I’m trying to work out whether it’s worth writing Scandal reviews on here. Don’t be shy, come out and let me know…or not, as the case may be…
Last night saw another excellent showing of Scandal. Loved it so much, even though it was hard seeing Fitz in the state that he’s currently in. The Scandal cast are Delivering. Every. Single. Week.
I just wanted to highlight Liv’s epic monologue from the episode. Every time I watch Kerry Washington deliver these lines, it just makes me cry.
Basically, Olivia has figured out that Will Caldwell, a client who wants to be the next governor of North Carolina is having an affair. The affair is ten years old at this point. As we all know, Liv has personal experience of this herself with the president, and they are not in a good place right now. This discovery really speaks to the pain that she’s currently in, and her words to Will after catching him with the love of his life reflect this in a huge way:
“End it. Now…You have nothing. You have a pile of secrets and lies, and you’re calling it love. And in the meantime you’re letting your whole life pass you by while they raise children and celebrate anniversaries and grow old together. You’re frozen in time. You’re holding your breath, you’re a statue waiting for something that’s never going to happen. Living for stolen moments and hotel hallways and coat closets. You keep telling yourself they all add up to something real because in your mind they have to, but they don’t. They won’t. They never will because stolen moments aren’t a life. So you have nothing. You have no one. End it now.”
*sob*
PS, Can I just say though, how fucking great was it to see the Olivia that we know and love? She’s back, and I’m here for it, and loving it!
This is an Olivia and Fitz Scandal promo from ABC, that I love, love, love! It obviously helps that the music is by Emeli Sande, who has the most exquisite voice….
How are you all feeling?
Yeah, me too. Two days later, and I’m still all up in my feels and ugly crying every time I think about Olivia and Fitz’s fucked up bad luck. Oh look, here comes the tears. Man, the fact that I feel this emotional over two TV characters means that Shonda Rhimes, that evil genius, did her job well. Too fucking well quite frankly.
I love Olivia and Fitz as a couple, and I have from about the third episode of Season One. I think they complement each other intellectually, sexually, and dare I say spiritually. They have the kind of chemistry that fairly sizzles whenever they’re in the same space.
My one question is, are they compatible emotionally? A lot of people would probably answer no, to this, because at times, Olivia seems to be a cold fish when it comes to showing how she feels, whereas Fitz tends to over-emote all over the place.
But after Thursday’s episode, I’m more convinced than ever that their emotional compatibility is on par. The main difference is that Olivia is less willing to say how she feels, and for me, this has got to stop.
I have no idea what Shonda has in store for her and Fitz, but can we all agree that what they need is to just have it out, just the two of them? No interruptions from Cyrus, or Mellie, or any of the other people who constantly cause them trouble and strife.
Liv is so self-contained when it comes to her dealings with Fitz, and it’s beyond frustrating. I need for her to go postal, and soon. We had the three days of depression, where she took responsibility for every man and his dog in terms of the shady things she’s been involved in, now we need her to speed over to the second stage of grief, because denial and isolation hasn’t really worked out well for her.
I want Liv and Fitz to have their Cyrus and James moment, where everything is laid out on the table, and they bare their souls to each other. They desperately need that moment, where both of them participate in a two-way conversation/shouting match, not just Olivia schooling Fitz or vice versa. I need them to scream at each other and just get everything out in the open.
I need Olivia to tell Fitz that if he had really loved her, like he said he did, then he wouldn’t have taken the word of a killer, as gospel without even bothering to speak to her first.
I want Liv to tell Fitz, that for all of his grandiose words of love, he actually has no idea what love and sacrifice is.
I want Olivia to remind Fitz that love isn’t just about the pretty words and the grand declarations.
I want Olivia to tell Fitz that she has loved him more than anybody else in his life has ever loved him, and that time and time again, it’s been her who’s been there for him.
I need for Olivia to tell Fitz that everything she has done since the day they met has been for him.
