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    51 Things To Remember From The "Scandal" Season Finale Before The Season Premiere

    The most fun show on television had a packed Season 2 finale in May. From Billy Chambers to the Mysterious Man, here's a cheat sheet before Season 3 premieres on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

    1. "Billy Chambers is the Mole????" -- Olivia Pope

    2. What the Gladiators don't know yet, though, is that David Rosen (Joshua Malina) is helping Billy.

    3. The cabal is meeting.

    4. ... Fitz walks in. "Sit down, Mellie."

    5. They meet.

    6. Mellie gets back to the business of storming out.

    7. Olitz!

    8. "Fix it," he tells her. "Handle it."

    9. What's Fitz doing?

    10. Jake and the Mysterious Man (Joe Morton) are meeting.

    11. Also mad: James (Dan Bucatinsky).

    12. Cyrus is livid with Sally Langston.

    13. Meanwhile...

    14. Huck tells Olivia that sometimes Quinn (Katie Lowes) reminds him of him.

    15. The Gladiators see Billy coming out of Reston's mansion.

    16. Cyrus meets with Mysterious Man, and is not happy about it.

    17. Olivia calls Cyrus.

    18. Cyrus has a heart attack instead.

    19. Cyrus calls from the ambulance. The president tells him and Olivia what Reston is doing.

    20. James visits Cyrus.

    21. The Gladiators think Billy has the Cytron card. But as we know, David does. Billy tries to convince him to give it over.

    David reminds Billy that he has killed people, and therefore maybe isn't the most trustworthy. "OK. I've got some blood on my hands," Billy says. "But I had good reasons." This part is good exposition for those of us who, four months later, couldn't remember exactly what the Mole had done. (Not mentioning any names; see byline above.) "I had to get rid of the CIA guy... And that Wendy girl... Same with Molly." Billy is psychotic, obviously. "They destroyed your life! She destroyed your life!" But David ends up agreeing enough to give Billy the card.

    22. Olivia meets with Reston to pretend that the president is considering the deal.

    23. Mellie comes to visit Cyrus while Fitz is there.

    She says that she and Fitz should leave together for a photo op. That's when Fitz lays out his plan: He and Mellie will separate, and she will launch a political career with his backing. A year into his second term, he will go on some dates with "well-educated, age-appropriate career women." Then it will leak that he and his old adviser and friend have begun to have feelings for each other. "America will love her. And, let's be honest: My relationship with Olivia is going to spark a real dialogue about race in this country. And it is going to blow the Republican Party wide open, and let some light and air into places that haven't seen change in far too long." He threatens to paint Mellie as a racist if she doesn't go along with it, or somehow leaks Olivia's name.

    24. Here's how it goes over.

    25. Olivia and Fitz talk on the phone. Just after they hang up, someone aggressively starts trying to get into Olivia's apartment.

    26. Jake appears behind Olivia. An assassin comes in, gun drawn. Jake shoots her.

    We saw this assassin wannabe earlier, when Jake met with Mysterious Man.

    27. Quinn and Huck are waiting for Billy at his apartment. He comes home.

    28. Jake has taken Olivia to her office.

    29. Echoing his moves from several episodes ago, Olivia tells Jake to close his eyes. And kisses him.

    30. Cyrus, who you may remember had a heart attack 10 minutes ago, shows up at Olivia's office saying he was worried about her.

    31. She is upset.

    32. Over at Billy's apartment, shit is getting real.

    Huck is going to torture Billy. Huck finds he can't torture Billy. Quinn tells him it's OK because she's going to do it. Huck is horrified. This thread is played for comedy in a way that is — troubling? Like, if Jack Bauer gleefully drills someone when 24 comes back, the New Yorker will probably write another zillion-word story about it. But Quinn's journey is obviously one we're meant to be worried by, so I'm sure this will be addressed down the line.

    33. Cyrus plays the sex tape for the president.

    34. Quinn has tortured the location of the Cytron card out of Billy.

    35. But the card is blank. It's fake.

    36. We flash back to David trying every possible combination for the safe.

    37. The president did not like seeing the sex tape.

    38. The cabal meets.

    39. But David is in Cyrus' office.

    40. Quinn excitedly retells the torture story to Huck, who was there.

    41. At a press conference, Fitz credits David with catching Billy.

    42. Sitting alone in her office, Olivia puts her white hat back on.

    43. Olivia, hatless, goes to the Oval Office.

    The president mentions Jake; she tells him that Cyrus told her about Verna. He says he was going to tell her he didn't care about Jake. "I'm guessing you don't feel the same way about murder." She says: "The things we've done to get you here — we went too far." She tells him that Defiance is in the past and he should "run clean" with Mellie. He tries to talk her out of it. "You are going to be my First Lady!"

    44. "They need me," Olivia says about her employees. "I'm their Gladiator."

    45. Fitz goes crawling, almost literally, back to Mellie.

    He puts his head in her lap, people. Even Mellie is surprised (but pleased). Fitz is such a confusing, fascinating character, right? He is weak most of the time, but then asserts himself once in awhile. He can be cruel, and obviously, he also has a murderous side. He doesn't seem to be a good president. He is the romantic lead of the show? It's a strange soup, Scandal!

    46. Olivia is feeling pretty damn good about herself.

    47. Poor Jake, on the other hand, is being thrown down a hole.

    48. As she heads out of her apartment building, Olivia is swarmed.

    49. The Mysterious Man is there, of course.

    50. "Dad?"

    51. The End

    Scandal Season 3 premieres Thursday, Oct. 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.