Olivia's Mom Had An Unexpected Motive On 'Scandal'

This season of Scandal has been so explosive that it was hard to imagine what the show had in store for the Season 6 finale, but now that it's here, it's safe to say that it lived up to every expectation. Last week, we found out that Olivia's mom, Maya Lewis, is the one behind Peus' schemes, and now, it seems she's more dangerous (and powerful) than ever. On Thursday night's Scandal finale, Olivia's mom exposed the person behind Frankie Vargas' death, and it was someone none of the gladiators had ever suspected before.

Immediately, her mission was clear: For whatever reason she had up her sleeve, she hired someone to assassinate Mellie. But even after Jake had her arrested and detained, she still wouldn't admit to anything but coming back into town to give herself another chance at doing something good for her daughter — not that she'd ever done anything positive for Olivia before. Even so, Eli Pope, the man who is usually unflinchingly evil to his core, had a hard time having her taken away. I mean, he even had tears in his eyes. Does this guy actually have a heart after all?

But if you've been watching this show for any length of time at all, you already know that nothing on Scandal is ever as black and white as villains and good guys... and neither is Maya.

Olivia's main goal was to find out who Maya was working for, but her plan backfired when Eli shot her during the inauguration. As it turns out, she was trying to shoot someone — but not Mellie. As it turns out, she wanted to kill Luna Vargas, because she was the one who wanted Frankie dead. She didn't want to be first lady, so that was her way out.

But with a little help from Jake, she managed to convince Luna to kill herself, making her death look like a suicide and successfully protecting Mellie from any harm that might come her way. It's not the first time Olivia's been directly responsible for someone's death, but maybe it really was the only way to keep Mellie alive?

Next season has a lot to live up to after this finale, and I can't wait to see it. Shonda Rhimes, don't let me down.