If you choose to start watching Scandal [1], there are a few things you must do. First, you have to accept that you're in for a whole ton of political intrigue, backstabbing, and steamy sex scenes (ow, ow!), but just like its fellow Shonda Thursday show Grey's Anatomy [2], there's also going to be plenty of sobbing, shock, and misery involved. Because of that last bit, there's no better way to watch Scandal than with a giant, yacht-sized glass of Olivia Pope's favorite beverage [3]: red wine. With all of the outrageous things going down in Olivia's off-the-walls version of DC, God knows you'll need it. Keep reading to see all of the most jaw-dropping things that have ever happened on Scandal, and then see why fans are so obsessed with Fitz and Olivia's romance [4].

Mellie Lies to America About Having a Miscarriage

• Season one, episode six
• What goes down: While on the campaign trail, presidential hopeful Fitzgerald Grant realizes he's behind in the polls with women thanks to steep competition from female candidate Sally Langston. Fitz says they'll push through, and he wants to keep everything above board, but Mellie has other ideas. As they sit in a cute, little pie shop at a campaign stop, Mellie takes matters into her own hands and fabricates a story about her once having a miscarriage, to earn sympathy with female voters. This is one of our earliest glimpses of Cutthroat Mellie as she leans in to a shocked Fitz and whispers, "I think that ought to take care of it, don't you?" Chills.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Quinn's Boyfriend Is Murdered

• Season one, episode six
• What goes down: Just as Quinn is finally starting to recover from all the drama in her life with her reporter boyfriend, Gideon, he gets brutally stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors. The murderer is Billy Chambers, aka Sally Langston's chief of staff, aka the guy who murders Amanda Tanner to keep his affair and pregnancy with her a secret. To add insult to injury, Quinn has to pull the scissors out of his neck herself and watch his jugular spurt all over her carpet. Way harsh.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷

Quinn's Backstory Is Revealed

• Season two, episode one
• What goes down: As pieces of the whole Defiance-Cytron-Explosion plot gradually come to light, we discover that Quinn's real name isn't Quinn — it's Lindsey Dwyer. She's framed for bombing the Cytron building, then kidnapped by Olivia and Huck because the bombing connects to Defiance and Fitz's voting fraud, and wakes up later on with a new identity and a new life as "a gladiator in a suit." It's a lot.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Governor Reston Gets Away With Murder

• Season two, episode five
• What goes down: After Governor Reston catches a man in the midst of raping his wife, Joan, he shoots the man and later enlists Pope and Associates to help him navigate any murder charges. After word leaks to the press and the world starts hailing him as a hero for saving his wife, Olivia discovers that Joan was actually having an affair with the guy Reston shot and that Reston killed the man on purpose. Not only can Olivia not tell anyone about Reston's true motivations because it would implicate OPA, but Reston also pulls strings in a way that his wife ends up going to jail instead. The smug, satisfied smile that's on his face as he tells Olivia his master plan is infinitely slappable.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Fitz and Olivia's Emotional Conversation in the Rose Garden

• Season two, episode eight
• What goes down: The season two moment between Olivia and Fitz is emotional on so many levels. They meet up in the White House's Rose Garden, and Fitz pours out his heart to Olivia. "I can't breathe without you, I can't sleep without you," he tells her. "I exist for you." Their relationship isn't doing so hot in the current season, but this will always be a defining scene between the two of them.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷

Fitz Gets Shot in the Head

• Season two, episode eight
• What goes down: While walking into his birthday party with Mellie, Fitz is shot in the head by a sniper. The resulting scenes are appropriately tense and terrifying, with everyone wondering if he'll recover without brain damage.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Huck's Girlfriend Murders an Innocent Family to Get Back at Him

• Season two, episode nine
• What goes down: Long before Becky was known for her good hair [5], she was just Huck's crazy, murderous ex-girlfriend. As if framing Huck for shooting Fitz isn't bad enough, Becky decides to teach Huck a lesson by massacring the happy family he liked to watch.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Mellie Induces Labor 4 Weeks Early

• Season two, episode 12
• What goes down: The first lady is fully aware that her marriage to the president is falling apart, so she makes one last-ditch effort to bring them closer together: she induces labor WEEKS before her due date. Luckily baby Teddy is fine, but . . . seriously, Mellie?
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷

Fitz Murders Supreme Court Justice Verna

• Season two, episode 13
• What goes down: Supreme Court Justice Verna Thornton, one of the people who had orchestrated the Defiance scandal, is also the one who hired Becky to assassinate the president. Fitz is not thrilled when he learns of this information (obviously) and takes matters into his own hands. Actually, those matters happen to be Verna's hands, which he holds down after visiting her in the hospital, removing her oxygen mask, and watching as she suffocates to death. Verna is no peach, but killing her is a turning point for Fitz that he never recovers from.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

David Rosen Wakes Up Next to a Bloody Corpse

• Season two, episode 14
• What goes down: Poor David Rosen can't catch a break. After he is fired from his position as US attorney, fails to get a private practice off the ground, and breaks up with Abby, David wakes up one morning with a knife in his hand and the dead, bloody body of a woman beside him.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Fitz Finds Out Olivia Helped Orchestrate Defiance

