Did 'Scandal' really kill its sanest character last night?

A word of warning: This post is one giant spoiler, so if you didn’t watch last night’s episode of Scandal, get out of here while you still can.

If you’re all caught up, we have something major to discuss here. Was Jake, our beautiful hero, killed at the hands of another one of Rowan Pope’s henchmen? It sure seems likely, since Olivia’s new hook-up, Russell, stabbed Jake in the gut more than a couple times. The scenes from next week preview shows Jake’s body lying on the OPA conference room table, with a shaken Liv saying, “Jake is dead.”

Some more evidence pointing toward doom: Scott Foley himself seemed to take a virtual bow on Twitter’s stage, and also retweeted David Rosen player Josh Malina, who wrote, “It has been a real pleasure working with @scottkfoley.”

The fishy thing is… both Foley and Malina’s tweets are technically written in the present tense. And then, Foley retweeted this from a fan, who seemingly changed their username from “JAKE’S DEAD” to “NEVERMIND”:

There’s also the fact that on Scandal, we can never really be sure that someone’s dead. After Mama Pope’s resurrection, I’m ready to believe anyone could come back. And despite the number of B613 agents, present and former, we’ve seen get slaughtered, there are a certain few who are almost invincible: Huck, Quinn, Charlie, Rowan, and up ’til now, Jake. I just wouldn’t be surprised (crazy theory alert!) if he had some sort of life-preserving serum stitched to the inside of his stomach that slows death until you can get to a hospital, or something.

Either way, if Jake actually has died, it’s a real tragedy for the show. Not just for eye-candy purposes, but because for a long time now, Jake has proven himself to be the sanest person on Scandal.

Most of the time, when we’ve been led to believe that Jake is evil, it turns out he’s actually not. Take a few episodes ago, when it looked like he had killed all the B613 agents in the safe house; of course he actually hadn’t. When it seems like he’s stalking Olivia, he’s really just keeping an eye on her, with her permission. Because he is sane. He gave David Rosen all those B613 files long ago, so Rosen could get justice. Because he is sane. And despite how deeply he’s embedded into B613, Jake has always been ready to walk away whenever Liv says the word. Because he is sane.

Yes, he’s killed a lot of people in his day—including James—but Jake doesn’t seem to take pleasure in murder, unlike Huck, Quinn, and Charlie. He’s not stupefied by love, like Fitz and Olivia. He isn’t overcome with a desire for power, like Cyrus or Mellie. He isn’t evil incarnate, like Rowan or Maya Pope. The world of Scandal needs him, and we need him. So in conclusion: Jake, please don’t be dead.

What do you think—is Jake gone for real? Or are we wringing our hands over nothing?