Wild Card

Wild Card

Air Date: February 25, 2016 — Writer: Mark Fish — Director: Allison Liddi-Brown & Tom Verica
Previous Episode: "The Candidate" — Next Episode: "The Fish Rots from the Head"

Wild Card is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of Scandal, and is the eighty-first overall.

Plot

While Fitz is preoccupied with his own interests, Cyrus begins to orchestrate his next master plan, and Elizabeth North uses David to mastermind a plan of her own. Meanwhile, Olivia continues to question what exactly Jake is planning in his new role as head of the NSA.

Recap

Fitz is getting along swimmingly with Lillian Forrester until work-wife Abby interrupts their make-out session in the back the presidential limo. Issues need to be addressed now that he’s wild-carding. Wild-carding, by the way, is all about the procedures that are put into play during those times the president is out to have a good time with a new lady. Fitz is appalled by the discussion. He orders Abby out of the limo and to never mention any of this ever again.

Susan Ross announces she’s running for president. Afterwards, she invites David over for dinner. That means she probably wants to sleep with him. Elizabeth feels this is a good thing. Of course, she calls dibs on having sex with David first. She’s a modern woman. Of course, Elizabeth is caught a little off guard when she learns that David and Susan have been basking in the afterglow a little longer than she expected.

Papa Pope lets his daughter know that Jake is seeing someone. Huck believes Rowan and Jake are up to something. Olivia questions her father about this. It’s clear she has her doubts that Papa Pope is truly retired. She questions Jake about this, but he’s not talking. Later, Abby gives Olivia a call. She wants to talk, but she doesn’t want to tell her about Fitz. A short time later, Olivia blows up at Huck, who believes her father is still the monster who made her.

Francisco Vargas is the current governor of Pennsylvania. He’s also the person Cyrus Beene wants to make the next President of the United States. Ethan gives a rundown on all the gov’s selling points. Cyrus is intrigued when he hears Vargas was once Special Forces. He dismisses Ethan and summons a towel-wearing Tom (of former Secret Service/B613 fame) in to get to work.

Tom makes a threat to a white supremacist named Wayne Turner in order to get him to target Francisco Vargas. BANG! BANG! Tom kills to officers at the state capitol in Harrisburg. He hands the gun to Wayne, who approaches Vargas. Cyrus is overjoyed to see the “breaking news” of this event hit the airwaves. He sends Abby off to tell the president. She does just that amidst an all-out shouting match with Fitz over the fact that he was half-naked on top of Lillian Forrester when she came in.

Cyrus becomes a little uneasy when he hears that S.W.A.T. sharpshooters are in place to take down Wayne Turner. He doesn’t want these heroes to take the hero moment away from their hero, Governor Vargas. Cyrus orders Tom to get creative. So he does. Tom shoots Vargas in a non-lethal way. This surprises Turner, who is then tackled by the governor. The news has footage of this incredible turn of events. It’s a true hero moment.

Charlie is asked to babysit the young son of an old killing buddy. Quinn joins him on this adventure because it’s never a good idea to leave your child in the hands of just one highly-trained assassin. After watching a little Frozen with the kid, Charlie sends the lad off into a police station. As it turns out, the young boy is Wayne Turner’s son. Tom used him as leverage to get the devoted dad to do his bidding. Uncle Charlie was hired to help out. The whole situation has a clueless Quinn believing Charlie will make for a great father someday.

Olivia wants Huck and Quinn to do a complete background check on Vanessa Moss, the woman Jake is seeing. In other news, Abby and Fitz have another contentious conversation after Lillian is caught on camera leaving a private White House exit. At the end of the chat, the president realizes his work wife was right. He even asks her to call him Fitz.

A short time later, the president is shaking hands with the hero governor from Pennsylvania for a photo op. Abby introduces Vargas to Cyrus. Both men are pleased to meet each other—Cyrus a little more so than the unsuspecting hero gov.