The May 2 episode of "Scandal," titled "A Woman Scorned," gave new meaning to the words "game-changer" -- not only did we witness Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) choosing his relationship with Olivia (Kerry Washington) over his marriage to Mellie (Bellamy Young), but in retaliation, Mellie went live on national television to reveal that her husband was having an affair.
So where do our troubled characters go from here? In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, creator Shonda Rhimes admitted, "Fitz's declaration also changed the fabric of the show as well. Everything is turned on its end at the end of Thursday's episode. And next week, nothing is the same."
Still, Olivia challenged Fitz to "earn" her in Thursday's episode, and his decision to sit and watch her watch him as the clock on Mellie's ultimatum ran out certainly seemed to put the dysfunctional couple back on the same page -- but can they maintain a relationship with the eyes of the world upon Fitz?
"Those two characters believe that they can actually be together," Rhimes told TVGuide.com. "Whether or not the forces around them are actually going to let that happen is an entirely different story. Whether Olivia's responsible fixer side is going to allow that to happen is an entirely different story."
Both characters have their share of dirty laundry, too; Fitz still hasn't told Olivia that he killed Verna (Debra Mooney) and Olivia's seemingly in no hurry to admit that she slept with Jake (Scott Foley), who is old friends with Fitz but also a part of the mysterious B-613 program that created killers like Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Charlie (George Newbern).
"Jake is a very is very interesting character who has some people rooting for him, some people think he's a good guy, some people think he's a bad guy, nobody knows for sure what's going on there," Rhimes told THR. "As we head into the finale, you're going to start to discover more of what that's about."
We'll also see genre favorite John Barrowman in the penultimate episode of the season (titled "Any Questions?"), and Rhimes told THR and TV Guide that he'll be playing a fellow fixer with "a very surprising client."
The identity of the mole is still in question, and Rhimes told THR that the cast was "freaking out" when they discovered the truth -- but there's more to that mystery than we might think: "It's not just who the mole is, it's who the mole is working with and what's going on there that's even bigger than just who the mole is. We're really proud of who the mole is, that's a pretty surprising twist but it's even bigger than that."
"Scandal" airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
