Vermont is For Lovers, Too

"Vermont is for Lovers, Too"
Scandal episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 8
Directed by	Ava DuVernay
Written by	Mark Wilding
Original air date	November 21, 2013
Guest actors
Khandi Alexander as Maya Lewis Joe Morton as Rowan "Eli" Pope Lisa Kudrow as Josie Marcus George Newbern as Charlie Dan Bucatinsky as James Novak

"Vermont is for Lovers, Too" is the eighth episode of the third season of Scandal. It premiered on November 21, 2013 in the U.S.

Plot

Rowan visits Maya's cell and informs her that since Olivia has been asking questions about her he is going to move her to a more remote location. She begs him to let her see her daughter before she's moved and he refuses her request. In her cell Maya chews through her wrists and lands in the medical ward, delaying her move. While she is recuperating Rowan brings her news articles highlighting Olivia's achievements. When Maya asks to see more personal photos she is horrified to discover that there are none and that Rowan claims to have grown apart from Olivia when she was 12.

Cyrus and Mellie hatch a plan to entrap Sally's husband in a sex-scandal using Cyrus's husband James as bait. Cyrus arranges an interview between Sally's husband Daniel and James and encourages James to dress casually and conduct the interview at Daniel's house. Mellie warns Cyrus that the affair could become real but Cyrus is confident that James will rebuff Daniel's advances. However when Daniel attempts to have sex with him James realizes that Cyrus set up the whole scenario and decides to have sex with him anyway. Cyrus is sent the pictures of James and Daniel having sex and realizes that Mellie's prediction came true.

Meanwhile the gladiators are split between trying to discover who killed the security guard in "Everything's Coming Up Mellie" and managing Josie Marcus's campaign. Huck and Jake try to uncover security footage of the night that the guard was killed while Quinn does everything in her power to try to sabotage them from finding out. However at night when she returns to her apartment she finds Huck lying in wait for her with his torture devices ready, wanting to know why she has been lying to everyone after seeing her kill the security guard in the surveillance footage.

During the night Fitz asks to see Olivia and brings her to a house in Vermont. After they argue he informs her that he built the house with her in mind for the future he wanted them to have together. They spend the night together and she asks him not to sell the house.

Josie's daughter's house has been broken into and a laptop containing campaign material has disappeared. The laptop is discovered at Governor Reston's campaign headquarters however material had been removed from it and it soon becomes clear that Candice planted the laptop in order to boost Josie's campaign. Olivia urges Josie to publicly fire Candice to make an example of her but instead she takes responsibility for Candice's actions and drops out of the race.

Going home at night Olivia hears someone calling her name and recognizes her mother, who managed to escape from B613 and has managed to find her.

Cultural references

The title references Virginia's tourism slogan Virginia is for Lovers.

Production

Director Ava DuVernay was announced as the director of the episode in July of 2013.^[1] The episode is also notable for being the first time that a black woman directed a television show starring a black woman that was also created by a black woman on one of the Big Three television networks.^[2]

References

Scandal

Creator: Shonda Rhimes

Inspiration

Judy Smith

Episodes

Season 1	"Sweet Baby" "Dirty Little Secrets" "Hell Hath No Fury" "Enemy of the State" "Crash and Burn" "The Trail" "Grant: For the People"

Season 2	"White Hat's Off" "The Other Woman" "Hunting Season" "Beltway Unbuckled" "All Roads Lead to Fitz" "Spies Like Us" "Defiance" "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" "Blown Away" "One for the Dog" "A Criminal, a Whore, an Idiot and a Liar" "Truth or Consequences" "Nobody Likes Babies" ”Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" "Boom Goes the Dynamite" ”Top of the Hour" ”Snake in the Garden" "Molly, You in Danger, Girl" "Seven Fifty-Two" "A Woman Scorned" "Any Questions?" "White Hat's Back On"

Season 3	"It's Handled" "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" "Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington" "Say Hello to My Little Friend" "More Cattle, Less Bull" "Icarus" "Everything's Coming Up Mellie" "Vermont is for Lovers, Too" "YOLO" "A Door Marked Exit" "Ride, Sally, Ride" "We Do Not Touch the First Ladies" "No Sun On the Horizon" "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" "Mama Said Knock You Out" "The Fluffer" "Flesh and Blood" "The Price of Free and Fair Election"

Season 4	"Randy, Red, Superfreak and Julia" "The State of the Union" "Inside the Bubble" "Like Father, Like Daughter" "The Key" "An Innocent Man" "Baby Made a Mess" "The Last Supper" "Where the Sun Don't Shine" "Run" "Where's the Black Lady?" "Gladiators Don't Run" "No More Blood" "The Lawn Chair" "The Testimony of Diego Muñoz" "It's Good to Be Kink" "Put a Ring on It" "Honor Thy Father" "I'm Just a Bill" "First Lady Sings the Blues" "A Few Good Women" "You Can't Take Command"

Characters