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Scandal: Beltway Unbuckled

“I’m the leader of the free world, I’m arguably the most powerful man on the planet and I am being brought to my knees by my wife and my... and Olivia Pope.”

I really liked this episode. For the first time this season, the weekly client’s case dovetailed neatly into the Olivia/Fitz romance, we made some progress on the Quinn mystery, and Abby got to do something with her face besides frown.

This week’s clients: the parents of Jenny Nystrom, church-going coed by day, DC party girl by night. Jenny and her parents provided the perfect mixture of vulnerability and sleaze for Scandal. I felt genuine pity for Jenny’s parents, but Jenny’s party hard lifestyle allowed me to be interested in the mystery of who killed her without becoming depressed over her demise. Don’t judge me; she’s fictional.

Things seem to be more or less falling apart at Pope and Associates. Huck’s off the wagon, which cannot lead good places, and Abby and Quinn feel left out of the loop by Olivia. Although Harrison was able to talk Quinn down, Abby seems to be willing to soothe her hurt feelings by feeding information to David. Like I mentioned in the intro, I’m grateful Abby gets to exhibit another emotion. Hopefully she’ll have more to do this season than the last. One caveat: the speed at which she betrayed Olivia does stretch reason a bit far. Last season she was willing to do anything for Olivia Pope, but now she has no problem selling her secrets to David? I would have appreciated a little more hesitation on Abby’s part. Speaking of David, I’m glad he’s not just sleeping with Abby for information, nor only because he likes her. It’s very real. Well, as real as this awesome soapy conspiracy-y show gets.

Onto our main romance: Olivia and Fitz. Girly sigh. Well, we got a break up scene complete with two broken hearts and and a distraught Olivia crying alone in a restaurant. Frankly, I’m not that upset. I’ve seen enough of Grey’s Anatomy to know that Shonda Rhimes won’t keep them apart forever. If I had a dollar for every time Meredith and McDreamy broke up, I’d be as rich as Shonda Rhimes.

Olivia and Fitz may be breaking up, but Mellie’s nearing a breakdown. I really like her character. She was a highly educated, highly successful lawyer before giving up her career dreams to let her hubby run for office. She feels underutilized and let’s face it, she is. She’s just a photo-op. It was so like her to team up with Olivia. True, she’s not in Olivia’s fan club, but she got the attention she’s been desiring and a chance to drive Fitz a little crazy.

Finally, we got a glimpse of the people behind our massive conspiracy: Hollis Doyle (oil tycoon), Verna Thornton (Supreme Court Justice), Cyrus Beene (the President’s Chief of Staff), Mellie Grant (First Lady), and Olivia Pope. Is anyone else very, very afraid? David’s right to call this a conspiracy. Between the five of them, they could easily destroy the world.

Bits and Pieces:

I love the very honest fallout between Fitz and Mellie. He’s sleeping on the couch in the baby’s nursery. The President of the United States is sleeping on the couch! I love it.

Olivia Pope has the best wardrobe in all of television. There, I said it.

The writers of this show really don’t give the audience any credit. I hated the whole is Jenny going to turn out to be the girl in the hospital or the girl in the ditch faux suspense. If she was in the hospital, the show would be over, obviously.

That awkward situation where your ex-girlfriend keeps bringing protestors in to camp on your front lawn.

I’m not gonna lie, my heart did a mini backflip when Olivia realized it wasn’t Cyrus she was meeting.

Abby baked cookies for David. Her love of baking had previously been established in The Trail.

Quotes:

“Tell the press the pregnancy is making me toss and turn so you’re sleeping in another bed so that I can be more comfortable. Tell them that you have been staying up late in bed trying to come up with new ways to keep America safe and democratic and free and you don’t want to disturb my pretty little head with all that thinking. Or tell them that I don’t want to spend my nights sleeping next to a man who gets erections in his sleep dreaming of Olivia Pope. Your choice. I don’t care. Relax. I’m kidding. For now.”
God, Bellamy Young gives good bitch.

“I can’t leave the country I run just because my wife doesn’t want to look at my face.”
But it’s such a handsome face!

“Stop calling me 007. Because you’re using it sarcastically.”

“Why isn’t that phone of yours ringing or buzzing or dinging or whatever it is blueberries do?”

“There are nine 458 Spiders in the DC area registered to these owners.”
“All men, it turns out, because women don’t have embarrassingly small sex organs they need to compensate for.”

“I just left a meeting with three staffers who think Kurkistan is next to Morocco.”
You can hardly blame them for not knowing the specific geographic coordinates of a fake country.

“Yes, dead girl, violence, murder, people are bad, I’m feeling emotions.”
Cyrus and Mellie should get a spin off where they try to out quip each other.

“You must really hate me for falling in love with you.”
My weekly ‘oh-my-god-it’s-so-romantic-why-can’t-these-two-just-be-together-forever’ quote.

This is the first episode I’ve truly enjoyed this season.
three and a half out of four broken hearts

3 comments:

  1. "If I had a dollar for every time Meredith and McDreamy broke up, I’d be as rich as Shonda Rhimes."

    Haha epic line sunbunny. It killed me!

    And I LOVED this episode. The conspiracy reveal with all those major players was just phenomenal. I can't wait to see where this show goes next.

    p.s. I totally agree that Abby should have hesitated more before selling out Olivia. She was so loyal last year that it's a bit jarring.

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  2. My favorite Sunbunny line (after the Meredith and McDreamy one): Don’t judge me; she’s fictional. :)

    Personally, I think Abby is undercover and isn't selling Olivia out. Or maybe I just hope she is.

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  3. This conspiracy frightens me because they really could destroy the world, or at least David whom I like very much.

    Information, as they say, is power and I think Abby is looking for some because Olivia is holding out on her. If the conspiracy comes after David, it will be very interesting to see where Abby's loyalties lie -- especially if she and David start to actually fall for each other.

    ReplyDelete

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