Sally and Daniel had their last argument before she stabbed him to death with a letter opener.    He told her that she knew all along what he was and that he sold his soul to help her achieve everything.  Sally said that he gave her nothing, that he was pretty and stupid and that she couldn’t wait until he met his maker.  She helped him get there, not because he was gay, but because he said that he was going to go on 60 Minutes and tell the world about their marriage,  then leave her and find himself a lovely boy to spend his life with.   So, being a murderer is better than having a gay husband.   After making her call to Cyrus,  the President’s Chief of Staff put things in motion.  He came over, looked at the body and declared that Daniel had died from a heart attack.  His next call was for a some cleanup duty, which was handled by Charlie and Quinn.   They tidy the place up, dress Daniel in his jammies and tuck him into bed.   Then comes the real test.  A uniformed doctor arrives to examine Daniel’s body.  Cyrus and a somewhat spacey Sally are in the room.  The doctor listens for a heartbeat and then says that he needs to undress Daniel.  That snaps Sally back to reality and she throws herself across her dead husband, begging the doctor not to touch him, playing the role of the poor widow to perfection.

Olivia and her gladiators were looking for every bit of information they could find about Marie Wallace.  She wants to know where Quinn is, but Quinn was just cheated out of a deal with Rowan, which was going to end in Rowan’s death by syringe.  She also pulled out the tracking chip Huck had put into the gaping hole in her mouth that used to be her tooth.    Huck says that he’s lost her and Olivia realizes two things – that Huck was tracking Quinn and that he also tortured her.   Huck said that he was following protocol, and that he did it because Quinn had hurt Olivia.  He did it for her.

Rowan was trying to call Olivia when was picked up by agents sent by the President.  Fitz is waiting for him and tells Rowan that he’s going to stay in custody until Marie’s plane lands.  Fitz asks Rowan why he ordered the plane shot down but Rowan tells him that it’s a matter of nation security and above the President’s pay grade.   Fitz thinks he’s got the upper hand over Rowan and asks him who could take a child’s mother from her.   Getting no reaction, Fitz decides to play dirty, really dirty.   He tells Rowan that he’s screwing his daughter every chance he gets, that he knows how she tastes.  Rowan is seething and knows how to play dirty, too.  He tells Fitz that “he’s a funny, funny man or should I say boy?”   Oh, he doesn’t stop there – he lets Fitz have it, and reads him out using nothing but the truth.  He berates Fitz for being nothing but a boy who never had to work to get anything.  He tells the Prez that he cried himself to sleep because his daddy hurt his feelings and that he’s a spoiled, entitled, ungrateful little brat.   Then he addresses the Olivia issue and tells Fitz that even though he never had to work for anything, he now wants, and thinks he has a right to Rowan’s child.  “You believe you love her.  You love that she is a door marked exit, a way out.  If you’re with Olivia you don’t have to be your father’s son, but she’ll still be the formidable Olivia Pope.  Don’t use the person that I made to make you a man. You’re a boy.”  Fitz, mustering what manhood he has left, tells Rowan that he doesn’t know anything about him but Rowan says that he knows everything and he’s sure that Fitz is a poor suitor for his daughter’s hand.  I’d say Rowan won that round and the talk was long overdue, but these two aren’t through yet.

Mellie stops by Cyrus’ office and finds him having a little coffee with his alcohol.  She’s there to talk about Daniels’ death, which, to her,  seems to be a real opportunity for the Fitzgerald Grant camp,  but Cyrus fills her in on all of the details.  He tells her what Sally said – that  the devil came in, then says that of all the bad things they’ve done, this one takes the cake.   Nothing like pimping out your husband to make a guy see what he’s become.  Mellie tells Cyrus to pull himself together and then calls Fitz to take care of all of the arrangements.Quin is holed up with Charlie and he convinces her to stay.  She does, for a few hours, but leaves and goes back to Pope and Associates.  She finds Huck there and he tells her that the only reason she’s still alive is because of Olivia.  He sends her away with the message that she’s no longer a gladiator.   What Huck doesn’t know is the only reason he’s still around is because Jake stood up for him to Olivia, who was angry that he’d hurt Quinn.  Having been dumped by Huck, Quinn goes back to Charlie, who seems to be honestly smitten with her.

Huck and Jake are tracking Rowan’s location by using street cameras and they find out that he’s been taken to the Pentagon.   They call Olivia to let her know and she’s also received some information about her mother.     She calls Fitz to tell him that she wants to talk to her father and he lets her come to the room in the recesses of the building.  Olivia wants to know about the plane and the bomb and tells her father that the story doesn’t make sense.   She knows that her mother was in the business of selling secrets to anyone who would pay – including her own husband, Command of B613.  There couldn’t have been a bomb on the plane, because Marie wouldn’t have been on board.  Olivia asks her father if Marie lied to him just like she lied to her daughter.  When she asks is Marie fooled him, too Rowan nods – yes.  Olivia then turns to Fitz and orders him to have Marie arrested the minute her plane lands.

James is looking for someone to listen to him, on the heels of Cyrus’ betrayal and goes to see David Rosen.  He tells David that Daniel Douglas was gay and that there’s more to the story.  Rosen has every reason not to trust James, having been burnt by him with the election fixing story.   After James leaves, an NSA worker comes in and tells him that she used to write code to listen in and record cell phones calls – that sounds familiar somehow.  The cell phone recording that brought her into his office is the one between Sally and Cyrus.  David may be calling James after this.

Sally is getting ready for Daniels’ funeral and Leo is with her.  She wants him to leave because she no longer wants to run for President.  Leo is not quite ready to throw in the towel.  He tells her that the only reason the Grants are on her side is because she’ll laughter Fitz in the an election.  He then says the wrong thing – that Daniel is in heaven.  Sally screams that Daniel Douglas is in hell because he was a sodomite and a godless soul who got what he deserved.  It dawns on Leo that Sally killed her husband but his concern isn’t that his client murdered someone, only that he called the White House for help instead of him.

Fitz calls Olivia to tell her that Marie is gone.  The plane never made it to Hong Kong and the flight crew is dead.   Jake is saying goodbye to Olivia and tells her that he loved her.  “Whatever happens next, know that.  I love you.”  He also says that she should never underestimate the President.   Olivia also talks to her father and wants him to tell her what happened 22 years ago but he says that they’ll meet on Sunday for their weekly dinner and talk about everything else.  He says that she’ll never get the answers she needs from him.  After hanging up with his daughter, he walks into his office which isn’t his anymore.  Jake is now Command and Rowan is nothing.   Jake sends him off by telling him,  “If you’d like a job here at Wonderland, you can take our aptitude test.”  The new Command calls Fitz and tells him “It’s done.”  Maybe some things are in the President’s pay grade.

Cyrus is doing whatever he can to win James back, asking him to think about their relationship before coming to any permanent decision.  He also reminds James that he always knew what he was, even if he couldn’t always see the “666” on Cyrus’ head.  That night, James tells Cyrus that if he makes him White House press secretary, things will be okay.  Cyrus agrees.  Uh huh,  the devil came in, alright.

Olivia’s phone rings.  It’s Mom.  When Olivia asks where she is, Marie tells her not to worry, she’ll see her real soon.  She’s wearing a white trench coat, and she’s standing in front of the White House.

Scandal won’t be back until – are you ready for this? – February 27th.

Empress