Scott Foley & Joshua Malina talk Buckle Up in Folina: A Scandal Hangover Blog

Joshua Malina: Great, great episode, but I’ll just come out and say it. There was a big ol’ Jake- shaped hole right in the middle of it.

Scott Foley: Oh, Josh.

JM: And in my heart as well…. Anyhoo, I think I’m just going to free-form some things I liked about last night’s episode. Seems like that would be fun and not that taxing.

Here goes:

— Kate Burton saying “I’d just as soon be shot in the face with a cannon on my birthday than be lumped in with or tagged as some kind of a…feminist.” That was all kinds of yes.

— There were a lot of primo #AwkwardElevator moments. I enjoyed these.

— I particularly liked when Olivia shut the elevator door on Abby and said “She can take the STAIRS.” But I wish Abby had responded with “Well, I’m just going to wait for the next elevator, so suck it.”

— Marcus is the Mellie Whisperer.

— I was a little disappointed no one killed anyone else with furniture this episode.

— I look pretty good in a T-shirt.

SF: If you focus on the arms and not the belly.

JM: Well, yes. Obvs. Now list some things you liked.

SF: I thought that this episode was fantastic. Big props to the entire cast and to our lovely director/DP Oliver Bokelberg!

There were a bunch of great scenes:

—The Fitz/Mellie scene on the tarmac — terrific.

—The David/Susan scene. I knew you had it in you. And never doubted Artemis.

—The Liv/Huck scene. But maybe only because it was really all about Jake. And the performances. But Jake.

—The Abby/Fitz scene. Wow.

—And then David and Liz. Talk about trying to repair a relationship. Good move? We’ll see!

JM: Back to my list:

— I liked the scene when Mellie walks from her plane to Fitz’s. Bellamy did some very nice runway work there. Get it? “Runway work?” Because runway.

— I loved working with Annie Potts. She’s was a lot of fun.

— I look pretty good in a T-shirt.

SF: You said that already.

JM: Different T-shirt.

— A lot of people getting mad at people. These are my favorite kind of episodes.

— Tony looks cute when he wears his President Fitzgerald Members Only windbreaker.

— As you mentioned, Oliver Bokelberg directed this episode. Rehearsing the dinner scene, he said something about “everyone seethes,” but in his German-inflected accent, it sounded like “seeth-us.” So I said that a lot for the next 6 hours of filming and got some good laughs out of Kerry.

— I believe I was the only person really eating during that dinner scene. I did it because I was hungry and I’m a glutton. Altogether, I consumed about six and a half pounds of salmon. I was sweating salmon by the end of the night.

SF: You’re sweaty all of the time.

JM: You’re not wrong.

SF: It’s funny, since Jake first appeared on Scandal, this is the first episode that I haven’t been in. I kind of minded at the time, when I was told.

JM: You’re insane. I love getting paid to stay home.

SF: Well, I like to work. But after watching last night, I think this may be one of my favorite episodes. I really liked being somewhere new with the characters. I thought that the planes were a great place to shoot a majority of the show and getting to see a different slice of their lives was really interesting. There was a ton that happened (as always) in this episode, and I gotta say, it’s really good TV.

JM: So, you’re saying that you like the show we’re on. That’s a pretty bold stance you’re taking.