Scandal - YOLO

Family troubles are the major theme of the latest episode of Scandal. "YOLO" begins with Olivia (Kerry Washington) being reunited with her mother (Khandi Alexander), who her father (Joe Morton) has kept in a secret government prison for more than 20 years after faking her death, while Huck (Guillermo Díaz) begins torturing Quinn (Katie Lowes) for answers after discovering she has been working against Oliva and for B613. There's also trouble between Cyrus (Jeff Perry) and James (Dan Bucatinsky) after the reporter deduces how his husband used to him to out the Vice-President's husband (Jack Coleman) and decides to go ahead with the affair to teach Cyrus a lesson.

As messy as things begin in the separate stories they end even more complicated as Olivia learns fall too late that her mother, not her father, is the true villain in the family (and a terrorist who actually deserved the treatment she's received over the past two decades). After implicating Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) in getting her mother out of the country Olivia has also put the man she loves in danger. And with Cyrus unable to properly blackmail Sally Langston (Kate Burton) things take a dark turn for both the former VP (who confronts her husband after resigning) and the President's Chief of Staff.

The final twist about the truth of Olivia's mother, especially after implicating the President in her escape from U.S. custody, was a nice touch. The joy Huck takes in torturing Quinn a the beginning of the episode is a little disconcerting as is the fact it leads Quinn to make Huck an offer to do what Jake (Scott Foley) and his team failed to do: kill Olivia's father. Given what we learn in the episode's final moments, I'd expect Quinn's mission to be either called off at the last second or fail as I doubt the show is ready to get rid of Control just when it's begun to shine some light on his true motives.