Scandal Chat: Season 3, Episode 17

VO: We’re not letting up with the action — apparently starting seconds after Jake nearly tried to choke out Olivia. Lots of yelling and screaming regarding recreating B613 and I have to say, I love Rosen’s “Really?” with the revelation that Olivia slept with Jake to tap his phone.

KC: Rosen is still the moral center of the show, such that he is, and sometimes the greek chorus. This is gonna sound… I dunno, maybe unfeminist, I am not sure, but Jake going after Olivia didn’t disturb me in the way it did other people. I didn’t like it, or root for it, but considering that Huck did the exact same thing earlier in the season, I think it’s fair to see this is a B613 move, clearly something they teach down at the B613 Community Center. These are BAD people.

VO: Seriously Fitz, if you’re going to reconstitute B613, make sure they don’t act like a bunch of morons regarding contingency plans and the like. They should not go under as fast as what Olivia pulled.

KC: And these people are protecting the country, supposedly. Shut down like a teenager’s house party.

VO: NICE WITH JAMES BROWN SUPERBAD AND ROWAN’S ENTRANCE. Joe Morton probably gave up some of his paycheck just for that entrance. Because my expression was just like Abby’s.

KC: SOOOOOOO well done. I feel like that scene was Papa Pope in a nutshell,and whatever happens to him this season, his run has been iconic.

VO: And we’re at Casa De La Psychokillers. I don’t blame Charlie’s suspicions one bit at all. I love how awkward things are getting and poor Charlie doesn’t know who to address as command. It’s like the kids whose parents split up.

KC: I do like Charlie, crazy though he is, he’s a loyal.dude. A company man all the way! I actually do like him and Quinn as a couple. They seem strangely… normal together. Or at least natural in their fuckedupness.

VO: OH HEY, DEBBIE ALLEN DIRECTED! People can take pot shots at the show for the portrayal of WOCs, but seriously, I’m here because I love how Shonda employs POCs and brings them along for this crazy train ride. Because this show is seriously crazy train.

KC: Honestly, the people taking potshots are the respectibility police, obsessing over how positive the characters are (“and what it meeeeeeeeeans!”) in a way that no one EVER, EVER talks about the characters on, say Game Of Thrones. I know the crazy of this show drove off a few people this season, but when this show committed to become Black Alias, this show won my heart. We (POC) don’t to have crazy intrigue, sex and explosions on TV, we get to be in police procedurals, or come in and help white people learn about themselves, or if we’re lucky we get to say something funny sometimes. So yes, gimme the crazy, over-top-ness and gimme POC and WOC doing he crazy, over-top-ness because I am tired of seeing the eye-rolling circuit court judge.

Anyhoo…

VO: Back to Jake and Olivia — I think Jake has a point about her dad, but I also get her faith in him.

KC: Me too, it’s hard to not choose your parent, even if your parent is Rowan.

VO: Jake is free, but do you really think that he is?

KC: I think Jake chose not to be free. He wanted to be Command, he wanted to “change” B613 but he always wanted revenge. That was his primary motivation.

VO: Oh hey Leo! I love how skeezy you are with getting information. And there’s Drunk Mellie.
She’s just starting early now and with a coffee mug — which is how I roll.

KC: Leo is a sleazeball, but I think he’s consistent. And I like that about him.

VO: Of course Cyrus is whispering about winning the election vs safety. Because that’s what Cyrus does.

KC:This time last year that man was having a damn heart attack, he gives no fucks.

VO: I am laughing like mad at Mama Pope going “yeah, yeah, yeah” with the evil villain speech. Y’all may not like her plan, but I gotta say no matter what, she’s looking fabulous with it.

KC: I… wish I liked her more. She’s beautiful, crazy and badass, but I don’t get her motivation, so she is not interesting to me. Even Charlie has a motivation and he’s a berserker. I feel like all of the depth Rowan has we haven’t seen with Maya yet. Maybe that’s on purpose.

VO: Charlie and Huck are totally dick swinging with their plans right now. And of course her loyalties are conflicted Charlie, don’t bullshit yourself.

KC: Charlie doesn’t understand the concept of conflicted loyalties, he’s ride or die. Of course he doesn’t understand!

VO: Dominic totally stole Maya from Rowan.

KC: Did he though? I don’t think Rowan/Eli ever had Maya/Marie in the first place. A relationship built on lies, man.

VO: I find it interesting that Olivia is concerned with Fitz’s safety. Good grief, who the hell elected this numbskull? I know this is one of those scenes that would get the Olitz shippers swooning, but argh. You know he’s going to do something stupid like listen to Cyrus. Or rig the election.

KC: He’s such as idiot. There is little romantic about their relationship at this point. Though they do have great chemistry, and I honestly loved the “I’m telling you I’m black” line because I honestly wondered who of those two nuts this fictional black Scandal electorate would go for,

VO: Drunk Mellie is totally the best Mellie.

KC: She was drunk the entire episode, I am pretty sure. And fabulous the whole time.

VO: “Papa Pope” are we seeing something of Brolivia Pope?

