The investigation hearings commence, and Mellie is up first. She went in thinking they would only be asking her the questions they told her they would ask, but she soon learns they were setting her up. After saying she didn't have prior knowledge of Fitz' affair with Liv before Liv's public announcement, the senators hit her with Jeannine Locke! The White House staffer Mellie told to take $2 million in exchange for saying she was the one Fitz was having an affair with, proving Mellie lied and did indeed know about "Olitz" before Liv's public confession!
Next up...OPA (including Abby). Liv instructs them not to lie on the stand, but tells them to take the questions very literal. If they ask if you know something you only think you might know, say no. And so on. So that's what Huck, Quinn, and Abby did. They didn't know who planned the Jeannine Locke cover up. But they did know who leaked that video of Jeannine calling Fitz "hot." And the answer is funny two-folds...1) It was Harrison, who is conveniently dead, and 2) Marcus had an outburst in the office when they first discussed saying it was Harrison when asked, where he said that Harrison was dead and that was great...why is that funny? Well, because Marcus is like the new Harrison. So who knows, would he have his current recurring role if Columbus Short was still on Scandal as Harrison and wasn't killed off?? But anyway...beyond that, they had nothing else to share with the senators.
Next up...Olivia Pope! And most of the episode centered around this looming testimony. After the Jeannine Locke revelation, Patty Snell changed the plan for Fitz from cooperating to asserting executive privilege. But that only helps Fitz, not Liv. So there are essentially three possible solutions explored...
First, Liv will just lie and perjure herself. Yep, Liv told Abby she had to choose between lying on the stand and facing jail time or option 2 (which will be discussed next, but it's not to tell the truth). She even says she was willing to perjure herself so Fitz wouldn't get impeached. That's right, Liv is willing to go to jail so Fitz can stay in the White House a few more years!! I can't with her, I really cannot. But, Liv doesn't end up lying to the Senate and perjuring herself.
So the second option presented to Liv was for her and Fitz to get married. Her initial response was a clear no, seemingly because she didn't want them to get married under those conditions. Later, she began to say it was because they just weren't ready. But after getting another rejection after putting together a semi-romantic proposal at the White House (petals and Betsy Ross' actual ring included), Fitz called Liv out on her not being ready for marriage and possibly never being ready for marriage. This leads to Liv briefly questioning whether she was the marriage type. It was brief because she wanted to discuss it with Jake, and he was over being Liv's shoulder to lean on as she tries to navigate her relationship with Fitz. And about dang time! He had to hang up on her twice in the episode when she called about marrying Fitz. Liv can be just as selfish as Fitz! Hmph! Now after Liv's attempt to run with the third option (which will be discussed next) goes left, she decides to go ahead and put Betsy Ross' ring on and marry Fitz. But...it didn't happen, and here's why.
So about the third option, this requires some background from the other story line in this episode. Elise goes to see Rowan in jail to finalize his escape plan. Being Team Papa Pope, my heart jumped in glee probably like Team Olitz did when they thought Liv and Fitz were going to get married to keep Liv from having to testify. LOL. So Rowan follows a guard who is supposed to help him escape, and the guard tells Rowan to get into the laundry hamper. But see, Papa Pope knew something I didn't know, and something the guard didn't know Papa Pope knew. The laundry truck already came and left that day!! They were trying to set Papa Pope up, but he held his own when the guard attacked him and killed the guard. This may be the first time Papa Pope is shown actually killing someone. Guess I can no longer say to my Grandma, who is not a Papa Pope fan, "But did you see HIM kill anybody, though?" But it was in self-defense. lol. But I digress...
So anyway...Rowan is put in the infirmary. The nurse calls Jake, because he is one of the only two visitors who have visited Rowan. Jake of course is not interested in checking on Rowan, but he is interested in knowing who the other visitor is. So the nurse tells him it was Elise. Jake later confronts Elise about helping Papa Pope, and she tells him she was actually hired to kill Rowan, not set him free. And of course, Rowan is fully aware of this now, so he calls Liv to tell her his life is endangered and she needs to get him out of prison. But you know Liv...she just hangs up. SMH... So Rowan calls Quinn, and she actually goes to see him, but only to tell him she's not helping him. But later, it turns out their conversation may have continued, because Quinn ends up telling Liv that Rowan may be able to help her get out of testifying. So Liv goes to see her father in the infirmary, where we later learn he is using his ability to make his heart beat irregularly (what can't this man do?! LOL) to stay in the infirmary. He tells Liv he has things on each of the senators that would make the investigation and potential impeachment go away, if she helps him get out of prison before he is killed by whoever is after him. Now that there's something in it for her and Fitz, Liv decides she's willing to help get her father out of prison.
