'Scandal' Season 6 Spoilers: Identity of Frankie's Killer Has Been Revealed and His Work is Not Over Yet
The latest episode of "Scandal" season 6, which aired Thursday, revealed who really shot the newly elected president of the United States, Francisco "Frankie" Vargas (Ricardo Chavira).
And just like some fans might have guessed, it was Rowan Pope (Joe Morton).
The March 16 episode of the political drama series by Shonda Rhimes has also revealed the real reason behind Frankie's assassination, who really wanted him killed and how Rowan actually did it.
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The plot that led to the assassination started out when Rowan's friend, Sandra (Tonya Pinkins), was held hostage by the mystery team that wants him to run errands for them, and the main goal was to bring Mellie (Bellamy Young) to the White House.
The mystery group realized early on that Mellie would lose to Frankie, which is something that they do not want to happen. The plan originally did not involve killing anyone since it was not Rowan's first choice as well.
Rowan found a way to tamper with some of the voting machines. However, his daughter Olivia (Kerry Washington) learned what her father was up to and did all she could to reverse Rowan's actions, which led to Mellie's loss.
So Rowan had no choice but to go for the kill. On the actual day of the assassination, Rowan had to fight a Secret Service agent to get under the stage's floorboard where Frankie was going to deliver his speech after winning the elections.
Then at a hole that was located exactly where Frankie was standing, Rowan aimed for the shot and fired at Frankie three times with the last bullet going straight to Frankie's head.
When TV Guide asked Morton what was the reason behind the grossly fatal last shot, the actor said: "I think he would've taken the final shot anyway. I think it just made it harder that he was looking at him. ... I think the fact that he and Frankie are eye to eye just makes it that much harder but still necessary."
Back at the mystery group's lair after Frankie's death, the controlling crew confronted Rowan, telling him that his work for them will be done when Cyrus is in jail for killing Frankie and when Mellie is declared the new POTUS.
The group continued to threaten Rowan, putting Sandra in danger. However, Rowan is not having any of it anymore. He surprised "Scandal" fans by suddenly shooting her, which attempts to send the message that the group cannot control him anymore.
However, the mysterious group might have seen it coming. As soon as Rowan killed Sandra, they threatened him that they will put a bullet in Olivia's head once he bails out of the plan.
"Scandal" airs every Thursday, 9 p.m. EDT on ABC.