• Season two, episode 16
• What goes down: Before Fitz becomes president, Olivia, Mellie, Verna Thornton, Cyrus, and Hollis Doyle get together and rig the election by tampering with the voting machines in Defiance, OH, helping Fitz win by a narrow margin. Even worse? Fitz has no idea. When he finally finds out the truth about what Olivia did, it breaks him. "I trusted you, you know," he tells her over the phone. "You ruined me. I'm ruined."
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷

Hollis Doyle's Daughter Cuts Off Her Own Ear

• Season two, episode 17
• What goes down: In an effort to get Hollis Doyle to fork over more cash, his scheming daughter fakes a kidnapping and a ransom request. To make sure the whole ruse comes off as authentic, she goes the extra mile and slices off her own ear to send to him. Now that's dedication.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Cyrus Has a Heart Attack

• Season two, episode 22
• What goes down: The pressure of keeping Defiance under wraps and making sure Fitz doesn't leave Mellie for Olivia finally proves to be too much for Cyrus, and he has a heart attack. We might've been a little bit worried about his future if Cyrus wasn't the human version of a cockroach. There's no way Cy would let something as simple as HEART FAILURE take him out.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷

Huck Finds Out That Oliva's Dad Is in Charge of B613

• Season three, episode two
• What goes down: After Huck discovers that the supersecret spy organization that had ruined his life is run by Papa Pope, he loses his damn mind and attacks Olivia in a parking garage. Thankfully things don't get too out of control, but it's a seriously terrifying moment between the two of them.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Fitz Is the One Who Shot Down Olivia's Mom's Plane

• Season three, episode six
• What goes down: After digging into Operation Remington, OPA figures out that Fitz is the one who had shot down the passenger plane that had crashed in Iceland, which happened to be carrying Mama Pope, during his days in the Navy. Furthermore, Remington had been arranged and subsequently covered up by Papa Pope. Have mercy on us, Shonda!
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Mellie Is Raped by Fitz's Father

• Season three, episode seven
• What goes down: In a series of flashback scenes, Fitz and Mellie are just a pair of newlyweds visiting the house of Fitz's father, Big Jerry. Fitz and his dad don't get along, and one night Mellie attempts to smooth things over by speaking to Jerry on her own. He's drunk, and he ends up raping her on the living room couch. It's an absolutely painful scene on its own, and watching Mellie trying to pretend that the whole thing never happened the next morning at breakfast with Fitz and Jerry is nothing short of heartbreaking.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

Olivia's Mom Is Still Alive

• Season three, episode seven
• What goes down: Although Fitz shooting down that plane and killing all of those innocent people is pretty terrible, there's one silver lining: Mama Pope wasn't on it. Rowan, that twisted mofo, had lied about Maya dying in the plane crash and instead has kept her locked up for years in some sort of prison.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷

Olivia Reunites With Her Mom After 23 Years

• Season three, episode nine
• What goes down: After Maya basically chews her own wrists off to escape Rowan's prison, she surprises Liv. Her daughter is rightly shocked to meet the mother whom she had thought was dead for most of her life, and she's even more surprised to find out that Maya has been held hostage by her father, Rowan, all this time. She vows to help her escape Rowan's grasp by flying her to Hong Kong, only to find out that her mother is actually a highly dangerous terrorist on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Not cool, Mom.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Huck Tortures Quinn

• Season three, episode nine
• What goes down: When Huck discovers Quinn is the one who kills OPA's only lead in the Remington case, he feels betrayed. Instead of talking about the situation calmly or leaving Quinn a strongly worded voicemail, Huck does the next best thing: strips her naked, ties her up, grossly licks her face, and rips out her molars. Why pay for a dentist when you have Huck, amirite?
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Sally Langston Kills Her Husband After He Cheats on Her With Cyrus's Husband

• Season three, episode 10
• What goes down: Cyrus's plot to take down Vice President Sally Langston finally comes to a head in "A Door Marked Exit." Sally discovers photos of her husband, Daniel Douglas, sleeping with Cyrus's husband, James, and nonchalantly murders him. Without knowing Cyrus's involvement, she calls him and says, "Cyrus, I have committed a sin." Yeah, no duh, Sally.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Jake Murders James in Cold Blood

• Season three, episode 14
• What goes down: Of all the terrible things that Jake has done on Scandal, killing Cyrus's husband, James (Dan Bucatinsky), is definitely one of the worst. After James digs too far into the death of Daniel Douglas Langston, Jake is tasked with taking him out and sets it up to look like a carjacking gone wrong. He shoots him in the back and sits with James as he bleeds out on the pavement, saying, "I'm not going to let you die alone," and assures him his daughter will be OK. It's traumatizing in about 900 different ways.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

