assassins are obviously pissed and began searching for her, but after Jake and Huck remove the tracking device that was implanted under Maya’s skin, Team B613 is at a loss.
The Associates want to get Maya to a safe house in Hong Kong, but she’s conveniently on the United States “no-fly list” under the name, Marie Wallis. Abby tries to get her off the list through her boy-toy David Rosen, but he says that he can’t do anything because the person they’re trying to move is listed as a wanted terrorist (???).
So, what does Liv do? She calls Fitz to talk about “jam and Vermont and kids.” Yes. Through all of this chaos, Olivia and Fitz still have to have their one minute of being hopeless romantics. Fitz then says that he’s going to help her even though it could jeopardize his Presidency.
Towards the end of the episode, Olivia sticks Maya onto a military plane to Hong Kong, but as the plane is going off the runway, Olivia has a flashback moment where she realizes that someone called her family’s house phone asking for a woman named “Marie.” (How convenient are these flashbacks by the way??)
All of this means that Maya/Marie really is a wanted terrorist and all of this time, Rowan had been trying to protect Olivia, and the world, from Mama Pope!
4. Jake Vs. Fitz
Jake goes to visit POTUS so they can team up to take out Rowan, but Fitz argues that he won’t do it without Olivia’s permission. Despite the fact that they both want Rowan dead, this conversation turns into a pissing match: who’s really man enough to fight for Olivia?
Later, Jake takes what looks like a SEAL team to take out Rowan, but even he should know that it isn’t that easy. Rowan and Charlie lead the team into a warehouse where they trap them and set off a bomb, killing half of the team. Luckily, Jake survived!
5. “You ruined us”
James confronts Cyrus about how evil he is for trying to pimp out his own husband for political gain and Cyrus has the NERVE to get pissed off! He’s upset because James slept with Sally’s closeted husband even though he orchestrated the whole thing.
James goes on to say that he wants a divorce + full custody of their daughter, but Cyrus threatens to release the photos if he leaves. It’s really shocking how Cyrus can be so monstrous and yet so petty at the same time.
Cyrus later takes the pictures to Sally, but she calls his bluff. Sally mentions that Cyrus never plans to actually release the pictures because his husband is involved, too. James being involved in the affair would eventually backfire because he is the husband of the President’s Chief of Staff. Cyrus then calls James to apologize, but of course the damage has already been done and James is on his way out.
Sally calls Cyrus later in the night and says three words: “I have sinned.” The camera then pans down to the ground where her husband is lying face down in a pool of his blood. At least Fitz doesn’t have to worry about Sally running against him anymore!
After all of this, we seriously need to put Cy on suicide watch.
Final thoughts:
- I knew Mama Pope was more evil than Rowan! But this leaves me with so many questions: If Rowan knows she’s a terrorist, why not just kill her off since people already thought she was dead? How did Rowan possibly meet and produce a child with a terrorist? Is Mama Pope going to make it to Hong Kong and successfully escape?
- I REALLY hope that Quinn doesn’t end up killing Rowan.
- We saw James packing up to leave Cyrus, but will he really end up doing it?
- There was a random chick that semi-flirted with Harrison and mentioned Adnan Salif halfway through the episode. Can we PLEASE get more Harrison backstory because I’m 100% confused when it comes to Brolivia Pope
I know this won’t end up happening because Shonda loves to torture us, but I hope that we’re left with more answers than questions after next week’s winter finale!
