Scandal (season 5)

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Scandal (2012–2018) is an American television show, airing on ABC, about a former White House Communications Director who opens a crisis management firm and works to protect the secrets of the country's elite while simultaneously trying to fix her own.

Heavy Is The Head [5.01]

Sally: Tonight, my flag waves and my patriotic fires burn, because tonight, over in the White House, the man who calls himself our president is throwing a party. He's making a mockery of what our fine nation stands for. He has betrayed honor and virtue. And tonight, he celebrates that betrayal. Tonight, he bathes in his filthy glory. Tonight, he has the audacity to ask us patriots, Americans to join him in his jubilation, to skip with him down the road to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Princess Emily: For most of the world I’m not a real person anymore. I stopped being a real person for people the moment the world found out I was marrying Richard. To them, I'm not human. I'm just a spectacle.

Fitz: You have so many qualities I despise, but I do admire your brilliance. So do the math, Mel. Fighting this, fighting me, will mean both of us deploy every weapon in our arsenals. Every lie, every secret, every juror on that bus. Mutually assured destruction. We'll be ruined. Now me, I'm a war hero, governor, two-time President. My bucket list is done. You? Your biggest accomplishment so far is breathing and smiling.

Olivia: I want you. I want us. But I want to slow down. I want our business handled. I want our problems fixed. I want to be ready before the world is watching. Once we're in that spotlight, being picked at and scrubbed and stretched in every direction, we will never get the chance to make things right. If we are broken going in, we’re not getting out, not together. They will destroy us. That's reality, Fitz.

Yes [5.02]

Mellie: You placed Olivia in a dangerous position. You outed her. You thought by throwing me out of the White House and moving her in you'd be making this grand gesture. Finally she wouldn't be just a mistress anymore. But the minute she stepped foot through these doors, the minute she moved in here, she became what we all become when we live here and what is that? Yes, a statue. Inhuman. Discussed from every angle, viewed, exposed. She's not just a mistress now. She's America's mistress.

Jake: How does a guy facing a murder charge even get bail?

Quinn: By being rich and white.

Cyrus: Red, how does leadership come? Is it given to you? No. You want to lead, be the leader. Everyone else will automatically become the followers. You want POTUS to fall in line, to behave. Be the adult. He'll become the child. That's the secret of the Oval Office, Red. You want the power? You want to be the kingmaker? You want to be the hand that rules? You are the adult. He is the child.

Quinn: I dispose of bodies and I get turned on by crime scenes. Hacking is hot. I am not your all-American girl and I don't want to be.

Huck: You're not wrong...about me. Something's wrong with me.

Quinn: That's my point. Something's wrong with me too.

Huck: I missed you. I missed you a lot.

Fitz: It's me. I know you said not to call but I just wanted you to know...I get it. All this time I've been waiting to hear from you so you could tell me what you wanted, but it's what you don't want, isn't it? You don't want this. I'm going to deny Sally's story and bring Mellie back to the White House because I don't want you to throw away your whole life just for me. I love you too much for that.

Reporter: Olivia Pope, are you the President's mistress?

Olivia: [after a long pause] Yes.

Paris is Burning [5.03]

Mellie: I want to destroy Olivia Pope. I want her to suffer like I have suffered. I want to make them bleed. I want their every breath to reek of poison.

Cyrus: Mellie, this is a very important moment. Don't waste it being human. Your answer will define your future. Think like a champion. Think like a warrior.

Mellie: I want the Oval.

Jake: You know why you don't know about any plan? Because you are not a part of any plan. The plan already happened. The plan was Olivia Pope standing on that sidewalk and with one word obliterating any life she's ever known.

Dog-Whistle Politics [5.04]

Cyrus: They want to impeach a man for having an affair?

Mellie: They want to impeach a man for having an affair that everyone just shrugs about because a man having an affair is a daily occurrence. They want to impeach a man because all we ever hear is how women are controlled by their hormones but what is more hormonal than a man who can't keep it in his damn pants? They want to impeach a man because he broke his vows and disturbed the office of the Presidency and distracted the country with his libido and the only person who gets raked over the coals is the woman he screwed. That's why.

Quinn: You went off-script.

Marcus: This. Is. War. There is no script. You can choose the battle, but if you send me out, I'm fighting my way. I don't play. I don't hide. I don't hold back or look for exits... and I sure as hell don't lean on the ropes and take it. I swing because that's me. That's who I am. That is how I gladiate.

Fitz: It's Olivia's job as a fixer to be smart. To be practical and unemotional. She makes the the smart move. In her office, the smart move is the only move that counts, but you know what? We don't work for Liv. I'm president of the United States. We work for the American people. The playbook is the constitution. In my office, it's not about doing the smart thing. It's about doing the right thing.

You Got Served [5.05]

David: This isn't a normal trial, Mr. President. It's a political trial. Congress is prosecutor and judge and jury. They decide what an impeachable offense is, and they decide if you've committed one. If you survive these hearings, you're still president. If you don't, you're not. You need to talk to a lawyer.

