ABC’s ‘Scandal’ season 4, episode 9 review: Did Rowan die, did Olivia kill him; who was taken?

There is no doubt most of the time that “Scandal” is a pop-culture phenomenon at ABC. The ratings are typically extraordinary, and there are always things to talk about.

With this being said, it does not always mean that the show is particularly good. This series is very often flawed, with the writing sometimes veering into over-the-top territory just to draw those tweets online. It sometimes sacrifices characters development and replaces it with shock value.

Now that we’ve said all of that, “Were the Sun Don’t Shine” was awesome. by far, this was the best episode of the season, and anchored by incredible performances from Kerry Washington and Joe Morton as Olivia and Rowan Pope played cat-and-mouse. At one point, Olivia came one bullet away from killing her own father. If that gun was loaded, he would be gone.

After a conversation with her mother, Olivia clearly realized that she didn’t want to be like Rowan anymore, and this led to what we can describe as some sort of awkward break that included dancing, beer, and not allowing Jake to talk about her father. Rowan took off somewhere, and this brought us to the cliffhanger: Someone taking Olivia while Jake was preparing to have sex with her. (Who thought that we were going to see Jake killed instead?)

The other major highlight for us tonight was Cyrus’ press interview, which was mostly representative of how brilliant Jeff Perry is.

As we said, this is everything that “Scandal” fans could want, even though Huck’s story with the documents and Quinn’s current “adventures” were underused. January 29 now seems very far away. Grade: A-.

What was your take on the winter finale? Let us know some of your thoughts right now with a comment, and also be sure to head over here to preview what is next! Also, sign up to gather some further TV scoop on everything we cover courtesy of our official CarterMatt Newsletter! (Photo: ABC.)