Does she go ask Fitz to pardon her father? Nope. She goes to Mellie, who she recalled knew how to forge Fitz' signature. Liv tries to suggest Mellie helping to free this prisoner in Virginia would help them all out, because Liv wouldn't have to testify. But of course Mellie is like, she's already lost everything after her testimony (her career, marriage, home). So she basically tells Liv she's not about to set someone free so Liv and Fitz can be happily ever after in the White House for 3 more years. Things continue to go left when Liv seemingly threatens Mellie by suggesting after Liv's testimony things could get even worse for Mellie. But the worst of it, when Mellie asks to know who the prisoner was, and Liv gives her a file with Rowan's picture, Mellie identifies him as Damascus Bainbridge, the campaign donor who asked Mellie for the information on the jurors who ended up being murdered. Mellie throws a slight dagger when Liv clearly is unaware of who "Damascus Bainbridge" is, by highlighting that that's why Fitz kicked her out of the White House and asking Liv why she thought Fitz kicked Mellie out? Liv's eyes begin to water as she says she didn't know why he kicked Mellie out. Were her eyes watering because Fitz never told her about her father being "Damascus" or because she thought he kicked Mellie out for her? <shrugs>. So Liv ends up telling Mellie not only that the prisoner is actually her father, but also, after Mellie calls her out for wanting to set free a murderer to save Fitz from impeachment and how Liv doesn't fall far from the tree, that he had killed Mellie's son! Mellie begins to hyperventilate, and obviously does not move forward with helping to set Rowan free. Why did Liv tell her that?! Was it to be hurtful?! It certainly couldn't have been to convince Mellie to help get him out of prison.
So with option 3 apparently not happening, Liv decides to move forward with marrying Fitz. Fitz and Mellie proceed to sign the divorce papers. Fitz mutters that Mellie has already taken everything, but ignores Mellie's request that he repeats what he said louder. He finally says it, and Mellie goes into this great monologue about how Fitz always manages to convince himself that he is blameless in everything when he is actually the common denominator for all of it!!! Then she walks out. Fitz and Liv are preparing to get married (no ceremony, flowers, or vows at Liv's request) in the Oval Office right before her hearing, when Liv receives a phone call she says she has to take.
Meanwhile, Vice President Susan Ross has asked David to look into whether there are any legal ramifications if she resigns. He tells her there is not, and then the two begin discussing why she is considering resigning over wine coolers (Susan's request) in David's office. Ross says it is because the President is disgusting, but David tells her it looks like it might actually be because she's afraid of what former VP Sally Langston described as her becoming the 2nd woman president (because you know Sally had to tell her viewers she was the 1st woman president, LOL). David then tells Ross she would make a good president, because she is humbled by the position, unlike others...throwing in she couldn't be worse than the current president! So this had me like...so is Fitz really about to get impeached? Is Liv about to testify?
I'll get to that, but first...Jake decides he wants to leave with Elise to help her take down Rowan. So Elise tells him to meet her at Union Station at 3p. And I'm thinking, ummm we know what happened the last time she was supposed to meet him at a station. Womp, womp. So shortly after Liv gets the phone call in the Oval Office, Jake is walking in Union Station looking for Elise. He comes up to a woman sitting on a bench who looks like Elise from the back. Since the camera was only showing her from the back, I assumed it wasn't Elise. But to my surprise, when he got in front of her, it was Elise. Buuuut...she was DEAD!!!!!
Meanwhile, the senators are at the hearing calling out for Olivia Pope to come to the table, and Liv is no where to be seen. Then in walks a lady with envelopes for each of the senators. They open it and they each have different gruesome pictures, needless to say the hearing went into immediate recess and would later be called off all together.
After the call, Liv is walking in the tunnels of the White House where she meets with Mellie, and Mellie tells Liv she had a realization about Liv. What did she realize? That Liv is going to make her president! Why, because she owes Mellie for giving her what she wanted. And out walks PAPA POPE and Tom Larsen!!!