'Scandal' recap ('No More Blood'): season 4, episode 13

It took the "Scandal" writers some mighty big stretches in character behavior and a Hail Mary Gladiator from the past to save Liv.

After some strong episodes, this one felt like a ragged effort to tie some loose plot lines up in a contorted bow.

Let's quickly review:

Liv's knowledge of Farsi comes to good use: How convenient. As Liv is handed off to the Iranians after the idiot kidnapper sells her to them, she double plays both sides by somehow convincing each player the other was going to renege. So they both back off. The auction is back on.

Abby suddenly becomes "The Mentalist" and Cyrus plays kingmaker:

Cyrus is siding with the CIA, believing they need to "neutralize the asset" (Liv) vs. "extract" her. He believes enemies could learn state secrets that would damage the U.S so badly from Liv, it was not worth the 30 percent chance they could actually rescue her. Fitz, of course, thinks 30 percent is good enough. Cyrus betrays Fitz by going behind his back, working in cahoots with the CIA to kill Liv. "The fate of our nation is more important," Cyrus says.

A conveniently suspicious Abby tries to extract info from Cyrus, who keeps citing her lack of security clearance. Yet she figures out he's planning to kill Liz with the CIA by "reading" Cyrus and his interactions with the CIA in the White House hallway. She is so convinced, she tells the Gladiators. When she hears the bidding is back on, she uses a convenient contact in Russia who has ties with bad guys to get in on the auction and "win." (Actually, it's a tie but Liv suddenly becomes stupid and gives away that she'd prefer to be part of the Gladiators bid, using Liv's mom's alias.)

It's unclear to me how the kidnappers know for sure these people have the money they say. We're talking $2 billion. But that isn't explained.

Instead, we get the big reveal: season one Gladiator Stephen Finch is the winning bidder. Just as the CIA is about to kill Liv, Cyrus' super conveniently sharp eyes figure out the "Russian" is someone he knows and he nixes the bomb dropping. Finch happens to be working with some bad Russians - or something like that. I didn't quite get his connections. But what's important is he cruises in and saves Liv. He thanks her later for "saving me." As Abby tells Cyrus, "Once a Gladiator, always a Gladiator."

Voila! Liv is safe and sound.

A tie??? By the way, when does bidding end in a tie? Ebay doesn't even allow that! How could this particular auction site do that? Are the writers that desperate to create artificial "suspense"?

Mellie takes down Andrew with an assist from Huck: Mellie, wanting to ensure a clear path to the presidency, hands Andrew his papers that clear him of all crimes. She mocks him by saying he will never become president and has been more or less a failure to date. She warns him to steer clear of her efforts to fly high herself. He says he could open his mouth to a reporter and mention their wonderful affair and she would never become president.

She uses Lizzie Bear to ensure Andrew is "neutralized" in his own way. Lizzie goes to her torturer of choice Huck, the guy who turned her back into the surface of Mars. Huck had just promised Quinn he would not kill anybody as long as Liz was not in the picture. So he helps out Lizzie Bear by stripping Andrew down, wrapping  him partially in cellophane and inducing a stroke via some convenient meds he has on hand. (He's Huck. He has an entire Home Depot full of torturing/killing tools.)

Mellie wins this round. Andrew is now a peeved-looking semi-vegetable and presumably out of the "Scandal" picture.

Daddy Dearest doesn't: We haven't seen Rowan in awhile. Liv's dad left the scene many moons ago, disgusted by all that was going on before him. He laughs when Jake asks for his help to find Liv. He's at a lake fishing. He says he prefers fishing because fish can't disappoint him the way humans do. "I can be hopeful even in failure," he says, referencing fishing. And besides, he no longer has a daughter. She's betrayed him. Why does he need that aggravation?

Fitz screws up again: Fitz is in the dark about Cyrus and the CIA. Abby decides not to tell him either. He is a side player in this episodes machinations but once finds out Liv is safe, he comes over to her apartment to make sure she's okay. She is not glad to see him. And she is not okay. She is upset that he was willing to save her for a pointless war. "You didn't save me!" she sneers. "I'm on my own!"

QUOTES

"You may be Liv's puppy but I'm kind of yours." - Quinn to Huck, before he promises not to kill anymore if Liv dies.

"You've always been the other guy, the also ran, what's his name. We both know they call it a race and there's a winner. It's never you. It haunts you. This whole kidnapping nonsense. You want power. You want respect. But it's over. This is it. This is as high as you fly. Fly any higher and you get shot down. For you, that's worse than prison." - Mellie to Andrew.

"Any time I like, I can whisper in a reporter's ear., tell them how rough you like it, what filthy names you like, how loud you moan. I'll never be president of the United States but I damn well will make sure you aren't either." - Andrew, back to Mellie. We know who wins this battle.

"I wasn't raped. Guess what I learned. There are worse things than rape." - Liv to Fitz

"I have been riding and dying for you. I fixed an election, I sacrificed to keep you in office. Cyrus, James, Jerry, Harrison, Mellie. Every one of us. I was your mistress... If you gave up, it'd be a waste. I sacrificed to get you here, to stay here, to be the best, so you can make history and be the president you were meant to be... When the true test came along, when I was taken, because of you, you go to war. You sent thousands of innocent soldiers in harm's way, some to their death, for one person." - more Liv to Fitz.