I want her to tell him that yes, agreeing to rig the election was wrong, but she sacrificed her ideals for him because she didn’t want him to feel that his father was right about any damned thing that he’d said to Fitz before he died. That she didn’t want for him to be plagued by the debilitating self-doubt that she glimpsed in him, just after one hour with his father.
I want Olivia to remind Fitz that when he got shot, it was her who abandoned her day job in order to ensure his legacy was protected, and that he would have a job to come back to.
I want Olivia to tell Fitz that because of the nature of their relationship, had he died when he was shot, she would not have been able to say goodbye to him because she is not his wife, and this fact devastates her every day.
I want Olivia to tell Fitz that she didn’t have the luxury of breaking down when there was the possibility that the love of her life might die on the operating table, because nobody was allowed to know how they felt about each other.
I want Olivia to remind Fitz that when his wife decided to forge a letter in his name, asking for reinstatement, it was her who went to all kinds of lengths to ensure that the fraud wouldn’t be discovered, once again protecting him, his wife, and his damned job.
I want Olivia to tell Fitz that she is the one person in all of this who has never gotten what she wanted, when all she ever wanted was him.
I want Olivia to admit that a part of her is afraid that everything she has worked for all her life will be wrecked if their relationship is made public, so she needs him to be with her all the way.
I want Olivia to tell Fitz that he behaves like a spoilt child, but she sees the man that he is, and she celebrates that man for better or for worse.
I want Olivia to tell Fitz that she is all in with him, but he needs to man the fuck up, and to give up looking to the brown liquor to make things all better.
I want Liv to tell him that she’s always believed in him, she just let other people talk her into going against her gut and her principles and she’s oh so very sorry about that.
I need for Olivia to finally tell Fitz that she is in this with him. And to mean it.
Finally, I want Olivia to tell him that she loves him, is in love with him, and will always be there for him, no matter what, and that she forgives him, and can he please forgive her.
Fitz
As for Fitz, he’s already told Olivia umpteen times how he feels about her, but he really needs to drive the point home, because Olivia still thinks of herself as the other woman.
I want Fitz to tell Olivia that by her agreeing to rigging the election, it made his whole life feel like a lie. It made their relationship and their love seem like a lie, and he couldn’t stand the thought that this woman he loved wasn’t the person he thought she was.
I want Fitz to tell her that by her agreeing to rig the election, he thought it meant that she never really believed in him, and that it validated everything that his father ever said about him.
I want Fitz to tell Olivia that she has broken his heart over and over, and he’s had enough of it.
I want Fitz to tell her that she needs to stop playing around with his feelings.
I want Fitz to tell her that he lives in fear that she may find somebody who’s free to give her everything she wants, but he’s selfish and he wants her to wait for him.
I want Fitz to tell Olivia that he lives in fear that one day she’ll leave him and never return.
I want Fitz to tell her that he will do whatever he needs to, to protect her.
I want Fitz to tell Olivia (again) once and for all that his marriage with Mellie is over, and regardless of how long it takes, the divorce will happen.
I want Fitz to tell Olivia that he will stop trying to chase his troubles and sorrows away by hitting the bottle.
I want Fitz to tell Olivia that he plans to marry her one day, and that nothing and nobody will get in the way of that.
I want Fitz to apologise for even for a moment thinking that she was only with him for what he could do for her, when she’s proven her love time and time again.
I want Fitz to tell her that he’s sorry for the horrid things he said to her at Verna’s funeral. She’s so much more than his mistress, she’s the love of his life, and he’s sorry for causing her to doubt that fact for even a moment.
Finally, I want Fitz to tell her that he loves her, is in love with her, she is future, and he forgives her.
That’s all I want. How about you guys?
I see that there are a few people pissed off that the Scandal writers are bringing down hell and damnation on Fitz and Olivia’s relationship. Again.
I get it, I really do, but honestly, I think that our slight obsession with this couple, makes us a little crazy. I’m counting myself in there as well.
