Dee Davis on 'Scandal': No sympathy for the kinky

So last week left us with Huck making a seemingly impossible choice. One with the potential to have repercussions throughout the Washington we've come to know and love. Additionally, Olivia took the first steps toward returning to her life after the horror of her kidnapping. No matter how you look at it, though, nothing is ever going to be the same.

This week the featured guest star is Girls' Lena Dunham. Titled It's Good to Be Kink, I suspect Olivia will have her hands full dealing with a tell-all book about what goes on in D.C. And goodness knows there are a lot of stories in just the White House to tell. Olivia and Fitz, Mellie and the now-defunct VP, Michael and Cyrus, Abby and Leo and the list goes on ...

Just as a side note, how did I miss that Liz is played by Portia de Rossi? I knew I recognized the face, but just didn't put it together. Too busy being hacked off by her playing fast and loose with our peeps, I guess.

OK, well, right off the top we find out that Leo is most definitely in the book. He's the Dustbuster, and whatever that is it means that Abby can't face Olivia to talk about it. Seventeen chapters. Sixteen other men. And Olivia is on the job. Enter Lena Dunham. This is going to be fun.

Don't think it's going to be as easy to deal with as Olivia does. But now we're back with Huck who wants full immunity. And David is not happy with a bump in his plan. He's worried about the scary nutjobs out to get him, when sadly one of them is standing in front of him. Not a good scenario long term.

Definitely had Sue's number. Now she's asking for the big bucks. And although she was once an Olivia fan, she's not so impressed with the woman standing in front of her. I'm not so impressed with her hair (surely a wig?). We're supposed to believe she's the femme fatale behind the book? But then this is a show where you have to suspend your disbelief. So I'll go with the flow.

And drum roll, please … Mellie is running for senator of Virginia. Well, that should be interesting. Cut back to the gladiators and their post-the-pictures marathon. Land o' Kink seems to be Sue's place to hang on the Net. Now how to get our hands on the manuscript?

Fabulous setup for Sue. Charlie and kink go hand in hand. Could be a match made in, well, kinky heaven. OK, not so much. Charlie is too much, even for Sue. But Huck scanned the manuscript. Cut to Jake and Fitz talking about Olivia. The two of them have been watching her. Sort of an odd dichotomy having the two of them working together to protect her. The whole triad seems to have gotten uncomfortable in the aftermath.

Now everyone is reading the book. Looks to be a hot read. So now it's time to identify the other 16 men. Fifteen down — who is the doctor? "Chapter Seven, good stuff." Turns out the doctor is so-called because of his initials, DR. David Rosen. Seriously, David? Now he's not someone I expected to find in the book. So what now?

Then Liz and Cyrus are at the playground, with Cyrus pulling out the big guns. Cut to all the guys, sort of freaking out. But then that's what you get if you get your freak on with someone you don't know. A room full of men who think with their … well, you know. Leo is all for cutting to the chase and buying his way out of this. But David stands the moral high ground.

So Huck is pressing for his immunity still. But if the book comes out, David won't be able to get Huck out of a parking ticket. David: "There's no sympathy for the kinky, Huck, even for occasional dabblers like me." Huck is panicking. He wants his life back. He promised his wife. Huck wants to go home. And it's not about Liv to him. It's about him and his family. Huck tells Quinn to back off. Again, I 'm caught between wanting Liv and her group to be safe, and wanting Huck to find his way back home. It's lovely writing when you can root equally for people on both sides of an issue, see clearly why both of them should win the day.

Back to Leo and Abby. Leo is jealous because Abby has actually been with two of the men in the book. David and Leo. Go, Abby. Although now she's writing her resignation letter. Abby: "What happens to you, happens to me." Abby kicks ass at her job, but because she's a woman, they discuss everything about her. And because she's a woman, every time she's mentioned, they have to mention Leo to show that she is wanted by a man. Validation. A powerful speech about women in business, no matter how high up the power ladder they might be. I've really come to like Abby over the years. So I hate to see her lose her job over this.

Olivia is taking David's side. Extortion doesn't work. Sue said, "Anyway, it's all I've got." So maybe there's something with Sue they can use. I wondered about that. Cut to Abby confessing all to Cyrus, whose life is nothing to sneeze at in the crazy arena.

Back to Olivia, with another bottle of wine, sitting on the sofa next to the empty spot where the stained cushion used to be. She dives into Sue's manuscript. But an attempt to get out of her apartment and pick up a cute guy fails when she has issues in the bathroom complete with a flashback to her kidnapping. It's unclear to me here whether she was actually on the prowl or fantasizing because of the book.

Either way, Olivia still has a ways to go before she comes back. I think this is actually refreshingly real. So many times in television and in books, something traumatic happens to our hero and/or heroine and they spend a moment or two dealing with what happened and then move on with no further repercussions. Not true in reality. And although I wasn't a fan of the "buy Olivia" plotline, I do think that since we went that direction, it's valid to see her having so much trouble coping after the fact.

Back to Sue. Huck may have just found the leverage they need to stop her from publishing the book or, worse, holding the 17 guys hostage for their philandering. What she wants is control and revenge. When her wilder life became common knowledge at work, her boss wanted in on the action, and when Sue turned him down, he fired her. And then blackballed her in their industry.

She needs to take herself back a heck of a lot more than she needs blackmail money. And Olivia offers to help her get it done. Turns out, evil Sue wasn't so evil after all. She just needed a little help. From Olivia.

Cyrus, meanwhile, isn't with the program and makes a bid to save Abby by providing the money Sue had asked for. Not necessary, but a really nice move on Cyrus' part. And for once he and I are on the same page. Strange days … Mellie running for the senate. Fitz and Jake as drinking buddies.

Doesn't matter, though. Olivia is moving forward. All the other is in the rearview mirror. And Cyrus' true motive comes out: He wanted the book so that he'd have the number on all those powerful men. Olivia has had enough. And so she walks away. But for how long?

Liz comes to offer a mea culpa to Mellie. She wants to back Mellie and manage her campaign. The two of them together would be an estrogen power trip to beat the band. And she's considering the option.

Uh, oh. Sue is in big trouble. Double Stuff is about to get her. But, fortunately, Huck and Quinn are there—except, Huck turned into scary Huck and … OMG … Even Quinn if floored. Although she's all about the cleanup when push comes to shove. I'm thinking Huck's bid for normalcy isn't going to work out the way he hopes it will.

Olivia goes into high gear to find Sue's killer. But Quinn reminds her that justice comes at a cost to Abby — who is part of Olivia's family. Cut to Huck and David, who produces Huck's immunity agreement. David didn't do anything wrong, but he's feeling dirty. And feels partially to blame for Sue's death. Sitting there talking about her in front of the man who killed her. But Huck isn't listening — he's going home.

I think Jake was right when he said, "We are the bad guys."

The show ends with Leo and Abby heading for the kitchen and the butter (Chapter 5). And then Olivia locking the manuscript in her safe. We then cut to her again in the bar, and this time she and the cute guy, Russell, wind up in her apartment while Fitz and Jake drink in the Oval Office and talk about the fact that nothing is changing with her.

Either a) she has moved on at least temporarily or b) she's dreaming the whole thing and, Houston, we've got a problem. Only time will tell.

And just because it can't get any wilder, and because Olivia can't really walk away, next week, we're all invited to Cyrus' big fat gay Republican wedding. If it actually happens, that is.

I'll be here next week. Will you?

Dee Davis is the bestselling author of 22 novels and five novellas. When not glued to her television screen, she can be found pounding away at her keyboard, trying to put words to one of the stories running around in her head. Find her at www.deedavis.com.