In this scene from "Ride, Sallie, Ride," Mellie and Olivia stage a polite chitchat for the paparazzi

Pour yourself a big bottle of red wine, change into your comfiest silk pajamas and get ready for a phone call from the Oval Office – that’s right, Scandal is back.

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT!

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When we last left the ABC prime-time soap, Quinn was changing sides, the vice president had murdered her husband, and Olivia Pope was trying to process the knowledge that her mother was an international terrorist.

In this exclusive clip from Thursday night’s midseason premiere, all those story lines take a back seat to the continuing plot thread of Fitz’s re-election campaign. Mellie wants Olivia back on the team, and she’s contrived a friendly photo op to get what she wants.

Shades of Claire Underwood? Perhaps, but the second these two whip out that that unique Scandal run-on cadence you’ll wonder what you ever saw in the hushed silences of House of Cards.

Scandal returns Thursday, Feb. 27.