I’ve been watching couple-centred dramas for years, and it often takes a long time for the central couple to get together. You guys know this. We’re only on episode twelve of the second season, and people are demanding an end to the angst already? No wonder so many shows get cancelled, the audience of today have no patience at all.
In my opinion, there has been progression, it may not be progression in the way we would prefer, but there’s definitely been a shift between them, and that shift is the reason why so many of us are die-hard Fitz/Liv fans.
I loved Fitz and Olivia in Season One, but when she walked away from the White House in episode seven, I didn’t feel the ache in my gut like I did when Fitz let her go in episode four of this season. That’s called progression. I now feel emotionally attached to these two people, in a way that I didn’t in Season One.
The reason that we feel the way we do about Fitz ‘n’ Liv is because the Scandal writers have taken us on this marvelous journey with their relationship. They’ve made us feel invested in what happens to them, so much so, that some of us feel sick at the thought of a TV president, throwing over his mistress, and getting back together with his wife. That there is genius writing.
People talk about the Moonlighting curse being an urban myth, but I disagree. In my experience, once a TV couple that you’re pulling for make it, or are in a less stressed-out place, relationship-wise, there isn’t the urgency to tune in to see what they’re up to. You’re not as worried about them, because when you last left them, they were doing ok.
I along with many of you have been watching The Vampire Diaries since the beginning, and I’ve watched the fans crying out for a Damon and Elena union. I also watch True Blood, and have also seen the fans clamouring for Sookie and Eric to get together. The thing that these two shows have in common is that the two lead characters got together fairly early on, which meant that the fans who loved them in the beginning, ended up not being as invested in their relationship as the show progressed, and they start eyeing up potential new suitors for the heroine.
I have no doubt in my mind, that if Damon had gotten together with Elena first, there would have been a campaign to get Stefan and Elena together – no matter how beautiful looking Ian Somerhalder is. Here we are in season four, and the fans have gotten what they wanted. Julie Plec’s writing skills will be tested now, because she’s finally given the fans what they’ve been longing for, for four seasons. Will that translate to more fans tuning in every week to see how their favourite couple are doing? You’d think so wouldn’t you, but I bet in a few weeks, less people will feel the urge to watch TVD live.
I’m a huge Merlin fan, and for four seasons, I was desperate for Arthur and Gwen to get together. They finally got married in Season Four, and I was ecstatic. But then Season Five began, and I found myself no longer tuning in to watch it live. I started recording it and watching at my own leisure. I didn’t even notice how my Merlin-watching habit had changed until recently, but it had. I still loved the show, but there was no longer this burning need to tune in asap to see what my favourite couple were up to.
I was a huge fan of Nathan and Haley on One Tree Hill, (and on some level, I always will be) but it’s no accident that Season Three was my favourite of the nine that were aired. Season three was the season that Nathan and Hayley were most at odds with each other. They went through a lot that year, and I tuned in every week, desperate to see if this would be the week that they would kiss and make up. To the delight of fans everywhere, they eventually re-married at the end of the season, and all was well ( well apart from the crash at the end).
When Season Four of One Tree Hill came back, of course I wanted to see how things panned out for them, but as per usual, once all the legitimate angst was over, I no longer felt the burning need to tune in live to watch them.
I watch a British drama serial called Emmerdale, and for months I was desperate for two of its stars, Gennie and Nikhil to get together. I tuned in every night, desperate to see them interact, and oh it was agony because they had so few scenes together, but the scenes they had were great, and I really looked forward to them. Their will they/won’t they story went on for ages, and then they finally got together. And guess what? That desperate need to see them interact died a little. Of course I’m still happy to see them on-screen, but that burning desire to tune in for the sole purpose of seeing them together died when they found their happy place.
