Source: Lesley Goldberg/The Hollywood Reporter
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Thursday's "YOLO" episode of ABC's Scandal.]
Will “Huckelberry Quinn” ever be the same again?
During “YOLO” — the penultimate Scandal episode of 2013 — Quinn (Katie Lowes) learned first-hand what it means to be on Huck’s (Guillermo Diaz) bad side.
The upstart Gladiator with a penchant for drills betrayed Olivia Pope & Associates and wound up naked and bound with duct tape in her apartment as Huck tortured his former apprentice by pulling out a few of her teeth. And it would have been more had Olivia (Kerry Washington) not interrupted the process with news that her mother, Maya (Khandi Alexander) was alive.
Meanwhile, after Jake’s (Scott Foley) team walks into a Rowan-set trap and Huck learns that the Gladiators can’t get close enough to the B613 leader (Joe Morton) without a man on the inside, he winds up turning to Quinn to use her relationship with Charlie (George Newbern) to inch closer to Command.
The plan works and after Quinn sleeps with Charlie (seriously!), he takes her to Wonderland where she demands all evidence connecting her to the security guard slaying before going back to OPA as a mole to help B613 reclaim Maya.
It all goes down right after Olivia, thanks to Fitz’s (Tony Goldwyn) assistance, puts her estranged mother on a plane for Hong Kong just as she realizes that her mother may not be Rowan’s victim after all. Instead, Olivia calls Huck after remembering a call she intercepted as a girl asking for someone named “Maria Wallace,” whom Huck reveals is the name Rowan placed on the no-fly list. It suggests that Rowan may have been right all along and was trying to protect everyone from Maya — who seems to be the one using an alias to hide her true identity as a terrorist.
As part of our weekly Scandal Case Study series, The Hollywood Reporter turned to Diaz to break down the episode — which ended with vice president Sally Langston (Kate Burton) having killed her cheating husband Daniel (Jack Coleman) — and preview what’s ahead in Scandal’s mid-season finale.
What was it like having to lick Katie’s face and torture Quinn?
It just goes to another level of craziness with Huck. He’s never tortured someone that he loves in the family. Katie and I love each other and it was really tough and strange shooting that. There was a really interesting energy when we were shooting it because it was so odd, and we just went for it. We feel so comfortable with each other, so it was easy to be close and get into it without worrying about the other person’s comfort level. Poor Katie was naked and tied up in tape and already in a vulnerable position, and I had to stick this iron rod in her mouth. It was just nuts! I kept saying to the director, “I can feel her teeth!” He kept telling me, “Get the pliers way in there!” Katie was just like, “Just go for it!” She was such a trooper.
After seeing Quinn enjoy drilling into someone in the season two finale, what was Katie’s reaction to being on the receiving end of that torture treatment?
We sat next to each other during the first table read of this episode and were both really emotional. We didn’t expect Huck to be torturing Quinn. I thought he’d flip out and get in her face again, but I never expected Huck to tape her up and torture her. I wonder if Katie was thinking about being exhilarated or excited a little bit because Quinn does enjoy torturing people from that Billy Chambers situation.
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