ABC’s ‘Scandal’ season 5 finale review: Will Mellie’s running mate raise their hand?

At the end of this past episode of “Scandal,” Mellie Grant officially became the nominee. Tonight, what we saw was her picking one of the most unusual Vice-Presidential candidates possible.

The Senator opted to make none other than Jake Ballard her running mate, a major surprise mostly when you consider that it did not appear as though there was any way that was going to happen earlier on this season. If anything, he looked like he’d be the choice of either Edison or Vargas thanks to some string-pulling by Rowan. It still turns out that it was none other than Papa Pope who was behind this, as apparently this was his plan all along to get Jake on this particular ticket.

Creatively, we understand that this was a stunning twist, as is starting to make Olivia more and more like his infamous father Rowan. It makes a heck of a lot of sense given what we’ve come to know about the guy. However, at the same exact time we’re starting to get a little bit frustrated with the whole “Rowan understands all” storyline, as if he can manipulate everyone’s feelings and emotions always.

Somehow, Cyrus is now the running mate for Frankie Vargas, which is mostly fun for us because Cyrus is a great character who needed some sort of victory. He needed something, right?

Probably the most surprising moment of the episode, though, came when Fitz learned the truth about Olivia’s abortion, but surprisingly, he didn’t seem nearly as angry about it as you probably would have expected. Episode Grade: B-.

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