Fitz declared war on West Angola in a desperate attempt to get Andrew to release Olivia while Jake, Quinn and Huck searched for Liv in Scandal’s “Where’s the Black Lady?”

Scandal 4×11 Recap

For those who have forgotten, Vice President Andrew (Jon Tenney) previously admitted to Fitz that he was responsible for taking Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), but he won’t say where. What he wants is for Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) to go to war in West Angola to avenge the fake assassination attempt Andrew, himself, set up. This is a coup: not only does Andrew have Olivia’s life to bargain with, he also has the loyalties of the Republican Party, the Secret Service and well-placed government officials. He puts Secret Service agents on Fitz to ensure that he wouldn’t go running for help to find Liv or report Andrew to anybody. But, Fitz isn’t a fool, and he’s not going to declare war without proof of life.

Andrew Blackmails Fitz

Andrew returns to Fitz with a video showing Liv, holding the day’s paper newspaper, and telling him that he has 48 hours to declare war or she dies. After receiving his own copy of the video, Fitz orders Cyrus (Jeff Perry) to gather all the heads of defense in the war room. Cyrus is baffled when, in the middle of the meeting, Andrew interrupts the President and tells him that he should be prepared to invade West Angola as soon as possible. Fitz nods, and Cyrus is completely lost. Meanwhile, Liv and Ian (Jason Butler Harner) talk about Ian’s plan to get Fitz to declare a war, and Ian lets slip that he doesn’t care about war. He gets paid whether Fitz goes to war or not.

At a loss, and completely distracted by thoughts of Liv, Fitz decides to visit his old bodyguard/B-613 agent Tom (Brian Letscher) in prison. He wants to know if there is anybody in the White House that he can trust. It doesn’t take Tom long to figure out what’s happening, and, while he doesn’t give Fitz any names, he does remind the President that there is one place where he can talk without the Secret Service listening in: Olivia’s apartment. Fitz goes to Liv’s apartment to have a secret meeting with Jake (Scott Foley). He hands over his copy of the hostage video and tells Jake to find her.

Huck Tortures Lizzie North For Information

Jake, Huck (Guillermo Díaz) and Quinn (Katie Lowes) review the tape and catch a reflection in a glass of Liv’s captor. They are able to reconstruct an image of Ian’s face, but he doesn’t pop up in any facial recognition databases and they are at a loss. With nowhere else to turn, Huck and Jake go back to their B-613 ways and go pay Lizzie North a visit in her home. The first night, Huck tells Lizzie (Portia de Rossi) she needs to find out what’s going on with Andrew, and she needs to do it fast. When Lizzie confronts Andrew about his plans, he tells her that she should be thanking him. She’s the one who said the war would be good for the party. Lizzie is furious, not only did Andrew kidnap a woman and blackmail the President, he also put her and her daughter in serious danger. Andrew doesn’t care. She’d better be on his side, he says, because he’s going to be the next President of the United States.

Meanwhile, Fitz finally breaks and tells Mellie (Bellamy Young) about Andrew kidnapping Liv and holding her hostage in the hopes that he will declare war. He’s going to kill Olivia Pope, he says. He’s the President, their son was murdered so that he would remain in office, and he won’t throw that away to save one life. Instead of being relieved, Mellie tells Fitz that he has to go to war if he truly loves Liv.

The next morning, Fitz walks into the Press Room and declares war on West Angola, frustrating Cyrus to no end. When Cyrus goes to confront the President, Fitz hands him a briefing of their war strategy to go over and orders him to read it. At first, Cyrus is furious, but then he opens the folder and finds a handwritten note from Fitz: They Have Olivia.

LIZZIE AND MELLIE TEAM UP

At Pope & Associates, a woman turns up asking for “the Black Lady” – meaning Olivia – because she’s friends with Liv’s neighbor from across the hall, Lois, and thinks Lois is missing. Quinn, Jake and Huck break into Lois’ apartment and find Liv’s rings. They immediately put together how Liv was grabbed and the plan executed, and they try to trace the last Internet usage in the apartment, but to no avail. After hitting dead end after dead end, Huck returns to pay Lizzie a visit. He’s not playing around – he needs Lizzie to help them, or else.

Lizzie walks into Mellie’s office the next morning with a back littered with fresh cuts. She tells Mellie that she needs to do something, anything, to help Huck, so the two hatch a plan. Mellie goes to seduce Andrew while Lizzie snoops in his office and gets his cell phones.

Huck, Quinn and Jake use the phone to identify one of Liv’s kidnappers and are able to find out Ian’s identity. They are also able to trace the last calls made with the burner phone found in Andrew’s desk, and determine that Liv must be trapped in an abandoned warehouse in Philadelphia. After convincing David Rosen (Joshua Malina) to sign a warrant for a drug raid, Jake storms the building only to find it abandoned. Olivia is gone.

Knowing full well that Andrew had no intentions of ever letting her go, and that her captivity will most certainly end in her death, Liv pitches Ian on a new plan. What Ian wants, she determines, is power and money, but he’s not going to get that from being Liv’s babysitter. No, the way for him to get power would be to sell Olivia Pope to the highest bidder. Now that Fitz has declared war, people will know that whoever owns Liv owns the President, and Liv knows how to get foreign leaders, spies, criminals, etc, scrambling to possess her. This way, Ian gets power and money, and Liv has a chance of escaping to wherever she’s taken next.

The episode ended with Fitz receiving a call from Ian after the failed raid. Liv is for sale, he says, and he’ll be sure to inform Fitz when the auction begins. Meanwhile, as soon as Ian announces Liv is for sale, Internet chatter goes crazy. Liv has orchestrated her own sale to create a trail for Huck and Quinn to follow.

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