Edison: If you want me to help you, you're gonna be honest with me. You're gonna admit to my face that you were never in love with me, that you never had any intention of marrying me, that you tried to make a fool of me for seeing you as exactly what you are. A criminal, a whore, an idiot, and a liar. You want me to lie? You owe me the truth.

Interviewer: And what about getting involved with the president in the first place? Do you regret that?

Olivia: I wish I never laid eyes on him.

Fitz: It's good to have you back, Cy.

Cyrus: I serve at the pleasure of the President. The honor is all mine.

Get Out of Jail, Free [5.06]

Abby: If you take the stand, you could end up going to jail.

Olivia: And if I get married? What in the hell do you think this is?

Fitz: You know how embarrassing that was? How awkward I felt asking my valets to scatter rose petals everywhere? Telling them to light all these damn candles? Can you honestly stand there and tell me that you think that I actually wanted to do this? Nobody wants to do this! No man ever wants to do this. Of course no man ever wants to do this.

Olivia: So why did you do it?

Fitz: Because I love you. Because you are what I want. But obviously, you don't feel the same.

Mellie: You are not my enemy. You are my freedom. You are my white knight. You are my challenger, my push to greatness, my savior. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. You are gonna make me President of the United States.

Even the Devil Deserves a Second Chance [5.07]

Jake: You just let a murderer out of prison, not for the good of the Republic, but because you wanted to. Because it personally served you and I don't see any impeachment hearings and I don't see a wedding ring on that finger. You are Rowan's greatest achievement. You have become exactly the woman he raised you to be. Power hungry, entitled, dangerous, and the beauty of it is you don't even know it.

Liz: This. This isn't you. You're a weasly little troll, and I don't like you, and I don't respect you, and I think you're pathetic.

David: Is there a point here, or...

Liz: But you believe in the law. I believe you believe in the law. And instead of following the law, you're just doing the bidding of that sweaty, red-faced monster who stole my job. That man is contemptible.

Olivia: Cyrus, Fitz and I together... we have an actual relationship. This is what a couple looks like.

Cyrus: You have the Oval. This is what power looks like. He's not the President anymore, Olivia. You are.

Rasputin [5.08]

Cyrus: We're living in a new world, Red. A world where Olivia Pope is judge, jury, and executioner. She has his world, our world hoisted on her shoulders. That is a fact. There's no changing it.

Rowan: As long as I am alive, I will do my best to make sure that you are protected, but in the event of my death I have already given you everything you need to survive. I hope you know. I did my best for you Olivia. I take tremendous pride in who you have become.

Olivia: I believe him. My gut says he is telling the truth.

Jake: Of course you do. Otherwise you'd just be a fool with daddy issues.

Baby, It's Cold Outside [5.09]

Marcus: Everybody loves a good holiday party, right? What'd you guys do last year?

Quinn: We passed around a bottle of vodka on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And then we went to work because that's what Gladiators do.

Marcus: Bah, humbug.

Huck: You took my family from me. But Javi's fine. He's a good kid. He'll be a good man. And by staying away, I've been a good father. But your daughter? You failed. The sad part is that you know it, and you're not doing anything about it. So, like I said, you are nobody's father. I know what you want. And knowing that you want to die? Oh, it's almost better than killing you.

Olivia: Wow. A liberal female democrat who thinks defending planned parenthood is a mockery?

Senator Moskowitz: Mellie Grant is political quicksand, and I refuse to go down with her.

Mellie: I can't do this. I just I can't. I don't even know why I'm doing this. I'm a republican. I just didn't like Gibson telling me what I can't do.

Olivia: You're the biggest bitch I know. Don't tell me you can't do this.

Fitz: I hate that you're always right.

Olivia: Me too.

Fitz: We tried.

Olivia: We did.

It's Hard Out Here for a General [5.10]

The Candidate [5.11]

Olivia: You were mean.

Mellie: Of course I was. You were my husband's mistress. Was I supposed to be friendly?

Olivia: You were really awful. I'm telling you, you were nasty, and I took it.

Mellie: Why? I wanted to fight and you never fought.

Olivia: I was your husband's mistress. I was in the wrong.

Mellie: Truth is, I was glad you were there. You were a good mistress. Probably a great one. You know what I mean?

Olivia: Well, I am an overachiever. Once I put my mind to something, I commit.

(Mellie and Olivia laugh, drunkenly.)

Mellie: It was working.

Olivia: I'm sorry?

Mellie: It was working. That's why I stayed. It was working. Fitz and I and you. It was working. You know what I mean?

Olivia: I'm not sure I do what you ...