Cyrus Breaks Down Over His Husband's Death

• Season three, episode 14
• What goes down: Cyrus isn't known for showing his emotions (excluding anger), but he finally succumbs to the heartbreak of the death of his husband, James, and breaks down in front of a room packed with reporters during a White House press conference. Fitz comes up to the podium to console Cyrus and has to escort him off the stage as he sobs. You can hate Cyrus all you want, but this scene will hit you right in the feels.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Mellie Has an Affair With Vice President Andrew Nichols

• Season three, episode 15
• What goes down: Now that Sally is out as VP (murdering your hubby will do that), Fitz calls upon his old buddy Andrew Nichols to replace her. A bonus to Andrew becoming the new vice president? He and Mellie enter into a torrid affair, and although it's a wee bit wrong, it's pretty satisfying to see Mellie actually getting some for once.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Huck and Quinn Start Sleeping Together

• Season three, episode 17
• What goes down: Apologies to any Quinn-Huck shippers out there, but their physical relationship (ESPECIALLY AFTER HE SAVAGELY TORTURES HER) is pretty nasty. That being said, their parking garage huck-up (see what I did there?) is definitely one of the steamier ones.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: All of the wine, because this is messed up. Go back to Charlie, girl.

Mellie and Fitz's Son Is Murdered on Stage at a Campaign Rally

• Season three, episode 18
• What goes down: Right after Mellie tells Fitz that Jerry Jr. is really his son, and not the result of his father raping her, Jerry collapses on stage at Fitz's last campaign stop. They rush him to the hospital, but he dies. To make matters worse, Jerry dies because he's injected with a sub-strain of meningitis by Fitz's former Secret Service agent, Tom, on the orders of Olivia's father. Rowan reasons that since Fitz had taken Olivia away from him, he would return the favor by taking Fitz's child away. Not even remotely the same, but OK, Rowan.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

The Gang Attends Harrison's Funeral

• Season four, episode one
• What goes down: Due to actor Columbus Short's offscreen behavior [6], OG Gladiator Harrison is killed off the show by B613. Olivia, Huck, Abby, and Quinn reunite in the season four premiere to say an emotional goodbye to him at his funeral, and it's one of the last few times that the original members of OPA are back together again.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Olivia Admits Her Affair With the President to the World

• Season five, episode two
• What goes down: In one of the most badass moments in the history of Scandal, Olivia takes back control from the tabloids by admitting that she is, indeed, the president's mistress.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷

Olivia Is Kidnapped

• Season four, episode nine
• What goes down: After Olivia and Jake adorably dance it out to Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," Olivia is kidnapped from her apartment right under Jake's nose. He frantically searches for her to no avail, and you wonder if Liv is really going to make it out of this situation unharmed.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷

Olivia Discovers Her Kidnapping Isn't Even Technically Real

• Season four, episode 10
• What goes down: Olivia is being held in what appears to be a Middle Eastern location for weeks. Being the smart cookie that she is, she plans and executes a perfect escape, only to realize she's been held captive on a soundstage the entire time. Um, WHAT?!
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Huck Destroys Elizabeth North's Back

• Season four, episode 11
• What goes down: After the team at OPA gets wind that Olivia is being held for ransom, they quickly deduce that Vice President Andrew Nichols is behind it all. In classic Huck fashion, the unhinged, former assassin kidnaps Andrew's friend-with-benefits, Elizabeth North, and tortures her to within an inch of her life in exhange for information about Olivia's whereabouts.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Fitz Kicks Mellie and Cyrus Out of the White House Because of Their Role in the Juror Massacre

• Season four, episode 22
• What goes down: Just when you think B613 might actually get taken down in the trial, Mellie and Cyrus give Command the names of the grand jurors in the case, and Huck is sent to graphically murder each and every one of them. With the high-profile case now in shambles, Fitz figures out what's gone down and kicks Mellie and Cyrus out of the White House.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Fitz and Mellie Finally Get Divorced

• Season five, episode one
• What goes down: The road to Mellie and Fitz finally getting divorced is a long and rocky one. When it happens, it's a welcome shock, because the two of them are clearly not meant to be.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Olivia Gets an Abortion

• Season five, episode nine
• What goes down: "Silent Night" plays in the background of this scene in the Winter finale episode, which shows Olivia propped up, stirrups and all, as she gets an abortion following a painful breakup with Fitz.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷

Olivia Beats Andrew Nichols to Death

• Season five, episode 17
• What goes down: The cracks in Olivia's chic facade have been obvious throughout all of season five, and everything comes tumbling down in this tense episode. The former VP, now in a wheelchair and brain damaged thanks to Huck, berates Olivia to her boiling point. It's insane to see her lose her cool in such a massive way, and her choice sticks with her for episodes to come.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

We Find Out About Jake's Incredibly Tragic Upbringing

• Season five, episode 18
• What goes down: After watching this episode, a lot of Jake's actions — twisted as they might be — now make sense. He grew up with an abusive father, who regularly beat him and raped his sister. This leads his sister to hang herself from a tree in the backyard. After Rowan recruits Jake to B613 later on, he uses Jake's backstory to his advantage, officially scoring him a ticket to the deepest pits of hell.
• Amount of wine needed to get through this scene: 🍷🍷🍷🍷