‘Scandal’ Finale Recap: Liv Fails To Take Down Command, Huck Crosses A Line That Could Get Him Killed

Mellie played into Rowan’s hands, resulting in 12 dead jurors and the end of the trial to bring down B-613 in Scandal’s season 4 finale, “You Can’t Take Command.”

Scandal Recap 4×22 “You Can’t Take Command”

Picking up where last week’s penultimate season 4 episode left off, Rowan (Joe Morton) met with Mellie (aka ‘Foxtail’), masquerading as a potential big donor to her campaign, to blackmail her. He presented Mellie (Bellamy Young) with files on Operation Remington (the plane Fitz shot down believing he was taking down a terrorist flight), photos of her affair with Andrew and photos of Fitz with Liv. In return for his silence he needs a “list.”

Mellie panics, and, at first, it appears she tries to tell Fitz about her crisis, but he’s so positive about her campaign, he barely lets her get a word in. So, Mellie rationalizes and tells herself she’s just protecting her family (remember: she has no idea who Rowan is). She has Lizzie North (Portia de Rossi) get her the mysterious ‘list’ and hands it over to Rowan. Of course, both Mellie and Lizzie are horrified when they find out that all the names on the list have wound up dead. The members of David Rosen’s B-613 Grand Jury, who had just heard testimony from Jake (Scott Foley) and Liv (Kerry Washingtn) on the secret spy organization, were murdered. Mellie tells Cyrus, who assures her he will take care of it, and he goes straight to Rowan.

After the jurors are found dead, Liv pays a visit to her mother to ask for advice and gets the idea to out Rowan to the CIA. The only reason more people aren’t joining her crusade to take down Command is that nobody else knows Command even exists. Liv and Jake take a few B-613 files and all their knowledge directly to the CIA director. She seems to be on their side, but after a quick chat with Cyrus (Jeff Perry), she changes her tune and puts both Liv and Jake behind bars. Then, Cyrus goes to work on David (Joshua Malina), threatening to kill Abby (Darby Stanchfield) if he doesn’t abandon his B-613 crusade. At Cyrus’ bidding, David goes to Liv and Jake and convinces/blackmails them to sign papers swearing they lied in their Grand Jury testimonies.

It’s over; as Rowan reminds Olivia, you can never take Command, and now he’s gone to great lengths to ensure that nobody ever does. He has erased any and all evidence on the existence of B-613, and killed all agents who knew him as Command – save for Jake, Huck (Guillermo Díaz), Quinn (Katie Lowes) and (one assumes) Charlie – and traded Liv’s mother, Maya (Khandi Alexander), her freedom in return for her silence. Command doesn’t exist anymore, and all that’s left of him is Eli Pope, the longtime Smithsonian paleontologist.

When Liv tells Quinn, Huck and Jake that it’s all over, Quinn insists that it can’t be. They still have evidence of B-613 in the $2 billion they stole from their accounts. Huck points out that money won’t help them take down Rowan/Eli – the money is just money and it could have come from anywhere. This gives Liv an idea, and she rigs it so that it looks like Eli has been embezzling money from the Smithsonian using the untraceable funds. Eli is promptly arrested and thrown in jail. “You were right. We couldn’t take Command. But we can take Eli Pope,” Liv tells him before leaving him screaming behind bars.

Jake takes Liv home, but he doesn’t come in. His mission to keep her safe is over. Both Command and Fitz asked him to look out for her, and he did. He fell in love with her along the way, but he knows she still loves Fitz and he’s not willing to be the guy on the side anymore. He leaves Liv alone in her apartment.

Over at Pope and Associates, Quinn bursts into Huck’s office. She knows he killed the jurors for Rowan, she recognized his work. And, now, with a gun pointed to his head, she wants to know why. He starts babbling about doing it to protect his family, but Quinn’s not buying it. He could have told them the truth, come to them for help, but he didn’t because he loves the blood and pain too much. “The best thing I can do for you is shoot you right here, right now,” Quinn tells him. Huck leans into the gun pointed at his forehead. “So do it. Please, Quinn, do it,” he pleads, crying. He wants her to end it, but before we can see if she does, the scene ends.

Meanwhile, Mellie wins the election for the Virginia Senate, and, while she’s making her victory speech, Lizzie accidentally (or not so accidentally) lets slip to Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) that she and Mellie may be responsible for killing those twelve jurors. She’s cool with it, though, as she told Mellie, she’s willing to do anything to get her elected. Lizzie shows Fitz a photo of Mellie and the mystery ‘donor’, and he identifies Papa Pope right away.

Later, celebrating Mellie’s win in the Oval Office with Cyrus and Mellie, Fitz blows up at his wife and throws her out. It’s an extreme reaction, given how he, himself, has been manipulated by Rowan to be in the White House (Remington, Defiance, hell, even the death of his son), but he wants Mellie out and out she goes. She packs her bags and leaves the Residence that night. Mellie isn’t the only one out of the White House. Fitz knows Cyrus knew about this and didn’t tell him, and he knows what Cyrus did with Liv. He fires Cyrus and hires Lizzie North as Chief of Staff instead. (It looks like Lizzie North is here to stay: Portia de Rossi has officially been promoted to a series regular for season 5.)

Alone, Fitz goes to Liv’s apartment, only to find she either isn’t home or isn’t answering the door for him. He returns to the residence, dejected, only to find Liv waiting for him. The two kiss on the balcony. “What happens now?” he asks. “Whatever we want,” she replies.

And, that’s the end of season 4: Liv and Fitz – Olitz – are happily together at the White House, and Quinn maybe killed Huck. Until next season, Scandal!