Put a Ring On It

Put a Ring on It

Air Date: March 26, 2015 — Writer: Chris Van Dusen — Director: Regina King
Previous Episode: "The Testimony of Diego Muñoz" — Next Episode: "Honor Thy Father"

Put a Ring on It is the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of Scandal, and is the sixty-fourth overall.

Plot

When Michael gets himself in a bad situation, the Gladiators launch into damage control and put pressure on Cyrus to move up the wedding. Meanwhile, David takes the first step in executing his plan to take down B613.

Recap

Michael, the man Cyrus agreed to marry to avoid a potential scandal, gets caught in several compromising positions with someone other than his faux-husband-to-be. Although this is written off as bachelor party hijinks, Olivia feels the best way to shut down all naysayers is to bump up the wedding. It’ll be hard to book a reception hall this late in the game. Perhaps getting hitched in a big white house will do instead. Flashbacks show Cyrus during a time in his life when he was running for a comptroller position. He impulsively proposes to his girlfriend, Janet. Cyrus is worried about being his true self due to the fact that so many people are dying. Jumping ahead to a time when Fitz won his first big election, Janet lets Cyrus know that she wants a divorce. They’ve been together 16 years and she doesn’t even know him. She does, however, know he’s gay.

In the present day, Olivia persuades Mellie into serving as host of the upcoming wedding. It’ll serve as a great way to get elected the next senator of Virginia. Unfortunately, Sally Langston decides to become a big old wedding party pooper. She offers $10,000 to anyone who can prove that Cyrus Beene’s upcoming nuptials is fraudulent. Safe to say that she won’t be invited to the wedding. When Elizabeth questions Mellie’s decision to host the wedding, the first lady promptly puts her campaign manager in her place. That’s “Mrs. Grant” to you, Lizzie Bear. In other news, Abby is unwittingly leaking information via Leo. She eventually figures this out. Abby and Olivia realize that a man is having an affair with Michael. The guy is booked to be on Sally’s TV show.

We see Cyrus recall his wedding day with James via more flashbacks. The two men have a heart-to-heart chat before the ceremony. The primary focus of the chat is how Cyrus would never ask him to compromise his principles. Cyrus isn’t the only one having flashbacks. Olivia is still having nightmares about her time in captivity. Olivia recalls a conversation she had with Fitz as to why she left the White House. It’s because he is the White House. Fitz shows Olivia the ring he believes he was supposed to give to her. He wants her to wear it so he knows that she’s out there…so he knows she’s okay. The ring even has a name that translates to “sweet baby.”

In the present day, Olivia searches through her apartment until she finds that same ring. A short time later, she’s in the Oval Office asking the president to help her with a bargaining chip regarding Sally Langston. Fitz obliges while noticing that Olivia is not wearing the ring he gave her all those years ago. Olivia offers Sally the position of Secretary of State. Fitz has already signed off on it. Sally isn’t interested. She’d much rather be on TV. The next best option is to throw Michael to the wolves by labeling him as a cheater. Cyrus has no problem with that until he sees how intolerant Michael’s parents are of who he is.

Cyrus recalls the time just before his honeymoon with James when he gave his husband the inside scoop on a story to help the White House. In the present day, Olivia realizes that there’s been a change of plans. She can see it on Cy’s face. They need another way to stop Sally. Olivia threatens to expose Sally’s own sham marriage if she goes through with her plan. That’ll work. Sally has been handled. The sham wedding is on! Michael is having a tough time with it. He’s been dreaming of his wedding day his entire life and it was nothing like this. Cyrus tries to cheer him up by telling him the brutal truth. After all, his other two marriages began with lies. The general theme of the talk, however, is that Michael is not alone.

As the ceremony kicks into gear, Cyrus recalls his other wedding days while his guests look on. Olivia is amongst those in the crowd. Fitz sees her across the way. She’s dressed in a very pretty outfit, but the thing he notices most is that special ring she now has on her finger.