The truth is, as much as we think we hate angst at the time, it’s what keeps us tuning in to certain shows. Angst is watchable. Watching happy couples being happy, not so much. Unless it’s a comedy of course:)
I write all of the above to say that there’s simply no point panicking, regardless of your thoughts about previous Grey’s Anatomy or Private Practice story lines. Shonda Rhimes is in control here. She’s an evil genius who somehow was able to make so many of us root for an adulterous couple, and feel ok about it. I for one am going to get on her Shondaland Rollercoaster, and stay on until the ride stops, no matter how often I puke on the person sat next to me.
Fitz and Olivia are the endgame, but getting them to their happy place wont be easy, nor should it be, if the show is to last beyond its third season…
What would you guys like to see happen over the back nine episodes?
People, this review is chockful of spoilers, so read on at your own risk
The last time we saw Liv, was in the campaign flashback, ugly-crying because she’d just voted yes to rig the election for Fitz. Sigh. I cried for the whole day after I watched her make that decision. In fact every time I think about it, it still brings tears to my eyes.
After watching 211, I had an epiphany. I realised that the team of writers at Shondaland were destined to break my heart time and time again, so I needed to get a grip of myself, and assume that everybody is crooked one way or the other, unless told otherwise. I also geared myself up to the inevitable heartbreak that’s headed Fitz and Olivia’s way in the near future.
And so it was with this new found perspective that I ventured into 212.
Truth and Consequences was brilliant, it really was. I understand that lots of fans were annoyed and depressed over it, but I loved every minute of it.
Here’s my not-so-quick recap:
The show starts with a flashback to what looks like a voting hall in Defiance, Ohio. Here we meet Lindsay Dwyer’s boyfriend Jesse, you remember him, he along with six others got blown up courtesy of that psychopath, Hollis Doyle.
Anyway, there’s a fossilized man telling a load of other grave dodgers about these brand new touch-screen voting machines that they will be using for the election. He seemed especially hyped over the fact that this was going to be a paperless system. Sidebar, is there actually such a thing as a paperless system?
Anyway, we find out that Jesse is Hollis’ guy. You know, the guy who swapped one of the voting machines over for one that was rigged. Dum, dum, dum!
As Jesse leaves the polling station, he gets a call from Quinn/Lindsay (Let’s call her Quinnsay shall we?) who’s super stoked because she’s just passed the bar exam, which means that she’s now a lawyer, or something…
I have to tell you, I liked this version of Quinn, I loved her dress sense, and she seemed so much more carefree and happy. Mind you, I suppose being wanted for killing seven people, getting drugged then kidnapped, and given a brand new identity by an unknown benefactor would put a dampener on one’s spirit.
Back to the present day, we find that Hollis is having a David Rosen Problem. David tells Hollis that he suspects him of having a hand in rigging the most recent election. Hollis is briefly rattled, and from what I gather, (because I only understand every fourth word Hollis says) threatens David’s ability to procreate in future .Hollis says something about bulls, steers and clippers and flounces out in a strop, with his high-paid suits in tow.
Meanwhile back at le White House, Mad Mellie marches (gotta love alliteration) into Cyrus’s office, demanding that Cyrus get his guy under control. Mellie looks like she’s about to have an apoplectic fit, or go into early labour.
I find Mellie at her amusing best when she’s losing her mind. Cyrus looks like the quintessential harried professor, and is in no mood for Mellie’s hormonal mood swings. I love how good he is at throwing shade, without seemingly even thinking about it.
“Good morning Mellie” Cyrus says, “pregnancy gives you such a glow of warmth” Death. I do love Cyrus at his sardonic best.
Mellie screams out that Fitz has asked for a divorce. This gets Cyrus’ attention, and you can literally see him plotting as he quickly ushers Mellie out, telling her to take a load off and go see the doctor or something. Cyrus at his patronising best. He’ll handle Fitz.
There was a funny moment here where Mellie looks like she’s about to hug Cyrus in gratitude, she even goes as far as reaching for him, but she withdraws at the last minute and leaves.
“Breeders” mutters Cyrus in annoyance. He’s got work to do.
