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Scandal: The Other Woman

“Now you got a soul? Funny, I thought you sold that to me a couple of years ago.”

This episode was definitely a step in the right direction. Although it didn’t do everything I wanted, it did feature less Quinn, more White House drama, and some great interactions between our love triangle. Still no Desmond, but I will never give up hope!

There was less Quinn this week, although there was still too much for my taste. The mystery of Quinn and the bomb deepens. Supreme Court Justice Verna Thornton is involved, and she says that Quinn has the means to bring down the entire government. Intriguing, but if they’re going that direction, doesn’t it seem a little too similar to last season’s story arc?

Quinn herself seems to have doubled down on unlikability. Now she’s being mean to Olivia. I know that it must be frustrating to have to stay inside and away from the public eye, but the woman did just prevent you from being executed. Why on earth would you be such a bitch to her?

Olivia has her own worries. Topping the list this week (as ever) is her relationship with Fitz. He’s taken to calling her late at night and having adorable coupley conversations with her about war, the sex life of a famous Civil Rights leader, and his pregnant wife. Whatever works for them, I guess. They were so cute giggling on the phone. And then, of course, she had to go and break my heart by not picking up the phone at the end. God I just want these two to be together!

The story this week obviously mirrored the relationships between Mellie, Olivia, and Fitz, and gave Mellie and Olivia a chance to talk to their counterparts, and thus, themselves. Mellie was shockingly sympathetic, while Olivia took the opportunity to remind Anna and herself that, as a mistress, you have limited rights in a relationship. Olivia could have been nicer, but she rightly recognized she was talking into a mirror and seemed to feel no need to go easy on herself.

Mellie is amazing with Nancy. She shows compassion for the first time in this series in comforting Nancy without seeking any advantage from doing so. It looks like it’s more complicated between Mellie, Olivia, and Fitz than I thought. Last season, I truly thought Mellie didn’t care about Fitz’s infidelity, that she was fine with his affair with Olivia as long as it didn’t hurt his chances at getting elected. Now it turns out she did feel betrayed, she did feel hurt. She’s just a don’t let them see you sweat kind of woman.

Cyrus did the right thing this week. It’s shocking, I know. He wants Fitz to go to war. Fitz does not want to go to war. A picture pops up that spurs Fitz into action and Cyrus actually stops him. I think I’ll be a cynic here, and say that the only reason he stopped Fitz is that someone in the media was bound to spot the photoshop job eventually and then Fitz would be in real trouble. It’s inconceivable that a man who would have a young woman killed in order to protect his candidate’s political capital would have a strong moral center, right?

Speaking of a strong moral center, Huck attends AA meetings to try to quit his addiction to “drinking whiskey.” It would be very Dexter season two, but Huck genuinely wants to stop “drinking whiskey.” He enjoys it, but he doesn’t like enjoying it. His detox does not seem to be going smoothly. Last season, Liv had him jump off the wagon. Now he assumes ‘take care of it’ means chop up the nice philanderer and put him in garbage bags, not make sure it looks like he died in bed with his wife. A mistake any man could make?

Finally, David Rosen. Joshua Malina has been upgraded to a series regular this season, so it stands to reason he now has more to do. While last season he was a frequent, if unenthusiastic, ally of Olivia’s, now he seems to have firmly put himself on the opposing team. Their relationship (if you can call it that) is really interesting. This week he orders an autopsy of her client, just to piss her off. He is constantly trying to hurt her, yet she is the one who always ends up hurting him. The irony is that she doesn’t want to hurt him; she’s just trying to protect her clients. Now he’s got some time off of work, and, rather than going fishing or taking up painting landscapes, he’s decided to do the conspiracy nut collage thing in his apartment. This does not bode well.

Bits and Pieces:

This week, Abby hates women who sleep with married men. Please, give this woman another emotion!

That motel is so not in Oakland. It might be the worst Los Angeles doubling for a non-LA location since Sydney Bristow infiltrated that Russian military base flanked by palm trees with the Pacific Ocean just visible behind her.

Quotes:

“I cannot believe I fell in love with a Republican!”

“Being on the short list is not like winning! Winning is like winning!”

“Can we just skip to the end?”
“Excuse me?”
“You come in, I hear how I’m failing you. I yell, you yell. I feel guilty for yelling at the mother of my children. I apologize, you’re cold, then you leave. Can we skip right to you leaving?”
Bellamy Young and Tony Goldwyn are so amazingly good with each other.

“This is not an awards show. It’s a funeral. Tell the congressman I cannot get him on the list, and I certainly can’t get him a plus one, so please stop calling.”

“I will not be photoshopped into a war.”
If you’d photobombed him, however...

“We give great funeral.”
I think the team missed their calling as event planners.

Three out of four love triangles

4 comments:

  1. Just watched and reviewed this hour and I have to say it was fantastic. I absolutely adored it! I'm extremely intrigued by the whole Quinn conspiracy although I don't like the character. And the case of the week was wonderful this week as it collided wonderfully with the White House stuff. Scandal is truly becoming one of my favorite shows at the moment.
    Glad someone is reviewing the show regularly here now :) Looking forward to reading more.

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  2. I liked this one better than the second season premiere. All the mirroring, as you remarked, Sunbunny. I love the Fitz/Olivia phone calls. Pick up the phone, Olivia! I'm glad that they're giving Mellie more depth, because that makes her a lot more interesting than a two-dimensional meanie.

    Loved Cyrus's scene with his husband, especially "I can't believe I fell in love with a Republican!" The Republicans on this show, with the exception of the Tea Party Vice President, aren't very Republican. At least not today's Republican. And I was thinking Dexter during Huck's speech at AA, too.

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  3. Billie - The political stuff on this show is complete fantasy. A moderate Republican with a ring wing VP and gay Chief of Staff? That just wouldn't happen. If they hadn't applied political party labels, I would say without question that Fitz was a Democrat. He worked hard to pass the DREAM Act, passed over an opportunity for war, and hates hunting and the NRA.

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  4. I liked this one better as well. The scene that really got to me was Fitz forgiving Mellie and then turning away from her. Mellie genuinely seemed to want to have some kind of peace in her marriage; Fitz seems to be over it. I wonder what will happen to them if Olivia continues to not pick up the phone?

    I agree about the political labels. It's hard to imagine a more lefty Republican...

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