[1] The episode was written by showrunner Shonda Rhimes and directed by executive producer Tom Verica.
One day when she is in the bathroom, Olivia discovers a window and tries to escape through it, but is caught by the kidnappers who, knowing they can't harm her, decide to punish her instead by taking Ian and shooting him.
Olivia, distraught by Ian's murder, begins to have dreams about Jake rescuing her, and her life in Vermont with Fitz (Tony Goldwyn).
In her dreams, both Tom Larsen (Brian Letscher) and Abby (Darby Stanchfield) show up to tell her that she does not have anybody to rescue her and that she must rely only on herself.
[2] The episode featured the songs "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" by Stevie Wonder and "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb.
[9] It was reported on December 11, 2014, that Jason Butler Harner, known from Alcatraz, Homeland and The Blacklist was cast for the show in a recurring role, which he would first appear in the winter premiere.
Baker previously appeared on another show created by Shonda Rhimes in the sixth season of Grey's Anatomy.
Natalie Abrams, a writer for Entertainment Weekly said how exciting the episode was, saying "...I gasped at least 3 times during the first act".
No television show suffers more from a midseason hiatus than Scandal, and it was shrewd to craft an entire episode that can stand on its own merits.
He continued saying "No television show suffers more from a midseason hiatus than Scandal, and it was shrewd to craft an entire episode that can stand on its own merits.
"[21] Judy Berman of Flavorwire also praised the episode saying "Scandal needed nothing more than to rip itself up and start again — and that’s exactly what last night’s winter premiere accomplished.
"[23] Cody Barker writing for TV.com said that Scandal needed to do an episode like "Run" as he meant the show had become more predictable and "upholds many familiar conventions, both in its storytelling and it aesthetics.
"[24] Leigh Raines of TV Fanatic wrote "It seems that Shonda Rhimes has heard her audience's pleas and taken note.
[29] Kirthana Ramisetti from NY Daily News called the episode "pretty straightforward in terms of its depiction of Olivia’s ordeal".
"[30] Writing for Vulture, Danielle Henderson expressed her disbelief about Olivia's decisions in the episode saying "For a show that’s all about her gut, she sure has stopped paying any attention to it whatsoever.
She continued saying "Scandal is nothing if not overly enamored of itself, and in its rabid self-fancying, it gave the game away too early for any of this to feel like anything but filler.