SCANDAL: GRANT: FOR THE PEOPLE {SEASON ONE FINALE} (TV)

Summary

One in this drama/political thriller about the Pope & Associates crisis management firm in Washington D.C.

Quinn returns to Gideon’s apartment to find him bleeding from the neck and gasping for air after being stabbed by Billy, the scissors still plunged into him. She panics and pulls the scissors out of him, trying desperately to stop the flow of blood. However, he dies before she can call for help. Billy enters the White House, disturbed by what he has done. Quinn contacts Olivia, who arrives at Gideon’s apartment to find her in a state of extreme panic. Olivia tells her not to call the police in order to protect her. Cyrus confronts President Grant over his visit to Olivia the previous night. They argue about the matter and about Cyrus’s efforts to get him elected as president, but are interrupted by a report on a standoff between ATF agents and an armed group of cultists in Georgia. Olivia summons the rest of her team to the apartment, where they debate on what course of action to take. Olivia cryptically says that “Quinn” is not her real name and that she is now their client, but refuses to elaborate on this. The team reluctantly agrees to help Quinn and completely clean the entire crime scene, even though this will mean that Gideon’s murder will likely never be solved. They set about cleaning up the blood and removing anything which could contain traces of Quinn’s DNA; Quinn is bewildered and frightened by everything around her but complies with Olivia and the others. Before they leave, Olivia anonymously reports a murder to the police and they recover Gideon’s cell phone from his pocket.

Back at their office, Olivia and the others compile what they know about Gideon and retrace his research about Amanda, discovering that he was looking into her “boyfriend.” Quinn wishes to help but Olivia orders her not to do anything. Billy hands Vice President Langston a letter, and she opens and reads it during a briefing on the situation in Georgia. Simultaneously, Billy interrupts a press conference on the matter to announce his immediate resignation, and he admits that he had an affair with Amanda. Quinn alerts Olivia and the others about the press conference as Billy goes on to claim that he discovered Amanda was pregnant with their child and he planned to propose to her but then discovered that the president was “taking sexual advantage of her.” He also claims to have an audio tape of Amanda and President Grant having sex. The rest of the White House soon learns about this occurrence and Cyrus has Billy removed immediately. Mellie demands that President Grant go out and deny Billy’s accusations, but he feels he cannot do so as that would be dishonest. Olivia is called in to the White House to help deal with the situation. She, Cyrus, and dozens of White House staffers work to try to quell the media attention around the issue until President Grant enters and meets with Olivia and Cyrus in private. She recommends that he go to Georgia to deal with the cult situation, using it as a distraction until they can formulate a plan to deal with Billy’s accusations.

President Grant confers with Vice President Langston over the matter, and she claims to have been completely blindsided by Billy’s announcement, and that she will continue to work with him as long as he is still president. Harrison, Huck, and Stephen determine that if they can get Billy blamed for Amanda’s death his statements will lose credibility. Abby joins them, expressing doubts about their actions and the mysterious nature of Quinn. David suddenly arrives and accuses them of tampering with a crime scene. He also reveals that a witness places Quinn at Gideon’s apartment the night of his murder, and that he realizes that they stole Gideon’s phone. He confiscates the phone and asks for Quinn, who reveals herself. Before she can say anything, Harrison steps up as her lawyer and says he will advocate on her behalf. Olivia finds Billy in a bathroom and he admits to being a murderer. He claims that he will be “judged” for his actions, but believes that the president should also suffer for abuse of his power. He believes that Langston should be president, and believes that this outcome is ideal even if he ends up in prison.

David attempts to interrogate Quinn, but Harrison advises her not to speak. Olivia arrives and explains what she has learned about Billy, Amanda, and the nature of their affair, her murder, and the subsequent cover-up, as well as her suspicions that Billy murdered Gideon. David surprisingly believes everything and Olivia demands that he do everything in his power to get Billy arrested for his crimes. However, David refuses, believing that the law is inviolate no matter the circumstances and that he has no evidence with which to use against Billy. He sends her out of his office and asks that Quinn remain behind as a material witness to a murder. During another meeting with President Grant and Cyrus, Olivia proposes that she hold a press conference and announce that it is her on the audio tape and not Amanda, thus absolving President Grant of any connection to her apparent suicide. President Grant sees resignation as the only viable alternative, reasoning that the effects of the scandal would undermine all of his political credibility. Cyrus, flabbergasted at this suggestion, storms out of the Oval Office. President Grant implies to Olivia that if he resigns he would be able to divorce Mellie and be able to publicly pursue a relationship with her. They share an embrace with each other. She exits and finds Cyrus in the halls, lamenting that President Grant’s desire to live a “normal life” would be a waste of his leadership talents.