Back at OPA, Harrison and Abby are speculating about the diamond ring that Liv is staring at in the office. They assume that Edison (Grrrrr!) has proposed. “Wife of a senator” says Harrison. “Please, husband of Olivia Pope!” says Abby. I like this Abby, she doesn’t make me want to eat my own face.
Hollis Doyle strolls into OPA to talk to Liv about their David Rosen Problem. Quinn comes face-to-face with the monster who tried to set her up for multiple murders.
Hollis is mighty unhappy because he thought Olivia had taken care of their David Rosen Problem, and they have words. Hollis tells Olivia to fix things, otherwise he’ll fix Olivia and the other members of the illuminate, as well as her “precious Fitz”. Hmmm, does Hollis know about Fitz and Olivia?
Back at the White House, Cyrus interrupts Fitz’s gun control briefing (love how this show is so relevant politically). Once they’re alone, Fitz starts talking about the concept of Big Ideas. Cyrus listens for a moment before launching into one of his epic monologues. Fitz is being delusional if he thinks that he can divorce his 9 month pregnant wife, and move in his mistress, Cyrus goes on to say:
“Now Liv is a lovely, smart woman, I can’t get enough of her, but she’s not exactly a hue that most of your Republican constituents would be happy about, even if they could get past the divorcing, and the cheating and the abandoning of America’s Baby, it concerns me Sir, how big your delusion is”
Yep, he went there. But it’s not like he was saying anything that wasn’t true. Modern day Republicans aren’t that diversity friendly as far as I can tell..
Now usually such a monologue would have gotten through to Fitz in the past, but unfortunately for Cyrus, he’s dealing with a New Fitz. This Fitz can’t find two fucks to give. He’s not afraid anymore, he has nothing to lose, he’s going to divorce Mellie, and he’s going to keep his presidency. That’s today’s Big Idea, and Cyrus needs to do his job and make it happen!
Can we get an Amen, praise the Lord, and Hallelujah from the pulpit please!
I find it interesting that many fans constantly berate Olivia for never calling out the people close to her who regularly cause her headaches and get in her face. Cyrus is the worst offender when it comes to this.
I find it interesting because we’ve seen from the beginning that really, the only people Olivia goes off on are Fitz, for obvious reasons (if those reasons aren’t obvious to you, then you’ve probably never been in a relationship), and those who threaten the people she loves.
Fans including myself would love to see her go off on Mellie and Cyrus in particular, because they’re the ones who are constantly causing her grief one way or the other, but she has an incredibly complex relationship with both of those people. I also wish she’d read Verna the riot act, but only because I felt so strongly about her betraying Huck. Up until this point, Verna seems to have fulfilled some sort of maternal role for Olivia though, so I’m not sure that that smackdown will ever happen. Unless Verna turns out to be the mastermind behind the shooting of course.
Anyway, what I want to do is to examine the dynamics of the relationship that Olivia has with Mellie and Cyrus, the key aggravators in her life.
Olivia and Cyrus
Olivia definitely has the most complex relationship with Cyrus, and although in Season One, they engaged in a war of words regarding the whole Amanda Tanner mess, since then, we’ve seen Cyrus go at Olivia, and her blatant refusal to fight back. I have a few theories about the reasons behind Olivia’s passiveness.
One of the few things that we know about Olivia is that she was Cyrus’ protégé at college, and I think this plays a big part in why she rarely attempts to deliver a verbal smack down to him. I think back to my favourite lecturers at university and the respect I had for them, and honestly, even today as a grown woman, if they were to berate me the way that Cyrus often does Olivia, I’d probably just stand there and take it. That willingness to be used as a punching bag, comes from a place of respect, and sometimes the patterns that we’ve always followed when it comes to our mentors stay with us.
