what’s in the file

I was hoping Scandal season 3 would be good; I wasn’t expecting it to be THIS good! I don’t even know where to begin!!! I’ll try to organize my thoughts to make it easier to read! (but it’s shorter than last weeks, actually! Surprised me!)
Quotes

“I can kill a man with very little effort and a lot of joy but I try not to.”
“You’re evil.” “You’re welcome.”
“I am your father. So I’m going to explain to you how to behave in my presence. You do not ask questions that you can’t handle the answer to. You do not make judgements about things you cannot imagine. You don’t know me that way, you don’t ever want to know me that way; but if you push you will know me well and that would break my heart. Because I’m enjoying these Sunday dinners that you make me pay for. Now, you are on my dime, pick up your menu, order your meal, and tell me about your day.”
“How presidential are my balls now, Cy?”
“We are family, sweetie. We are never done.”

Questions

• What exactly does (Eli? Rowan? Which is his name? I’ve seen cast members say Rowan, but his cover is Eli…?) he do for B6-13? Is he in charge? Or just one leader of others?
• Some timeline qs: Liv’s mom dies, Papa Pope “grieves” and sends her away. Is it guilt because he had something to do with it? Or he gets deeper involved in B6-13 to exact revenge because of her death? Is his love for his family the softest thing about him?
• Who were those muggers at Union Station? Could they be more than muggers? Or simply that plot device to show Liv Huck’s nature?

Thoughts
So I guess Liv is over Verna, huh? I thought in the finale, she said she didn’t know if she could continue knowing that he killed Verna. THOUGH, she DID ask, as someone on Twitter put it, “her main squeeze to find and save her side piece.” So maybe she’s just waiting it out until Jake comes back…?
We’re going to get just the pieces of what’s in the file every episode aren’t we? It will probably be an episode 13 reveal. There was so much in this episode but don’t think I’m going to forget that “Remington” detail Cyrus gave us. What’s in the file?! (also, Cyrus and Papa must have known each other 5 years ago, the way Papa Pope threw his name at Liv at dinner the way he did.)
The scenes with Papa Pope from 5 Years Ago. They were amazing. He went from this picture of a loving dad who was trying to make amends (and I am sure that it was true, as the confidence of his lies must have been based in truth to be so genuine) to showing Olivia the man he really is. I’m skipping ahead a bit but I canNOT believe he said “You don’t know me like that…”! When he flipped on her when she confronted him, I nearly died. No really, I couldn’t breath while he was talking and I started tearing up from crying. But he should have KNOWN she could figure it out: he’s paying for her law degree and she has his genes! Of course she’s going to find out! She’s Olivia Pope! But I guess he hadn’t seen her in so long and was trying so hard on the emotional side that he didn’t think about her logical side (which I’m sure she gets from him). But, as my friend said on Twitter, I wouldn’t walk away from my dad if I just found out he’s a killer. Choose life. And now we know why she broke it off with Edison in the past. They hold a lot of power over each other, those Popes.
Focusing on the Popes in the present: He just suddenly shows up at her office! Huck is there, but I guess, considering the ending, that they’ve never met before, even under B6-13. I guess he’s the shadowy figurehead that no one sees? I’m confused about his position. Is he the leader? Just a commander for one section? It’s interesting how easy it was for Olivia to negotiate getting Jake back. All it took was Sunday dinners again. I suppose we must believe that his interest in his daughter is genuine.
The scene in the office between them was great.

*smiling* “You need to leave.”

Those fake smiles between them for her co-workers was a genius move; I didn’t notice in the first few seconds that their smiles were for show, not until they shot from outside the room with no sound. Brilliant. And it’s so both of them. There are so many ways in which you see the similarities between them; because with as little time they spend together, they just know what to do together. Imagine if they were on the same side, the damage they could do; the power they would have.
Wine: Papa Pope introduces Liv to wine! He’s where her wine-only diet comes from! It makes you think, however, what her thoughts might have been in all those previous scenes with wine. Those scenes have deeper meaning now. Could she have been thinking of her father?
Fitz/Liv: I think Fitz has a bigger game for Liv and the public. He had a proud gleam in his eyes when she was fighting for Jeanine at the press conference. And he told her to “go for the jugular,” why?
Olivia wanted two things: The free Jeanine from the scandal and the free Jake. She tried to appeal to both Fitz and her Dad. No matter how she came at it, there was only ever one solution. Jeanine burns. She wanted Jake more than she wanted Jeanine free; she asked about him more.
Harrison: Harrison is coming to his wit’s end, I believe. The side-eye he gave her when she walks into her office when the interview is about to begin was quick but deep. And Black Girl Nerds on Twitter thought that there might have been a connection between Harrison and Papa Pope that they might have been suppressing. I ran with this idea, here it goes: Harrison is overly good to Olivia; what if he is doing so because he is trying to pull a Papa Pope card and make up for a transgression in the past that affected Olivia? (I always go back to the mother theory since we found out but it could be anything I guess). That’s why we haven’t gotten Harrison’s backstory yet, because he’s atoning for something in his past that directly affects Olivia. (I wonder if she knows about whatever it is and that’s why she kind of snubs him the way she does?)
Huck: FIRST OF ALL, I CAN’T BELIEVE HUCK TOUCHED LIV LIKE THAT! We know he’s crazy, but we all thought Liv was his center; his one person he wouldn’t ever mess with. But she lied to him and kept her dad from him. The person who ruined his life and put him in a hole and made him crazy. Poor Huck. (Though upon rewatch, he doesn’t go for her neck. He’s wringing her chin kind of loosely. But the move still did the damage it intended to.) Now Huck and Liv’s relationship is broken. Who knows if it can come back together. However, now that Jake is back, she is exchanging one Huck for another.
This episode has a lot of people playing someone’s weakness against them. Fitz uses Cyrus’ love of White House power in the scene before he does the press conference. Liv uses Fitz insecurities about the election to (try) to get him to choose her side in the Jeanine situation. Fitz uses the VP’s dislike of sexual immorality against her to get her to leave him alone when she confronts him about lying about Jeanine being the one (“I had Jeanine six ways to Sunday all over this White House…”). Papa uses Jake to try to convince Liv to burn Jeanine. Olivia uses Papa’s desire for Sunday dinner to get Jake released. I’m sure I’m missing more, but there were a lot of power plays used in this episode.
Other thoughts:

• Didn’t Amanda Tanner get kidnapped from Liv’s house and then murdered?! Liv, don’t leave that girl in your house!
• Olivia is on the phone, Fitz kicks everyone out the room. ON THE PHONE lol
• David Rosen’s goatee lol.
• Ohh that’s why she gave the ring back to Edison the first time! But she only accepts his proposal to blackmail her dad… so it wasn’t going to last anyway.
• Olivia is flawless even in the middle of the night on her way to the morgue.