Olivia worked with Fitz, Jake and Rowan in a race to stop Maya’s plans to blow up the President in Scandal’s “Flesh and Blood.”

Command Returns To Pope & Associates

We begin with Jake (Scott Foley), Liv (Kerry Washington), Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) and Cyrus (Jeff Perry) having a heated discussion in her office while Huck (Guillermo Díaz), Abby (Darby Stanchfield), David (Joshua Malina) and Harrison (Columbus Short) try to listen in from the next room, kept there by one of Fitz’s secret service men. Jake is furious that Liv just destroyed B-613, and both Fitz and Cyrus are uncomfortable with having B-613 yanked out of power, especially in light of the revelation that Maya is planning on blowing up the President. Jake shares whatever intel on the plot he has, but it isn’t much. What he does have is video of the man who sold Maya (Khandi Alexander) the bomb, but he’s not sure what his name is or how to find him. So, they go with the only lead they have: Rowan (Joe Morton).

Jake badgers Rowan until it gets him kicked out and then he insists that Liv should not mistake Rowan for her father. He is and will always be Command. Despite the warning, Liv decides to put her faith in her father and brings in Pope and Associates plus B-613 agents Quinn (Katie Lowes) and Charlie (George Newbern) to hunt down the weapons dealer Rowan identified as Dominic Bell (Sebastian Roché).

Quinn quickly gets stuck in the middle of competitive bickering between Huck and Charlie while they try to decide how best to hunt and question Dominic Bell while Liv orders Fitz not to leave the White House for anything, even though he’s approaching the last five days of his campaign for re-election. Senator Hightower, a respected man popular among Latino voters, has died and Fitz delivering the eulogy (at a public, televised funeral) could tip the odds in his favor. He wants to do it, but Liv convinces him not to. Instead Fitz cancels all campaign trips and is stuck doing satellite interviews.

Rowan Is Out For Blood

Huck shows up at Pope and Associates with Dominic Bell all tied up and only slightly worse for wear, perfect for Rowan to begin questioning. Rowan plays Russian roulette with Dominic until they get Maya on the phone and he threatens to kill Dominic unless she tells them where the bomb is. Rowan thinks that Dominic is the one man Maya has ever loved and that she won’t bear to let him die.

He’s very wrong, and Maya hangs up with nothing more than a quick goodbye. Liv tries to stop her father, but he shoots Dominic point blank in the middle of Liv’s office. Later, Rowan confesses to Liv that he needed to kill Dominic because he was the person who convinced her mother to marry Rowan to spy on him and he ruined their lives.

Again, B-613 bros Huck and Charlie disagree over how to best dump Dominic’s body, angering Quinn and forcing her to grab the body and dispose of it herself. When she returns, Huck chastises her for putting herself in danger, the two argue a bit more, and then have sex in the parking garage!

Liv understands somewhat, as she reveals during a conversation with Jake that she recognized Dominic as a man that used to meet up with her mother when she would take her to the park as a child. On that very phone call, Liv also admitted that she felt something the night she and Jake spent together, and she feels like it was a betrayal to Fitz. Meanwhile, Jake is keeping busy by threatening to kill David at his office across town. What he wants now is for David to use his resources to see if he can find Maya on any surveillance cameras in an effort to find her.

DNA Test Proves Fitz Is Not Jerry's Father

Meanwhile, Abby is working to stop Leo Bergen’s (Paul Adelstein) investigation into the paternity of Fitz’ son, Jerry. He bribes Jerry’s girlfriend with promises of college acceptances in exchange for some DNA and then calls Rowan to collect some of Fitz’ DNA.

The test proves that their DNA is not a match, and we now know that Fitz’ father is actually the biological father to his first-born child. Abby bribes the lab tech to fudge the results and report to Leo that Fitz is Jerry’s father – crisis averted.

When Liv hears about the paternity test, she immediately thinks that Andrew is Jerry’s father and confronts Mellie (Bellamy Young) about it to try to get ahead of the story. Mellie, who has been drinking all day, drunkenly lets slip that she wants Fitz to suffer, suggesting she is the one who tipped Leo off in the first place, and then she reveals that Fitz’ father is most likely Jerry’s dad. Liv doesn’t ask questions, but tells Mellie that she’s got it handled, but, if Mellie wants to know the results of the DNA test, Liv will get them to her in secret.

Fitz’ White House arrest is causing him to lose in Ohio, and he is desperate to win the state honestly in this election. So, he and Cyrus get the Defiance fundraiser back on and head out without telling Liv. When Liv finds out, she is terrified, certain that he is walking straight into a trap. Rowan tells Olivia that if she wants to ensure Fitz’ safety, then she needs to go there with him. His mother may be cold and seem to love no one, but there is one person she wouldn’t kill, and that is Olivia.

Maya Pays Rowan A Visit

Maya walks into Pope and Associates and demands that Rowan bring their baby home. Rowan takes this to mean that the bomb is at Defiance and gets Liv to evacuate the rally. Liv thinks they stopped Maya’s evil plot, but instead they are playing into it, as Adnan tells Harrison. Liv gets a rude awakening to her mother’s infinitely wicked ways when she returns to her office and finds her father bleeding out quickly on her floor.

Jake and David discover from surveillance photos of Maya, she caused Senator Hightower’s heart attack, and therefore the bomb is no doubt set to go off during the funeral, where Fitz is set to give the eulogy.

Unable to get a hold of Liv, Jake calls Cyrus and tells him where the bomb is. Cyrus says he will handle it, but, when he finds out that Sally Langston has already left for the funeral, he decides to keep the knowledge of the bomb to himself. Instead, Cyrus goes into the Oval Office with Fitz and stalls, supposedly to ensure Fitz misses the funeral, while Maya starts the 60-minute countdown on the bomb.

Scandal’s season 3 finale will air Thursday at 10 p.m. on ABC.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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