'Scandal' Tweet-cap: They Are Women, Hear Them Roar

Warning: This recap for “I See You” episode of Scandal contains spoilers.

This week, the women of Scandal were kicking ass and taking names. Abby took off her white hat to get what she wanted, the job of Fitz’s chief of staff. Quinn confronted Olivia about abandoning OPA to spy on Jake. And Susan Ross shed her meek, nice girl demeanor to demand that Fitz play by her rules.

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It wasn’t an all-female show, though, as we got a heartbreaking resolution to Huck’s storyline with his ex-wife, Kim, and their son, Javi.

Here’s a rundown of this week’s episode:

Here’s looking at you

The episode opens with the world’s most awkward dinner party, as Olivia fake-smiles and fake-laughs her way through dinner with Papa Pope, Jake, and his now-fiancee Vanessa. Meanwhile, Quinn and Charlie are planting cameras and bugs all over Vanessa’s apartment, so Liv can spy on them.

Abby needs some spying done, too — on Cyrus. Ethan the Intern (or whatever position he has now) let slip that Cyrus might work for Vargas, so she asks Quinn to look into it. Quinn is annoyed because she’s basically running OPA now that Liv is “Big Brother”-ing Jake.

And Huck is spying on his son’s soccer games, with an unsuspecting Marcus, when he spots Kim’s new boyfriend. But the boyfriend seems awfully familiar. Later, he and Charlie speculate that it might be a guy that Huck tortured once upon a time, whom they nicknamed “Six Toes,” because… well… torture.

Mellie is meeting with somebody who might help her campaign, though Olivia strenuously disapproves. It turns out to be the one, the only Hollis Doyle.

Oh, Hollis. We did not miss your smarmy innuendoes and casual misogyny. Hollis doesn’t do anything when there isn’t something in it for him, and when Mellie balks at dismantling the EPA, he decides to take his money elsewhere.

David confirms Abby’s suspicions that Cyrus is ready to jump ship to Vargas, though he wants something in return (men always do, amirite?). He starts to ask her about his love life, more specifically, about juggling the sexual advances of two different women. Abby is like, talk to the hand, and walks away.

I spy

Liv is watching footage of Jake and Vanessa, making love in her apartment, when Jake turns right to the camera and stares straight into it. Oh, he knows. Later, when he comes over to confront her, she accuses him of beingup to something nefarious with her father. Jake insists he loves Vanessa, and he’s happy in a normal relationship with a normal woman who reads Vogue and likes Hugh Grant movies.

Abby has her own confrontation, with Cyrus, about working for Vargas. She threatens to tell Fitz, but he puts on the waterworks and begs her not to. This job is his life, and he wouldn’t know how to function without it. Waaah, waaaah. We’re not buying it, and we hope Abby isn’t.

After not getting what he wanted from Mellie, Hollis takes his big, good ol’ boy bucks to Fitz and Susan Ross. She’s ready to pander to him, but Fitz isn’t having it. “We don’t need you or your money to win an election,” Fitz says scornfully. Oh, but Hollis disagrees. Remember your first election, he asks. Eeek, let’s not bring up Defiance, please. Still, Fitz kicks him out, to Susan’s consternation.

Hollis meets again with Mellie, this time to talk about his position on illegal immigrants. Wow, is this sounding familiar or what? Art imitating life or something?

Abby goes to Liv to discuss her options re: Cyrus. She really, really wants the job, but can she take him out like that? Then again, waiting for “her turn” might prove useless. Abby bitterly notes that this is a town filled with monsters, big dogs who won’t hesitate to rip her throat out. Olivia counsels her to be wary of crossing the line — once you take off the white hat, you can’t put it back on.

What you see isn’t what you get

Huck dons some serious glasses and picks up Kim’s new boyfriend, Sean, from his broken-down car on the road. Uh oh, will Six Toes become… No Toes?

Quinn figures out what he’s doing and blames Marcus for not stopping him or notifying her. He’s like, um, I had no idea Huck was a secret assassin so not my bad. Quinn, Marcus, and Olivia head out together to find and stop Huck, but along the way, they devolve into an argument. Quinn accuses Liv of abandoning them and ignoring OPA. They were once a family, and now they’re strangers to each other.

Olivia yells back that she was kidnapped and had everything taken from her. She had to rebuild her life, piece by piece, and ended up in the Oval Office basically running the country. Their brawl of words is stopped by Huck shows up with Sean’s unconscious body. Turns out, he wasn’t Six toes.

Sean is OK, he’ll wake up with no memories of anything that happened. Huck knows that Sean is just a normal, regular guy who loves Kim and Javi and is planning to propose. But this incident has made Huck realize it’s time to let go of his family. Very sad face.

The news runs a speech by Hollis Doyle announcing he’s running for president. Hell, if neither Mellie nor Fitz wanted his money, he’ll use it on himself.

Susan is livid at having another challenger in the Republican primary, and a wealthy one at that. She dresses down Fitz for not giving her a chance to woo Hollis. “I respect you. I respect your authority in here. But outside the gates, I’m the candidate,” she says. “This is the Susan Ross show. Sir.” Go Susan!

Abby makes the choice to tell Fitz about Cyrus, and to put herself forward for the job. “It’s easy. Fire him, hire me.” And Fitz agrees! But her first task is to fire Cyrus herself. She chins up, buckles down, and marches into Cy’s office. He needs to pack up and leave before security comes in.

Liv meets with Jake to apologize and ask for a truce. She’s ready to move on and stop stalking him. Vanessa shows up and drops her phone, and Liv flashes back to Vanessa’s story of how they met. Jake bumped into her, Vanessa dropped her phone, and the screen cracked. That also happens to be how Jake and Olivia met. Except it was all fake.

Olivia gets on the phone with Quinn. Time to double down on the spy game.

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