Scandal Season 7 Episode 8: Robin Review

Dylan PhillipsJanuary 20, 201869410 min

If you would like to read my review of last week’s episode, click here.

Synopsis: On the midseason premiere, the fallout from Rowan’s desperate act affects all of Quinn’s loved ones, including a guilt-ridden Olivia. (TVGuide)

Writers: Juan Carlos Fernandez

Director: Daryn Okada

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 43 mins

“Robin”starts off with recapping us with the mid-season’s big cliffhanger: is Quinn Perkins alive? Within minutes we are shown Rowan burning a faceless body in the trunk of a car. The next day David Rosen informs the team that the body they found was Quinn’s and that the baby was lost as well. Mellie arrives and gives her sympathies, but not everyone at QPA is convinced it was really Quinn. And to be honest, neither am I.

Charlie decides he wants Quinn’s ashes put into bullet cases so they can give her a proper sendoff. While QPA seems skeptical, Olivia agrees to his wishes. With everyone focused on the funeral and dealing with the loss, Huck takes matters into his own hands and does his own investigation into Quinn’s kidnapping and death. He learns that Olivia was linked to it in some way and believes she is to blame for his friend’s death. He goes to Abby and then Fitz for help, but neither of them prove to be useful.

The team continues to struggle with losing Quinn: Abby breaks down in front of David Rosen and Olivia gets drunk and goes to the office. Huck arrives at the office and for an instant debates shooting Olivia right then and there with his assumptions of her involvement, but he decides not to because death would be too easy for her. As the team prepares for her funeral, they join together in packing her ashes into the bullets. If Huck or Charlie hasn’t taken one to save for a rainy day as a final victim for Quinn then this show isn’t being properly written. That is something each of these characters would do for her.

The team meets up in the woods and share their memories of Quinn as they shoot off their bullets in her honour. While some are very heartfelt, others seem disconnected and unsympathetic. They continue their remembrance by drinking in her memory. However, when they call Olivia to bring some more booze, she doesn’t answer and that causes Huck to become even more suspicious of his former boss. Turns out Olivia is over at Fitz’s where she breaks down and wants comfort from her former flame. This again.

Meanwhile the b- and c- plots of this episode are very minor. Rowan has gotten his bones back, which is a win for him, but no one really cares to see him at this point. And Fenton and Cyrus have broken up because Fenton discovered that Charlie was B613 and Cyrus used to work with him. Fenton calls Cyrus a bad guy, but Cyrus explains that everyone is bad to some extent.

The episode ends with Charlie being unable to go home prompting David and Abby to offer to clean up the apartment. While tearing things down they find a USB drive. Could this be Quinn’s drive from earlier? Meanwhile Charlie has no one else to turn to so he finds himself at Rowan’s door, begging for his old life back, but he hears the piercing cry of a baby from inside. He rushes in and finds a baby girl in a crib and instinctively grabs Rowan by the throat and demands some answers. WHAT.

Questions

  • Is Quinn really dead? My bet is no. She is not officially dead until she is not seen for the remainder of the season. The handling of her ‘death’ was a crime to the character. One of the most prominent characters cannot be killed off-screen and essentially forgotten. Nope.
  • Is Quinn working with Rowan? Could Quinn have faked her own death to get closer to Olivia without her knowing? The baby being at Rowan’s is the result of two things: She’s working with him and had the baby, or she died in labour and Rowan was left with it. Hopefully it is the former.
  • Will Fenton do something with his new information regarding Cyrus and B613 or will he prove to be a better man than Cyrus?
  • Will Huck confront Olivia with his suspicions?
  • Could Huck and Jake team up as they become increasingly skeptical of Olivia? Both have had issue with her, they just need to piece it together.
  • Will Abby and David stay together for the remainder of the season?

Overall, this was an okay episode. The show loves to constantly play on its back and forth between characters, but at this point it’s just overdone. Quinn’s death would be a travesty if she was actually killed with no final appearance like most prominent character deaths in the Shondaland universe. While it was a monologue-heavy episode, it does try to redeem and humanize a lot of these characters which hopefully sets up a much better back-end to this final season. Right now I’m cautiously optimistic.

Score: 5.5/10

What did you think of “Robin”? Do you believe Quinn is really dead? Let me know in the comments below!

If you liked this, check out my other reviews here and my website! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and like me on Facebook.

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