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Scandal: Like Father, Like Daughter

I know you're very busy, sir, but it's vital I show you
these pictures of me and Olivia on vacation.
"Every girl is someone's daughter."

It was a mixed bag of an episode.

The sex tape story was handled with surprising sensitivity. Mellie's scene with Karen was what really sold me on it. Having her admit that it is sexist and wrong that the press has expectations of virginity and "virtue" from Karen was the perfect touch. The scene with Olivia and Fitz in the Oval Office had some issues. He was very aggressive with her even after she told him to stop and related being a "man" with being able to get Olivia to have sex with him which is just...troubling. As was his takedown of Mellie as a bad mother. Yes, she definitely could be a more present parent, but Fitz has had his share of ignoring his kids and day drinking too so that speech seemed awfully hypocritical. The final scenes of the episode were fantastic. The Tom and Rowan scene was Scandal at its best. Twisty and surprising and oh so delightful in that guilty pleasure sort of way.

The interrogation was majorly tense. I think I was literally sweating. If ONLY Fitz had just listened to Jake. And now Fitz thinks Jake's behind it? He can't possibly believe that, can he? They were friends. They were good friends. I know they've been fighting over Olivia, but Fitz can't believe Jake would murder an innocent teenage boy to get her back, right? It's a good twist, even if it does require a little suspension of belief. Hopefully Jake's arrest will inspire Liv to look into who is really responsible, which should lead her to her father, which should lead to Rowan and his grossness being gone for good.

I've noticed that I like Olivia Pope and Scandal in general much more when Liv and her father do not interact. It allows her to be much more of the Strong Female Character™ the show keeps telling us she is. Here, she took total control of the Karen situation, even refusing to back down for Mellie, and came clean to Fitz about Jake. There's room for improvement, but I like this Olivia much better than last season's.

As I said, Mellie's speech to Karen really saved the sex tape story for me. That, and making the boy's parents the villains. The focus of the story became not 'look at what Karen did, isn't she bad/wrong/disgusting' but 'look at what these parents are doing can you believe it how gross.' And indeed, it was gross. Even before Olivia threatened them, I was wondering what impact child pornography laws would have on their little scheme. They were going to sell the video to the media? Aren't there laws that would prevent news organizations from buying a sex tape involving minors? I do feel like Olivia and Fitz were ignoring the easy solution to the problem. Pay them the money, make them destroy the tape, and then use their government influence to ruin their lives until they give the money back. They get audited by the IRS, put on the no fly list, accidentally on purpose added to the sex offender registry. Blackmail can be a two way street, you know.

Bits and Pieces

Does Karen know about Olivia and Fitz? If so, did that impact her decision on whether or not to call her?

Funny that this episode featured the secret service being dangerously incompetent, as so much of that has been in the real life news recently.

I hate when Fitz gets jealous over Olivia's relationship with Jake. He's married, for God's sake.

So now Fitz thinks Jake is behind Jerry's murder. Rowan initially told him it was Maya. How is that going to play out?

Quotes

Mellie: "A sex tape?"
Fitz: "Yeah."
Mellie: "She takes after her daddy then, doesn't she?"

Olivia: "She'll be no better than a reality star - the lowest form of life."
Wow, say what you really think, Liv.

Mellie: "If you could tell me that you had sex with those two boys because it made you happy, because you wanted to, because you felt empowered and turned on...Karen, I am your mother, so inside I am having a tiny seizure, but still, I would try hard to be supportive and happy for you. But I don't think that's why you did it. I think that you were sad. I think that you were feeling numb. I think that you thought feeling something was better than feeling nothing. I think that your brother died right in front of you."

three out of four sex tapes

sunbunny, who wishes she knew how to quit Scandal

1 comment:

  1. Aaaah the Morgans are the scum of the earth, I was so psyched when Liv went off on them that was one of her all-time best rants! I was terrified of her yet at the same time ready to pump my fist in the air.

    I also really liked the scene before that when Liv tells Fitz that he should just pay the money to make it go away, and in the ensuing discussion she tells Fitz she went away with Jake. The interplay and tension between the two in that scene was vintage Scandal at it's best, and, fittingly enough they used "The Light" by The Album Leaf again for that scene.

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