Rowan showed his true colors, killing Fitz’s son, Jerry, to manipulate the reinstitution of B-13, and that was just one of the game changing twists in Scandal’s season 3 finale, “The Price of Free and Fair Election.”

“The Price of Free and Fair Election” began with Cyrus (Jeff Perry) listening to Fitz’s (Tony Goldwyn) eulogy for Senator Hightower in the Oval Office, while the bomb hidden underneath the church ticks away. Just as Cyrus is about to crack and tell Fitz about the bomb, Jake (Scott Foley) storms in and spills the beans. The church is evacuated just as the bomb goes off, leaving bystanders injured. One person not injured in the blast is Sally Langston (Kate Burton), who goes into campaign mode, helping the wounded in front of the news cameras and giving a rousing speech in front of the wreckage. Liv (Kerry Washington) tries to get Fitz out front, putting him at the Presidential podium to take over the airwaves with a special address from the President, but, as Sally’s show of leadership gains popularity, the networks slowly switch to a split screen of Fitz and Sally before eventually cutting Fitz off air and focusing solely on Sally. And, with that one media coup, Sally has won the election.

While Fitz swallows the fact that he probably will not be re-elected, Liv makes a trip to the hospital to check on her father. Rowan (Joe Morton) barely made it out alive, but lucky for him, Maya (Khandi Alexander) chose to spare him, missing his heart by mere centimeters. Rowan insists he is fine and makes Liv tell him what’s upsetting her. When she tells him about the election, Rowan tells her that he wishes there were something he could do to get Fitz re-elected, not because he likes him, but because he would do anything for his daughter.

Huck Finds His Family

Back at Pope and Associates, Abby (Darby Stanchfield) and Harrison (Columbus Short) walk in on Quinn (Katie Lowes) and Huck (Guillermo Díaz) having sex in the conference room. Abby is horrified and tells them to stop, but the embarrassing incident pushes Quinn to finally break things off with Charlie (George Newbern). Ever the vindictive madman, Charlie leaves his lady love with a parting gift: an envelope for Huck containing the one thing he truly wants, and the one thing that will ensure the two of them never have a happy ending. Later in the episode, Quinn takes Huck to look at a house, describing the family that lives inside it, a mother-son pair. Huck quickly realizes that they are his family, the family he was robbed of when he was kept in the hole at B-613. Quinn tells him that she loves him and she wants him to have his family back, but Huck is less than pleased. He loses it and tells her never to speak to him again.

Liv goes to check on Fitz in the Oval Office. He’s writing his concession speech, throwing his support over to Sally Langston. To lessen the sting of the loss, he tells Liv that, after the election, he will divorce Mellie (Bellamy Young) and take Liv to Vermont, where they can have two babies and live in peace. Fitz says he has no allegiance to Mellie, who never loved him and is a ruthless, power hungry monster. Liv can’t listen to him attack Mellie like that and decides to tell him what she knows: she thinks Mellie was raped by Big Jerry when Fitz was running for Governor. Fitz doesn’t believe her at first, but then things start falling into place, and he knows it’s true. He goes to see Mellie, who can tell that he knows. Fitz tries to comfort her, and she reveals that she had spent years terrified that Jerry was Big Jerry’s son, but that the DNA test proves that Fitz is Jerry’s father.

Jerry Is Murdered

Now that Fitz knows the truth about why his marriage fell apart, he knows he can’t leave her, at least not now. He calls Liv backstage before his concession speech, letting her know, and wanting one last moment with her. After their phone call, Fitz steps onto the stage with his two children and Mellie, ready to give his speech. Right in the middle of it, Jerry (Dylan Minnette) starts coughing and sneezing up blood before collapsing onstage. They rush him to the hospital, but it’s a lost cause, Jerry is dead.

Tom (Brian Letscher), Fitz’s right hand secret-service agent, and a B-613 double agent, tells Fitz that his son was murdered, infected with a strain of meningitis that was stolen from a lab one week ago by Maya Pope. Moments after Fitz receives the news, Rowan appears, offering to track down and kill Maya Pope in revenge. But, he says, to do that, he needs to be allowed to work in secret, outside the law. LIv catches them conspiring together and learns the truth: her mother killed Jerry. Fitz tells her he doesn’t blame her for the actions of her parents, but Liv is devastated. The silver lining? Looks like Fitz is going to win the election after all. The sympathy vote is in his corner, and Fitz secures his second term in office.

At her apartment, Liv gets a visit from Huck who tells her about his family. He thinks that they are better off without him, with their new lives, where nobody is trying to kill them. And it’s better for him too, he says, to have a brand new life, to move on from his troubled past.

After the visit, Liv makes a decision: she wants a fresh start. She calls her dad and asks him if he is still willing to get her a private plane and a brand new identity to start over. He says he is, and, just like that, Liv is quitting Pope and Associates and packing up her belongings.

When Jake hears of Liv’s plans to get out of town, he goes to her and asks her to take him with her. He wants to stand in the sun with her. Liv points out the fact that she is in love with another man, but Jake is un-phased. If she’s leaving everything behind, she is leaving Fitz behind, and they can start over together.

Rowan Catches Maya, Is Command Once More

Meanwhile, Rowan tracks Harrison down and shows him photos of Adnan Salif (Nazanin Boniadi), lying dead on the floor with a bullet in her head. He tells Harrison that Maya killed Adnan, and he needs Harrison o tell him everything he knows about their evil plan. Earlier, Harrison made a deal with Adnan: his life for hers. She won’t shoot him, and he won’t reveal anything he knows about her bank accounts and plans. Now that Adnan is dead, the deal no longer matters, says Rowan. Harrison tells Rowan where Maya is going to pick up her money. Maya is successfully apprehended, but Fitz doesn’t exactly feel any better. He and Mellie sit helpless in the Oval Office. Fitz wants Liv, but she doesn’t answer. Instead, Liv lets the plane take her to a new life with Jake.

When Harrison finds out Liv is gone, he goes to Rowan to ask him to turn the plane around, but Rowan refuses, saying that everything is right in the world and there is no need to drag Liv back in. Harrison realizes what Rowan is really saying: B-613 has been reinstated, with Rowan as Command. Harrison lays it out for us: Rowan killed Jerry so that Fitz would give him back his super secret organization and Command title, allowing him to be back in control and to exact revenge on his wife. Of course, Harrison will probably never live to tell this tale, as Rowan brings out Tom, the secret service / B-613 agent who did the dirty work and poisoned poor Jerry, to shoot Harrison. We don’t see the shot, but it certainly looks like Harrison will not be appearing in Season 4.

Other last minute shockers: Huck went to see his family, Jake sent David Rosen (Joshua Malina) copies of B-613 files, telling him to use it to take down the bad guys, and Rowan didn’t kill Maya like he told Fitz. Instead, he has Maya locked up in the B-613 hole.

Scandal Season 3 Finale: What You Need To Know

1) Liv and Jake left DC to start new lives together.
2) Rowan is evil and killed Fitz and Mellie’s son Jerry.
3) Harrison may or may not survive to see Season 4, after being shot on Rowan’s orders.
4) Jake sent David Rosen boxes full of classified B-613 documents, and David intends to use them to take down B-613.
5) Huck is reconnecting with his long lost family, and may have ruined his relationship with Quinn.
6) Maya is in the hole.
7) Fitz knows Mellie was raped, and is breaking down after the death of his son.
8) Fitz was re-elected for a second term.

Scandal has not yet officially been picked up for a Season 4, but ABC will more than likely give the show at least another year, so expect new episodes in the Fall or Winter.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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