ABC/Ron TomThink you've got enough wine to handle tonight's Scandal finale? Think again!
The ABC hit drama's third season finale is just hours away, so you still have time to hit up your local liquor store and 'cause we're hearing the episode is a multiple-bottle event. But isn't every episode of Scandal, you may be asking. Well, we just got off the phone with star Katie Lowes, who promises that tonight's finale actually manages to pull off the impossible: It tops last season's shocking "Dad?!" cliffhanger.
"Going into it, I was like, there is no flipping way that this can even compete with last year," Lowes tells us while waiting to hit up her favorite pizza parlor in her hometown on Long Island. (Yes, we kept a Scandal star from delicious pizza in the name of scoop!) "But I have to say, I really think this one tops it."
But before the shocking cliffhanger comes 42 minutes of delicious election drama and "insane" fallout from the Quinn (Lowes) and Huck's (Giullermo Diaz) sex scene, the one that was so shocking that Lowes called and warned her parents about it before the episode.
E! Online: We saw on Twitter that you are watching the finale with your mom and grandmother?
Katie Lowes: Yeah! I'm actually in my hometown where I grew up. Right now, my grandmother and mom are parking and putting money in the meter, going to my favorite pizza place I grew up going to! But I'm watching with them tonight. My mom's got a really thick accent and she's like, "I got a bottle of wine. I got us a bag of Skinny Pop for tonight." I was like, "Mom, a bottle is not going to suffice." Also because my grandmother drinks, too. I was like, "We are going to go through this within the first 20 minutes!"
Predict how people will react after the finale's last scene because last year's "Dad moment" almost broke Twitter.
I watched it on Friday. The whole cast, Shonda [Rhimes] and everybody got together to watch and kind of celebrate the season. I honestly went into it being like, there is no possible way in hell we can top last year's finale, especially that "Dad moment"…I have to tell you, she did. She completely tops it. The "Oh my God" moments are all there, and again, it's like three finales wrapped into one.
Twitter is going to break down. Basically, the Scandal writers and Shonda Rhimes are just brilliant. Every character is extremely well-represented and everybody goes through twists and turns, but the final moment…they've essentially taken every rule that Scandal has kind of gone by and everything that they've established the last three seasons and completely spun on its head and you're left with having absolutely no idea about anything. It's just insane. It's one of these moments where any boundary you think that we've come upon and not crossed, again, she manages to cross it.
Did you ever expect Quinn to go through of all of this and for Quinn and Huck to end up where they have, you know, face licking and car sex?
It's amazing! No! No! Even in season two, I remember Shonda saying, "Get ready, Quinn's going to get darker' and I remember thinking, ‘What the hell does she mean by that?' I had no idea…
Literally a few days before Guillermo Diaz and I read the script where we kiss for the first time, we had done three hours of phone interviews together after the torture scene and everyone asked, ‘Do you think they're going to be romantically involved?' And Guillermo and I were like, ‘Absolutely not!' We were like, this is a mentor-mentee relationship, this is not a romantic thing. But little did I know, for seasons now, looking back, that has been bubbling underneath and they do have this…Quinn and Huck have a really, really, really intense connection and relationship, for sure. It's incredibly layered and complex. At this point in her life, I don't think anyone understands her like he does.
What were you more nervous to film: the scene where you licked Guillermo's face or the sex scene?
I actually really liked the licking of his face part because I liked shooting it. I mean, as gross as that is. First of all, he's one of my closest friends and he and I are super-tight and I call him G…as for as licking his face, as an actor, I was very excited to shoot that scene because it's one of those scenes where Quinn has the power…the hood sex of all it all, I mean it's always nerve-wracking and embarrassing and you think it's going to be really, really hot. It's always like, wow, you're doing this in the middle of the day, completely sober in front of like 150 crew members and you're trying to logistically figure out how Guillermo is going to lift me up and throw me on a car and then rip my tights. It becomes a math problem! I also was excited to shoot it because Guillermo and I had had a lot of conversations about how Quinn and Huck cannot kiss or have sex like normal people. They're weird, weird is good and their level of pain and pleasure is so off the Richter scale as to what normal people experience in their life. If Quinn and Huck had our typical TV or movie kiss, I don't think it would be believable.
What can you say about Quinn and Huck in the finale?
I'm excited for everyone to see the Huckleberry Quinn of it all. Whatever you expect to happen is not what's going to happen. I've been reading a lot of Scandal finale theories online and thus far no one is right.
You tweeted about your dad not being able to watch the sex scene in last week's episode. Did you call and warn your parents before?
I warned both of my parents, like, "Hey, I just want to let you know there's some racy stuff that goes down for Quinn," and my parents are huge Scandal fans on so many levels. I think when you're parents of an actor you're just thrilled that your kid has a job and has health insurance. But I warned them. The good news is that I'm like, "Look, I want to warn you guys, it's going to racy. It's not like Game of Thrones where my boobs are going to be in your face or anything, but at the same time, it's pretty risqué."
Quinn has spent a lot of time with B613 and away from Olivia Pope & Associates this season. Did you miss the Gladiators or feel a little left out?
Of course I did! As an actor, I felt mixed emotions. I felt both. In one way, I was excited to play in the B613 arena and if I hadn't, I would not get to work with George Newbern as much and I wouldn't have gotten to work with Scott Foley as much and those were things that I cherish and love. But I have to admit, I miss my KW and I miss my Darbs and I miss my C-Short. We're all such good friends and we're such a Scandal family that when you don't have scenes people, sometimes you can go a week or two without seeing them except for at the table-reads or when we watch the episodes together. But they were really nice; they would make me feel good. I would get texts from Darbs or KW, like, "It's so weird being at OPA without you. We miss you!" I missed them too and all I can say is wait ‘til you see where Quinn ends up. It's insane. Again, it's nothing what you can expect.
Scandal's season three finale airs tonight at 10 p.m. on ABC.