Rowan" Pope quotes from Scandal

Rowan

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.

Rowan

You're skipping around in a field full of bombs and mistaking them for daisies… What is currently happening is that President Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III has made an enemy, the worst kind of enemy, because I know all his secrets. I know where every body is buried, and the greatest weapon I can use against him calls me Dad.

Rowan

I do not like him, but Olivia, I do love you, and I want you to have everything, everything you deserve. So, when I say I wish I could help, I do wish I could help. I wish I could help you.

Rowan

I tried, Olivia. I tried my best. For the first time in your life, you are on your own. You think the world is so terrible with me in it? Wait 'till you see what it's like without me.

Rowan

It is your friends who do not know you, but I do. You are a warrior. Never reckless, never naive. Too smart to let fear drive you. Precise, quiet, calculating. You will wait for the right time, you will look at all the possible outcomes, you will understand what needs to be done. I know you. Because the apple does not fall far from the tree, Olivia, poison though it may be.

Rowan

As long as I am alive, I will do my best to make sure that you are protected, but in the event of my death I have already given you everything you need to survive. I hope you know. I did my best for you Olivia. I take tremendous pride in who you have become.

Olivia

What do you do for a living? And don't tell me it's fossils or exhibitions or publishing papers. Don't lie. What do you do for a living, Dad? Do you teach people how to kill? Do you throw them in a hole until they go insane? Do you work in Wonderland?

Rowan

I'm your father. So I'm going to explain to you how you are to behave in my presence. You do not ask questions that you cannot handle the answer to. You do not make judgments about things you cannot imagine. You don't know me that way. You don't ever want to know me that way. But if you push, you will know me well, and that would break my heart, because I'm enjoying these Sunday dinners that you make me pay for. Now you are on my dime. Pick up your menu, order your meal, and tell me about your day.

Here's the thing about power, Rowan. It's always hard to admit when you've lost it.

Rowan

Or to admit you've never had any at all.

Olivia

I don't know what the point is of this, of democracy and freedom and patriotism. If there are no white hats. If everyone is evil. If the deck is always stacked. If everyone I love is a monster. If no one is worth saving. What's the point?

Rowan

There is, incidentally, a point. If there are no more white hats, if the deck is always stacked, and if everyone you love is a monster, there is, in fact, someone worth saving.

Olivia

Who?

Rowan

Everyone is worth saving. Everyone. In the face of darkness, you drag everyone into the light. That is the point. At least I'd like to think that is the point of you.

Olivia

B613 is your life. Helping me destroy it

Rowan

I'm helping you put down an animal, a dog that isn't mine anymore, a dog that is sick and malnourished because its new master doesn't know how to care for it. So rather than sit here and watch it starve to death, I've chosen to euthanize it, to show it mercy, not because I hate it, but because I love it.

Rowan

Re-entry is always hard. You emerged from deep cover. I mean, it wasn't covert ops. You weren't a spy. But I know the feeling. I know it very well. You come back, you re-enter to find the world kept spinning without you. You go to the places you used to go and you see the people you used to see and it's like something is missing. But really, everything is missing. Somehow everything is different. Everything is...

Olivia

Colder. Everything is colder.

Rowan

We're not normal...

Olivia

Even if we were, normal people don't talk about...normal fathers and daughters don't...

Olivia

I wasn't aware we were on speaking terms, Dad, let alone having dinner.

Rowan

We are family, Olivia. Families fight. That's what they do. That doesn't mean you stop calling. That doesn't mean you stop showing up for dinner. When we fight, we forgive and forget.

Olivia

You're not leaving. You were never leaving. You can never leave me alone because you have no place to go. The only life you have is the sad, twisted one you built here. The one where you lurk int he shadows, pull puppet strings, and pretend the world couldn't exist without your protection. You can't disappear, become a normal person, because Dad, you are not normal. You are a sick, lonely man who only knows how to lie and call it love.

Rowan

Could you be more ungrateful? You're my flesh. There would be no Olivia Pope if not for me.