'Scandal' Tweet-cap: Jake's Daddy Issues

Warning: This recap for the “Till Death Do Us Part” episode of Scandal contains spoilers.

A wedding or a funeral?

That’s the choice Olivia faces this week on Scandal, when her father threatens to slit Jake’s throat if he doesn’t go through with his wedding to that basic, Vanessa. Liv has finally owned up to her feelings for Jake, she’s finally chosen to be with him… and Rowan takes it all away, again.

The episode explored Jake’s background, but in a sense, it was more the story of Rowan as a father. He’s already terrified us as Olivia’s father, but seeing him take Jake under his wing as his protégé and “son” — well, now we need therapy.

Jake and Liv understand each other in a way nobody else can, being the damaged products of Rowan’s manipulative abuse. And for one shining moment, there’s hope that they can cling to each other, maybe run away to that beach again, stand in the sun.

It’s just a moment, though. Because when Papa Pope wishes something, he gets it. He won’t let even his children get in the way.

What’s in a name

Olivia is still living in her father’s home — in her childhood bedroom, no less, seemingly untouched from her teen years — and still moping about that wee bit of murdering she recently did. Jake is trying to cheer her up with toast, to no avail.

Then, Rowan drops the news that Jake and Vanessa’s wedding has been moved up to that week! And we see that this frizzy-haired depression is just an act. Liv meets with Huck and Quinn to order them to dig deep into this Jake wedding business, stat. They learn that most of the 600 (!) guests were invited by Rowan, but why?

The episode actually started with a flashback of a young boy playing with toys on his porch, as he overhears his father yelling at his mother. This young boy turns out to be Jake, and we get more flashbacks into his previous life. Jake’s name isn’t actually Jake, in fact! His name is Pete Harris, and he is a screwed-up, ne’er-do-well soldier about to be convicted for attacking a congressman’s son, when Rowan offers to save him — if he joins B613. Go to prison, or become Jake Ballard.

To get to the bottom of the wedding mystery, Olivia knows she has to play the trump card: her ability to play Jake like a fiddle. First, she turns up the waterworks on him just before his engagement party at the White House. Liv whimpers about her guilt over killing Andrew and how she can’t face returning to the scene of the crime. When Jake offers to stay and comfort her, Vanessa storms off.

Rowan orders Jake to go to the party and make up with her, though, which Liv hears with much curiosity.

Another flashback, this time to B613 training, and look who’s there — Charlie! But while Charlie is an eager student, Jake mouths off. Rowan takes him aside and when Jake says he doesn’t need another father, Rowan just goes at him about the terrible father he did have. Then, he lays down a beating on Jake.

Going to the chapel

At the White House, Jake and Fitz share a hard drink on the balcony. Is it weird to anyone else that Fitz is Jake’s best man? So weird. Then again, they have a lot in common; they both love the same woman. And even though they’re both trying to “move on” with their lives, it’s clear that Jake’s so-called happiness and Fitz’s so-called freedom taste bitter.

In another flashback, Jake is about to go into the infamous B613 hole for his continued misbehavior. This time, Charlie is giving him a beatdown, as Rowan watches. He decrees one month for Jake in that awful hole. This isn’t going to be pretty.

When Jake returns home from the party, Liv is waiting, pretending to be drunk. She badgers him to admit that he doesn’t love Vanessa and that he doesn’t want to marry her, and Jake finally does. Instantly, she drops the act. Jake confesses that Rowan wants to put him on Edison’s presidential ticket as the VP nominee.

Jake also says he’s never loved anyone like Olivia, but she’s never chosen him — not once. So sad, but so true. When she says he can’t marry Vanessa, he asks her what other option he has. They make out passionately in the hall; let’s hope Rowan doesn’t come home early!

Flashback: Jake emerges from the hole, and Rowan taunts him about his father hitting his mother and sexually abusing his sister. And then we learn that Jake’s sister hung herself after having an abortion. This is getting really tragic. Jake starts to break down when Rowan vows to protect Jake. “I am here for you son,” Rowan says, with a hug. “I am your family.” Jake will come to rue this moment, for the rest of his life.

In the present day, Liv is packing up her things when Jake comes to see her. He doesn’t want to marry Vanessa, he wants to be with Olivia — but does she want him in return. Yes! Finally! They kiss. But how will they appease Rowan? They meet with Huck and Quinn to strategize, and Liv decides that Jake has to jilt Vanessa at the altar, in a horrifically public way, so that he won’t be a political asset to Rowan anymore. Will this work? Huck is dubious. Is she sure this is what she wants? She’s sure.

Daddy dearest

The wedding is about to begin, when Rowan finds Olivia. He knows exactly what she’s been up to, and he’s not going to let her ruin his plans. He tells her to break things off with Jake, without revealing his part in it, or he’ll slit Jake’s throat. Rowan professes to be doing this all for Jake’s sake — to ensure his “son” attains the power that his daughter turned aside.

Olivia meets Jake before he goes to the altar to break up. She informs him that she can’t be with him, and when Jake asks if Rowan got to her, she lies and tells him he just isn’t good enough for her. Wow, harsh. She calls him a mere booty call, then twists the knife by saying she’s still in love with Fitz and always will be.

As the wedding moves forward, another flashback: Jake is starting his “new” life after his B613 training. He has a choice about what kind of life that will be. And his first act is to go to his childhood home and shoot his father.

In the present, when it comes time for his vows, Jake hesitates a brief second before saying “I do.” All the while, Roberta Flack croons “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” and our hearts break for Jake, for Olivia, for them both.

Back to the past, Jake returns to Rowan’s office in his bloodied white uniform. It’s a grim reversal of his future wedding. In this flashback, he’s kind of like a bride, wedding himself to Rowan for life, ‘til death do they part.

Rowan greets him with open arms. “Welcome to B613.” It’s a marriage made in hell.

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