Mellie: Hold on a minute. (takes a sip from her jar of booze) I used to wonder if it was all men or just Fitz that sucked the life out of you. Now, I think it's all the powerful men. They've been told their whole lives they deserve everything, that they should have everything, and it makes them so weak. They think that everything belongs to them by default, and if they don't get it, they just fall apart. Fitz didn't have any fight in him. He didn't know how to stand on his own two feet. I mean, I saw the potential. We all saw it. But I had to work at it. I held his hand, I fluffed, I bled, and I got nothing in return. Except for you. You showed up. I wasn't devastated, Olivia, or numb or empty. I was deserving. I deserved you. I was a 37-year-old governor's wife with two kids, and that was all. I was somebody's wife and somebody's mother. Not my own anything. I deserved you. I warranted you. I justified you. I had lost myself, and in return, I got you. You are my retribution. And it was humiliating. I couldn't even hate you. I couldn't even pretend to. I hated myself. But then I turned a corner. It was quick. Effortless, really. You had become the beautiful kept thing he lusted after. Where you went, he went. Which meant that I ... I suddenly had space. I had air of my own that I could breathe, time to think and plan, and I started liking myself again because I was alone and I was relieved. And I was free. Freedom, baby. I stayed because it was working. I stood by and I allowed the affair to continue because it was working for all of us. He was occupied, thanks to you. He was happy. You lit his fire. We made it all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And one day, it was gonna be my turn. Fitz would make me President of the United States because he owed me at least that much. And so I stayed. Because the three of us, ugh. We worked! So, what do you say, Olivia? That deep enough for you? Is that honest enough?

Olivia: Mellie, you can't actually write that anywhere. If you want to be President, you can never, ever tell anyone any of that.

Mellie: Oh yeah, I know. I know I can't. That's the problem.

Olivia: I was happy you were around, too. When I was with Fitz, I was happy you were around, too. With you around, I didn't have to ... I had an out. You--you were my out, Mellie. You kept him unavailable.

Mellie: Okay.

Olivia: And, so, I left for the same reason you stayed. Because I was scared.

Mellie: Okay.

Olivia: Mellie. That's what you write. You write that you were scared. You write that you never could have imagined standing up in front of the entire Senate for as long as you did, filibustering the hell out of that bill, protecting every woman's constitutional right to make her own decision about her own body because you never thought you would be able to do any of that on your own. You write that you didn't need Fitz. You didn't need some man to give you the power. You had the power the whole time. It just took you a little longer to realize. That is what you write.

(Olivia appears as if she's about to break down, crying. Mellie doesn't know what to do.)

Olivia: Get out your laptop. Start writing.

(after finishing their burger-and-fries meal at Gettysburger on a date)

Susan: That was ... incredible.

David: What do you think their secret sauce is made out of?

Susan: Crack. I think it's made out of crack.

David: You would be an amazing President.

Susan: David, do you know why I was chosen to be VP? It wasn't because I am amazing. It's because Mellie Grant lacks character. She was picking her competition for the next Republican Primary, and instead of having the guts to go toe-to-toe with a worthy warrior for a true battle, she turned coward. She picked me. She picked someone useless, unthreatening, unpolished, unelectable. She picked a bug she can crush in one blow. I don't stand a chance in a primary against Mellie, so why would I put myself, my daughter, through the agony of a campaign? Why would I uproot us for months on end--

(David kisses Susan.)

David: Don't you ever call yourself names in my presence again. You are not a bug. You are a warrior. You could win this. You could win, Susan. I really believe that.

Wild Card [5.12]

The Fish Rots from the Head [5.13]

I See You [5.14]

Pencil's Down [5.15]

The Miseducation of Susan Ross [5.16]

Susan: My husband, John, served in the U.S. Army. He was a lieutenant in the 116th Infantry Brigade. Served all over the world, including Afghanistan, where his platoon was tasked with the rather onerous job of patrolling a 20-mile stretch of desert along the Kandahar-Herat highway. He called me one night while he was over there, and when he told me what their assignment was, I said, "Well, what is it about this 20-mile stretch of desert that's so important to our country? Is it a village that needs protecting from the Taliban, a prison where we're holding terrorists?" "No," he says. "It's a pipeline." A pipeline that the Afghani government, in exchange for billions of dollars, was allowing American companies to build on its land. One of those companies – Doyle Energy.

Doyle: [laughs] Okay. This...

Susan: I'm talking now. Hearing my husband say that, it made my blood boil. Here he was, putting his life at risk so American businessmen could line their pockets. I wanted to say something, voice my rage, tell my husband to get the hell out of there... but I didn't. I bit my tongue because we are not our husbands' keepers. Fourteen hours later, a Taliban sniper put a bullet through my husband's neck, severed his carotid artery, killed him almost instantly. I didn't blame the shooter. I didn't even blame the government or the energy companies. I blamed myself. I had an opinion, and I didn't voice it. I kept my mouth shut, and I swore that day that I would never again be silent. I became a United States Senator, I became the Vice President of the United States of America, and I plan to become the President of the United States because, no, we are not our husbands' keepers, but maybe we should be America's. Next question.