Scandal Recap: ‘Say Hello To My Little Friend’ – Remington Revealed

After last week’s suicide bomb scare, it’s back to business as usual for Olivia Pope and company on “Scandal.”

Season 3’s fourth episode, aptly titled “Say Hello To My Little Friend,” begins with Jake attempting to convince Olivia to let him stay at her home, as he believes she’ll be safer if he’s there. Liv assures him that her Daddy Dearest, Rowan Pope (aka B613’s Command), would not physically harm her. Jake provides graphic, tortuous details of his time in the hole which provides strong evidence to the contrary.

Liv declares it’s safest to turn a blind eye to B613 and simply “be a good girl, go to Sunday dinners.” She asks Jake to leave – he does.

Harrison calls Liv with good news for OPA – and even better dance moves (special shout out to Harrison’s sexy “the lights are staying on” groove!). The firm has landed a client after a dry spell.

Meanwhile, Abby and David Rosen are deciding whether to finish their date upstairs in Abby’s place, when a call from Harrison makes the decision for them – work beckons, date night is over.

Huck is back in AA meetings, trying to come to grips with the fact that he returned to his assassin ways at the snap of Command’s cold fingers during last week’s episode. Disguising his homicidal tendencies as alcoholism, he tells the group he “drank and drank and drank” when offered “whiskey,” as he recounts how he killed Pete Foster. Huck admits he “liked it.” And surprise, newly bloodthirsty Quinn is standing in the shadows, relishing Huck’s tale. Uh oh…

Back at the office, the Gladiators assemble to begin work on their latest case, a Senator by day but “perving texting pervy perv” by night, who’s fond of sexting under the handle Redwood Johnson. The bigger problem? Desiree Oaks, a recipient of his TMI photos, kept all of the evidence, attempted to blackmail him, then wound up dead – and Pervy Perv’s fingerprints are all over her apartment.

OPA’s angle? Pervy Perv’s doting wife will stand by his side, and swears he was home at the time of Desiree’s murder. She assures Liv that her husband made a sexting mistake with just one woman and is a changed man. David, who is prosecuting the case, soon shatters that notion with a montage of women reading cringeworthy sexts from Pervy on the witness stand.

Over at the White House, Mellie and Fitz are enjoying an icy breakfast while watching Democratic Congresswoman Josephine Marcus (played by Lisa Kudrow) rage against Fitz’s inability to “tame his cobra” during a TV interview. Mellie is not pleased. Fitz is even less pleased when he notices an article in the paper announcing that former Navy pilot Pete Foster had been found dead (that’s Huck’s latest victim, who was somehow involved in the mysterious Operation Remington).

Back in the courthouse, Liv and associates have taken a new approach to fishing Pervy Perv out of the mire by, as Abby puts it, adopting the “slut shame dead girl” strategy. Turns out, the Senator wasn’t the only man playing Snapchat with Desiree.

At the office, Quinn tells Huck she followed him because she’s worried about him. He walks out, only to draw a gun on (and have a gun drawn on him by) Jake in the parking garage. Jake wants Huck to help him take down Command – Huck doesn’t bite.

Liv and Harrison are prepping Pervy’s Doting Wife for the stand when a new sexting partner comes forward on TV. Pervy denies it, then quickly admits to it. In fact, he was sexting as recently as the night before. Doting Wife is no longer willing to dote.

Meanwhile, Fitz arranges to have his old Navy pilot pal buried at Arlington, then makes a surprise appearance at the burial to offer his condolences to the late veteran’s sister. While Fitz is saluting the flag-draped casket and holding back tears, Huck is seen secretly observing from behind a tree.

Cyrus finds out about Fitz’s impromptu funeral fuss and immediately meets with Rowan. Guess who’s on the case, listening in on the conversation from a nearby bench? Jake, who then rushes to OPA headquarters and attempts to tell Liv what he heard Daddy Dearest discussing with Cyrus (bits and pieces of the Operation Remington puzzle), but she wants none of it. Jake leaves, but not before dropping a digital recorder containing the taped convo between Cy and Command for Huck to hear.

Abby heads to David’s office to ask if he wants to have lunch with her – an obvious attempt to stall the Pervy Perv case, as no-longer-Doting Wife is M.I.A. David sees through it (of course he does – he’s David!) and tells Abby he’s done with her.

Liv tracks down Mrs. Pervy – she’s drunk at a hotel and musing about how she met her straying husband. She’s humiliated and “done forgiving him.” Liv talks her into testifying in court, where she admits to the jury that she no longer loves her husband, and that though she’d be happy to watch him rot in jail, she knows he didn’t kill Desiree.

Creeper Quinn is (once again) silently observing Huck, this time at the OPA office. Displeased with her sneaky ways, he leaves and heads to Liv’s house, with Jake.

Finally, the shroud of secrecy veiling Operation Remington is somewhat lifted. B613 brothers Jake and Huck explain to Liv that O.R. was a secret rescue mission during the Gulf War. Jake and the late Pete Foster were a part of it and Fitz piloted the plane. For some reason, Pete had the mission’s flight plan numbers tattooed on his body, as if he were the pilot (instead of the President). Jake, Huck and Liv are puzzled.

Back at OPA headquarters, Pervy reveals to Liv that no-longer-Doting Wife lied to alibi him, as she was not home during the time of the murder – she was out shopping late that night. Liv connects the dots after Pervy is found not guilty of murder: wifey killed the slut-shamed dead girl.

At the White House, Cyrus makes it known to Fitz that he’s clued in about O.R. and cautions the President to keep his conscious from getting to his work. They agree to never speak of the mission again.

At the office, Creeper Quinn once again jumps out of the shadows to confront Huck about where he’s been. Huck fires back with what’s become increasingly obvious – Quinn isn’t questioning and trailing him because she’s “worried” about him, she’s “interested” in the details of his killings. Huck wants her to stop while she still can.

Abby takes a cue from Pervy and sexts David. Guess what? She’s outside his door and wants to come in… David obliges.

Back at Liv’s place, Jake and Liv enjoy some wine and she tearfully admits she’s scared of everything that’s going on with Daddy Dearest and O.R.

Jake offers his shoulder to cry on (literally) and pledges to stay by her side. Their ensuing make-out session on the couch is interrupted by a phone call from a disturbed Fitz. He abruptly says goodbye when he realizes Liv has company. After ending the call, the President exits the Presidential limo, walks down a hallway (flanked by Secret Service) and into an office as a voice asks, “What the hell is this?”

“This is a reunion, one that is long overdue,” Fitz replies to a man sitting behind a desk. That man is Rowan Pope.

— Erin O’Sullivan