Scandal Episode 5.01 Heavy is the Head

The President is throwing a party. Prince Richard of Caledonia has married an American-Princess Emily of Iowa. Sally Langston lets her TV audience know that the bash may just be a way to get chummy with the Queen of Caledonia, Her Majesty Queen Isabel, in order to build a naval base on her home turf. Sally believes her former boss is hiding secrets. She has no idea how true that is especially when it comes to his hot White House sleepovers with Olivia Pope.

After Princess Emily catches Abby talking about her charmed life, she corners Olivia for a private chat. The topic of their brief conversation is about how people say hurtful things without taking into consideration that their target is a real person. A short time later, Olivia gets a call. She rushes away from the White House to the site of a horrible car accident. One of the casualties is Princess Emily. A horrified Olivia races to cover her bloodied body as the paparazzi photograph the dead princess.

Both Prince Richard and his queen mother ask Olivia to get back the pictures that were taken of the princess. The race is on to pay off every slimeball that snapped a shot of the dead body. Everyone is game for trading the pictures for large sums of cash except for one known person and one mystery man. Olivia has a plan. She has a photographer take shots of Prince Richard identifying the body in the morgue as part of a preemptive strike.

Elizabeth is summoned to Mellie's office. Her four-part response as to why she betrayed Virginia's next senator is highlighted by the declaration that she's now the one standing by the side of the most powerful man on the planet. Speaking of Fitz, he won't be able to attend Mellie's swearing in. The president is just way too busy to stand by his wife's side.

Quinn realizes that the one mystery photographer may have actually been the person who caused the crash. Somebody wanted the princess dead. After checking on a housebound Huck, Olivia visits the Oval Office where she convinces Fitz to attend Mellie's swearing in. Abby is blindsided by this in the White House pressroom. As for Mellie, she's blindsided by the divorce papers Fitz hands her. She lets Cyrus know that Fitz doesn't want them anymore. Later, Fitz lets Olivia know that he doesn't want to wait any longer for them to be truly together.

David finds evidence that Princess Emily was, indeed, murdered. Olivia realizes the deceased wasn't spending much time with her husband before she was killed. In fact, the princess spent most of her time with her bodyguard, who died in the car with her. Signs indicate that the prince may have been responsible for murder. Fitz doesn't want to make waves. Olivia realizes it's because of the naval base. Elizabeth witnesses their argument which seems a lot like a lovers' quarrel.

Huck is slowly starting to come out of his funk. He's been waiting for Olivia to fix him so he can go home to his family. Olivia doesn't know how to fix him. Huck needs a new plan. A short time later, Huck moves out of Liv's place. He seeks help from Jake. In other news, Elizabeth lets Abby know that Olivia is sleeping with Fitz. The mystery of who has been undermining her at the press podium lately is a mystery no more.

Princess Emily was pregnant. Olivia believes Prince Richard had his wife murdered once he learned of an affair with her bodyguard. That's not what happened though. Prince Richard truly loved his wife. He couldn't see what Princess Emily truly was. But his mother could. The queen had her daughter-in-law killed and there's nothing Olivia can do about it. Then there is. Her nondisclosure agreement doesn't apply to the prince, who informs his mom that she's to abdicate her throne pronto.

After taking down the evil queen, Olivia returns to the White House. Fitz wants to know why she's so reluctant to go public. It's because they'd become a spectacle once they do. Olivia admits that she wants them to be together, but they need to slow down first. They don't want to go at all this broken. If they do, they'll be destroyed. Fitz finally agrees to wait until they are both ready.

Abby interrupts an intimate moment on a White House balcony to let Fitz know that there's something he needs to see. Sally Langston is on TV declaring that Olivia Pope has found her way into the president's bed. She has pictures to prove her claim. So much for waiting.