Jake survived an assassination attempt from B-613 while Mellie hit her first campaign snag on Scandal’s “First Lady Sings the Blues.”

Jake Lives

Picking up where we left off: Quinn (Katie Lowes) finds Jake (Scott Foley), half dead, lying in a pool of his own blood on the conference table at Pope & Associates. Huck (Guillermo Díaz) arrives, notices the body is still warm and jumpstarts his heart with a swift punch to the chest. Once Liv (Kerry Washington) and David Rosen (Joshua Malina) have joined them, they need to decide what to do with Jake. He’s barely hanging on, and Quinn desperately wants to take him to a hospital, but Liv knows they can’t. Once there’s a paper trail, her father will know Jake is alive and send someone to finish the job. They need to stay underground, so, they get Charlie (George Newbern) to put together a makeshift hospital facility, suspicious Russian doctor included.

The doctor thinks he can save Jake, but he wants a favor in return. His friend, an ex-KGB agent known as Black Sable, is in trouble and needs Liv’s help. Despite Huck’s warnings that Blake Sable is the most feared KGB killer, Liv takes the deal. When they track down Black Sable, they’re surprised to find Mary Peterson, a grandmother who is living a quiet life, baking cookies for her grandchildren.

Mary explains to them that she was young and poor when she was recruited by the KGB. “All I had to do was learn English, go to America, and murder people when asked,” she says. Of course, over the years, the Russian government fell and the KGB stopped contacting her. Unable to return home to Russia, she stayed in America and got married, had a daughter and lived her life. That is, until a few days ago, when she got a “death drop” – a coded message from the KGB with a new target for her to kill. She doesn’t know who sent it, but she doesn’t want to kill for the KGB anymore. Liv sends Huck to track down the KGB agent, and when they find him they offer him a deal. They will lead him to the head of B-613, making him a KGB hero, in return for Mary’s safe retirement.

Mellie’s Campaign Hits Snag

Over at the White House, Mellie’s (Bellamy Young) campaign for Senate hits a roadblock in the form of Sally Langston (Kate Burton). Sally, now a political pundit, claims Mellie running for Senate is a slap in the face to Americans: she already has a job, Langston says, as the First Lady. Mellie, of course, refutes the idea of her ceremonial title being a job, saying that it’s a privilege, an honor, not employment. But Sally doesn’t stop there, she then suggests that Mellie being elected to the Senate would be illegal, or at least a conflict of interest. “Does it sit right with you to have a member of the legislative branch share a bed with the head of the executive branch?” Sally asks her viewers.

While Abby (Darby Stanchfield) gets David to call into talk shows and assure the American public that Mellie’s run for Senate while First Lady is completely legal, Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) talks Cyrus (Jeff Perry) into appearing on Sally’s show. Cyrus doesn’t support Mellie’s run for Senate, he knows it’s bad for Fitz’s presidency – the poll numbers are already showing the negative side effects – but Fitz is adamant that he is doing this for Mellie, and Cyrus better get on board.

Cyrus and Sally go head to head, and Cyrus more than holds his own, but it’s still not enough. People still aren’t convinced that having Mellie in the Senate would create an imbalance of powers in the US government. Fitz calls Liv for help, and she tells him that he’s been going about it all wrong. They need to embrace the fact that Mellie is married to the President. The people of the country might see it as a conflict of interest, but if all Fitz wants is to get Mellie elected in Virginia, then they can use it to their advantage. Voters won’t necessarily oppose the idea of a Senator who is exceptionally close to the President.

Liv Surrenders To Rowan

Meanwhile, Rowan (Joe Morton) has realized that Jake must have survived Russell’s (Brian White) attack, otherwise he would be fielding threatening phone calls from his daughter. So, to ensure Russell can finish the job, he shoots him in the arm. When Liv finds out Russell was shot, she takes him straight to the secret hospital with Jake, convinced that her father is sending her a message. Russell tries to kill Jake, once again, but Jake, foggy but alert, recognizes him and begins thrashing around, causing some of his tubes to disconnect and monitors to disrupt, drawing attention from the doctor and his friends. Jake is intubated, so he can’t tell Liv that Russell is B-613, but at least he’s alive.

When Huck can’t find the KGB agent they hoped would kill Rowan, Liv goes to see Mary and finds her dead on her couch. In the trunk of a car out front lies the KGB agent’s body. Rowan got there first. With Mary dead, the Russian doctor announces he will no longer help save Jake, and Quinn is desperate to get him to a hospital, even if that means no longer taking down B-613 in court. David insists they keep going with Huck’s testimony, but Liv knows that one wrong move, one step against B-613 and her father will kill them all. It’s over.

What Is Foxtail?

With their crusade against B-613 over, Liv contacts Rowan to surrender and Jake is safely delivered to a hospital. Before going home with Liv, Russell meets with Rowan, who tells him not to worry about killing Jake Ballard. The plan has changed, and they are moving forward with ‘Foxtail.’

In bed with Liv, Russell continues to play dumb, and just when things get steamy, Liv takes out her gun and puts it to Russell’s forehead. She realized that her father could only have found out about her plan with the Russians through someone in the makeshift hospital. The doctor wanted Martha alive, and all the others were her friends, so that leaves Russell. Now, she’s in control and she wants to know what ‘Foxtail’ is.

Scandal returns in two weeks on Thursday, May 7, on ABC.