Scandal Season 3: A Look Back And What's Ahead

Scandal returns for Season 3 on Thursday night! It's been months since the series wrapped up its second season, so your memory may be a bit rusty as to what was going on with Olivia, Fitz and the gladiators when Scandal left off. We've put together this helpful guide to catch you up and take a look at what's ahead!

If you aren't caught up through Season 2 of the ABC series, consider yourself spoiler warned! And we'll start this off with a video of the final moments of the Season 2 finale:

Olivia's giant secret is out! Kind of. The Season 2 finale ended with Olivia heading off to a jog wearing some sexy-spacey fitted athletic wear and being bombarded by reporters asking her if she's sleeping with the President. Who let that cat out of the bag? That is the question, isn't it? But if the press is asking if Olivia is the President's mistress, it seems like there's a good chance this is just a big rumor with no concrete evidence. Yet. Olivia was whisked away by Rowan -- her father! So was Rowan trying to help his daughter by ordering Jake to get involved with her? It's very possible. But judging by this clip from the Season 3 premiere, it looks like Olivia doesn't want Daddy's help…

As for Jake, the last we saw of him, he was being tucked away into one of the B613 bunkers. Jakey, Jakey, what will become of you? We don't know, but Scott Foley's included in the rainy day cast photos (see gallery below) so we may be seeing him back soon enough.

And then there's Fitz and Cyrus. When Season 2 ended, Fitz was turning our stomachs by dropping to his knees and nuzzling Mellie's leg. Yuck! It's an indication that he's willing to literally crawl back to her and perhaps mend their damaged relationship, publicly if not completely. This came after Olivia chose her Gladiators over her pretty spectacular plan to take her place next to him in the White House. That plan included Fitz being single for a while, dating some appropriate women and then eventually publicly dating Olivia. Yeah, that's not happening now, and it probably never can now that people sort of know about them. So they need a new plan. This clip from the Season 3 premiere indicates that Olivia's on board with operation New-Plan...

Cyrus, meanwhile, was last seen destroying the Cytron card, which David Rosen managed to steal and then copy, giving the fake one to Billy Chambers - mole! - and trading the real one for a job as the U.S. District Attorney. Based on this clip, it looks like things with Cyrus and James (played by the Emmy winning James Bucatinsky) are in a good place.

And they're back to taking advantage of each others' jobs. Adorbs.

And then there are the Gladiators! All signs point to Abby having a really good hair-season this year. As exciting as that is, I'm really curious to see the direction Quinn's story will take. In the finale, she was eagerly helping Huck torture Billy Chambers, and enjoying it way too much. Huck's expressed some concern that there might be a Huck-side to Quinn. Will we see more of that this season? I kind of hope so, as it'd give Quinn some place to go now that her explosive past is pretty much wrapped up. And all the time she's been spending with Huck makes me kind of wonder if there's a chance those two might click romantically.

In terms of what's directly ahead, based on the episode descriptions for "It's Handled" (Ep 301) and "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" (Ep 302), the focus of the start of the season will be on the Olivia/Fitz scandal and Olivia's relationship with her father.

Obviously these two big cliffhangers need to be addressed and soon, so no complaints there. But if I'm wish-listing what I'd like to see going forward, it would be a break for Olivia and Fitz, as their best stuff comes after a lot of built-up tension. It's time to restart that motor. And in the meantime, I'd also like to see the gladiators back to handling actual cases. I love when they're running around dealing with emergencies and resourcefully fixing stuff. More of that please!

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