ABC/Eric McCandless(LOS ANGELES) — On this week’s Scandal, Marcus and Mellie’s relationship is revealed through a series of flashbacks. In the first flashback, Marcus is seen at Mellie’s campaign, where he tears up at her announcement for presidency. During the flashback, Olivia warns Mellie to not fall for Marcus — which Mellie agrees will not happen.
Back in present day, Olivia brings the president the voicemail that incriminates Cyrus Beene as Frankie Vargas’ murderer. Unfortunately, the president and his advisers don’t buy it, including FBI Director Angela Webster, who says they’re close to getting a confession from their suspect.
In a holding room, Attorney General David Rosen and the FBI director try to coerce the shooting suspect to sign a confession for the murder of Vargas. Meanwhile, Mellie and Liv discuss how to bring Cyrus down. Mellie meets with Fitz at the White House, but finds out that the president has set up a meeting with her and Cyrus Beene so they can work out their differences.
Mellie, who refuses to back down from the presidency, asks Cyrus if he plans to kill her. He responds saying he wants to instead offer her the vice presidency. Mellie hesitates, but then tells Cyrus she’s not interested is playing second-fiddle to something she knows she’s earned. Cyrus tells Mellie he had nothing to do with Frankie’s death and that Olivia is misleading her.
In a flashback, Mellie and Marcus get closer on a baseball field, where they almost kiss. Back in the present day, Quinn and Charlie are at the crime scene to see if they can find any evidence that will incriminate Cyrus.
Back at the White House, Abby Calls on Jake Ballard to “help” her with the shooter’s confession. Across the hall, Marcus runs into Mellie, but she pushes him away. This goes into a flashback, where Mellie is seen sharing some moonshine with Marcus after a successful appearance. During their interaction, Mellie asks Marcus to stay, which leads to them having sex.
Back at Pope and Associates, Liv finds a way for Huck and Quinn to possibly bring down Cyrus. Olivia meets with the FBI director for drinks as Huck and Quinn get classified information from her office, and a computer taken from the crime scene. Huck manages to rebuild the hard drive but realizes the team will have to go through a bunch of footage.
During this time, Jake gets the shooting suspect to confess to the murder of Frankie Vargas. David Rosen learns of this and tells Liv, who immediately confronts Abby about it.
Meanwhile, Mellie calls Marcus to tell him that Cyrus offered her the VP position. Marcus says it’s a good thing and then confesses his love for her, in hopes she’ll admit to her feelings. Instead, Mellie is seen confessing her feelings for Marcus to Liv, who says she’s “happy” for her, even though Liv considers Marcus a distraction for Mel and her White House goals.
In a flashback, Liv is seen telling Abby to break up Marcus and Mellie’s relationship by offering Marcus the press secretary position, which he accepts. Abby ends up telling this to Mellie as a way to get her to distrust Olivia and back down from the presidency.
After learning that Liv was meddling in her love life, Mellie confronts Olivia at her home, telling her she’s done with pushing for president. In a flashback, we see the break-up of Mellie and Marcus over his new job as White House press secretary.
In the final minutes of the episode, Liv tells Huck and Quinn to pack it up since Mellie has now quit. She also advises Quinn to accept Charlie’s proposal, because some people never get a chance at happiness.
After Frankie Vargas’ funeral, Mellie heads to the White House to let Fitz know she’s not aiming for president anymore. She also asks to see Marcus, but before she talks to anyone, Mellie leaves — seemingly re-inspired by her surroundings to continue her fight.
Mellie ends up at Liv’s offices and the two are seen drinking on the couch. As they do, Huck enters with footage of Cyrus Beene and Frankie Vargas together. In the footage, which is now being shown to the president and his staff, Frankie Vargas tells Cyrus that he plans to put him in jail for all the horrible things he done.
Scandal returns next Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on ABC.
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