VO: Is this the first time we’ve seen a disclaimer with this show? Was there one with Everything’s Coming Up Mellie?
KC: There was.
VO: This is one big thing that bothers me — why the hell hasn’t anyone told Abby what the hell is going on? Is there just this idea that since Abby’s gone to the White House she’s persona non grata? Because I don’t believe that one for a second.
I find it amusing also that she was smart enough to walk into a room, see the spilled wine and go, “OH HELL NO.”
KC: THAT IS WHAT I AM SAYING!!! Said that from jump. Liv doesn’t spill wine. Though I have to call BS. How long has Liv been gone? Surely she would have gone to her house/called/texted earlier. BFF’s are paranoid!
VO: Totally agree with you there. If I don’t see you online, I start panicking. They’ve never said how long Olivia’s been gone, but with Run, we could make assumptions that it was maybe weeks? Which begs the question why a missing persons report wasn’t filed or why Abby wasn’t worried sooner.
This is one of those things where the writing is starting to punch holes into their big grandiose plots.
I don’t think that Huck has the right to tell anyone who is or isn’t a gladiator.
KC: That used to be Harrison’s job, and well…
VO: Seriously Shonda. Consider polyamory. I know it might end a ton of storylines, but it would open up so many other possibilities for interesting avenues. Or at least cut down on the lip wibbling.
KC: Honestly, isn’t that Fitz and Mellie right now?
VO: Yes, but at least with polyamory there’s communication, honesty and none of this fucking around talking about Vermont and breaking up and shit. Then again, Liv might not go for it because it would uncomplicate her love life, and we know she likes it messy.
Fitz is seriously 20 years behind on history with the “Who has more money than the United States?” line. And also, as a reporter, I can tell you your office would be CLOGGED with FOIAs when that expenditure went through.
Dear Olivia, if you’re going to brain someone, make sure they don’t get up.
KC: Did no one teach her to fight?
VO: I love how they kind of ripped the story from the headlines about the darknet. It’s just kind of hilarious and part of me wonders how accurate it is. Really, I wouldn’t have done that auction over the Internet.
KC:It’s about as accurate as Law and Order when they do anything about Internet technology and culture. So no. I’m still bothered by the “Olivia puts herself on the auction block” angle. Maybe I’m being overthinking it or whatever, or maybe its having watched this hours after actually visiting actual slave quarters in the south but I really wish there had been a POINT behind this twist in the story because you can’t tell me Shonda and the gang were not thinking about the symbolism of Olivia negotiating her own sale. Was this some kind of twisted way of saying “look, black women have ‘made it,’ we can hold our OWN slave auctions!” I dunno but it bothered me a lot, to the point where it really took me out of the plot.
VO: I agree. It bugs me also. But that’s also where I had a hard time believing that Ian would fall for her plan. I figured in a way, he would string her along. I don’t know if it was that Liv didn’t like to sit around and wait, or she was trying to create tracks or what, but it just seems messier than need be.
HOWEVER, Quinn’s line about Sallie Mae was gold.
KC: And my life in a nutshell. Sallie Mae/Navient will be with me to the grave.
VO: GUS SHOT IAN? What the fuck is going on now?
KC: I feel like I’m watching “Lost”
VO: And I think of course the problem with Liv’s whole plan is that she’s hoping to work with the people she’s got and while Ian might be easy to read, Gus is A FREAKING NUTJOB.
KC: And you can’t predict what motivates a nut job.
VO:I really don’t like Nichols and what they did to him. I can’t believe he’s that stupid, but whatever. If this brings Sally back, I’ll be happy as hell.
KC: Sally was a nutjob I could get behind. Nichols isn’t even fun.
VO: Exactly. Sally and Leo together had some cracking moments.
Hey Mama Pope!
I love how self possessed Khandi Alexander is. Rosen going “….no,” cracks me up. I now want a webisode of Maya asking for stuff and Rosen just going “….no.” and the requests getting more and more ridiculous
Weirdly I’m not surprised at how mercenary Maya is at all.
KC: She’s a pro for a reason. I like that she’s a straight up sociopathic killer but she does love her child. In her way.
VO: Rosen — your white hat feelings come at the weirdest times. This isn’t a nice arena you’re playing with, just let the lady run the show.
