Just who exactly is Quinn Perkins?

That’s what we’re left to ponder over the summer, as we await the second season of Scandal. It’s not quite the cliffhanger ending I had anticipated the season was building to, and that’s what made it all the more satisfying.

Because, seriously. Who the hell is Quinn Perkins?

I have no theories. I am at a loss when it comes to any kind of theory as to who exactly Quinn Perkins could really be. Obviously she’s done something bad, something very, very bad in her past, but what could be so bad as to actually make it so that Olivia Pope feels the need to wipe a murder scene clean to help cover it up?

Like I said, I’m at a loss.

It was frustratingly fascinating to watch Olivia and her team wipe Gideon’s murder scene completely clean in order to protect Quinn. I found myself feeling incredibly sympathetic towards Quinn, wanting Olivia’s team to hurry up and help her, while realizing that the implications of doing so would end up being incredibly detrimental towards Billy ever being caught for his crime. And as much of a big deal they made about grabbing Gideon’s phone before the police showed up, I, too, couldn’t believe how incredibly stupid it was of Olivia’s team to forget to turn it off, though it became a mistake I was willing to overlook as it was (a) addressed through the dialogue of the District Attorney and (b) helped get us to that crucial final scene where we got thisclose to finding out who Quinn Perkins really is.

No, it wasn’t the fact that Olivia and her team forgot to turn off Gideon’s phone that had me bothered during Scandal‘s first season finale. In an episode that was so jam-packed and near-perfect in execution, one scene had me begging for a different outcome: the scene between Olivia and Billy in the bathroom, where Olivia confronts Billy about Gideon’s murder. Not only did Billy not even try to deny his crimes, he confessed to them all, and Olivia didn’t record it! That could have solved all sorts of problems, but, alas, no. No evidence still remains in Gideon’s murder case, though it would appear that something menacing is still heading Billy’s way.

In a surprising twist I’ll admit I didn’t see coming towards the end of the hour, we find that it was Cyrus who had Amanda Tanner killed, and not Billy Chambers. It was a dark turn for a character that was hard to pin down in the first place, and could lead his character in any number of directions in the season to follow. More pressing, however, is just who is going to figure this out, and when? And what will that mean for not only Cyrus, but for Fitz’s presidency?

Meanwhile, the First Lady reveals that she knew all along about the affair between Olivia and Fitz and couldn’t give two damns about it, because it kept Fitz focused and happy and her in the White House by his side. When news of the president’s sexual encounter with Amanda Tanner goes public, Millie takes charge of the entire situation after some initial hesitation by vowing to “take care” of “everything,” effectively casting Olivia out of the White House and promising the people of the United States another child from the President of the United States. There’s several different routes this could go, which begins at one extreme (wherein Millie gets pregnant with Fitz’s baby fairly quickly and gives birth, adding more complication to his already complicated relationship with Olivia) and ends at another (wherein Millie can’t get pregnant and fakes a miscarriage, thereby effectively earning the sympathy of the entire nation, a plan that would obviously end up getting revealed to the public at some point, leading to Olivia having to clean up the mess). My assumption is that it will land somewhere in between, with lots of complications and messes. And though it looked like Olivia had left the White House behind her for good, I think it’s safe to say that she’ll be drawn back into that world again soon enough, though just what draws her back in remains to be seen.

Thankfully, however, Mille wasn’t the only Grant to grow some balls in the finale, as Fitz also took a stand for himself by taking a turn to the dirty side to earn the support of his Vice President in order to discredit Billy Chambers’ story and earn back some trust with the people of the United States. The initial blow seemed to be lessened by the time the episode ended, though the long-term fallout from this incident (if any) remains to be seen. I know I am personally hoping to see Scandal run long enough to cover a Presidential election year, so that we can see Olivia and Fitz thrown back into that type of situation once more as they try to get him re-elected and watch it play out over multiple episodes.

I mean, overall, it was hard to not be satisfied with the season finale of Scandal. It did everything I want a season finale to do – it surprised me, it threw in a few twists, it had a great cliffhanger, and it made me want to keep coming back because I care about these characters and where their stories are heading. Though I had issues with one or two things that took place, I couldn’t help be fascinated by everything I was watching and was left clammoring for more by the time the episode came to end.

Because, I mean, seriously, who the hell is Quinn Perkins?

GRADE | A-

107 Grant: For the People