Scandal: Discussion Thread

[Ann_SS]

The scene looks heartbreaking. I think it makes sense.

[gladiator in flip flops]

I think that my reaction will be the same because from the get go I have had my guards up.

I was so, so disappointed when they cancelled "Moonlight" the vampire show after only one season. Now it's hard for me to commit to anything.

The fans are going to be up in a roar. They are so wrapped up into it. I am just standing on the sidelines, reading about how crazy they get. I don't like that whole twetty bird thing. I like full discussions. But it's interesting.

When "Moonlight" got cancelled it got UGLY!! Not only were they sending things to the networks but they got a hold of some producers phone # and I think home address and it was.......... Let's just say it took them a year to cool down.

What upsets me is that there were so many vamp shows right after "Moonlight" was cancelled that became hits.

Oh well.......

~Milo

[gladiator in flip flops]

Alright, let me talk a bit about Olivia's clothing.

Now of course you all know I am only speaking for myself. I am no fashionista.

BUT

The white pant suit.

It was nice but in the fall????

Who in DC wears so much white.

Kerry Washington has said that since Olivia Pope works for herself, she does not have to dress traditionally. Okay.

But the whites is just over doing it now.

Not even in Miami I see folks going to work with so much white.

~Milo

[marceline]

I think that suit was actually a really light blush pink. That's how it looked on my TV. I agree that it was a distracting choice. Personally I hated the 70s retro lapels.

[gladiator in flip flops]

Yes, it's kinda had a hint of pink or something.

Cute. But as you said, distracting.

~Milo

[Wales2004]

Outside of soaps and the trekkies, I was surprised to learn that there were devoted "Firefly" fans which made me think the sci fi fandom just grows. I had no idea about "Moonlight" so thanks for sharing and a year....that's pretty crazy.

I imagine there will be a lot of fan fiction. Every now and then I see some show or movie that I would love to "fix" but I've never thought about writing characters in terms of life after however the show or movie ended.

Oh and that relationship is pretty much the show so I can't imagine going that long unless he's on an overseas trip.

[gladiator in flip flops]

I thought she was furious. She walked into the Oval office and said, "I destroyed that girl's life."

Didn't that come first?

Olivia was so angry that she then decided to go against Fitz and defend Amanda.

No doubt there was jealousy. But I thought she was first angry that he lied to her and send her out to clean up his mess.

"You cheated on your mistress with your girlfriend. Let's just leave it at that."

That to me was more anger than jealousy.

If you ask me, Fitz is the one that's jealous.

"You two screwing again. Is he everything you ever dreamed."

~Milo

[Ann_SS]

This episode is a prime example exactly what I mean when I say that this show does not know what it wants to be and straddles too many genres.

Anyway, Fitz and Olivia are on a break until he returns no doubt. I am glad to learn that at least one other person has a brain in their head and saw that they were in love during the campaign. Verna has an interesting take on the situation. I am not sure that she is wrong here. There is no easy answer to Fitz and Olivia's situation. Frankly, I don't know how she resisted his invitation to go to the G8. She was devastated when he said it was letting her go.

I did enjoy Fitz's dismissiveness as he faked worried about Mellie.

Mellie was hilarious commenting on Fitz' erections dreaming about Olivia. I liked that she schemed with Olivia against Fitz. However, this is the second time that they have both outmaneuvered him. I hope that he gets the best of them the next around. I wonder what Fitz was going to call Olivia, when he said, "... my wife and my... Olivia Pope."

The final scene with the conspirators was definitely unexpected. They are an odd group. I cannot see Olivia or the Justice involved in murdering six people so they are covering it up for another reason. Fitz seems clueless to their schemes.

Poor Huck, running around killing people for fun.

No more episodes for two weeks and Tony Goldwyn might be gone for an additional two episodes.

[Wales2004]

I didn't like Olivia in last night's episode--specifically at the restaurant. Fitz is the one who is depicted as carrying the burden of their relationship which makes him extremely sympathetic.

Even though Olivia clearly has compassion for those people she helps, she is still seems kind of cold and inaccessible and her teaming up with Mellie to best Fitz didn't help. It doesn't even matter that the Justice pointed out that she was pushing Fitz away. It's overkill.

I still don't see the greatness in Fitz. He is supposed to be brilliant and I still haven't seen him do one brilliant thing--at least nothing he thought of on his own. The women make him look very weak.

Davis must know and he is going to be part of one or more twists--at least that's how it looks to me as of now.

Whiskey and cocaine might spell trouble. David and Abby think they're using each other--Abby seems likely to get the upper-hand.

So Shoinda Rhimes used Quinn and Harrison to try to address the issue of critics who don't get the blind devotion to Olivia. Will there ever be an expiration date on she saved me or I owe her my life?

The last scene is an example of what could make me stop watching "live" and abandon it or skim through it online. I want to see answers not an infinite number of questions piled up because then it just seems like shock after shock for drama's sake. Clearly Olivia is not going to want to kill or destroy David which is probably where Abby may be useful.

I wasn't surprised by that group because the Justice, Cyrus, and Olivia already have history and it's a matter of how they are tied to Hollis. Olivia obviously tried to "fix" whatever they did for Quinn and possibly ease her conscience at the same time. Mellie is there because Cyrus needs to give her a sense of significance to get her off his back but there could even be a twist in there regarding her past. It's almost as if they targeted a gullible Fitz unless this is a core part of his brilliance.

