Is Jake Really Dead on 'Scandal'?

I didn't start off as Team Jake, but I have been fully converted to the awesomeness that is Jake Ballard — and to the self evident conclusion that he is superior to Fitz in just all things. Which is why it is so terrible that Jake seems to have been killed on this week's Scandal and by Olivia's new lover. But is he really dead? After all, this isn't the first time we've been left hanging about the fate of the character.

Well, one thing is certain: this is the second time that Eli Pope has sent a B6-13 agent to go sleep with his daughter and it is even creepier the second time around. Seriously, Papa Pope you need to get out of your daughter's sex life.

So is Jake dead? Well, the promo for next week certainly suggests that he is, but we all know that such teasers are nothing if not misleading. And if Jake has been killed, it would certainly be an anticlimactic way to do away with such an important character. Taken down by a single opponent with a stab wound to the abdomen? Bleeding to death on the floor of the empty Pope and Associated conference room? It just doesn't seem like it would do the character justice, and so I am skeptical that Jake has really been offed for good.

On the other hand, if the iconic Olitz romance is the show's end game, killing Jake might be their only move. With Jake and Olivia being so close, even now that they are apart, and with Jake supporting her and understanding her and what she needs in ways Fitz never seemed to, it's getting harder and harder to imagine a world in which Olivia goes back to Fitz and his married drama. And with Mellie beginning her campaign for senate (and hopefully president soon) it seems unlikely that Fitz will have a chance for a politically feasible divorce any time soon. So killing Jake might be the only sensible option if the show runners want Olivia to end up with the president.

So is Jake gone for good? Well, one thing's for sure, Scott Foley, the actor playing him, has been no help so far.

It seems like he's saying goodbye, but then again, he also says it is an honor not that it's been an honor, so I personally think he's messing with us. Bad Jake.

Image: ABC