VO: When we last left Jake, he was about to be asked for the weirdest and most awkward threesome ever….
And Jake is suffering the same whiplash that I’m sure many of us are feeling when dealing with Fitz and Olivia. I love how Liv is all “I DON’T WANT YOU TO KILL MY FATHER!” while Fitz is acting like the big cockblock he is. Jake has a point about B613 and how naive they both are because you are going up against Darth Huxtable — the man is always one step ahead because he’s a fucking chessmaster.
KC: Jake knows better than anyone. And while I won’t go so far as to call him a “good guy” I do appreciate that his goals are clear when it comes to Rowan. Both Fitz and Olivia have too much personal stake to be clear-headed about this, I think.
VO: And really, is this the time for Fitz and Jake to wave their dicks around competing for Liv’s attention?
KC: This is when Scandal is very much like a CW show for old people.
VO: Any bets as to if those files are still there by the end of this?
KC: I think we know…
VO: Yeah we do. After all, they brought David Rosen, Scandal’s own Charlie Brown into this.
I find it interesting that Lizzie is going to Olivia for help. I wonder what angle she’s working. And I miss young Lizzie’s hair. That’s a cute haircut. I think that Elizabeth expecting Olivia to be friendly to her is her being high. This is business. I don’t have to be friends with people to work with them.
KC: That was an interesting moment for me. Even in all of this, in the Beltway, one of the most cut-throat environments to work in, here’s a woman in the workplace angling to be liked. I guess it is totally socialized into women.
VO: It totally is. I remember having to tell people that just because we worked well together, that didn’t necessarily mean we were friends. But it was also my mantra of, “I’m not fucking you, I don’t care.”
HEY IT’S ANDREW NICHOLS! WHERE WERE THEY KEEPING YOU? SHOVED IN A BOX? Because it’s obvious you weren’t with Mellie because Mellie would’ve cleaned up a bit more if she was getting nookie.
KC: I actually didn’t expect to see him again. I thought him choosing the VP slot would be the end of his storyline for good, so I am a little surprised. I don’t really like him though. Only in that he allows poor Mellie to get some.
VO: Cyrus is looking a little jumpy. I wonder what his thought is right now — is his boytoy leaking shit to other places than the RNC?
KC: Cy is way off his game. Like WAAAAAAY off, I think honestly, it’s gonna take longer for him to come back than Mellie. And I didn’t think about this, but even Mellie has more friends than Cy, so of course he’d fall for a sex worker and be in denial about it.
VO: Oooh good point. I hadn’t thought of that either. He hasn’t had someone to talk to about mourning James. I am also impressed by how well they drop wine names on this show. I’m always “That one! The one with the penguins on it!”
KC: I think wine knowledge is a weird kind of secret language on this show.
VO: It’s totally a money/power thing. Think about all the high-end designer names dropped in hip hop and rap songs. This is more niche, but it’s definitely signifying power in a certain way.
I wonder how much Rowan means it when Olivia is family. And I love that Rowan calls those boys family. I weirdly feel like he’s got the truth on Fitz because he’s just chasing Olivia because she’s elusive. What he says about putting her back together however is kind of creepy — I mean, I get that family line and I would say it, but I don’t think that I’d put that creepy of a spin on it.
KC:Rowan loves Olivia, I really think he does. But I do think that he has never been able to truly be a father to her in any kind of traditional, nurturing way. He’s in some way like the textbook, first-generation middle-class minority parent that loves their kid but also keeps that emotional distance because he’s go to prepare them for the Real World. Because Rowan is a ruthless spy dude, though there are even more layers of emotional fucked-up-ness.
VO: Totally — I keep meaning to discuss with you about the whole idea of immigrant parents and the minority parents who went from lower classes to middle/upper classes and the power structures and conflicts within that. That would be some fun stuff to talk about.
Mellie in her power red. Girl is looking good and Nelson is totally loving it. I often wonder about all these ripped shirts because honestly, doesn’t anyone notice the ripped buttons? Also nice job with matching her bra to her outfit. Mellie is totally on point.
