Scandal Shocker! Bellamy Young on Mellie's VP Pick and That Rowan Twist

The following story contains spoilers about Thursday's season finale of Scandal.

After Olivia (Kerry Washington) helped Jake (Scott Foley) escape from her father on Thursday's Season 5 finale of Scandal, Mellie (Bellamy Young) selected the NSA director as her vice presidential running mate -- and that's exactly what Rowan (Joe Morton) wanted.

Yup, Papa Pope's endgame wasn't to make Jake VP to Edison's (Norm Lewis) POTUS.

[...] Papa Pope is still the puppet-master -- especially now that we know he knows Cyrus (Jeff Perry), who is named Vargas' (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) running mate, staged the Capitol shooting.

Or was he completely genuine in seeking Liv's help to ditch Rowan and "chase the sun" and "be normal" with her?

How long will this honeymoon period between Mellivia last, since Mellie knows Liv killed Andrew (Jon Tenney)?

Between that and finding out a couple episodes ago what Liv did to Andrew, I think that in this moment -- we leave her on such a high as a nominee because on paper, Jake looks like a fantastic running mate -- she is all optimism, with a very significant undercurrent of a fear of Cyrus.

[...] wherever we come back, if we come back on the campaign trail, it will feel through-the-looking-glass to find out that she's in bed with Papa Pope.

How will Mellie react when and if she finds out Rowan is still running the show in the background?

Is Jake playing the part or did he actually want to escape from Rowan? I can't tell and I can't wait to find that out in the fall.

Like you said, Jake and Mellie haven't interacted a lot, so is she really OK with him being her running mate?

Mellie doesn't know Jake well, but he has a nice-looking resume, and she trusts Liv, who does know him.

What do you imagine their relationship will look like?

Do you think he will be amenable to her ideas and wants on the campaign trail?

Jake's used to running the show, so I don't think he would do well as ornament