Rowan continued to execute his plan to frame Jake for Jerry’s murder, and managed to convince Liv that it was Jake who killed Harrison on Scandal’s “The Key.”

Pope & Associates Find The Key

While Jake (Scott Foley) is busy being interrogated by the best (legal) interrogator the Pentagon has to offer, Pope and Associates continue to pursue the murder case of Katherine’s (Sonya Walger) daughter, Caitlin. Their investigation leads them to the head of security at Katherine’s husband’s lawfirm, Kubiak. While on a stakeout, Liv (Kerry Washington) and Quinn (Katie Lowes) witness Kubiak killing Faith, Caitlin’s BFF. Convinced that Caitlin must have given Faith the folder she was caught stealing from her father’s law office before she died, Quinn and Liv set a trap for Katherine’s husband and get him to confront Kubiak about the murders – all while Quinn listens. Kubiak mentions a key that he was looking for, but hasn’t found yet, while Katherine’s husband seems shaken, but not altogether outraged, at the discovery that his head of security killed two teenage girls, one of which was his daughter.

Replaying the murder over and over in her head, Quinn realizes that, in her last moments, Faith didn’t run away because she knew she was going to die, so she swallowed a key to a locker where Caitlin must have hidden the folder. The key is the only place Kubiak hasn’t looked: inside Faith’s digestive track. Quinn breaks into the morgue and extracts the key, but when she returns to Pope and Associates to share her discovery, Liv is nowhere to be found and Huck (Guillermo Díaz) is too distraught over his family to care.

Huck Tries To See His Son

Huck has been spying on his wife Kim (Jasika Nicole) in his spare time, desperate to see his son. Kim confronts him outside her house, and reveals that she has tried everything to get him to leave. She’s called the police, she’s begged, she’s screamed, but nothing has worked. She doesn’t believe everything Huck told her about being B613, she thinks he’s mentally ill and needs to leave them alone. Huck’s stalking finally wears Kim down, and she says that she’ll let him see his son if he promises to leave them alone. When he returns later, wrapped gift in hand, his son isn’t home. Instead, Kim called a psychologist and tried to force Huck to “get help,” and he left sad and alone.

Fitz Interrogates Jake

Meanwhile, Jake is refusing food and water until the President comes to speak with him, and he has made it 50 or so hours before Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) finally burst into the interrogation room. Tired of being stuck in the Oval Office with no updates on Jake, Fitz decides to head down to the Pentagon and see the man for himself. As soon as he walks into the door, Jake tells him that Rowan (Joe Morton) is framing him, and, at first, it seems like Fitz might actually be listening. He tricks Jake into eating, and the two share a moment singing “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay,” before Fitz tells Jake he’s going to need that signed confession.

Fitz and Jake get into it when Jake tells Fitz that he is a good guy, that Liv loves him because he is a good man, and that’s why Jake isn’t dead or sitting in a hole somewhere. For good measure, Jake accuses Fitz of letting his jealousy get the best of him. Fitz wants to believe Rowan – to believe that Jake killed Jerry – because he’s angry at Jake for sleeping with Liv.

Fitz leaves empty handed, and walks straight into a pissed off Mellie (Bellamy Young). Fitz’s talk with Jake made him miss their standing appointment to visit Jerry’s grave, and Mellie is not pleased. She accuses him of sleeping with Olivia behind her back, and Fitz breaks, finally telling her that their son didn’t die from an illness, he was murdered. Suddenly, Mellie feels lighter. She’s relieved that Jerry died for a purpose, that it wasn’t a meaningless death; that he mattered. She tells Fitz that she gets why he’s been so desperate to be a great President, because then Jerry’s death, which won them the election, would not be in vain. Now Fitz is the one who’s angry, and he storms out, telling her he doesn’t want to speak to her until she’s back to her old self again.

Mellie heads to the shower and Fitz goes to visit Jake. He’s done playing by the rules. He’s going to beat a confession out of Jake no matter what.

Rowan Tells Liv Jake Killed Jerry And Harrison

Finally, Liv, growing concerned that Jake hasn’t checked in in a few days, panics and asks Huck to track Jake down. Huck can’t find him, but he can track his cell phone’s last recorded location: The White House. Liv calls Fitz to ask if he has Jake, but he hangs up on her. Later, Cyrus (Jeff Perry) visits her and tells her that Jake killed Harrison and Jerry, and that he has seen the proof, courtesy of Rowan. Liv refuses to believe it, pointing out that Rowan is far from a reliable source, but Cyrus is convinced. Jake killed his husband, he reminds her, and that means Jake is not the good guy she wants to think he is.

Liv confronts her father, and he tells her that Jake framed her mother for Jerry’s murder to drive a wedge between her and Fitz because he’s obsessed with her. Not sure who to believe or who to blame, Liv returns home in tears.

Meanwhile, David (Joshua Malina) is slowly unraveling, overwhelmed with his guilt from using the B613 files and perhaps causing a man to commit suicide. He drunkenly calls Abby (Darby Stanchfield), and then drunkenly stumbles into her office, and tells her what he did. He tried to be Olivia Pope, he says, he tried to win. Seeing David so distraught sends Abby straight to Liv’s door, where she accuses Liv of being poison to everyone she touches. Liv breaks down and tells Abby about Rowan’s belief that Jake killed Harrison, and the two friends hug.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.