Scandal Episode 2.01 White Hat's Off

It's been six months since everything went down in "Grant: For the People." Mellie is showing big time as she picks out color patterns for the baby's nursery in the Oval Office. Fitz is only half-listening as she prattles on about their upcoming interview with nationally-loved news reporter Kimberly Mitchell. They'll be revealing the sex of their baby, "America's Baby" according to Mellie, on national TV. Fitz has other things on his mind, like a possible attack on East Sudan to stop recent genocide atrocities. We're guessing he's also thinking of Olivia.

Speaking of Olivia, she's on her way into court with defense attorney Moira O'Donnell. The throngs of reporters outside ask about their client, who has been branded with the colorful nickname of "The Molotov Mistress." Her real name is Lindsay Dwyer, but we know her as Quinn Perkins. U.S. Attorney David plays an audio tape where Quinn/Lindsay threatens to kill her cheating boyfriend. Two days later, the guy and six of his coworkers were blown to bits after a bomb was delivered to his office. Lindsay Dwyer was the prime suspect.

A motion to dismiss the case due to the state's circumstantial evidence is denied. The case is not going well. Part of the problem is that Lindsay Dwyer ran away. She later became Quinn Perkins, though this was not her idea. She claims to have been knocked unconscious by a mystery person. She woke up in a Washington, DC hotel with everything she needed to begin a new life as Quinn. It's a life that may be drawing to a close as David is asking for the death penalty. He believes the defendant is a cold-blooded killer. The jury is likely to agree.

Olivia has been discreetly meeting with Cyrus at a park for five minutes every other Monday. She lets him know that she's moved on from Fitz. Speaking of moving on, Steven quit the firm and moved to Boston. This new wrinkle only adds to a workplace that's somewhat divided over Quinn's case. Abby, for one, thinks she's lying about everything. The team's best bet is to find the mystery man who knocked out Quinn. Huck is on the move to check out any video cameras that were operating near the hotel where she woke up.

Quinn is scared. She consults with another attorney to take a plea deal. In other words, she fires Olivia. Quinn demands to know how her boss knew her true identity. Olivia's response that she does her homework doesn't fly with Quinn. What does make an impact is Olivia's vow that she will not let her down. Quinn is her client once again. There will be no plea agreement.

Fitz is trying his best to avoid going to war over the East Sudan situation even though, as Cyrus and Mellie know, such a decisive action would go a long way toward getting reelected. Energy tycoons like Hollis Doyle from Texas would also love the obscene profits companies like his would make if a war was in the future. Still, Fitz does not take the idea of sending soldiers into battle to possibly die lightly. He's completely caught off guard when Mellie implies her hubby's about to storm East Sudan during their joint TV interview.

Fitz's fury with Mellie comes to a boil when they return to Oval Office. He screams, "You're not the President! You don't weigh in on foreign policy. Your opinion doesn't matter!" He says that, as the First Lady, she's ornamental, not functional. This hits Mellie hard. She knows that he misses Olivia, but doesn't want him to take it out on her. Fitz ultimately apologizes before placing his hand on his wife's belly as the two of them wait for the baby to kick.

Congressman Jacob Shaw of the great state of Rhode Island has a problem. A secret video camera that was planted in his office captured him having sex with a law firm associate on his desk. Both of these consenting adults are single, but the congressman would still like to know who did this to him and what they plan to do with the video. Huck learns that a right wing website called Capitol Spill is about to spill the video all over the Internet. An attempt to get an injunction to stop the tape from going viral fails. They need a Plan B.

Fitz places a call to Olivia. The fact that it's on a secure line doesn't matter. They can't do this. They can't hang up on each other either. They chat like old friends about things like invading East Sudan. For such a serious subject, these two speak with a comfort level that is very rare indeed. Olivia advises Fitz to spin what Mellie did to make it seem like it was all his idea. This will scare the bad guys. He's the leader of the armed forces and he'll decide if and when they go to war. Fitz sternly lets Cyrus know this.

Olivia follows the advice she gave Fitz herself regarding the Congressman Shaw situation. Huck hacks into the Capitol Spill computers to get a copy of the sex tape. Abby's been studying the impressive content repeatedly. The team does a preemptive strike by leaking the tape. Shaw then spins all the press questions into an opportunity to talk about the real issues. Before doing this, the standup congressman calls the woman on the tape to give her a heads up as to what's coming. He also calls his mom. The plan works and Shaw even scores a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Huck says there's no sign of Quinn or her mystery kidnapper on any of the video footage he found. The jury is set to hang her. Harrison makes a discouraged Quinn repeat the famed "gladiators in suits" line to give her some hope. As for Olivia, she makes a phone call to a mystery person to ask for help. In court, Moira makes another motion to dismiss the case due to circumstantial evidence. This time the motion is granted. Shockwaves rip through the courtroom. Everyone is stunned. Everyone but Olivia.

David is furious. He knows Olivia is behind this and vows to prove it. Abby and Harrison also want to know what happened in that courtroom. Huck, however, remains ever-loyal to Olivia. He retreats to his workspace where he pulls up video from outside the DC hotel where Quinn was dumped. Surprisingly, we see Huck standing outside the place in footage he proceeds to erase forever. We jump back in time to see what wasn't on the video from two years ago. Huck hops into the passenger's side of a car parked down the street. In the driver's seat is Olivia Pope, the person who changed Quinn's identity.