Scandal pushed its audience to the limits emotionally after a jam-packed episode of revelations last week. Turns out poor Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) may have to encounter one thing she really can’t handle: the truth about her mother. As it stands, the unsinkable Olivia Pope has found herself at quite a crossroads. Turns out her mother’s death didn’t go quite the way she thought. Instead it was her evil father Rowan Pope (Joe Morton), master manipulator/head of B-613, who called for the civilian plane momma Pope was on to be shot down. Oh, and it was seemingly her Presidential boyfriend/soulmate/holder of charged stares Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) who shot the plane down. But this is Scandal we’re talking about — mothership of all the twists and turns — so we’ve decided to take matters into our own hands and drum up a few explanatory, revelatory theories of our own.
A quick refresher for those playing at home: Fitz was listed as the pilot on Operation Remington — this seemingly covert mission in Iran that somehow involved Jake Ballard (Scott Foley). Huck, however, has put together some puzzle pieces and deduced that POTUS was actually part of another mission in Iceland to take down a civilian airliner carrying more than 300 passengers, including Momma Pope.
Certainly not the best news to get when you’re trying to figure out whose side you’re supposed to be on — especially when it shatters your entire world and the preconceived notions you might have about your parents.
But in the house that Shonda Rhimes built, there are always twists, turns, and fake-outs punching their way through every episode. Making sure that what you thought to be true back then was actually just a ruse. Meaning: just because Huck said it, doesn’t mean it’s true. So it got us thinking: with such a huge reveal, is there a possibility that maybe — just maybe — the mysterious case of Maya Pope née Lewis has yet to fully reveal its cards? Of course it does — this is Scandal. Which means a whole lot of hypothetical situations are about to be unfurled. And we’ve got some thoughts on the likely culprits in the Curious Case of Maya Lewis. You’ve got some explainin’ to do, Ms. Rhimes.
However, we know that you’re a busy woman — showrunning all over the place — so we’ve decided to speculate for you. And considering the fact that not much is known about the lady of House Pope, there’s plenty of hypotheticals to go around.
Olivia’s Mom Was a Terrorist - You know what they say, don’t you? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? What if that’s exactly what Rowan was doing: marrying Maya because she was some sort of lynchpin in a much larger terror scheme? That would certainly be, well… you know.
Olivia’s Mom Was a Spy - Now wouldn’t that be a starcrossed lovers story for the (modern) ages? Two spies from different countries find love in each other, and just try to make it work in this wacky world of double-crossing. It would certainly give Rowan a softer side to him than what we’ve seen, even if he is still the man that ordered his wife’s plane be shot out of the sky.
Fitzgerald Grant Didn’t Shoot the Plane Down - Sure, it does seem that there’s no other alternative here, what with the missing flight plans and the missing mission on Fitz’s record, but still! There’s still a chance that maybe even that was a cover story, too. Because look at Fitz — our bumbling, overly emotional and sentimental Republican President — does he look like someone who would knowingly shoot down a civilian plane? Not really, though we don’t count him out on that front either, considering how things ended with Verna Thornton last season.
Olivia’s Mom is Actually Alive - Oh this would be the best surprise, wouldn’t it? Imagine if after all that, Maya was actually the one who had the leg up on Rowan? Maybe she knew that this would happen. Maybe she spied right back on Rowan and knew that when she watched the plane go down she realized her romance with him could never last, forcing her to run? A double-crossed starcross! Sounds right up Rhimes’ alley.
Operation Remington Is Something Else Entirely - As it currently stands, it might be easy to assume that Operation Remington was simply the act of shooting this civilian plane out of the sky that was covered up by something else in Iran. However it seems as though this was — at best — just one part of a much larger plan. In the teaser for Thursday night’s episode, Fitz clearly states that they’re covering up a secret that no one is looking for. So what happened?
Clearly, there are going to be far more questions than answers revealed in tonight’s episode of Scandal. And if Tony Goldwyn is to be believed, the plane in Iceland sounds like the tip of the iceberg here. That is if you’re to take into consideration what the actor said in an interview with TV Guide. Apparently, if the public found out about Remington, it “would be insane! I can't even imagine. Snowden times a thousand!” And shooting a civilian plane out of the sky — though very, very bad — doesn’t seem to quite match the levels of intensity that fueled the Edward Snowden fire. Clearly, there’s a lot more to Remington where all this is concerned. Thankfully, Scandal airs tonight (Thursday) at 10PM on ABC.
