Lisa Kudrow Gets Serious Alongside Kerry Washington on Scandal

TV Watch

By Aaron Parsley

10/29/2013 at 08:50 AM EDT

Kerry Washington (left) and Lisa Kudrow

Lisa Kudrow has made viewers laugh on Friends, The Comeback and Web Therapy. But as Josephine Marcus on ABC's Scandal, she's got a very serious problem.

"I had a baby at 15. I gave it up and never looked back," Kudrow's character tells Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope, who's just been hired as the Democratic Congresswoman's campaign manager, in an exclusive sneak peek at Kudrow's guest-starring appearance.

Pope gets right to work at what she does best: "You were a teenager, who made a difficult choice in a difficult situation. We can spin this any number of ways to galvanize your base and solidify female support."

Only Marcus doesn't want to go that route and seems to want to take the high road. "No," she says. "That baby is a grown woman now. She's out there living her life and she deserves her privacy. I'm not going to use this for political gain, okay? Not now, not ever."

When Pope tries to persuade her, Marcus says, "Did you hear me? You heard my problem – now go ahead and fix it."

Scandal airs Thursday (10 p.m. ET) on ABC.