KC: When Mellie matches her bra to her outfit you know she is 100% back.
VO:And here is David Rosen …..the walking womp sound.
KC:LOL I love the Jake’s little wink/threat “I’m sure you will be surprised to know that I was once Command!” Uh-huh… sure
VO: Livvie? I’d be pissed if anyone called me a diminutive of my nickname. It’s like Fitz has been trying to get more pet names for Olivia to show Jake: “SEE! KNOW HER BETTER!”
KC: He called her “Livvie” a lot back in earlier seasons. I do think it’s more of a possession thing now.
VO: Nice pullback Liv. I weirdly like him calling her out on her confusion, but he lost points with the kissing demand. Dude should just pull back and let her breathe and figure shit out. He knows they’ve got that good physical connection and is using it to override her senses.
KC: I don’t think Liv’s done with Fitz, but I do think the blinders are off about him, to an extent and she catches herself in a way that in earlier seasons she would have just ignored.
VO: OF COURSE CYRUS IS SPYING ON ELIZABETH! If he didn’t I would’ve been disappointed in my boy.
ELLA IS CRYING BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT BEING HER DAD. YOU ARE A TERRIBLE FATHER CYRUS. Dude, Scandal is all about terrible parenting decisions and how they come back to haunt people.
KC: Also, though, I think it shows something that we don’t see a lot on TV. Becoming a parent doesn’t make everyone into a better or nicer person, especially if they are a straight up asshole. Sometimes, if you’re an asshole, you’re just an asshole with kids. Lots of shows and movies bring in kids to soften a character. Cy never wanted to be a parent and he still doesn’t. It’s sad for Ella, but everyone except poor, deluded, dead James already knew that.
VO: I think that at times we get this romantic vision of parenting and children, which isn’t true. I mean, not everyone can be a great parent and great in other areas, unless you’re Beyonce. I like the truth in that, but I also am wincing in that I want to rescue Ella from the boarding school hell you know she’s going to be going into.
So is Cyrus saying that Republicans are evil? And he’s a Republican? Or are they talking about the Tea Party faction?
KC: Yeah right! I sometimes think Scandal writers forget that they made these characters mostly Republicans.
VO: I love Olivia’s face — WHO THE HELL LET THE CHILDREN IN HERE? She is so not natural with children. And if Huck doesn’t fess up or keep this on the down-low, he’s gonna get burned because he’s not thinking.
KC: LOL. That was so rude! “AND YOU ARE?” My goodness, Liv, he’s not a spy.
VO: You never know. He is Huck’s son.
CYRUS JUST KILL MICHAEL. YOU HAVE CHARLIE ON RETAINER. IF YOU DON’T USE HIM, YOU HAVE TO PAY HIM ANYWAYS. JUST DO IT.
KC: But he kind of cares for Michael. In his way.
VO: I have to admit, I like to see Cyrus and Olivia working together. At least in a position where Olivia is on the superior position. I love how she tells him to go home to Ella.
KC: Cy still thinks Olivia is a friend. I keep thinking “you put a hit out on her ass!” But he almost killed James. So Cy needs to try to kill Michael to make it real.
VO: Good to know that Cyrus uses the Alexis Carrington-Colby version of showing you care through murder and power struggles. Jake totally wants to believe Olivia and he thinks that she wants to do it, but he knows the odds of him getting out alive are pretty slim. He actually reads her better at times than Fitz.
KC: Because Jake doesn’t see Olivia as an ideal. Fitz really, really does.
VO: He’s not that cute, Cyrus. I’m just sayin’
To be honest, I am very surprised that Cyrus that didn’t kill Mandy McConceia.
KC: Yeah. Maybe it’s not real.
VO: Poor Quinn. I would eventually lose my mind also just sitting in that damn car doing nothing also.
AND REALLY THIS IS THE SHITTIEST VERSION OF TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY EVER. How the hell did Javi get out of school?
