That one small mention .05 seconds knocked the entire episode down? Down from what? Are you kidding?

She is not supposed to be happy, because she is taking a man that Mellie never had.

For all of the bad episodes this past year what were the grades given?
IMO the stupidest, most assbackwards episodes I have ever seen on TV were the Olivia kidnap and auction for $2B plot.
I have just checked the grades given. They were:
A
B-
C
B

99% of Scandal episodes are filled with holes the size of the Grand Canyon? Have they been given bad grades?
Almost every episode in season 4 was ridiculously stupid, filled with brain dead ARCs and incredulous plots. Were they given a bad grades? The only reason this was given a F was because Fitz and Olivia got back…

Or perhaps the opposite? The only people who do not find anything redeeming about this episodes are the ones blinded by their abhorrence of the rekindling of Olivia and Fitz!

It siphons money from social security :-)

Given the number of posters who agree with the recapper and given that these same posters also are vehemently opposed to the Fitz/Olivia pairing - I would tend to agree with you that there is a direct correlation.

If Shonda wants to write about Mellie running for president, I hope she does it as a spinoff.

It's not about a first lady running for the presidency for me. It's about Mellie has not demonstrated she has any skills to be the president. What has she done but been a drunken loutish shrew? Is that what is required to be a president? I would hope not!

He didn't need to sway the entire party. He just needed enough votes to get Susan confirmed as VP

Jake murdered James and a reporter and a NSA analyst. Shouldn't the NSA be looking for its analyst, BTW?

Thanks for that update. I didn't see that. I must have missed it as I was fast forwarding through the episode.

Agreed.
Further, anyone who wants power that badly is exactly the person who should not have it.

The sex crazed woman was fun. Good for a few chuckles. Hunt and Shepard was seen from a mile away.

I am surprised that this woman did not make a copy of the files and go tell her story to a reporter.

Yeah I'm with you there, Muggle. I don't understand why the writers' incompetence and hubris are admirable.

I generally don't read recaps. I don't even know why I read this one. But I must give kudos to the recapper. This is one of the best recaps of a show that I have ever read. It is very much on point and captures what is wrong and right about Scandal.
Well done.

I could have sworn that in one of the earlier episodes Lucious didn't know that Andre was sick…

I honestly don't know what goes on in this recapper's mind. To each his own I guess.
This was the most boring episode thus far. Definitely not A worthy.
I suspected that Lucious was the baby daddy. He just seemed the type to me.
Why did he need to take shares away from his sons to give to Cookie? This makes no sense…

I'm glad I never saw that episode!