BWW Recap: I've Got a Golden Ticket in SCANDAL'S Tense Return

WHOA! If you were thinking we were going to ease slowly into the second part of this season, you were gravely mistaken. Shonda wasted absolutely NO time dealing with the kidnapping of Olivia Pope and finished out this grueling hour with shocking results. Make no mistake, SCANDAL has returned and it isn't white pants suits and red wine; it's horrifying.

I'm not one to applaud criminal minds, but as far as kidnapping plans? This one was pretty damn stellar. We pick up precisely at the moment we left off with Olivia being kidnapped last fall. First from Jake's perspective as he switched right into Command mode and chased after the car, memorized the license plate, checked out surveillance cameras and was on the case. But then we switched to Olivia's point of view, and that folks, is what my nightmares will be made of for the next few years. Instead of taking off right away with her, the masked kidnappers drag her into the apartment next door as they predict that Jake will take off running outside. As they hold her poor neighbor hostage and watch from the door and their own surveillance camera, their plan unfolds perfectly as Olivia watches Jake on the cameras helplessly. She's a smart cookie though and she drops her ring on her neighbors floor for some shred of hope.

The kidnappers remove her and the now lifeless neighbor in the same body bag as they disguise themselves as EMT's and escape in an ambulance. She wakes up in a prison cell in an unknown country with a fellow prisoner, Ian. As she plots her escape, she tells Ian that good old POTUS will be looking for her and not to worry. However, he should have worried as when she gets caught trying to escape, they kill Ian.

And just when the nightmare doesn't look it will end, her night in shining armor (or Kevlar) arrives. Jake has found her. She wakes up in a cozy home with Fitz and a happy life with Tom standing guard. But the pragmatic Abby snaps her out of her fantasy. And that's what it is, a fantasy. She's still in prison and realizes she has to rescue herself and not count on Fitz or Jake to come and save her. (#message) Her second escape attempt is more successful as she knocks the guard and comes face to face with another. All it takes is a little misogyny to get her to pull the trigger and the escape is complete. But she's not in a city, she's in a warehouse and her keeper? Oh, just IAN! Good Lord, I'm exhausted.

So Ian's main goal was to make her admit that the President would stop at nothing to find her which she admitted to him which means, he has his golden Ticket. She is a political prisoner and the American Government is at his mercy. Man, oh man, Fitz.

I will say, unbelievable performance by Kerry Washington. And kudos to new, creepy villain, Ian. You had me almost fooled. (Sorry, they used that trick once on ALIAS so I was suspicious.) And most of all, wonderful opening sequence having Scott Foley run through the streets in his underwear. It really added to the artistic element of the episode.

Will this also be enough to reunite the gladiators? Unite both sides of the political aisle or drive them further apart? We know that deep down this has something to do with the Vice President after last fall so how is he going to figure in to this whole plan? Or is he sharing a cell with my good buddy, Tom, right about now? Will David Rosen jump in to save the date or is he still reeling from the news of Abby and Leo? One thing's for sure, Huck is gonna be so pissed!

Is it just me or is Liv truly starting to resemble her Mom? Clearly we arenow in a situation that her father is probably the only one that can rescue her. Well isn't that quite the predicament. So, I need to go catch my breath and try very, very hard to sleep. I am going to triple lock my door and sleep under the covers. Thanks for that, Shonda.

Lines I Love:

• Creepy Kidnapper #1 - Ma'am? There are many other things scarier than death.

• Olivia - I'm Olivia Pope! It's funny because it's useless.

• Olivia - You're not supposed to be here. Dream Tom - You're not supposed to be here. I belong here. I'm protecting him... from you. You asked me to come, remember?

• Dream Abby - There is no man to rescue you. Do you hear me? No one. No one is going to help you. You are the only Gladiator in the place. You are all you've got. Rescue yourself.

• Creepy Kidnapper #1 - Nothing to be ashamed of, that's a man's tool you got there.

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Photo Credit: ABC

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