And you thought your last family gathering was awkward.
Things are about to get even more “twisty crazy,” as they say on ShondaLand’s “Scandal,” when Mellie’s (Bellamy Young) half-sister comes to town, bringing with her some extra-heavy family baggage packed with juicy untold secrets.
“Mellie’s half-sister will come for a visit and it will be Mellie’s personal apocalypse,” Young told TheWrap. “It’s really a bit of a bloodbath.”
Played by “True Blood’s” Lauren Bowles, Harmony’s presence wreaks havoc on Mellie’s plans to run for president and her arrival will likely reveal some surprising information about her sister’s past.
“Anyone who is clinging that desperately to protocol, propriety and appearances is hiding a lot,” Young said.
But perhaps the most shocking twist this week will come from Jake (Scott Foley), who will show his true colors, threatening anyone who tries to get in his way — including Olivia Pope — as he goes from the man of Pope’s dreams to her worst nightmare.
“When you’re living that far on the edge, like all B613 folks are, it is so difficult to know what’s real and what isn’t,” explained Young. “The slightest mistake is lethal. I like to think that our little Jake is just running for his life. The gun is really pointed toward him right now and he has no allies. It’s the thing you do when you’re desperate.”
The Oval Office is still a long way away for Mellie, who’s campaigning for the Virginia senate seat as a first step in that direction. But her stortyline has already drawn inevitable comparisons to a certain presidential hopeful and her ex-president husband.
“I see colors of Hillary,” said Young. “We’ve [also] explored a little Jackie O. moment and some Julia Grant … But I’d also include Michelle Obama in that category as well.”
Whether or not Mellie manages to transition from FLOTUS to POTUS remains to be seen, but Young’s storyline has already become a fan favorite thanks to her signature one-liners and sassy comebacks.
Young believes Mellie is simply coming into her own.
“I always like to say that we just met Mellie in the worst moment of her life,” Young said. “She was wearing all her ugly colors, her jealousy and her pettiness and her misery … and you know from your life and I know from mine that we can all be so ugly sometimes when we feel life isn’t going with us.”
Mellie’s storyline has taken an interesting turn this season. Her relationship with her husband is entering a new, calmer phase now that she’s come to terms with his love for Pope.
“Tony [Goldwyn] and I have loved getting to play this more nuanced relationship,” Young said. “It’s complicated in that long marriage way.”
But even though their marriage is not exactly the picture of romance, Young says there’s still a lot of love between the two.
“I think Mellie has tried to make sense of an expanded definition of marriage,” Young explained. “It’s been so deeply gratifying for Fitz and Mellie to be able to love each other in all those other ways that they do … but without commenting on that enormous slice of the pie that is not there, which is his true deep profound love for Olivia.
“Exploring the rest of the pie has been delicious!”
“Scandal” airs Thursday night at 9 p.m. on ABC.