Scandal Season 3 Finale Trailer Teases A Tense And Dramatic Episode

Bringing Olivia Pope's parents into the mix certainly has caused some explosive drama. They're both ruthless people with their own motives and Olivia's caught in the middle. Spoilers if you aren't caught up through last night's episode! When "Flesh and Blood" was wrapping up, the latter part of that title became plentiful as Olivia was seen hovering over her brother's bleeding body. Rowan appears to be close to death, but not quite there yet so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out. The preview shows Olivia and her father at the hospital, so we'll have to wait and see if he pulls through this. In the meantime, "The Price of Free and Fair Elections" looks like it'll be a very intense hour of television.

Here's the official description for the episode:

“The Price of Free and Fair Elections” – Election Day has arrived and nothing is off limits as the candidates try to capture votes. Meanwhile, Olivia tries to understand Maya’s motives and Charlie makes a very surprising move, on the season finale of ABC’s “Scandal,” THURSDAY, APRIL 17 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

I realize there's a lot to obsess about right now, like the fact that Harrison's being held at gunpoint and Mellie's finally ready to learn who her son's father is. But let's talk about Cyrus because wow, he might be kind of a monster. I hate to even say that because there's a part of me that loves Cyrus, but if he's really going to sit on what he knows about the bomb and let innocent people in that church die just to take out Sally, I don't know if I'll ever look at him the same again.

Granted, there's roughly an hour on that clock, which is plenty of time for Cyrus to have a change of heart and call in a warning to evacuate the building. We don't really know if a lot of people were killed in that explosion, just that it happens. And the preview does show a quick glimpse of people running from the building. So I don't want to pre-judge him, but even the fact that he's considering just letting that bomb go off and letting all of those people die is unsettling.

In terms of the episode description, what's Charlie's "very surprising move" going to be? Does it involve Quinn and Huck? Because you know that's going to implode at some point.

As for Olivia trying to understand Maya's motives, I'm wondering if that relates to the condition she found her father in. If Maya wanted Rowan dead, wouldn't she have killed him? She doesn't strike me as the kind of woman to make a sloppy job of something so important. Was her presumed attack on Rowan just a distraction so she could not only make her exit but also do something later? Maya would know that Olivia would want to be at her father's side if he were injured, right? Is that the reason she hurt but didn't kill Rowan? Or is that motive-mention in the description referencing something else? We'll find out when Scandal Season 3 finale airs next week. Check out some photos from the episode in the gallery below!

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.