Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) has left her prominent position at the White House after she helped Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn) get elected as the president and started her own crisis-management firm where she can handle even the most difficult and complicated problems with her ever-loyal co-workers.
Her (season 1) co-workers consist of lawyers Abby (Darby Stanchfield), Harrison (Columbus Short), Steven (Henry Ian Cusick) and ex-CIA/expert hacker Huck (Guillermo Diaz), who can prove to be resourceful and dangerous when need be. The latest addition is Quinn Perkins (Katie Lowes), who tries to adapt to their long hours, gray moral areas and their blind loyalty to Olivia, who has “fixed” their lives.
They have to deal with two important cases in the pilot episode: An ex-soldier, a true American hero who happens to be the prime suspect of his fiancée’s murder and The President – who is being accused of having slept with a young house employee. They deal with both cases with extreme care, though neither man has told them the entire truth.
As the stakes get higher, with the ADA David Rosen (Joshua Malina) arresting the soldier and President’s advisor Cyrus (Jeff Perry) panicking about the woman since the president is married with kids, things get more complicated with Olivia. Maybe the aide isn’t lying, and her relationship with the president is more than she revealed to anyone around her…
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Scandal is an addictive and entertaining show, and especially with the short but brilliant first season (only 7 episodes) providing all the elements of a good mystery/thriller, drama, romance and cheeky sense of humor with Quinn’s constant shocked newbie state, Abby’s bluntness and Steven’s trying to balance a womanizing past with the newly engaged life.
They’re family, and there’s no intra-firm romance going on, though we sense a little crush on Abby’s side when it comes to Steven. They deal with dictators, senators, ambassadors and more – and they pretty much end up on the right side, doing the right things, following Olivia’s gut- which tends to make mistakes when it comes to the president.
The characters are also all shades of grey. Maybe David Rosen stays a bit on the whiter side for the most part, but even he does things for winning cases that I don’t approve of: like sleeping with someone for information or almost sending an innocent woman to her death even though deep down he knows it doesn’t add up.
One of my favorite characters is Grant. A wife-cheating president who has slept with a white house aide would be the cliché of clichés – since well, we have seen this before way too many times in both fiction and real life. But refreshingly, Grant isn’t a womanizing bastard. We slowly learn that his marriage is, and was, cold and lifeless – to the point of costing him the election. This is the first thing Olivia points out when they first meet. His wife Mellie (Bellamy Young) is a lot more manipulative, ambitious and White House-obsessed than he’ll ever be. By the time he and Olivia got together, they were already pretty much in love. As the season continues, we learn that they still are very much in love and they both fail to deal with it. As for the aide…that storyline has its nice twists and turns.
Another character I enjoy watching is Cyrus, brilliantly played and owned by Jeff Perry. I disapprove of his actions and low morality levels and the extreme lengths he goes to secure the president’s seat and his own position. But I love his dialogues and banter, his frustration and love-hate relationship with Olivia, and him trying to keep a baby-wanting, ex-journalist husband happy.
Olivia Pope is like Megan Hunt with better social skills, though I don’t like her sacrificing attitude when it comes to Grant. Yeah, yeah, she doesn’t want him to lose his presidency because of her, and he’s indeed a great leader. But she has to make up her mind about being a mistress, waiting for a couple of years or not being a mistress or not waiting at all. Make up your mind, and stick with it. They’re infinitely more interesting than Meredith and Derek ever were (I’m comparing to Grey’s Anatomy because both shows were created by Shonda Rhimes – the genres and plots are very different) – but with season 3, the star-crossed lovers thing might just start to get on my nerves- especially with the “other” guy Jake (Scott Foley)- whom I’ll get to in a bit.
Henry Ian Cusick’s departure was understandable – there were too many characters on the show. Even though I like them all, Steven didn’t get enough screen time. And while the beginning of season 2 makes up for his absence with good storylines, the addition of Scott Foley’s character made things a bit weird- though not as weird as the appearance of Olivia’s father.
We’ve established the obsession/passion/love-of-each-other’s lives situation with Olivia and Fitz. We also know that Olivia isn’t keen on him leaving his presidency, and even if she wouldn’t mind getting together with him, Mellie and Cyrus, separately and together, will do about anything to keep his seat. And a cute love interest that had nothing to do with politics and Fitz would be a welcome change. Instead, he is friends with Fitz, their romance isn’t off to a genuine start and I’m not buying his intense fondness for Olivia just yet. That said, if Jake has to be there, I have no objections to him being played by Scott Foley. He’s basically a good guy with a very complicated past – but he is nowhere near the impossibly nice (and unlucky) guy he played in Grey’s.
Also I’ll be very happy if Mellie gets shot/killed or at least tortured during one episode. She says or does something smart once in a while, but mostly she’s a cunning, annoying bitch. I’m not fond of characters drunk with power, and unlike Cyrus, she never adds an element of humor. I also don’t like women encouraging their husband’s affairs due to any reason or leaving their careers for their husbands. She rubs it in his face every two minutes, but let’s face it- she loves the White House more than he does.
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Fun note: Brendan Hines, Eli of Lie to Me plays a reporter in the first season – love interest for Quinn and is the key to solving some of the secrets.
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Final Verdict, Season by Season:
(Spoilers for 2 & 3!!!)
Season 1: Must-see entertainment.
Season 2: Quiet good until Jake starts getting involved with Olivia. A bit of a downer watching Olivia turn into a neurotic mess and get into denial about how the world works when it comes to her dad.
Season 3: Good. Though I’m hoping Fitz and Olivia don’t go through any more disastrous drama – like him having caused her mom’s death or something? Shonda – please, oh please, don’t turn Scandal into Grey’s Anatomy (which I enjoyed until Denny’s death, and each season ending with a new disaster, and well, a lot of other things…). I mean there’s already the marriage and the White House, a murder and the election thingy.
