Oh, Scandal. You and your never-ending twists and turns. Just when I think I have everything figured out, I forget what I was thinking about in the first place because there’s ten other things going on.

I was in Washington D.C. last weekend (hey, that’s where this show is set!) so alas, I didn’t get to catch up with the previous episode of Scandal, “The Fluffer,” until Monday. Yes, by the way, the title of that episode is based on exactly what you think it is. The important detail coming out of last week and going into this one was that Maya Pope, a.k.a Maya Lewis, a.k.a Marie Wallace, a.k.a Mia Wallace… wait, sorry, that’s Pulp Fiction. Anyway, the point is that she and Adnan got their hands on a bomb with the intention of blowing up the President. Last night’s episode, “Flesh and Blood” (slightly cooler title than “The Fluffer”), revolved mainly around Olivia Pope and company trying to stop said bomb attack from happening. Olivia calls in her father, Rowan, to help, which upsets Jake Ballard, since he’s been running the show at B-613 as of late. It’s also worth mentioning that Pope and Associates hacked into B-613 last week and basically destroyed their whole operation, although that didn’t really play into “Flesh and Blood” save for some yelling at the beginning of the episode.

“Flesh and Blood” also finds the election just days away, which complicates things for President Grant since on the one hand he can’t really leave the White House for fear of getting blown up, and on the other his campaign can’t really slow down at this point. Eventually, Grant gives in and makes a campaign stop, even though everyone is pretty sure this is a bad idea. Rowan convinces Olivia to go with him, telling her the only thing that will stop her mother from hurting the President is if there’s a chance she’ll get hurt too. Sure enough, when Maya finds out where Olivia is, she shows up at Pope and Associates’ offices and tells Rowan to get Olivia out of there. No one budges, and the bomb doesn’t go off. However, when Olivia gets back to the office, Rowan has been stabbed, and Maya has fled. Meanwhile, Jake is working with David Rosen (hey, buddy, you still matter occasionally), and through some kind of hi-tech nonsense, they discover that the bomb is actually set to go off at a funeral for a politician whose death we learned about earlier in the episode (really kind of disappointed in myself for not recognizing it as the setup it was when they first brought it up). As soon as Olivia learns this, she calls Cyrus to make sure Fitz avoids the funeral. But rather than jumping to his feet and taking action, Cyrus just smiles, and casually walks over to the Oval Office. There, he informs the President that the funeral will start a half an hour later than planned. Fitz is trying to finish writing his eulogy, and Cyrus asks if he’ll read it to him.

Let’s start with the end: At this point, it’s unclear what’s going on with Cyrus. The fact that “Smiling Faces” played ominously as he strolls down the halls of the White House at the end of the episode certainly makes it seem like he’s up to no good. But I’m not sure whether he’s just counting on Sally Langston getting blown up, hence the story about arriving a half hour later, or if he wishes some kind of harm on Fitz as well. It’s worth noting that Maya and Adnan’s reasons for killing Fitz have never been truly explained, and it’s always felt like there were other motivations and other parties involved in their whole scheme. I might’ve thought it was Rowan, but after the stabbing, that seems unlikely (although on Scandal, you never know). This would seem pretty out of character for Cyrus, but then again I suppose he might blame the President for the death of his husband. Not to mention the fact that Scandal will go anywhere for a big surprise, no matter how ludicrous it might be.

While we’re on the subject of ludicrous, why don’t we discuss Jake and Olivia. I’m usually tired of Olivia and Fitz, and don’t get me wrong, they were exhausting in this episode too. But to see Olivia play with the idea that she might have feelings for Jake, knowing full well that he killed James, just seems a step too far.

The centerpiece of the episode was a scene in which Rowan threatened a former lover of Maya’s at Pope and Associates headquarters for information on the whereabouts of his wife. They’re able to get Maya on the phone, but she sacrifices her beau and leaves him to Rowan. Even though you might think that in Rowan’s mind, this would indicate that she never truly cared for this other man either, and he might be worth letting off the hook, he still kills the guy. Maybe it was just too many years of pent-up anger for him to let go. Either way, it’s a pretty cold-blooded scene, and might have been more effective had Kerry Washington not given the same horrified performance she’s been giving all season. Don’t get me wrong, seeing your dad kill someone in your office is pretty horrific, but Kerry Washington is such a gifted actress that it would be nice to see the writers give her another emotion to work with.

It’s also worth mentioning a subplot with Mellie, where she’s trying to get a paternity test to see if her son is really her son, knowing that there’s a chance he might be Fitz’s father’s, while leaking the news of the test to the Langston campaign at the same time. In her big scene this week, Mellie, who’s taken to coping with alcohol, reveals all this to Olivia, except for the part about Fitz’s father, “Big” Jerry, raping her. But because Olivia is Olivia, she figures it out based on an offhand comment that Mellie makes and the fact that Mellie’s meltdown has arrived on the anniversary of Big Jerry’s death. Although Mellie is still furious at Fitz, she asks for Olivia’s help to shut the ensuing controversy down, and Olivia softens a bit, now aware of part of the larger reason Mellie is in such pain. I should back up and mention that Mellie is particularly mad at Fitz in this episode because last week he put a stop to her affair with Governor Nichols. Mellie’s big scene with Olivia in “Flesh and Blood” was more hysterical, but not as powerful as her tour de force at the end of last week’s episode when she bursts into the Oval Office, slaps her husband, and yells, “You take everything from me!” Then, following stares from the staff, she leaves, saying, “No, I’ll go. You just keep on bein’ President.” It might’ve been my favorite moment not just of the episode, but of the entire season, so it was going to be hard for this week to top that. But as always, I remain team Mellie.

By the way, it’s nice that Olivia finally has some compassion for the First Lady, but it’s ridiculous it took her finding out Mellie was raped to get there. Fitz has become intolerable, and after he separated his wife and Governor Nichols, seemingly without making any plans to stop his own affair with Olivia, I was pretty much done with him. It’s hard to see Olivia not stick up for herself either. She’s stated prettily firmly in the past few episodes that at least for the moment, she’s just Fitz’s help, his fluffer, and that she’s there to bring him back up when he falls down (gross analogy, right?) but not to engage in any kind of emotional relationship. But that’s why it’s infuriating to hear her on the phone with Jake, telling him she feels like if they got close she would be cheating on Fitz. And even though Olivia knows she shouldn’t feel this way, and even though I know she knows she shouldn’t feel this way, it’s still hard not to want to shake her and say ‘WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?” I understand she’s not going to get over Fitz right away. She’s probably not going to get over him ever. But I wish it looked like she was trying to at least a little bit.

Oh, in weird Quinn and Huck news, they had sex in a parking lot this week, on a car. So, you know, there’s that.

“Flesh and Blood” is pretty typical Scandal. It even started and ended with classic soul songs. But most typically of all, they answered a few questions while opening up a lot more. I’m sure that next week’s season finale will end on some kind of cliffhanger, but I’m also hoping it packs a bit more punch, or at least ventures a little farther outside the box.