Anatomy of a Scandal recap guide: Episodes 1 to 6

Anatomy of a Scandal episode 6 recap

Sophie arrives at Kate’s looking for answers. She asks if they had met before, whether or not she attended Oxford, or if she knew Holly. Kate shuts down the questions and urges Sophie to leave, but not before Sophie realizes something major. We get more visions, this time James imagining all of his accusers before his kids awaken him from his daydream.

Kate stops by Ali’s in the middle of the night again and tells her she thinks Sophie knows her true identity. She’s understandably freaking out that she might lose her job, though Ali tells her she shouldn’t worry because James won’t out her and risk looking guilty.

Sophie returns home past midnight and is confronted by James who asks why she was out so late. He tells her he might lose the case in court the next day and comes clean about Holly — sort of — as he admits to being with her that night at Oxford but not to raping her. Sophie is shocked, in disbelief that he could have sex with someone he barely knew during the same night that Alec died.

James tries to cover his tracks about the accusation by telling Sophie that Holly was a virgin and the experience might not have been what she was expecting her first time to be. “It was certainly 100% not rape,” he claims. James goes on to reveal the big detail about Alec’s death, admitting that he lied for Tom to cover up his drug use. As you’d expect, this leaves James and Sophie in an even worse place.

We cut to the trial, where Kate and Angela give their closing statements. The two discuss the case afterwards and it’s obvious Angela is relieved it’s all coming to an end, while we know it’ll never truly end for Kate because of her personal investment. Finally, hours later, there’s a verdict.

The jury finds James not guilty, which understandably hits Kate like a brick. Sophie even looks disappointed, and an annoying Chris tells her, “That’s our boy. Dodged another bullet, didn’t he?” Chilling.

While walking out of the courtroom, Kate and Sophie pass each other and their eye contact speaks volumes without either of them having to actually say anything. Sophie stands by James’ side as he talks to the press and notes that his family was there for him through it all. Sophie is shaken and can’t say a word.

We cut to Kate at home who’s watching James on the news and having a fit, unsurprisingly. Ali walks in and the two share an embrace, while James is at home celebrating and getting ready to get back to work. He’s accepted back by Tom with open arms and has no regrets about how everything turned out.

Sophie confronts James yet again and he maintains that he would never rape someone, though it’s obvious she’s becoming more and more unsure. Sophie goes off and finds Ali, asking where she can find Holly. At first, Ali denies that Holly is Kate, but Sophie doesn’t believe it. “The answer’s yes,” Ali then says as Sophie walks away.

Panicked after Ali tells Kate she told Sophie, Kate comes clean to Richard about everything, who tells her not to confess. Meanwhile, Sophie decides she’s leaving James even though he doesn’t understand and she packs up her things. She needs to discover who she is without him, and that’s exactly what she plans to do.

Sophie and Kate meet and Kate explains why she didn’t report James for raping her back then, because she didn’t think anyone would believe her. In a surprise move, Sophie says she’s going to reveal James and Tom’s big secret from that night to the press.

In the final moments of the episode, we see Sophie out in the country having fun with her kids, while Kate puts on her wig and walks throughout the courtroom.

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The FanSided Entertainment team contributed to this article.