It was Mother’s Day (or Mother/Sister’s Day?) on last week’s Scandal. Here, Viv, Lauriean, and Keidra share their thoughts on Mama Pope, Josie Marcus and more.
VO: I love Maya’s love for her daughter and wanting to see her daughter. I remember reading something in an interview with Khandi Alexander that very few mothers don’t love their daughters. I have this image that Maya has spent all those years in that cell clinging to sanity by thinking about her baby girl. And it hurts to think about losing touch with your kid. If Rowan thinks he can just let this slide, he’s a fool.
KC: I also think she’s very dangerous. This is Scandal, so I don’t think there’s something else going on under the surface. I hate Rowan, but I think Maya was locked up for a reason. Like a“she’s an assassin” reason.
VO: MAYA IS FUCKING HARDCORE AND THIS SCENE IS TERRIFYING ME. Holy fucking shit no wonder they had the parental advisory in the beginning. That was just insane.
LDD: I still feel queasy thinking about that scene. Can we unpack just how hardcore/possibly insane/definitely dangerous she has to be to do what she did to herself?
KC: This is why I am sure that Maya is quite possibly a hardcore B613-er. I think she might be Huck levels of crazy. I noticed the tenderness between Rowan and Maya as they looked at pictures of Olivia, it seems that they at least shared something – their love of Olivia – but there is definitely something going on under the surface between them. Maybe Rowan/Maya = Charlie/Quinn?
LDD: Them looking at pics of Liv was downright touching. It almost gave me a glimmer of hope that Rowan/Eli (have we figured out why he has two names yet?) really does have some love in his heart.
VO: Rowan and Maya are a mess of a couple. I really think that Rowan loves her and the family, but Maya must’ve done the double agent thing and the imprisonment was the best he could do to protect her. I hope for flashbacks regarding them, because to me, they’re a more tragic couple than Fitz and Olivia.
LDD: I called Maya as agent/spy/terrorist a LONG time ago. And I agree, they dynamic of Rowan/Eli and Maya’s relationship would be worth exploring.
KC: I am sticking with my Charlie/Quinn theory, think about it: Maybe he recruited and trained Maya and she goes off the rails into Huck-ness after being in the hole. Or maybe she was involved in some kind of bigger conspiracy and needed to be officially “off the grid”
VO: In the Quinn/Charlie fucked up relationship, I’m kind of rooting for Charlie. but that’s because he’s not stupid and has some funny lines. His whole “I don’t want to have to give that speech,” made me laugh.
LDD: OMG. At that scene I literally screamed at my T.V. “Game recognizes game, QUINN.” He’s been in B6-13 and the damn hole. He is of that life. You? No ma’am.
KC: BUT SHE WILL BEEEEEE
VO: CHARLIE CAN’T HAVE FEELING FOR QUINN. SHE’S TOO STUPID FOR HIM. I just don’t buy Charlie and Quinn together, but i think it’s that his OTP is murder.
Speaking of couples that don’t listen to each other — we have Cyrus and James. Poor James — I feel like he’s kind of like a Mellie in the way that he feels like staying home all the time is boring and wasting his talents. Which I feel for him.
I am amazed that Cyrus is willing to pimp his husband out. And what is the worse things Cyrus has done? Besides hiring a serial killer to kill his husband. And Cyrus is underestimating his husband. You neglect, snark and ignore your significant other like that and all hell will break loose.
LDD: When you look at all the things Cyrus has done to James, you kinda wonder if he loves him at all. He almost murdered James. Now he’s pimping out, and being mind-boggelingly ignorant to the possibility that James could say “yes.”
KC: I think he loves James in his own way, but he’s not good with loving someone without some level of control over them. Not too dissimilar from Liv… I am not at all amazed that he pimped James out. I’d love to know what kind of relationship he had with his wife/beard.
VO: FITZ IS SERIOUSLY THE WORST. THE ABSOLUTE WORST. He’s a manipulative asshole. Fitz is like a bowery bird and trying to woo Olivia with a house? Did he just go there? She’s about as much of a bundle of dirty little secrets as Fitz is. Pot meet Kettle. Is he saying that she’s going to make jam? Because if so, I hope that he likes red wine and popcorn jam. Fitz is a manipulative fuck. I’m serious. I mean it’s nicer than a kept apartment, but seriously, he’s wooing her with kept woman words.
LDD: Ok. I’m an ass. Because I completely went for it. And here’s why: I don’t believe Fitz is insincere. I believe 110% that he would walk away from this political life and make jam with Liv. He never wanted all this in the first place, even before he even met Liv. He sat on Liv’s sofa and watched Mellie talk about the affair. He is SO ready to be done with all this. And I’m ready for Team Olitz. There. I said it.
VO: I think what frustrates me about Fitz and Olivia is that I keep feeling that they’re resetting the clock all the time with this relationship and it’s just getting kind of tiring for me.
KC: I respect your Team Olitz-ness, Lauriean, though I cannot co-sign it. I feel like they are so stuck in their Smoove B fantasy world of romantic trysting they will never be able to be a couple in real life. They would not know what to do with each other. And honestly Liv would tire from the jam-making life quickly. Fitz never wanted politics, but Liv does want to be a fixer.
VO: While I am thankful that Harrison was shirtless in that scene, I am not surprised he fell into bed with Candice, but it’s not the smartest idea.
LDD: I saw that was like, “But why? WHY? Then the brush off she gives him later?” :::kisses teeth in annoyance.
KC: She doesn’t strike me as the most emotionally mature of women.
VO: Holy shit Josie Marcus. I get why she did what she did, but on further reflection, I’m not thrilled with her doing it. Candy is a grown-ass woman who made some really stupid mistakes. Also, as a sister/mother, one of the first things you do as a parent is to TEACH YOUR KIDS SOME FUCKING CONSEQUENCES. Her committing fraud and shit she has to pay the consequence. By having Josie drop out of the race, you lose an interesting character. And Olivia is gonna get back with Fitz the baby otter of codependent, cheating needs.
But it’s a mom theme tonight. What I love about this one is just the lengths familial love will go. Maya will escape from prison to be near her daughter. I like that she also knew that Rowan fucked shit up with their relationship. Maybe in the family, Maya was the buffer between Olivia and her father, when he would get too harsh. Or Rowan was just a distant dad.
KC: I thought it was nice balance from the bleakness of last week. just wanted to throw out the fact that this a triple historical event: black female showrunner, black female lead, black female director (Ava DuVernay). And another solid episode of a top rated show. Awesome.