As any O.G (Original Gladiator) knows, it can be difficult to keep up with the fast-paced world of Pope & Associates. The purpose of this recap is to break down the key moments from each episode without wasting time on unnecessary filler storylines. Ready? Let’s jump in.
**Spoilers below. Scroll down at your own risk**

1. Jake is M.I.A
While we know Jake was taken into custody at the White House in the last episode, Olivia still had no clue at the start of this episode. She spends the first half of the episode worrying to herself about his whereabouts
When Rowan goes over to Olivia’s house to check on his daughter, he continues to use his sly tactics to get on her good side. Rowan reassures her that she shouldn’t worry because what kind of problems could Jake possibly run into? Olvia’s obliviousness never ceases to annoy me!
When Jake finally shows up in the episode, White House officials are interrogating him in a cell at the Pentagon. Jake refuses to eat, drink, or answer any questions until they allow him to speak to the President.
When Olivia assigns Huck to track down Jake, he finds that the last place he used his phone was at the White House. Olivia calls Fitz to confirm this information, and she can tell by his voice that he knows about Jake’s whereabouts.
Meanwhile, the President goes to see Jake to talk to him in person and asks him directly why he killed his son. Jake tries to convince the President that Rowan is the actual murderer, but it’s obvious that Fitz’s personal grievances with Jake (re: Olivia) are why he’s really mad. Only on a soap opera like “Scandal” is a man more upset with another man for stealing his lover than he is about that man being a suspect in the murder of his son.
Cyrus meets with Olivia to inform her about Jake and he tells her everything he knows including the fact that Jake is the main suspect related to the murders of Jerry, Harrison, and James. He also mentions that it was Rowan who got the confession out of Tom Larson. Obviously Olivia doesn’t want to hear any of it, but she immediately runs to accuse her father of doing exactly what he did. 
Of course we all wanted Rowan to respond to Olivia’s accusations with a confession, but in his typical style, he gets just a little more evil. Not only does he try to convince her that Jake was the one who had Jerry murdered, but he tells her that Jake actually did it because of her. Rowan tells Olivia that Jake did it because of how badly she wanted Fitz to become President. According to Rowan, Jake knew that if Fitz got the sympathy votes from the public, not only would he become President, but it would make it harder for him to continue his relationship with Olivia while in office. 
2. Huck tries to reconnect with his family
By reconnect, I mean he’s still going back to his wife’s house to spy on her and their son from across the street. Poor Huck is still trying to find peace with his old life by visiting his family, but when he gets caught spying by his former wife, she tells him to go away and threatens to file a restraining order.
When he gets caught a second time, Kim tells him she’ll give him once chance to see their son if he returns that night, but it was a set up. Kim lures Huck into the house, but instead of waiting with their son, she’s waiting with a psychiatrist. 
If I’m being completely honest, a little psychiatric help wouldn’t hurt Huck (or any of these characters for that matter), but I understand why he got upset and felt ambushed. In my dream “Scandal” world, Huck will one day be able to function normally and be the father that he wants to be for his son.
3. Mellie finds out her son was murdered
In a moment of anger, Fitz accidentally spills the details of Jerry’s death to Mellie. At first, he thinks he’s made a mistake by telling her, but she convinces him that she’s actually relieved to know he was murdered. Mellie explained that it brings order to her mind to know that her son died for a “purpose” like a “soldier” and not in some freak circumstance that happened out of the blue.
Mellie might be getting through her grief, but Fitz still isn’t quite as comfortable with the situation.
In the end of the episode, we see Mellie taking a shower for the first time in God knows how long. I’m glad she has finally seen the light, but I’m still kind of frustrated with how mental health issues are rarely acknowledged directly on this show.
4. Case of the week: Katherine Winselow returns
Our case of the week from two weeks ago (Olivia’s old college buddy who had an affair with her daughter’s boyfriend) makes a surprising return in this week’s episode. Katherine is still denying that she killed her daughter and Olivia and her associates begin to stalk their first suspect. When they track down the man that was seen having an altercation with Katelyn in an elevator before she died, they later witness him shooting down Katelyn’s best friend, Faith.
When Katelyn’s father is sent with a wire to talk to the suspect (who works with him), the man admits to killing both girls and pinning it on Katherine. The reason he targeted the girls was because Katelyn stole some sort of secret file from her dad’s office and Faith locked the folder in a locker.
Kuviak (the suspect) killed Faith because he thought she had the key on her, but couldn’t find it on her body afterwards. After Quinn spends hours going over the case in her head, she figures out that the key wasn’t “on” Faith because it was “in” her. The teen swallowed the key because she was that desperate to keep it from Kuviak. We then have to sit through a scene where Quinn sneaks into the morgue, cuts Faith open, and pulls the key out of the dead girl’s guts. It’s not even Halloween week yet.
I’m assuming we’re going to have closure on this case in the coming weeks, but regardless, it doesn’t have much to do with our main story lines.
What did you think of this week’s episode of ‘Scandal’?
Comment below and don’t forget to live-tweet next week’s episode with me at @AggiAshagre on Twitter