Written by Rachel Amburose| April 8, 2019 Ugh, Mellie should replace Jake in the front...what a waste|Credit: foodandwine.com
Don’t get me wrong, I like “Scandal” and all of Shonda Rhimes’ TV shows - but “Scandal”, in all of its glory, has a very twisted and inconsistent plot. At the start of the show, “Scandal” was about a “DC fixer,” as they call her, who represented folks who were charged guilty for crimes they didn’t commit. Let me tell you -- “Scandal” was glorious at that time. Olivia Pope seemed like a stunning, bold made-of-steel figure who turned that tough Black women stereotype into one of pride and awe. She was the person everyone looked up to, she was the person everyone relied on. When she walked in the room, everyone practically let of a sigh of relief. “Scandal” was great in some of its later seasons as well, but my love for the show quickly faded as B613 (terrorist organization) hijacked the plot. It was essentially the turning point for the whole “Olivia gives into power” theme, but it turned away a lot of viewers. It turned Olivia and Abby, one of her closest, altruistic friends who would literally jump over a cliff for her, into adversaries. It limited Cyrus Beene’s character to a personality of gay, maniacal politician who plays dirty. If you’ve watched the show, you also know that Shonda Rhimes usually has a lot to say, which means that she writes long paragraphs of speech for her characters-- specifically, Eli Pope. Eli Pope is Olivia’s crazy and murderous father who is as good alive as he is dead. Often, he talks about his position at B613 and has these extremely long monologues that I just can’t stand. I watched the series on Netflix so I was able to literally skip over these scenes. These monologues could’ve been cut shorter, like way shorter! Okay, I’m going to shift gears for a second and tell you about the one thing that I thought was executed well: Mellie Grant. Mellie is another one of these show-stopping characters that not only do you want to be but also want her to just exist in our realm. Mellie began as whiny and unreliable, as someone pathetic who hangs around Fitz because she’s his namesake wife during his affair with Olivia. Mellie Grant wasn’t any of this though, and I’m so upset that they painted this picture. She is someone who’s had to climb up the mountain all by herself and when she got there, she only wanted to do good. Okay, there were times when Mellie wanted a B613 intervention but she has her ducks in a row. Mellie chose Olivia to be her chief of staff even though she’s her ex’s mistress. She left Fitz with her children after a long time and was extremely patient with him, even more than she justifiably had to be. Mellie didn’t deserve all the crap that was said about her in the beginning because she is probably the most iconic character in this series. Which now brings me to Fitz and Jake: the two idiots obsessed over Olivia so much that I literally get a pang of anxiety whenever they’re in the same room together. Let’s start with Fitz-- he sucks. He’s whiny and pathetic and he tagged Olivia along for the majority of this show. You know, I felt all giddy inside when the whole “First Girlfriend” subplot took off but then I was crushed when Olivia, being the idiot that she is, practically blabbered the “I suck at commitment” excuse and shot out of the White House. She also didn’t want to be the traditional First Lady but if you really like the guy, why can’t you stay. Fitz said the entire time that she didn’t have to do those chores but I guess she thought different. Fitz is also a horrible president because the only bill, no, the only legislation or political document we’ve seen him sign, or make, or whatever is the Brandon Bill. And I still remember laughing my butt off when his vice president asked to read the bill and tabbed the million-page document and decided to point out all its errors. What kind of President do you have to be to do this? Defiance, Ohio should’ve never happened. It was unnecessary and while those parts were entertaining they added zilch to the main plot. It showed how Cyrus Beene was a horrible person but that's it. It derailed any sort of positive feelings towards Fitz because he practically fooled millions of his voters to get there. And it doesn’t matter that he didn’t know about. I mean, this whole Trump and Russia spectacle is just like this. We thought that he rigged the election system and if he had actually done that (and we had enough evidence), he wouldn't be alive politically right now. It wouldn’t matter if he knew or not. Okay, lastly, Jake. Ah, I don’t even know what to say. Is it bad to think that him being there added nothing to the show? Sure, it made us feel for Olivia when she spent all those nights without Fitz but from what I can gather, Jake was just boy-toy. He is in love with Olivia and this whole time she’s been using him to blot her tears and warm her bed. I get why Olitz didn’t happen until after a long, long time but adding Jake to the mix was awful. Jake, a product of B613, turned good after meeting Olivia (and actually stalked her) but eventually gave in to power. But he wasn’t the only one. So imagine how I felt when he was the only one who went down for B613? What about Eli Pope? Olivia? Fitz? Mellie? Cyrus? I guess they’re just too important to go down for this mess. |