KC: Is Rosen a white hat or just a bureaucrat? Because now I am not sure. I will say, I felt some sparks between him and Abby. They are the only couple that actually talks through their dumb ass problems
VO: They did, which is why I rooted for them, but also understood why they broke up. It felt more realistic than Olivia and Fitz to be honest. And they really love the term “bitch” on this show. Cyrus really knows how to play a person doesn’t he?
KC: Do you miss old school Cy? I do. I feel like he’s not a major player anymore and it’s sad. Nichols and Lizzie and all these bitches are amateurs.
VO: I do! I feel like we’re watching Amateur Night at the Apollo and Sandman Sims has yet to march these fools offstage. You know this entire presidency is so messed up, I’m still reeling that people re-elected him.
KC: I don’t even get how they keep the lights on.
VO: Oh Huck.
KC: He’s like that crazy anime character that likes to kill for fun, now.
VO: I love how Olivia tried to play the two hackers and this guy’s response of “LADY I DREAMED OF A BILLION DOLLARS.” That’s kind of hardcore. I also think that some of this is that they lightly touched on illegal immigrants and how hard it can be to be a kid growing up in that, or even extreme poverty.
KC: It’s sick but I cheered at that. Olivia grew up in privilege, she doesn’t get the concept that for some people its not about power, but about getting by. She’s used to dangling the worm of power in front of people. She’d never survive in a situation with street smart, desperate folks.
VO: Oh Abby. I understand her anger and her frustration and if that happened to my best friend, I think I’d also be setting fire to tables.
KC: I still don’t get how she did not know after a couple of weeks or more.
VO: That’s the weakness of this storyline — the timeline has never been definitively nailed down so the sense of urgency is just not quite there. These episodes should build off of “Run”, but with the lack of understanding as to how the timeline is going, it doesn’t have that snap.
I’m so hoping that Mellie has a moonshine distillery in the White House somewhere. That would be hilarious.
KC: Doesn’t the moonshine come from her Pappy? If she doesn’t become president she should just make hooch. It’s popular with the hipster set these days.
VO: You know, I’d have more sympathy for Mellie’s speech about being ruined if she didn’t actually encourage Fitz to go to war for Olivia. But even with that snafu, I really do believe that Mellie would do a better job than Fitz in running the world.
I will say with this scene that the lighting and camera work is gorgeous in creating an intimacy between those two — maybe not as lovers or romantically, but as partners.
KC: They have a very interesting relationship and straight up, once the passion cools between Fitz and Olivia (AND IT WILL, one day) Fitz and Mellie I think will still have a connection, not just as co-parents. They do make quite a pair.
VO: Don’t make me root for those two please.
Quinn all “la de da” about Huck is hilarious. I don’t know why, but I like Season 4 Quinn more than Season 3. There’s the snark, but also wisdom.
Huck is grim and horrifying, but he’s also speaking the truth.
KC: I like Quinn. She really grew on me. She’s twisted too but normal enough to act as a voice of reason.
VO: Fitz’s speech makes me want to hit him because he chose to do this instead of just letting her go because of this weird codependent thing. I can almost hear the families of these soldiers going, “Gee. Thanks Fitz. Fuck off.”
KC: He is a cowardly bitch, but I sing some variation of the “Fitz Ain’t Shit” song every episode. I really, really hope he dies at the end of Scandal.
VO: And as a friend said, Mellie is totally meeting every plane because she wants to be president.
KC: Oh yeah, no doubt.
VO: All in all, this episode also left me underwhelmed. I think it’s because the plausibility of it all is getting to the realm of ridiculous — and make no mistake, we’re no stranger to that with this show. But those implausibilities weren’t on a global scale involving national security. Why the US didn’t decide to neutralize Olivia makes no sense to me. It also doesn’t make sense why all these governments, drug cartels, etc. would bid on a former White House staffer rumored to have had an affair with the president. I think my suspension of disbelief has been stretched to a point where it’s snapped into play. And I was willing to believe B613 was run like a volunteer non-profit.
KC: Scandal has been losing me steadily since its return from winter break. It’s trying to be like Homeland and it’s coming off like State of Affairs. PLEASE Scandal, don’t be a bootleg version of a show that’s already Bootleg You! Do you know how embarrassing that is?
