In the season six premiere of Scandal, Frankie Vargas (Ricardo Chavira) becomes the President-Elect and is then assassinated. A recovered voicemail from a missing Democratic staffer reveals that Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) killed Vargas. President Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn) makes Cyrus the new President-Elect.

‘SCANDAL’ SEASON 6, EPISODE 2 RECAP: HARDBALL

The episode opens with a flashback of Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) accepting the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) watches Mellie interact with Marcus Walker (Cornelius Smith Jr.) and warns Mellie to stay away from him.

In the present day, Olivia and the “gladiators” discuss whether or not Cyrus killed Vargas. FBI Director Angela Webster (Saycon Sengbloh) comes in and informs the group that there is no evidence against Cyrus. As Olivia and the group try to think of ideas, Fitz tells them that he won’t let the investigation on Cyrus go on any longer. In private, Olivia asks Quinn Perkins (Katie Lowes) to find evidence on everything involving Vargas’ death.

Fitz has Mellie sit down to talk with Cyrus and make a plan to get them out of the mess they’re currently in. As Cyrus tells Mellie that he didn’t kill Vargas and insists that Olivia is the bad guy in this situation, he asks Mellie to be his Vice President. She angrily turns him down.

At an FBI crime scene involved with Vargas’ death, Quinn and Charlie (George Newbern) discover a laptop at the scene. As they attempt to sneak away with it, a fellow FBI agent forces them to put it in an evidence bin.

In another flashback scene, Mellie and Marcus celebrate the positive feedback from her publicity stunt as the pitcher at a baseball game. During their celebration, the two of them share a romantic moment before they find themselves in a lover’s embrace.

In the present day, Quinn and Huck (Guillermo Díaz) tell Olivia about the laptop they discovered at the scene. Olivia tells them to retrieve the evidence as she walks out of the room. Olivia meets with Webster as a distraction while Quinn goes into the FBI offices and works with Charlie to steal the laptop for evidence.

Mellie and Olivia are talking on the couch about ways to proceed with everything going on. Mellie daydreams during their conversation about Marcus and admits to Olivia that she is in love with him. Olivia is taken aback by this and tries to convince Mellie that Marcus isn’t a good choice for her at this time, reminding her of his scandal with the mayor’s wife.

Quinn and Huck have fixed the laptop that they stole from the FBI. They reveal to Olivia that there is 5,000 hours of video footage to go through of potential evidence against Cyrus.

Mellie learns that Marcus has taken a job in the White House as the Press Secretary. She confronts both him and Olivia about the situation. Olivia says that she gave him the position to un-distract Mellie from becoming President. Mellie informs Olivia about Cyrus’ offer for the Vice President position. Mellie tells Marcus that he was only using her to climb his way to the top. She storms away from him.

Huck informs Olivia that he has found video footage on the laptop that needs to be seen. Olivia then arrives on a balcony with Fitz and Webster to present them with evidence. She shows them a video of Cyrus and Vargas arguing. Vargas is seen accusing Cyrus of something awful before the video cuts out.

In the final scene, Fitz asks Abby to get him the Attorney General and Olivia is seen walking away with a smile on her face.

Check out a clip for next week’s episode below:

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