KC: I hope not. I know we all want a Harrison storyline but that would be just dumb. It was cute though. Rowan is not really a “Papa”

VO: And of course Huck’s version of foreplay is basically bringing a body over. Because he’s Huck. He’s totally courting Quinn now. And it’s…creepy.

KC: Like a cat bringing a dead mouse.

VO: I LOVE THIS SCHEMING SCHOOLGIRL AND THE USED CONDOM AND LEO’S FACE. I HAVE TO SAY THIS IN CAPSLOCK BECAUSE IT’S HILARIOUS.

KC: She intrigues me. Like she’s not at all unfamiliar with such dirty dealing. I would love to know more about her. Especially to be someone so comfortable with using her sexuality to manipulate at such a young age.

VO: Dominic met Olivia? Interesting. I love how Olivia is undermining her dad’s command.

KC: Some people say Dominic may be Liv’s bio dad, which I really hope not. Not that we will ever know, it seems!

VO: You know what, this is where I seriously ship Olivia and Mellie. But that’s because Bellamy Young and Kerry Washington have some great chemistry together. And poor Mellie being forced to tell Olivia of all people about her being raped. Holy shit. Bellamy brought it. I feel like Mellie was basically cornered into spilling the truth, and weirdly, she felt safe opening up to Liv about it (also alcohol). Maybe it’s that she knows Olivia’s not running for election and they’re both working for the same thing, even if they may not be friends.

Can next season be Mellie and Olivia dumping Fitz and working together and drinking wine and snarking like crazy?

KC: They do have great chemistry as actors. And as characters they really do understand each other and have more in common than Fitz and Liv do. Honestly, I also feel like Mellie told Liv in order to bring her into the fire with Mellie. It’s something Mellie can use against her. As Olivia said, Mellie’s not stupid. But, I would love to see an alternate universe episode with them as friends. They know each other. They get each other..

VO: OK. I know people don’t like Quinn, but I love her calling OPA out on the dirty work that they do. I love the snark she brings.

KC: When Quinn is snarky and lashes out I like her too. She is slowly, slowly learning. B613 has been good to her, though. In a weird way.

VO: And Jake is definitely turning evil. At least Jake didn’t kill David. I wonder why Jake gives a damn so much. I’d just cut town and go sit on a beach for awhile.

KC REVENGE, Jake feels like his life was taken away from him. he will never know how to live a life outside of B613 at this point.

VO: Dominic Bell — man Olivia and her Mom have a lot in common — fucking over command. I think that Eli killed Dominic out of pure jealousy. He’s still hurting over Maya fucking him over.

KC: Oh yeah he did. Such a tangled web, the men of B613 and their ladies.

VO: Nice placement of pillows there Olivia. I really want something ridiculously huge like a elephant in the finale.

KC: Or movers coming by with a big end table.

VO: OK. I’m starting to see the Jake and Olivia thing. Because really, when she’s sad and upset, she’s not talking to Fitz. She’s talking to Jake. And I think that Olivia is kind of like her mom more than she admits.

KC: I predict in the finale that we will see Olivia become her mom, WHICH I CALLED DAY ONE WITH THE COAT THANK YOU VERY MUCH. They are alike. Maybe Rowan was trying to prevent this.

VO: Seriously, Olivia needs some friends because honestly he shouldn’t be calling the people she’s slept with for advice or to talk to about them.

KC: Clearly Liv has intimacy issues.

VO: Rowan talking about Dominic Bell and murder is just amazing. I love him. I feel like I could just watch an entire show of Rowan and Maya and that weird double agent love thing and just how dark they got.

KC: I would love some more flashbacks of those two because I would love to see them in an actual loving (ish) relationship. Right now I can’t imagine it.

VO: Seriously Huck and Charlie just kiss. I love how fed up Quinn is, because that’s how I’d feel too.

KC: Another score for Quinn! I was really liking her this episode, until…

VO: Wait. Did Mellie plan this whole thing? And I’m cracking up at Mellie talking between those two. She’d rather be boning Andrew.

KC: Yeah, Mellie is slowly becoming one of my fave TV characters of all time. Almost like a gothic anti-heroine. You can tell the writers love to write for her.. I would too.

VO: OOOH COME ON. THIS IS NOT THE HUCKLEBERRY QUINN I WANT. Wow and they just missed everything.

KC: Someone on Twitter compared them to two walruses fighting. And …yes. The less said about that the better.

VO: And dammit. I don’t want Joe Morton to die. Please let him live! YOU CALLED CYRUS JAKE? ARE YOU THAT STUPID? And of course Cyrus is just that evil. Git rid of three problems at once. I’m kind of glad that fatherhood didn’t damped his sense of evil.

KC: Scandal will lose A LOT without Joe Morton. He made Liv less of a Mary Sue and more human and relatable. He can monologue like a motherfucker. And he is one of the few characters whose motivations and actions actually make REAL SENSE on this show. I don’t want him to go, but if he goes, he at least gets to go out as the season’s bright spot. As for Cy, I think one of the great lessons of Scandal is that parenthood should never be an obstacle for evil scheming. With the right work/life balance you can manage both. It’s inspirational.