ABC’s ‘Scandal’ season 6, episode 3 review: A powerful Jeff Perry showcase

Is Cyrus Beane on “Scandal” secretly a time-traveling Gob Bluth from the future? We wonder that, given how many times Cyrus could’ve stared right into the camera during this episode before saying “I’ve made a huge mistake.”

One of Cyrus’ biggest problems as a character is simply that he cannot get rid of Tom. Even when he tried to, he found a way to get back to him. Cyrus is so messed-up psychologically that he cannot allow himself normalcy or happiness. He always wants more, and with that, Tom came rolling back into his life and before he knew it, Tom found himself uttering that he wanted to be the President of the United States.

In flashbacks, what we had a chance to see was that he had at least conspired to do with Frankie Vargas as a result of his own thirst for power, his frustration, and also his fear that Vargas would do away with him the moment that he won. The problem was that he hacked off the plan, but Tom still looked as though he was going to move forward. In his own words, he was tired of being the “dog” that Cyrus could do whatever he wanted to in order to get his way. He turned Cyrus into a victim — or as close of a victim as Cyrus can ever be.

Here’s the hard part of following and rooting for Cyrus: He’s not a good person. As a matter of fact, he’s a TERRIBLE person who has murdered before. Yet, in this instance he couldn’t figure out a way to get everything that he wanted. He couldn’t handle the weight of what happened. It was Tom who went forward in confessing to the murder of Vargas, and Cyrus found himself without a future after accepting a deal that would put him in handcuffs — and in turn, this effectively gave Mellie the Presidency … For now. It’s certainly possible that Cyrus knows that he can get out of this even after being arrested, and he’s willing to take that chance.

Cheers for Jeff Perry – The biggest thing that we want to highlight in this review is the magnetic and fantastic performance of one Jeff Perry, who delivered the widest range of emotions possible in this hour. We saw him joyful, we saw him guilt-ridden, and we saw him upset and heartbroken. Perry knows this character inside and out, and he poured his heart into this episode and gave us a rise and fall of a man like no other.

Even on the other side of the horizon with this episode, though, it does still feel clear to us that Cyrus is going to continue to make his presence felt. He’s too influential a guy to live out his days either in hiding or behind bars. The one thing we know about him is that he’s a guy who always has another plan, so you cannot write him out as a power player just yet.

Maybe not everyone out there loved this episode, but we did. It gave you almost everything that you could want and then some. Grade: B+.

Next week – Get ready to some more Cyrus drama. You can see a further preview for what lies ahead just by heading over to the link here right now. (Photo: ABC.)