KC: Javi is his father’s son, I am sure it wasn’t the first time. Huck really is a baddad. This whole episode is like AWFUL DAD THURSDAY.
VO: Trophy? I swear it’s not about Rowan, but impressing Olivia which isn’t the point of it all. I am also impressed at how she played her father and lured him out. Because she basically preyed on her father’s love for her. But I feel bad for her because it can’t be easy to lure her father out and not hide behind Jake and Fitz.
KC: I dunno. It seems to me that I’d have a complex about being this shiny object for all three of these dudes. Has she ever had a relationship with a man that doesn’t put her on a weird pedestal?
VO: Like romantically? Probably Edison and he was smart to run the fuck away when she broke up with him. Remember, she’s got some fucked up views of love and relationships.
Given all the crazy that has happened over the Grant administration, I feel like if Mellie divorced Fitz and married Nelson, it would’ve been one of those “Hrm. Another day of crazy in the Grant administration,” report.
KC:The American voting public in the Scandal universe would elect a Kardashian to office, I think. Just stupid.
VO: In my head, Joan Callamezzo and Perd Hapley are the pundit king and queen of the Scandal universe. That’s the only explanation I have. Between Javi and Kim, I think Javi believes Huck more because he wants his dad back and not to get hurt.
KC: I’m losing hope that Huck is OK and will have a real reunion with his family. But no one can be too happy and stable in a Shondaland show.
VO: So wait…I’m confused. What angle is Nichols working?
KC: I honestly think that this scene was vague on purpose. I dunno if it’s an issue of cheating or double crossing as much as Nichols is excited to have as much sex as possible with whoever is available to him.
VO: Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww. And now there’s a stabbing in front of the truck and it is seriously the worst take your kid to work day ever and Nichols and North are still getting it on and I’m internally screaming while going “Poor Mellie” also. Unless they’re planning on inviting Mellie into their weird power threesome?
KC: Not sure how cool Javi thinks his dad is right now.
VO: Rowan totally knows Olivia played him. Or tried to. I always find it fascinating with Rowan that I believe he’s always got a bit of truth in what he’s saying to her. And his whole “because of you” speech is just still kind of disturbing because it’s him absolving himself of his actions, if that makes sense.
And that’s the problem about encouraging your child to stand in the sun and do the things — because honestly, that means dragging yourself out with everything also. And maybe as a parent, if you’re not a selfish ass, you accept that and deal.
KC: Here’s the thing, there was SO much subtext in that scene to me, that’s not just about parent and child, but also about both class and race. Like I said earlier, Rowan feels like he sacrificed his life, maybe even his humanity, to give Olivia this privileged life that he never had growing up, and at the end of the day her loyalty should be to him because of those sacrifices, not to these two white “boys” who (he believes) will never see her as an equal but as a plaything. I honestly saw that “you have forsaken me” speech as not just a speech about Olivia turning away from him as a father, but turning away from all that he stood for and gave up to give her. I don’t know if we’ll ever know the details of Rowan’s past but I think he gave a LOT away in that speech.
He honestly reminds me a lot of (and stay with me here) Magneto from the X-Men, a villain who does some undeniably evil deeds, but knowing some of his background, you kinda get where he’s coming from, at the end of the day. And like, Magneto, his damaged past messes up his relationship with his kids, even as a lot of what he was trying to do was to protect them in the first place. OK, is it just me? Are there any other X-Men/Scandal fans out there?
VO: I think you’re onto something. Because to me, Rowan reminds me of the old-school Chinese parents where they expect filial duty from their children and nothing but unconditional loyalty, even if the parents are fucking up hardcore. In return these parents push as hard as they can, work as hard as they can, to ensure their kids get the best of everything. The funny thing is that often bites the filial loyalty thing in the ass because when you open these doors of knowledge and privilege to your kids (which you were denied) — it raises questions and creates actions that can go against what you expected.
We already know that Rowan grew up in poverty in Detroit, and the impression I have is basically he is a self-made man. I came away with it thinking that it was very first-generation immigrant speech also.
