Is Jake Ballard Really Dead?

Last night Scandal fans saw one of Poppa Pope's assassins stab Jake Ballard in the gut a handful of times and leave him bleeding out on the floor of Olivia's empty office. The moment had deep irony, because Olivia's father is very goo
d at fixing her up with bad boys; she's currently sleeping with the guy who killed Jake -- maybe.
The teaser for next week showed Jake's bloody body on their conference table and the cry "Jake is dead!"
On Twitter and

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, Scandal fans went wild with shock and disbelief, especially because Shonda Rhimes loves to play mind

games

with her fans via the way previews are edited (one made it sound like Jake wanted to kill Olivia), and because of this from Inquisitr:

Late Thursday night, the ABC press site had several photos for an upcoming episode showing Jake injured, covered in bandages, laying in Olivia's bed, recuperating. Olivia was with him in one of the shots. As most would expect, by Friday morning, those photos had been removed from the press site.

I'm one of the doubters. I know things looked terminal for Jake, but he's survived torture and worse, and the show has been built on shocking surprises. What could be more surprising than his living through a savage attack like that? And the assassin did not stab him in the head or heart and did not deal an explicit death blow. (I'm thinking like a mystery writer and reviewer here.)

Yes, Scott Foley, who plays Jake, says he's leaving the show. Why wouldn't he go along with the ruse for the PR? It would be perfect misdirection, a mini version of "Paul is dead."
Meanwhile, back inside Liv's world, my advice is: You made a big mistake going toe to toe with Poppa. So, gurl, you better pray.

Lev Raphael is the author of 25 books in genres from memoir to suspense and was the crime fiction reviewer for The Detroit Free Press for almost a decade.