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Scandal: The Trail

“You’re right. I would be lucky to have you.”

Best. episode. ever. By all accounts, it should have been a trainwreck. The entire episode was exposition. The only plot of the thing happens in the last two minutes. Yet it was amazing. I think this proves without a doubt that when you put Tony Goldwyn and Kerry Washington together, magic happens. Sexy, sexy magic.

I just cannot praise Goldwyn and Washington enough for this episode. They have a remarkably small amount of dialogue between them, but they make the sparks fly. Fitz reaching for Olivia’s hand in the bus was seriously one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen on television. These two just make it work.

I love the power dynamic between Fitz and Olivia. It could have so easily been one sided. He’s the leader of the free world, after all, and she was his employee. The writers manage to keep this pretty much equal. She is powerful in the political world, even if she’s not the president. She’s easily as smart as Fitz. More importantly, I think, is the fact that he fell for her first. This wasn’t some sweet young thing with a crush on the big boss. Nor was it the big powerful man getting bored with his wife and jumping onto the first pretty girl he sees. This was capital-L Love. Cheesy? Sentimental? Definitely, but I’m a big fan of both.

The last scene where they cuddled on the couch was heart-wrenching. They so want to be the normal couple who can regularly cuddle up together on the couch and not have to worry about his wife and his snipers and their sex tape.

So we’ve made some progress in the mystery of Amanda Tanner. Billy Chambers has turned out to be our black hat. It did sort of blindside me, I’m ashamed to say. I should have seen it coming, but he was always so nice to Olivia! His plan was awful. Have some girl claim to have slept with the president, pressure him into resigning, thus allowing your candidate to take the Oval? He had to have known that the baby’s DNA test would show that Fitz was not the father. I guess the big question is was VP Sally Langston involved.

Am I sorry to see Gideon go? Not really. I had no opinion on him. My only concern is that finding her boyfriend dead will draw more of the show’s focus onto Quinn. Oh why couldn’t she have been stabbed with the scissors instead?

Bits and Pieces:

Abby does not hate anything in this episode! Actually, we find out there is something she likes: baking. Although she did put on her judgmental face a bit at the porn studio.

Speaking of hate: Kerry Washington’s bangs. I’ve seen her look good with bangs in real life, but these were horrible. I know they were just there to help establish continuity, but they really could have done better, don’t you think?

Oh my God, Huck with the beard.

We got a (really) brief glimpse of James pre-relationship with Cyrus. Cy kicked him off the bus.

I’m very concerned about Amanda’s dog. Who is taking care of it? Billy? I’m guessing he’s going be hauled off to jail shortly.

Quotes:

“You cheated on your mistress with your girlfriend. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“She was not my girlfriend and don’t you ever call yourself a mistress. We both know better.”

“Voters thought Al Gore was a big stiff until he stuck his tongue down Tipper’s throat.”
After he did, we just thought he was gross.

“Let’s be clear about something, I run a sausage factory.”

“Which makes me sausage?”
“Handsome, highly qualified, smart, idealistic, and energetic sausage.”

“A guy like me, but, like, cleaner, has been following you.”
Cleaner? Doesn’t narrow the field much, does it?

“The most honest thing I can tell you about myself right now, is that I’m a man in love with an incredible woman.”
Swoon.

“What kind of a coward was I to marry her and not wait for you to show up?”
Holy crap, that is a good line.

“Dear God, man, I did everything but draw you a picture of their stick figures doing it!”

Four out of four sinfully romantic hand graspings

2 comments:

  1. Much agreed. What a wonderfully and powerfully romantic episode. Great review, Sunbunny. (And I was worried about Amanda's dog, too.)

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  2. Dear God! What an amazing 43 minutes of television. It was so good, I watched it twice.

    I never think that adultery is acceptable behavior, but it is hard to deny the chemistry and the love between these two people. The cuddle at the end was superb acting on both their parts; the pain and the longing in their faces was hard to watch.

    I so did not see Billy as the bad guy. But, of course it is he. Great writing!

    And, I agree with you completely about the coward line. I just melted the first time I heard it. OK, and the second.

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