The scandal of the week now seems like that false sense of the resolution of a problem or problems that distract from the mountain of mystery that is constantly growing bigger. That can only work for so long..

[Ann_SS]

Olivia has always had all the power in their relationship. There was Fitz yet again begging her to be with him. I actually felt bad for both of them. Like Verna said, Olivia thinks that she is doing the right thing driving him away. While Fitz is desperately trying to hold on to her. Besides Olivia is giving him mixed messages. Like he said, she knew how he would response to request to lift the diplomat's immunity so why did she really go to the White House? She went hoping to see him. No way that these two are over.

I completely agree. We better see him putting both of them in their place in future episodes.

See you are beginning to get my issue with the show. The final scene made me roll my eyes. Like you said," shock after shock for drama's sake." This is exactly why I think that they should do away with the procedural element and become a serial drama, dribbling out answers in each episode rather than this umbrella intrigue with no solid info. Once Upon A Time (OUAT) sucked me in because I feel like each week, we are given a piece of the bigger puzzle or background info about the characters instead of being strung along.

Another thing, I really dislike how they are styling Kerry's hair. It looks like Farah Fawcett's feathered do from the 1970s. It is not the sharp hairstyle that I would expect from a stylish woman like Olivia.

[marceline]

I look at the procedural element as similar to the medical cases on House. The shows were never about the patients. The patients were just a window for the interpersonal stuff going on with the doctors. The show really is about OP&A vs. the White House and the cases are just a way to frame the perspective for each episode. For example, IMO, this episode was about helplessness before power so even though the case was about the dead co-ed it gave us a chance to see that Fitz is somewhat helpless before the machinations of The Round Table, that Mellie is fighting her feelings of being helpless professionally and Olivia is trying to fight her feelings of losing control.

[Ann_SS]

The procedural element just does not work for me with Scandal. Maybe Shonda Rhimes is not doing a good job. For example, when Olivia was musing to Edison about how these girls come so idealistic and then, meet these men... I found it a stretch to find any comparison between her and the dead girl. Olivia was a grown experienced woman whose eyes were wide open when she fell in love with a married Fitz.

Also, we already know that Fitz is at mercy at Olivia, Mellie, and Cyrus's machinations and schemes. If Shonda continues to feed us this, then I will have to agree with the people who are wondering what use is Fitz and what exactly makes him this great man or worthy to be president when he is so easily manipulated. At some point, we have to see Fitz as a man who is ruthless and relentless against the people closest to him and not just the VP, because all politicians are, especially the ones who climb to the highest level of power. We expect the president to be powerful or at least be a good judge of character. It is understandable that he is helpless when it comes to Olivia, but it is difficult to believe that FItz could possibly be so blind to Mellie and Cyrus's ruthlessness for so long. And more importantly, that he would let them get away with it. It seriously has not occurred to Fitz that Cyrus killed Amanda and has endangered his presidency? It is Fitz really this dense? It ishard to believe so the only other possibility is that he is deliberately turning a blind eye so he won't have to get his own hands dirty. Shonda has got to show Fitz figuring out turning the tables on Mellie and Cyrus.

[marceline]

I thought she was talking about Amanda Tanner.

[Ann_SS]

See I never even went there.

[Money]

I had this whole post typed out and for some reason it got lost in cyberspace but needless to say I find Olivia to be polarizing and I'm not sure if it's the character or the writing at play. Since the Reverend episode was brought up, if you happen to be religious you would find the episode offensive. Olivia is suppose to be the good guy, the heroine, yet she has no qualms about covering up the affair of the "nation's pastor" and deceiving said nation about their faith in this man. It's all about protecting his image who isn't even worthy. Her reasons are suppose to be noble but they are flawed and I don't find those flaws compelling when she's walking a very thin line of entitlement and arrogance. She is no different from the man who wanted his mother to buy his freedom for raping that girl when she does the exact same thing for all the skeevy people she defends. She's selective with her righteous indignation and I find it bothersome.

Which brings me to Huck. This man is is on a killing spree with his need to kill people as a direct result of her chain of events. While she's offered a few "Are you OK Huck?", she doesn't care enough to see that her friend is on the brink of emotional suicide because she's too self indulgent to notice.

And while Shonda would have me believe she's a caring individual it doesn't translate on screen enough. It's all about her her need to win the scandal of the week and everyone better abide by her law or else.

Which leads me to Fitz and their connection which is palpable, however Fitz is the only one shown to be in complete agony that they can't be together while she only wishes things could be different between them. It would be great to see some individual longing from her which is always buried under the scandal of the week. I wish Fitz had told her he was letting her go with authority because I actually found myself saying it's about damn time. This is the second time she and Mellie has conspired and deceived him into doing something he doesn't want to do and I find it loathsome. You should expect that from Mellie but not from her and he should be absolutely furious with her. There is no differentiation between her and Mellie when it comes to deceiving him for the "greater good" and it doesn't do her character or their supposed love story any favors. Clearly she can separate her feelings for him and usually Fitz is the one who always ends up brooding in a corner bemoaning that he's helpless because he's too much of a !@#$%^&*] to actually stand up and be a man.

I would love to see him man up, be presidential and actually show Olivia regretting her mistakes for once.

And since when is their affair now an open secret? At this point the only people who don't know about their affair is the country since clearly everyone else around them do.

I absolutely agree. I wish she would mix it up a little and straighten it.