‘Scandal’ Recap: ‘Vermont Is for Lovers, Too’

'Scandal' kicks off this week with Olivia’s father Rowan Pope having a conversation with her not-so-dead mother, Maya Lewis, in prison where the latter is being held captive. “Our daughter’s been asking about you,” says Command.

It’s too early to get a read on their relationship and why she is locked away in a cage. But Command is all too familiar with their daughter’s knack for uncovering the truth, so he has made arrangements for Maya to be whisked away to another hole in another country never to be found again. She, in error, attempts to appeal to his soft and gooey center for one last chance to reconcile with their child before she is exiled. Although he takes a step in Maya's direction, he resists. Command’s heart strings cannot be tugged -- he is the one who pulls at the strings.

Elsewhere, Quinn is reliving her own nightmare. She is with Charlie, who presents her with two unattractive options: she can play along with the fairytale he fed her before, or admit the horrors and play along. Either way, the train is moving and it’s too late to stop. After one quick recollection of the murder she committed the night before, she heads into the Pope offices as if nothing has happened, officially starting her first day as a mole.

The team is going to split. Half will focus on tracking down Quinn – aka the person who killed the security guard, the only link they had to Operation Remington; the others will focus on a newfound Josie Marcus scandal.

Meanwhile, Cyrus is still in the dog house for being insensitive about the post-demise of James’ career. But he attempts to make up for it by telling James there is an opportunity for him to write a fluff piece on the Vice President’s husband for the DC Times. At this point, James should be able to smell a set-up from a mile away, but our favorite naïve journalist goes into the situation heart first, and Cyrus gets one step closer to becoming Command-in-Training. Using your husband as bait for the VP’s closeted husband is cold, calculating… and brilliant?

At Casa de la Marcus, there are signs of a robbery. Candice, Josie’s sister/daughter noticed her laptop is missing but nothing else was stolen. All signs seem to point to Reston’s campaign. But Olivia wants to hold off on pointing fingers.

While they try and find proof to back up their theory, Mellie is replaying the last episode’s interview where Fitz comes to her defense. She is still amused, but Fitz couldn’t be more disinterested. He instead leaves to call Olivia, who for the first time doesn’t pick up the phone.

And just when we thought the show had been hijacked with a clip from 'The Vampire Diaries,' we realize it’s just Olivia’s mom gnawing on her own wrist!! She bites away until she comes across a major artery. Blood is everywhere and it’s hard not to both admire her determination and feel a little grossed out. Unfortunately, the act isn’t enough as a doctor informs Command that she can still be transported to a prison very far away.

Not one to be outdone, Quinn manages to interact with another security guard without killing him. Score! She’s pretending to be an IT tech undoubtedly to wipe off the surveillance footage. But she runs into Jake and he takes the tape back to OPA.

At the White House, Cyrus and Mellie are moving forward with their plan to catch the VP’s husband, Daniel, with his pants down. But there are a lot of moving pieces in this plot. Even Mellie thinks so, and when she starts to point out flaws in a plan – you have a problem. Cyrus seems all too certain that a) Daniel will make a move; b) James will refuse the move and; c) James will actually tell Cyrus and intend to write about the incident. But just in case, the Chief of Staff has a failsafe in place. Mellie will talk to Daniel and accidently reveal that Cyrus and James have an open marriage. Oy, this is bound to backfire.

Candice defies Olivia’s orders to lay low and goes on television and implicates the Reston campaign in the robbery. Harrison is dispatched to keep her in check. She needs to learn her role. “Maybe if you’re good I’ll let you stay up past your bedtime,” he tells the indignant daughtster.

The President continues to reach out to Olivia and she continues to shut him down. He only wants an hour and says he is owed as much. She reacts by hanging up and smashing the phone to smithereens while Jake watches. The ex-B613 member points out however, that if the President wants you, he’ll get to you one way or another.

The Josie Marcus scandal seemingly comes to a conclusion when the David and the FBI recover the stolen items from Reston’s campaign area, but it all seems like it unfolded a little too neatly. Nothing is this simple on this show, a conspiracy must be afoot!

Even James’ interview with the Veep’s husband isn’t going so smooth. Cyrus coaches him on how to get Daniel to open up and James thinks he is motivated by guilt. Cyrus, however, thinks only of the second term that is within his grasp.

At the make-shift hospital, Command and his wife are having an oddly tender moment. He brought her news clippings of their daughter. Too many questions about the relationship between the two bring an end to the reminiscing however and he quickly reminds her that she will be carted off the next day under the influence of powerful drugs.

Secret service shows up at Olivia’s house to take her to Fitz via helicopter. She resists at first, but complies when she realizes he is now aware that her father is Command. They meet up in Vermont in a home he had built from them. And though he makes a valiant attempt at small talk, she quickly gets to the point. “My father is not a subject I discuss, ever,” she explains.

Accepting defeat, Fitz tells her he is selling the house now. He just wanted her to see it before he sells it. He wants her to see what they could have been. Overwhelmed, she kisses him and boom, make-up sex ensues. It was hot the first few times, but now, it isn’t as thrilling. Plus, back at the white house, Mellie, who we learned last episode has put up with far too much from the Grant family, is looking for adulterating Fitz.

The morning after and just before Olivia departs, Fitz warns her that he has to stop her father and she basically tells him it’s okay to kill her daddy because she wants answers, too. She also doesn’t want him to sell the house. After all, they could still have their happily ever after, right? It’s like they don’t even know Shonda Rhimes.

As the Marcus scandal is ramping down, David reveals to Abby that the laptop was wiped clean before it was stolen, hinting at someone on the Marcus team being behind the robbery. Abby immediately calls Harrison and points the finger at Candice, who he happens to be sharing a bed with at the time.

They all re-group and confront Candice at OPA. Instead of being sorry, however she defends her actions. And it suddenly becomes clear! She and Cyrus are on parallel paths. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Her plan crumbled and winded up costing her sister/mom a shot at the presidency. Olivia advises Jose to fire Candice, but the congresswoman opts to take the blame for the sham robbery and end her campaign. How will Cyrus’ plan come back to hurt him?

Well, Mellie warns Cyrus one last time about the possible ramifications of their plan, but he won’t be stopped. His husband is at Daniel’s home away from home already. They are drinking and the Veep’s hubby gives some weird backstory about his Lacrosse team, which has strong homoerotic undertones. Capitalizing on the moment, he then kisses James, who is completely surprised. But when Daniel mentions the conversations between him and Mellie, James begins to put it all together. A man scorned and around so much liquor, this will not end well.

Cyrus patiently waits for James to come home and the latter arrives around midnight, exhausted and in need of a shower. Uh-oh. As he is washing up, Cyrus gets an email with the photos he arranged to have taken, and sure enough, James and Daniel had sex.

No one leaves this episode happy. Command shows up to retrieve his wife only to find that she has escaped and gone in search of her daughter. The two meet on the sidewalk near Liv’s house. Quinn walks in her home to find a piece of paper on her floor. It seems Huck has realized she is person in the picture and he’s in her living room with his supplies prepped for a painful interrogation.

How surprised were you about Olivia meeting her mom so soon? What do you think her mom is guilty of doing?