It's awesome that I only had to wait a few weeks from the end of Season 2 to jump into the premiere for Season 3. I don't think I would have been able to wait much longer, especially after the cliffhanger to end the season. I really like the idea of Joe Morton playing the role of Olivia's father and his scene with her at the start of the episode was ELECTRIC. The guy is a great actor and he's gonna get a lot of these types of scenes in Scandal.....until he's assassinated. Trust me, it's coming.

I was wonder who could have possibly been the one to leak Olivia's name to press as the "mistress" of POTUS. I did a face-palm when I realized that it wsa POTUS himself. Why didn't I see that coming? It was so damn obvious!! The cliffhanger for this episode has me very intriqued. What exactly did Cyrus read in that Top Secret file about POTUS and Jake's mission in the Navy? Stay tuned........

Another slamming good episode that revolves more or less around why Olivia and her father are at odds and why they haven't spoken in years. Even though I was expecting to see this episode pick up from the last episode and getting full disclosure on exactly what was and is in the Remington file, I was more than okay with them delaying it a bit and hearing more about their dynamic. It was also somewhat of a continuation of Huck's origin and how Olivia took on Huck as her special case. All said and done, she learns that her father was 'Commander' and runs the B613 Program and is the one responsible for kidnapping and torturing Huck. You can imagine Huck's reaction to the news finding out that Olivia knew all along. How's this going to affect their relationship now? Will he walk away? Disappear? Who knows. Another expertly written episode full of twist and turns.

What an exciting episode! The set up was great with regards to the mother hiring Olivia Pope and her team to look into the Son's murder only to find out that she has strapped on a Bomb Vest and stormed Capitol Hill, holding people hostage, threatening to get answers that have been denied her. Even I was unsure of her Son's ties to terrorism. The twist that finally give us was good. After seeing his recruitment video, I suspected that he was being forced at gunpoint to play the part of recruiter. But to find out that he was CIA and that the Feds that killed him was their f*ck up and their cover-up and why they kept silent (to protect the lives of others currently posing as terrorist) was something I didn't see coming.

What is tragic is that the mother can never know this and that she has to go on thinking that her only son is a terrorist and a traitor for the sake of the country. How horrible is that? Is it no wonder that she doesn't take this news well and decides to blow herself up? That is tragic. The other half of the episode involved Huck tracking down Eli Pope with the intent to kill him. Seems like Eli still has Huck under his thumb. The only way he can save himself is if Eli dies and clearly he can't pull the trigger. My money is on Olivia doing just that in order to save Huck and give him back his life once and for all.

A somewhat mediocre episode that was saved in the finale scene with POTUS barging into Eli Pope's office for their first face to face encounter. That's the cliffhanger and one I can't wait to see play out next week. But everything else in this episode was just okay. Always cool to see Melora Hardin in anything as well as Lisa Kudrow. I think the reason why this episode didn't do much for me is because it was ripped from the headlines using the whole Anthony Wiener scandal to flesh out it's plot. It's like the writers couldn't think of anything original to use and just decided to use something that happened a month back. Here's hoping that next week delivers in a big way.

Well, the "secret" has finally been uncovered by Huck and Jake about Fitz (POTUS). The big cover-up has to do with him shooting down a 747 with over 300 people on board and one of the passengers is Olivia Pope's own mother. Now it's just a question of who ordered Fitz to shoot down the plane on behalf of the US Government. Eli Pope? Or someone else? I like how Cyrus was able to suggest that the reason why JFK was assassinated had to do with him threatening to take away the funds for Eli's black ops project. It was subtle, but it does make you go 'ah'. Nice bit of writing. I like that Olivia was given the choice of two Presidential campaigns to run. My guess is that she ends up running Josie Marcus' (Lisa Kudrow) ticket, especially in light of the news about what Fitz may or may not have done regarding the 747.

Of course we don't get any chance about Fitz and his involvement with the Plane Crash and Olivia's mother. I really wasn't expecting anything, but it would have been nice to get something....a crumb if you will that would take us into next weeks episode. Am I the only one that doesn't even think that Olivia's mother is DOA? I think it the plane crash was used as a cover to hide her for some type of Black Ops. The entire family seems to run in the same circles so I don't think it's completely out of character that she is in fact working for the Government in a Classified Mission of some sort.

I liked the scenes with Lisa Kudrow, especially her on-air TV interview where the claws come out. No matter how hard she tries to come across, she will ALWAYS be Phoebe to me. There were moments where I saw the character coming out. Not a bad thing. I actually liked seeing Phoebe coming out. The scene with Jake and his informant was a scene taking directly from The Sting. Chick. Bag. Alleyway. Gun. Bullet. It was literally like watching The Sting.....also a good thing too.

I called it! Olivia's mother lives!! Normally I would say this was a big reveal, but I've suspected it for some time now. But what I really want to know is.....why. But this episode is really about Mellie and how she became the person she is now. Controlling. Manipulative. Cunning. I think the bigger reveal here was of course her being **** by Fitz father and then later on implying that she is pregnant, leading Fitz to believe he of course is the father. But the BIG part of the episode is Quinn being manipulated by Charlie into killing a Security Guard all for the sole purpose of blackmailing her into B-613, the same Organization that trained Huck, Jake and Charlie, run by Olivia's father Eli. You getting all this? Anyway, really curious to see how Quinn is going to get out of this one. My guess, Huck is gonna have to save the day. Good casting choice in bringing in Khandi Alexander to play Olivia's mother.