Scandal Review: Get Out of Jail, Free (Season 5 Episode 6)

This week’s Scandal is like a dream come true. Revelations, proposals and saviors, make “Get Out of Jail, Free” a game changing episode in Scandal history.

If you’ve read any of my Scandal reviews before, then you know that I live for the women of this show, particularly Olivia Pope and Mellie Grant. This week is no exception, in “Get Out of Jail, Free” both Mellie and Olivia drive the story forward and show us that they’re not only the most mature characters on the show, but also the most dynamic.

The Senate committee investigating Fitz and Olivia’s affair brings their first witness to the stand, and then promptly stab her in the back. When Mellie is brought to testify against her husband, she believes she’s going in knowing what she’ll be asked, but Senators Gibson and Moskowitz throw her under the bus by revealing that she’s known about the affair all along and has been helping cover it up for years. Now, it’s their job to do exactly that, but seeing Mellie betrayed yet again is starting to wear me down and it still hurts every time.

Olivia, always two steps ahead of everyone else, sees what’s about to happen to Mellie before it does and calls Abby to inform everyone at the White House. While Fitz can now invoke executive privilege and refuse to testify, there’s nothing to keep the committee from roasting Olivia the way they did Mellie. Unless, she marries Fitz, thereby giving her spousal privilege. Marrying Olivia has always been Fitz’s endgame, so he’s more than alright with this plan. Olivia on the other hand, has never wanted this, she knows the life FItz dreams about for them is a fairytale, that reality will be a nightmare in comparison if they were to get married.

Mellie’s words to Olivia about what it’s really like to be married to Fitz certainly seem to have had an effect on her. The last time we saw Mellie and Olivia together in “Paris is Burning,” Mellie imparted some words of wisdom to Olivia. She told her the truth about what it means to be first lady, and that being married to Fitz is like being in a cage. Clearly, Olivia remembers these words; when she’s discussing her options with Abby in the residence, she compares marrying Fitz to going to prison.

Abby: If you take the stand, you could end up going to jail.
Olivia: And if I get married? What the hell do you think this is?

Fitz tries to re-do his proposal to Olivia, pulling out all the classic romance tricks: littering the Truman balcony with rose petals and candles, getting an engagement ring that belonged to Betsy Ross, and even getting down on one knee. It’s almost alarming how often Fitz still misunderstands Olivia’s apprehensions about their relationship after all these years. Olivia continually has to tell Fitz, in explicit terms, that she isn’t ready for this.

Fitz: You’re not ready, and you know what I think, you never will be.

His love for Olivia is more like an addiction, and even when he has moments of clarity, when he actually understands, it’s hard to tell if Fitz will ever truly love her enough to respect her wishes. He certainly doesn’t respect Mellie and she finally gets to call him out on it, to throw everything he’s done to her and blamed her for, back in his face. Mellie and Fitz handle their own divorce, and it almost ends somewhat amicably, until Fitz starts pouting, breaking the final straw in Mellie’s calm facade.

Mellie turns back to him and demands to know what in his brain makes him believe that all of this is her fault, and how he can continually blame her for all of the bad things in his life, make her the villain, and never once give her the credit she deserves. Over the course of their entire marriage, everything has been about the great Fitzgerald Grant III; Mellie gave up her life for him, her career as a lawyer, her body, her pride, her dignity, and her happiness. Seeing Mellie say all of these things to Fitz is extremely liberating, and long overdue (remember when he said she ruined their marriage in Season 3?). She gave him everything, so the least he can do is to stop acting like she’s the root of all his problems, especially when he’s really the one to blame.

Mellie: My life would have meant something, if it wasn’t for you.

Seeing the way Fitz has disrespects his first marriage, it’s easy to understand Olivia’s apprehensions to enter into matrimony with him. She spends the entire episode trying to find a way out of testifying that doesn’t involve a wedding. A loophole appears in the form of none other than Rowan ‘Eli’ Pope, Olivia’s father. He offers to make the whole thing go away, if only she gets him out of jail. Now, Papa Pope is a very, very bad man, so it’s pretty telling that Olivia would rather set him free, than marry Fitz.

Fitz is fully aware of who Olivia’s father is, so he would balk at the idea of releasing Rowan, when in his mind marrying Olivia is a perfectly acceptable option. Olivia knows she can’t ask Fitz for help, but she remembers that Mellie can sign his signature, and she believes that Mellie has no idea who her father is; it’s supposed to be a cut and dry deal that will save them both.  Things go sideways when Olivia discovers that Mellie is the one he  blackmailed into giving up the names of the 17 jurors killed by B6-13. Mellie even instinctively tries to protect Olivia from this man before Olivia tells her, he’s her father. Finally, after Mellie questions how much she really knows about him, if she knows how many lives he’s ruined, Olivia tells Mellie the truth about what happened to little Jerry.

Olivia: He killed your son, my father killed your son.

Fitz threw Mellie out of the White House for even meeting with Rowan, he never tells her that he killed their son, he doesn’t ask her why she was compliant with his demands. The only person that tells her the truth is Olivia. Olivia leaves Mellie to handle this revelation in peace, understanding that Mellie wouldn’t want to take this deal now. She reluctantly agrees to the wedding when it seems that there is no other option, but Olivia gets a phone call from Mellie just in time to save her.

Mellie: All these years I’ve spent hating you…I was wrong, you are not my enemy. You are my freedom, my white knight, my challenger, my push to greatness, my savior….You are going to make me President of the United States.  

Unleashing Rowan Pope may come back to haunt both of these women, but for now they’ve avoided catastrophe through his ability to blackmail the Senate committee into dropping their case against Fitz. Mellie and Olivia may seem like the most unlikely of bedfellows, but if these two can get past the bad blood between them, I honestly believe they can make an incredible team.

Other thoughts:

• Jake’s had enough of being Olivia’s sounding board, especially in regards to Fitz. He plans to leave the country with Elise, but finds her dead when he arrives in Union Station. Is this the work of Rowan? Almost definitely.
• Where’s Elizabeth North? Am I just supposed to believe she took her dismissal lying down and has decided to simply disappear? I hope we haven’t seen the last of her
• Seeing OPA all together again, even just to testify together, had me feeling the best nostalgia for Season 1. I miss that team so much sometimes.
• Susan and David drinking wine coolers and discussing her career is an absolute delight. Her honesty, unassuming intelligence, and her optimism make her a refreshing contrast to everyone else on the show.

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Scandal airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.