Scandal was full of twists and turns and unholy alliances in "The Last Supper," the most worrying of which is that Rowan appears to have his own private sniper squad.  Though Olivia, Fitz, David Rosen, and others may be masters of their domains, they are no match (apparently, yet), even as a team, against Rowan.  Hit the jump for why, "I don't want justice.  I want to kill your father."

The best Scandal episodes are ones that tie in together throughout the hour.  "The Last Supper" was one of those, somehow combining all of its disparate parts into a long, contiguous maze of alliances and betrayals.  Let's map this out.

Fitz-Olivia-Jake

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The latest and most potent of the love triangles, both men are desperately vying for Olivia's favor.  Jake calls her his girlfriend, and rubs their island time together in Fitz's face.  But his posturing all comes from insecurity; he still believes Olivia loves and only ever will love Fitz, and continues to try and give her outs to that effect (but is, of course, pleased when she tells him to pipe down about standing in the sun and other men).

Fitz, whose only reason for living these days is because Olivia said the word "hope" (under duress, which he never seems to notice), bullied her into a kiss, which she could not recoil from fast enough.  Fitz, you've lost this battle.  Give up and go home, please.  Of course, we know Olivia is still drawn to Fitz, but seeing her actually make a go out of a relationship with Jake would be a nice change.

Mellie-Andrew-Lizzie-Michael-Cyrus

This is a twisted one, indeed.  The car bomb woke Mellie and her libido up, and she runs to Andrew (who has been absent for most of the season), explaining why she wants another chance (and also explaining why Andrew wasn't there to console her in the wake of Jerry's death).  Just when Mellie seems to have gotten her groove back, Huck and Quinn see him canoodling with Elizabeth North.  Damn!

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Liz started off as Olivia's client in "The Last Supper," but then became her target once Cyrus asked her for her personal help.  Their war isn't as damning to Cyrus as he first thought; Michael didn't leak as many secrets as he could have, and it should be fairly easy for Liv to bury the photos.  But the season-long (so far) arc about two girls who were killed because they knew Kubiak and his boss (the husband of one of Liv's law school friends) were hunting Olivia lives on and grows stranger.  We don't yet know why they are after Liv, but it's connected to Liz.  Kubiak's part in it all just because a lot more mysterious, too, after Huck killed him.

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Both Quinn and Javi were demanding of Huck's time in this hour, but he only gave it to one.  Unfortunately, his closeness with his son took a dark turn when the slaughter they enjoy together in the virtual world became real.  Javi saw Huck kill Kubiak in a gruesome fashion, surely warping his poor little kid mind.  The connection to the rest of the hour was in that moment, when Huck and Quinn's targets came together, and added Andrew to the mix.

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The theme of parents and children played out spectacularly between Olivia and Rowan, when she used herself as bait to get him to the restaurant to be apprehended.  But not even Olivia can distract Rowan that much, and he had his personal sniper force take out the military men waiting to charge in and grab him (and then put their deaths on Liv -- nice evil touch).  He also cut her off, and threatened her in what he thinks will be a very cold Rowan-less world.

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Of course, Rowan's greatest trick was replacing the files Jake had with blank paper, thereby making it impossible to bring him to trial and -- as he predicts -- execute him.  No matter how crazy your family gets over Thanksgiving, I guarantee you the Popes have you beat.

"The Last Supper" managed to get some good character-building in even among its myriad plot points, and featured some marquee soliloquies from Rowan and Cyrus (the undisputed kings).  The Rowan saga is only part of what's happening this season -- Liz and Andrew's alliance, and desire to take down Liv (and Fitz) also puts a whole different perspective on things.

Episode Rating: A

Musings and Miscellanea:

-- Seeing Jake and Fitz do everything but measure their dicks was tired, and Olivia seemed to feel the same way.

-- Nice work by Jake to passively aggressively manipulate David Rosen into using the files to prosecute Rowan.  Except, oops!

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-- Scandal, please give viewers some credit.  We all figured out Olivia was using herself as bait, and for those who didn't get it at first, the phone call she made after sealed the deal.  The flashback was wholly unnecessary.

-- "Are you seriously suggesting I'm the one without discipline or focus?" - Jake.

-- "Boys, boys, boys" - Rowan's favorite term for Olivia's BOYfriends.

-- "Turn around and bend over" - Cyrus.

-- Olivia's COATS in this episode!  The white wrap!  The gray skirted design!  Le sigh …

-- "You think this world is so terrible with me in it? See what it's like without me" - Rowan.  I doubt he's gone, though.

-- Cyrus has been pretty useless this season.  And why would Michael not love Cyrus?  He's his sugar daddy -- he buys him phones and clothes and pays for him to have a nice apartment.  There are worse things …

-- "Kubiak is laying low. I don't know if it's because his boss killed himself, or if he ran out of girls to kill" - Quinn.

-- "When that bomb went off, I woke up, my body woke up" - Mellie.  I will be pissed if Andrew is playing Mellie.  Why can't she (or Huck) ever have nice things?!