The other reason I think that Olivia takes the crap that she does is because Cyrus is one of only two people who knows all of her secrets. This is a huge thing for somebody as secretive as she is. It means that he’s the only person that she can – not only be herself with – but can put aside all sense of guilt with. To some degree, that has got to be a liberating feeling for her. Of course she can be herself with Fitz, but he is also the greatest source of her guilt for so many reasons. First of all, he’s married, and that must weigh on her somewhat, regardless of the state of his marriage to Mellie. But more than that, the fact that she’s very aware that the life he currently leads is one that was orchestrated and provided for him in the most treasonous of ways, must impact her greatly.
Because Olivia doesn’t have many people in her life who know her as well as Cyrus, their twisted friendship is something that she seems unwilling to let go, no matter how often he double-crosses her. Also, quite frankly, he’s also her gateway to Fitz.
The other thing is, Olivia knows that Cyrus has Fitz’s back. When all’s said and done, he’s the one person that she can trust with Fitz’s well being, and we all know how important that is to her.
Olivia and Mellie
A few people have scratched their heads over why Olivia consistently plays a submissive role, when it comes to Mellie. There have indeed been times when even I’ve scratched my head and thought that she should really tell Mellie to go screw herself, but you know what, I get it.
Olivia, at the end of the day, is having an affair with the woman’s husband. It doesn’t matter what we think about the state of Fitz and Mellie’s marriage, or even of Mellie herself, at the end of the day, if you’re even a half-way decent person, you will feel some sense of guilt. And quite honestly, in order for her to be a character that I can pull for, she needs to be able to feel that guilt, otherwise, she just becomes another unconscionable home-wrecker.
For me, the complexity of Olivia’s relationship with Mellie also stems from the fact that at one point, Mellie considered Olivia a friend. A friend who was the reason why her husband took his first major step towards becoming president. And not forgetting, Olivia is the reason why Mellie and Fitz’s marriage was brought back to life (in a manner of speaking). Let’s face it, when we meet Fitz and Mellie in 1.06, they had been trapped in a dead marriage for at least a couple of years, and it had come to that point in their relationship, where their only method of communication was yelling very loudly at each other. Olivia changed that. Mellie was probably thankful to Olivia for bringing about that status quo.
Also, ironically enough, Mellie is the only other person who’s aware of Olivia’s darkest secrets, but unlike with Cyrus, where this brings a certain sense of relief and openness to their interactions, it puts her in a precarious position. Mellie knowing what she does about Olivia, probably makes her relationship with Fitz seem brazen, and perhaps somewhat tawdry, and this is something that would definitely unsettle Olivia.
As the mistress, Olivia can’t help but feel that on some level, she is the one who is at fault here, and that is something somebody who talks about white hats would feel very uncomfortable about. So, she’s not likely to exacerbate those feelings of being the other woman, by letting loose on Mellie. She just doesn’t feel that she has the right. I think she absolutely has the right, but I’m not the one engaged in an extramarital affair.
Also, last, but not least, when all’s said and done, Mellie is the First Lady of The United States, and there’s a certain respect that that title affords her. You can’t just go screaming and yelling at the FLOTUS, no matter how much you may want to.
As we saw though, in episode 2.10, Olivia is pretty much done with appeasing Mellie, but this was because Mellie had risked Fitz’s presidency by doing something utterly bonkers. We’re all aware that Fitz is the one person who Olivia is willing to engage in a showdown for.
On a broader plane, I do think Olivia understands better than most that actions speak louder than words. If we think about how self-contained she usually is, even in her dealings with her OPA team, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that she prefers to maintain a stoic silence rather than totally losing control. I really never want to see her break down in front of Cyrus and the snakes on the plane the way she did in 211 again. I have a feeling that that whole experience may have taught her a lesson or two, when it comes to showing weakness in front of others, hence the Olivia we see in the present.
I understand that fans want Olivia to deliver verbal smackdowns to Mellie and Cyrus on a regular basis, but if Shonda Rhimes stays true to the Olivia Pope that we think we know, (what am I saying, it’s not like she has so far!) it wont happen often. Which is a shame, but there you have it.
