ABC’s ‘Scandal’ season 4, episode 6 review: Can Olivia change Fitz’s mind about Jake?

Thursday night’s new episode of “Scandal” was entitled “An Innocent Man,” and there were many questions that came throughout. One of the biggest ones? Whether or not there was any way that Olivia Pope could save her boyfriend Jake Ballard from a terrible fate.

For most of the hour, Olivia did almost everything that she could, from gathering evidence to being resourceful to even at one point begging Fitz to look within his heart. The only thing that really caused the President to rethink his plans was Olivia telling him that the two could actually have hope for a future together … but not if he doomed Jake to die for a crime that he didn’t commit.

This episode was really just as important to Mellie as it was to Olivia, given that we would describe it as the moment she got her political groove back. Basically it took her taking a look at past First Ladies, and wondered whether or not she could bring more to the table than she has so far. We like confident Mellie more than mourning Mellie, mostly because there was nothing to mine from that version of the character anymore.

This episode was a whole pretty crazy, even though there was nothing in here that made us feel like any story is over yet. Mellie is just starting to find her voice, while Jake is sentenced to life in prison … for now. A showdown between Olivia and Rowan is coming, and since this is father and daughter, this could become very intriguing. Grade: B.

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