‘Scandal’ Season 7, Episode 2 Recap: Olivia Pope Goes Off The Deep End

In episode 2 of Scandal‘s seventh season, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) goes more and more off the deep end.

SCANDAL SEASON 7, EPISODE 2 RECAP

This season is focusing more on the characters the show has grown with, and now we’re seeing Olivia with Curtis instead of Fitz. Olivia is trying to plan a state dinner for the president of Bashran, which has been arguing with the US over nuclear capabilities – something that might hit a little too close to home right now. Cyrus is upset because Olivia sat him next to the only other gay man at the dinner, but she tells him she did it because the guy is a huge donor and she needs Cyrus to suck it up.

Everyone else is excited to go to the dinner for some reason. Abby wants to be David’s plus-one so she can find more clients for QPA. She gets invites for everyone, and only Huck is not interested but has to go. “The best way I know how to get people talking is to hurt them,” Huck says, giving everyone pause. He asks Abby if she misses the White House, and she says yes but she’d much rather be out on the front lines.

Mellie Grant, who actually is president, is the one not missing the White House. She misses intimacy apparently, when she says, “There’s a famine in my lady bits. My vagina is beautiful, but she’s being treated like a murder house.” Olivia helps her best friend through a mini-breakdown and then they share a laugh.

Then Olivia finds Jake and tells him to be prepared in the White House’s secret room, just in case the president of Bashran refuses to sign the nuclear treaty. Back at the dinner, everyone is let in, no problem. in between mansplaining to Mellie, the president of Bashran says he won’t sign the treaty because if he does, he’ll either be exiled or killed. But Jake, in the secret room, has found some dirt of sexual deviancy on the Bashrani’s record.

Olivia finds out, however, that the girl he was seeing wasn’t a prostitute but his niece. He wants her to be able to study gender studies in the states. But, informs Olivia, he think she’s the devil, and won’t sign their treaty anyway.

Cyrus and his gay seat mate get to talking, and it turns out the guy wants to run for governor and wants Cyrus to help him. He takes him on a tour of the White House, and the guy pops a squat in the oval office and says, “Screw governor, maybe I should drop a few mil’ and run for president.” Cyrus loses it.

As awkward dinner starts to come to a close, Huck meets a military man, but notices that his medals of honor on his uniform are in the wrong order. He finds Abby, and they discover that he’s not the man he says he is. While they’re off figuring that out, the soldier takes the Bashrani president into a back room and pulls a gun on him. Apparently he’s a Bashrani who is unhappy with how things are going back in Bashran. Right behind he shoots, Jake’s people jump him and bring him down.

Post-attack, the president meets with the US president and he agrees to sign the treaty if they can get his enemy country to sign as well, and create a pact between the three. Then he asks for a stronger drink, and the two share a moment when he tells her that his niece really looks up to her. Meanwhile, Abby and David are also sharing a moment, where he finally realizes that maybe they’d be a good match. Charlie and Quinn also share a moment, and it seems like they’ve realized they should get married.

Cyrus returns to his office to find that multimillion dollar painting that his dinner seat mate, Mr. Glacklan, talked about. A note on it says it should go to someone who will appreciate it.

And then there’s Olivia and Curtis. She brings him back to her apartment, but when they step off the elevator, who’s there but Fitz.

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