‘Scandal’ Tweet-cap: A Woman’s Right to Choose

Warning: This recap for the “Hardball” episode of Scandal contains spoilers.

Scandal returned last week not just with a bang, but also the shot(s) heard ‘round the world: the murder of presidential election winner Francisco Vargas.

That threw the entire election and the identity of the next president into doubt and chaos, until Fitz decided to throw his hat into Cyrus Beene’s ring. The problem is, did he engineer Vargas’ death, as Olivia believes? Or is he as shocked and grief-stricken as he appears to be?

That question is not answered this week, of course, but we get more insight into how things developed during the course of the campaign. Namely, the episode answered the the two biggest head-scratchers of the premiere: How did Marcus become the White House press secretary, and what happened to Marcus and Mellie’s nascent flirtation? The answer to both, as the answer is to so many puzzles … Olivia Freaking Pope.

Here’s a rundown of this week’s episode, including our live tweets:

The season opened on the night of the election, but if you recall, last season ended on the night of the Republican convention. A flashback returns us to that moment, as Mellie finishes a thundering acceptance speech. Huck and Quinn tease Marcus for having tears in his eyes, which makes Olivia take notice. She warns Mellie about getting too close to Marcus. He, meanwhile, gushes to Mellie about her speech, because #RelationshipGoals.

In the present day, Olivia does her best to convince Fitz and Abby that Cyrus was behind Frankie’s shooting. Unfortunately, there’s no hard evidence, as FBI Director Angela Webster confirms. They haven’t even charged him yet, because he hasn’t confessed. All they have are fingerprints and some tweets.

Meanwhile, Mellie is lured to the White House believing little Teddy needs her. Instead, Fitz ambushes her with a meeting with Cyrus. Um, really, Fitz, you gonna use a little kid like that? A seemingly contrite Cyrus offers her the position of VP on his “unity ticket.” Mellie, you in danger, girl!

Back to the campaign timeline: Marcus is coaching Mellie for an appearance to throw the first pitch at a baseball game. She’s clueless, and he’s very willing to guide her — with his hands — on what to do. They are super-flirty and cute, and when the appearance goes well, they celebrate … by getting it on!

Meanwhile, in the present day, Quinn, Huck, and Charlie (seriously, how did he become a gladiator?) are investigating the cabin bombing and finding very little to go on. Abby, though, decides she needs to wrap up this whole mystery and asks Jake to force it to a necessary ending. After all, he never really wanted to be vice president, right?

To go along with her gladiators’ efforts, Liv wines and dines Angela Webster, the FBI director. She grins through a pretend-bonding effort over sexism and racism, and then, to delay her further to allow her team to grab the cabin-bombing files, insinuates that Angela and Fitz could possibly hook up.

The gladiators retrieve the files, but they might be useless, because Abby has sicced Jake on the shooter, Norman McClintock. Not only is Norman ready to confess, he also peed on himself. David can’t believe his eyes, and to make himself feel even a smidgen OK, goes to Olivia’s office to take a giant swig of wine. “The Constitution is going up in flames,” he moans. WTF is going on with Jake?

A very torn Mellie calls Marcus to talk. She tells him about Cyrus’s VP offer, and he says that serving as VP for eight years would only add to her résumé. Not only that, she wouldn’t be in the spotlight so much. Meaning, they could be together! He admits he misses her. “You said no one ever chooses you, I did,” he notes. “I would. I do.”

OK, so what happened with these lovebirds? Clearly, they were/are super in love, so what happened?!

Flashback! Mellie decides to talk to Olivia like she’s her girlfriend, not her campaign manager or former mistress of her ex-husband. Sex with Marcus is “’almost having a religious experience,” Mellie gushes. “I was blind, but now I see.”

She asks if Olivia felt this way about Fitz, and if she did, well, then she understands everything. Liv acts like she’s so, so happy for Mellie, but then (not) off-handedly wonders what people will think of the romance. After all, Marcus did have that affair with the D.C. mayor’s wife. Maybe people will say he’s a political climber.

And through a flashback, we learn that Olivia was behind Marcus’s job promotion. She asked Abby to offer him the press secretary position to get him away from Mellie! And when Marcus told her about it, he wants her to be proud of him. But all she can think about are the whispers Olivia put in her ear. She accuses him of using her as a stepping stone to a TV talk show or a book advance.

In the present day, Mellie yells at Olivia and declares that their partnership is through. Olivia says that Mellie could either have Marcus or the presidency. Which did she want? After Frankie’s funeral, Mellie reconsiders. “Did it hurt this bad when you left Fitz?” she asks Liv. The two women share a sad look.

Mellie’s bid to become president may not be done yet. Huck finally dug up some incriminating video. Olivia takes it to Fitz … and finds him on THEIR balcony with Angela Webster. Ugh. Whatever, she has more important fish to fry. Namely, Cyrus Beene.

The video shows Frankie screaming at Cyrus — as soon as he becomes president, Cyrus is going to prison. Uh oh.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of Scandal for free on Yahoo View.