“Scandal” wrapped up their third season on April 17 with an explosive episode. With a bomb ticking … what happened?

Last week Cyrus decided to stall on telling Fitz about the bomb – something that Jake must have seen coming. Busting into Fitz’ office, he revealed the dire situation to the president and managed to get the building evacuated.

But with two bomb threats and two buildings being evacuated within days, Fitz is worried about another hoax. That doesn’t end up being an issue though, because within seconds of the cameras filming people running out, the church explodes.

Since Rowan was rushed to the hospital after getting stabbed by Mama Pope, Olivia watched the explosion from the waiting room. But with Fitz’ re-election at stake, she immediately rushed back to the White House to get Fitz into the briefing room.

Unfortunately for Olivia, Leo is one step ahead of her. Instead of letting Sally Langston get to safety, he roughs her up a bit and makes her head out into the disaster zone.

“You go in there and you be Jesus,” he tells her.

And Sally does just that. Ignoring the cameras, she begins treating the bomb victims – even asking the reporter trying to talk to her to help her apply some pressure.

The image of Sally in the middle of the rubble is so powerful that the TV stations only give Fitz half a screen … before dropping him completely. And when Sally gives a speech at the site, Olivia realizes that they are going to lose the election on Tuesday. But Cyrus tells her that they already lost the election.

Olivia breaks the news to Fitz that they are going to lose. But he doesn’t believe it, arguing that he’ll campaign hard the next few days. However Mellie believes it … and she’s pretty pissed. “I want a refund,” she says to Olivia. “Whatever your fee is … Why did we hire her? Because I thought we hired her to win?”

As Olivia takes a break to visit her father in the hospital, Harrison manages to convince Adnan not to kill him. Returning to the Pope & Associate’s office with Abby, the pair discovers a gruesome site – Huck and Quinn getting it on in their conference room.

With their relationship now in the public, Quinn ends things with Charlie. And Charlie surprisingly takes it very well. Packing his bags, he hands Quinn and envelope with information that he claims Huck has wanted. Quinn asks him why, and Charlie says it’s because he wants to destroy and hope of happiness between her and Huck.

Turns out that information is the location of Huck’s family. Quinn makes him meet her at the location, but Huck is anything but happy. Walking away, he tells Quinn to never talk to him again.

Meanwhile David is in a similar position with information he’s not sure how to use. Knowing that Cyrus did nothing about the bomb, he confronts Jake about what they’re going to do about it. And Jake says that they’re not going to do anything about it. Since B613 is closed down, he’s ready to sit in front of the TV and collect his unemployment checks.

Fitz is ready to relax as well. With the election blown, Fitz tells Olivia that they can now move to Vermont together and get married and have kids (specifically two). However something is eating away at Olivia – Mellie’s secret.

Olivia tells Fitz that Big Jerry raped Mellie while he was running for governor. And while Fitz initially thinks Mellie lied, he quickly realizes that it’s the truth – and he is destroyed.

Fitz immediately confronts Mellie, kissing her on the forehead and providing the comfort she needed so many years ago. “I took a paternity test,” she begins, revealing that Jerry Jr. is his. But Fitz tells her that it doesn’t matter and that he doesn’t care.

With Mellie’s secret in the open, the entire Grant family – including their kids – attend Fitz’s final campaign speech. But Olivia tells Fitz she can’t go. Before he goes on he calls Olivia to tell her that Vermont’s not happening. And Olivia understands.

As Fitz prepares to head on stage, Little Jerry tells him that he’s sorry he’s going to lose. And Fitz laughs. With his family behind him, Fitz prepares to go out with a bang. But no one expected what came next. Little Jerry began sneezing and choking – coughing up blood before collapsing on the floor.

The cameras film the distraught First Family as Fitz carries his son out to the car. And despite getting him to the hospital, Little Jerry passed away from bacterial meningitis.

Shocked at Little Jerry’s death, Olivia comes to the realization that Fitz will win the election now. “They lost their child,” she tells Cyrus. “America will rally behind them. A child is dead and that’s the first thing that popped into my head.”

Initially feeling bad for herself, Cyrus tells her something worse – that he was going to let the church blow up with everyone in it.

As the duo contemplate how they got to this place, Secret Service Agent Tom revealed to Fitz that Little Jerry didn’t just die from meningitis …he was murdered. Turns out a vial of a rare strain went missing at the CDC earlier that week.

Rowan leaves his hospital bed to tell Fitz that Maya Pope was responsible, and that he’s willing to serve her head on a platter for him. Fitz tells him to do it – and then breaks the news to Olivia that her mother murdered his son.

Olivia is devastated and decides to ask her dad if the offer for a plane and new life still stands. And it does. Packing her things, Olivia breaks the news to Abby and Huck. Needless to say they’re not happy. But one person is – Jake.

“Take me with you,” he begs Olivia. She tells him that she’s in love with someone else, but Jake argues that she can leave that behind too.

“You want to stand in the sun with me,” she says, seemingly amazed. But Jake corrects her. “I want us to stand in the sun together,” he tells her.

Meanwhile Rowan turns to Harrison for help in tracking down Maya Pope. Harrison refuses to talk because of Adnan, but when Rowan shows a photo of her body he decides to spill where Maya was meeting for her money.

Thanks to Harrison’s information Rowan is able to capture Maya, and calls Fitz to let him know that she’s dead. However Harrison realizes that something doesn’t add up. After learning that Rowan was reinstated as Command for B613, he calls him out for murdering Little Jerry.

And it turns out that Rowan truly was the mastermind. He promised Olivia that he wouldn’t hurt a hair on Fitz’ head, but he also wanted revenge. Since Fitz took his child, he took Fitz’s. With Secret Service Agent Tom still loyal to him, he had Tom prick Little Jerry with the bacteria before he got on stage with his dad.

But that’s not the only body on Rowan’s hands – he also killed Adnan in order to get Harrison to talk. And since Harrison now knows too much, the scene faded out with Tom holding up a gun to Harrison.

The Season 3 finale of “Scandal” concluded with Fitz having a meltdown after reports that he’s winning the election; Huck facing his ex-wife for the first time; Rowan looking in on Maya in “the hole;” and Olivia and Jake jetting off into the sunset.

What did you think of episode 18 of “Scandal”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

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