Scandal (TV Series)

It's Handled (2013)

Joe Morton: Rowan Pope

Photos 

Quotes 

• Rowan Pope : You've gotten yourself into a bit of trouble, Olivia, and I'm here to fix it.

  Olivia Pope : No.

  Rowan Pope : [speaking very rapidly]  Now listen to me. You raised your skirt and opened your knees and gave it away to a man with too much power. You're not rare. You're not special. Your story's no different than a thousand other stories in this town, so you know how this goes.You could call this in your sleep. First they'll smile, be warm, sympathetic, on your side, letting you know that they will fight for you. They will lull you into a false sense of security. And then, once your belly is exposed, They will GUT you and everyone you know. And they will be swift about it. And by the time you realize you should be fighting back, well, you're already bleeding to death. That is the presidency versus you. Whose victory do you think they will fight for? Whose body do you think they will bury? That is the presidency versus you.

  Olivia Pope : He would never

  [she's cut off] 

  Rowan Pope : [Mocking]  "He would never" You and I both know that he is not in charge. He is never in charge. POWER is in charge. Power got him elected. I know more than you could possibly imagine about things of which you cannot dream. He told you that you would be first lady, and you believed him! Did I not raise you for better? How many times have I told you 'You have to be' - what? You have to be - what?

  Olivia Pope : Twice...

  Rowan Pope : [shouting]  What?

  Olivia Pope : Twice as good.

  Rowan Pope : Twice as good as them to get half of what they have. Sleeping with that! For God sakes! You know to aim higher. At the very least, you could have aimed for chief of staff, secretary of state! First lady! Do you have to be so mediocre?

• Rowan Pope : Money is not a problem. There's always money. Money bought that plane. Money bought the silence of the gentleman who will fly that plane. It contains a passport, a Swiss bank book, a go-file, an entirely new identity. There is a very nice island waiting for you at the end of the flight. You will stay there for eight months. Then I can arrange a place for you in Brussels. Thailand, if you prefer, Johannesburg... anyplace but here, really, as long as you disappear.

  Olivia Pope : And what if I don't want to go?

  Rowan Pope : Olivia, you're getting on that plane come hell or high water. And to be clear, *I* am the hell and the high water.

• Rowan Pope : The White House *will* destroy you.

  Olivia Pope : That's what mom used to tell me about you.

• Rowan Pope : [scolding Olivia]  Sleeping with that for God's sake! You know to aim higher. At the very least, you could have aimed for Chief of Staff, Secretary of State! 3 lady! Do you have to be so mediocre?

• Rowan Pope : Twenty minutes without making a sound. If only you'd been this quiet as a child.

  Olivia Pope : Why did you try to have me killed?

  Rowan Pope : I didn't try to have you killed. I tried to have Jake Ballard killed.

• Rowan Pope : Jake Ballard refused an order.

  Olivia Pope : Where is he and what have you done with him?

  Rowan Pope : No one refuses an order in my business. Now you may choose to not understand that. You may choose to feel disgust at that. You may choose to pretend that what you do and how you live is not made possible by what *I* do and how *I* live. I do my job so that fatty can watch reality TV, eat fast food, stare at the Internet, screw their husbands or their battery-operated products, and never use their teeny, tiny brains to think about the freedoms that *I* make possible! Never think about the democracy that I make possible! They never think about it, so they sleep like babies at night. Get on the plane, Olivia, you're running out of options.

  Olivia Pope : I'm never out of options...

• [last lines] 

  Rowan Pope : When the Republic is in danger, there's no place for spite.

  Cyrus Beene : If you're talking about the president's affair with Olivia...

  Rowan Pope : This is bigger than that. What do you know about Operation Remington?

  Cyrus Beene : Only that it was a classified mission that Fitz flew with Jake Ballard in Iran, back when they were in the Navy. Most of it's redacted.

  Rowan Pope : This Is what really happened on that mission.

  Cyrus Beene : [opens and begins reading]  Oh, my God.