‘Scandal’ season 6 episode 12 spoilers: White House lockdown interrupts Peus assumption to power

Actor Tony Goldwyn from the ABC series "Scandal" arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California U.S., September 18, 2016. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

As Theodore Peus readies to run America by using president-elect Mellie Grant, a new threat to the White House will arise. His plan will be put on hold while the gladiators in suit and their new allies work together to take down one common enemy in the upcoming “Scandal” season 6 episode 12.

In Thursday’s episode titled "Mercy," Peus (David Warshofsky) and Ruland (Zoe Perry) are ready to take over the White House. However, President Fritzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn), Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and her OPA team will not give them an easy way in.

The promo shows Fritz facing off with Ruland (Zoe Perry). He warns her to stop whatever her group is planning or he will expose Peus and the dirty works of his shadowy organization.

However, the president’s threat doesn’t intimidate Ruland. She tells the outgoing leader that he will no longer be in power soon. Fritz fires back by telling her that he knows who she is and what she had done. He is referring to Ruland's involvement in the botched killing of Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and the death of Elizabeth North (Portia de Rossi). In the previous episode, Perry’s character bludgeoned Liz to death using a gold club.

The confrontation between Fritz and Ruland worries Olivia, so she decides to involve her father on their plan to take down Peus. Liv introduces Rowan “Eli” Pope (Joe Morton) to her team as an ally after realising that the only option left to win against Peus is to involve her father.

In a teaser, Olivia is seen saying that only her father has the ability to get them out of the mess, but not everyone seems to agree. There may be a reason why the team doesn’t trust Rowan. The promo shows Liv’s father being targeted by an unknown assassin. It seems like Rowan will be able to defend himself against the assailant.

Meanwhile, the promo also shows the new president Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) being escorted by the Secret Service when the White House goes into lockdown. It is not clear what the security breach is.

Mellie has been declared by the electoral college as the winner in the recent president elections. She won over Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) even after the former Chief of Staff declared clear of charges in connection to Frankie Vargas’ (Ricardo Chavira) assassination.

"Scandal" season 6 episode 12 airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC in the US. The network has also announced that the political drama series finale will be on May 18. The show also airs in Australia on Seven Network.