It’s the mid-season premiere of Scandal‘s fourth season, which means it’s “Scandal Thursday” and the anticipation is mounting. And, we all want to know the answer to the question, “Where is Olivia Pope?” Let’s start with character Jake’s reaction to her being taken. Actor Scott Foley explains to TV Guide:
I think you’re touching on a subject that is very embarrassing for Jake. He’s completely embarrassed. Oh, man. Of anyone, Olivia should be safe in his care, so this is a big source of embarrassment for him. But the people who took her knew exactly what they were doing. They were surgical. So, now he’s dead set on doing everything he can to right this wrong.
Foley then opens up about what you can expect to see with the first episode tonight, revealing:
Without telling you what happens, it takes a turn that even Andrew could never have expected. I’ve been in this business a long time, I’ve read a bunch of scripts … and these writers have a way of putting my jaw on the floor. I’m constantly amazed, not just by how much story they’re able to cram into every episode, but by the way in which they do it — the boundaries that they push and everything. I did not see this coming. It’s not necessarily shocking, but it’s a very smart play. I think that’s what makes the show legitimate. There’s a lot of things we do where you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s just ridiculous.’ But then you realize, ‘Oh, my God, that makes sense!’
You will be happy to know that we find out where Olivia Pope is and who took her in the mid-season premiere. In the beginning of the episode, Jake thinks Olivia has been taken out of the building and away in a car, but she’s really been dragged across the hallway into her neighbor’s apartment. The kidnappers have set up surveillance and are watching Jake’s every move. They then kill the neighbor and Olivia drops her ring on the floor to leave a clue behind. She’s taken away in a body bag with her dead neighbor and ends up in a jail cell. The jail is clearly in another country and Olivia has a roommate who is a terrified man named Ian. She is determined to save herself and Ian though things look grim.
When Olivia is caught trying to escape from the jail by using the under-wire from her bra to open the bathroom window, her guards punish her by killing her cell-mate Ian. This is devastating to Olivia as well as gut-wrenching for viewers to watch. Olivia has a dream that she is rescued by Jake and shares a beautiful life with Fitz, but it is clearly a hallucination. She realizes there is no man to save her and she must save herself. Olivia manages to escape only to find she’s not out of the country at all. She’s in a staged area and her cell-mate is very much alive. He is the villain and tells her that this is just the beginning for her.
In scenes from the next episode, Olivia is shown in a video for the president that they must declare war or she’ll be killed.
TV Guide reports:
Though Andrew (Jon Tenney) and Liz (Portia de Rossi) are behind Liv’s abduction, the conspiracy will expand beyond their West Angola war scheme.
Olivia is eventually returned, though it may not happen in the first episode, so you can rest easy on that one. Her kidnapping is reported to actually unite the cast … even Fitz and Jake. Show creator Shonda Rhimes reveals a little bit about the beginning of the remaining episodes this season, telling the Hollywood Reporter:
The way we kick off the [mid]season is really exciting. It’s very shocking. I think it’s going to be very interesting for the audience. It’s not anything that you would expect from Scandal.
The first episode is called “Run” and the plot states: Olivia’s point of view reveals what happened when Jake left the room, and more details of her disappearance. The following episode is titled “Where’s the Black Lady?” and the synopsis reads: The members of the team come together, intent on doing whatever it takes to find Olivia and get her back home.
Scandal returns tonight on ABC at 9:00 p.m.