Stephen speaks to Olivia in her office, confessing that he has been cheating on Georgia and that he is afraid she will break off their engagement. He advises her that no matter what happens, she won’t be able to be with President Grant. She replies simply that “normal is overrated” and sends her staff to try to arrange a private meeting with Vice President Langston. Huck offers to kill Billy for her, but she refuses this request and makes him promise not to kill him. Olivia visits with Mellie as she prepares to leave with her children to her summer house, and she tries to convince her to stay by President Grant’s side and prevent him from resigning. Mellie expresses frustration at the sacrifices she’s had to make for him, and accuses Olivia of causing President Grant to sleep with Amanda by leaving his team. She sits down to work out some sort of deal with Olivia. Huck tracks down Charlie again and warns that Billy, Charlie’s employer, may end up betraying him in the end. He has Charlie kill Billy, thus circumventing his promise to Olivia, and instructs him to make it appear to be a suicide. David gives Quinn some dinner and says that he no longer needs to question her, since Olivia told him everything. However, he does not know why Quinn didn’t contact the police when she found Gideon’s body and why she and her team cleaned up the crime scene; he reveals that he could easily run her fingerprints from the fork she used to eat her dinner and asks for her cooperation.

Mellie and Olivia confront President Grant and explain that they have worked out a deal and devised a means of deflecting the press’s attention. Their plan is to claim in a news interview that it is Mellie’s voice on the audio tape, and that the audio footage was illegally leaked. Mellie also will claim to be pregnant in order to drum up additional sympathy, and advises President Grant that she will need to be impregnated for real in short order. President Grant is taken aback by this plan but Olivia insists that it is the only logical recourse. They conduct the interview and it seems to go over well. Later, Vice President Langston meets with President Grant in the Oval Office, and she expresses doubts that the interview will be sufficient to fully sway the American people’s opinions. He asks for her support via a press conference where she will denounce Billy for his actions. However, she is unwilling to betray her moral and religious beliefs on his behalf. In order to change her mind he presents her with evidence that her teenage daughter underwent an abortion recently, leaving her at a loss for words. She accedes to his demands and holds the press conference the next morning. Charlie gets on an elevator with him and assassinates him. Charlie then visits Cyrus that Sunday morning in his rose garden, telling him he is leaving town. Their conversation reveals that it was Cyrus who hired Charlie to murder Amanda, and not Billy. David arrives at Olivia’s office with Quinn in tow, and he says that he has determined her true identity. He notes that he is violating the law by bringing her back there, and implies that her presence is somehow extremely dangerous. Olivia believes that the time has come to reveal who Quinn actually is. Includes commercials.

Details

• NETWORK: ABC
• DATE: May 17, 2012 10:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:57:48
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: 108320
• GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
• SUBJECT HEADING: LGBT Collection - Drama; African-American Collection - Drama; Drama, mystery/suspense; Politics
• SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2012-2018
• COMMERCIALS:
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CREDITS

• Mark Wilding … Executive Producer
• Betsy Beers … Executive Producer
• Shonda Rhimes … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
• Jenna Bans … Co-Executive Producer
• Judy Smith … Co-Executive Producer
• Roxann Dawson … Supervising Producer, Director
• Scott Collins … Producer
• Merri D. Howard … Producer
• Heather Mitchell … Co-Producer
• Chris Van Dusen … Co-Producer
• Chad Fischer … Music by
• Kerry Washington … Cast, Olivia Pope
• Henry Ian Cusick … Cast, Stephen Finch
• Columbus Short … Cast, Harrison Wright
• Darby Stanchfield … Cast, Abby Wright
• Katie Lowes … Cast, Quinn Whelan
• Guillermo Diaz … Cast, Huck
• Jeff Perry … Cast, Cyrus Beene
• Tony Goldwyn … Cast, President Fitzgerald Grant III
• Kate Burton … Cast, Vice President Sally Langston
• Joshua Malina … Cast, David Rosen
• Bellamy Young … Cast, Mellie Grant
• Matt Letscher … Cast, Billy Chambers
• George Newbern … Cast, Charlie
• Dan Bucatinsky … Cast, James Novak
• Brendan Hines … Cast, Gideon Wallace
• Mark Harelik … Cast, Marvin Colgate
• Shannon Cochran … Cast, Susan Sawyer
• Troy Winbush … Cast, Morris Elcott
• Brian Letscher … Cast, Tom Larsen
• Stefanie Black … Cast, Rosalie
• Kerry Carney … Cast, Julie
• Avis Wrentmore … Cast, News Anchor
• Reece Rios … Cast, Reporter #1
• Jay Krich … Cast, Reporter #2
• Ingrid Walters … Cast, Reporter #3
• Michael James Thompson … Cast, Reporter #4
• Lonnie Colón … Cast, Reporter #5
• Meghan Maureen McDonough … Cast, Reporter #6
• Kinga Phillips … Cast, Morning News Anchor
• Dinora Walcott … Cast, Georgia Reporter #1
• Jason Boegh … Cast, Georgia Reporter #2