Becoming Mellie

Notes on the Nov. 14 “Scandal”

Spoilers follow. Thursday’s episode of Scandal started out as a very entertaining explanation of how Mellie Grant became Mellie Grant, first lady and magnificent White House monster. We flashed back to the start of her husband Fitz’s political career, when Mellie was still a prominent lawyer with hair that made her look like the young Mary Tyler Moore. Within a few quick scenes, however, Mellie is informed by her husband’s new advisor, Cyrus Beene, that her career will now be about advancing Fitz. Then, in a moment that turned surprisingly brutal, she is raped by Fitz’s father, a bullying paterfamilias in the Joe Kennedy mold (and played by Barry Bostwick in a sort of William Devane mood). At which point it suddenly was no longer fun or fair to hate Mellie—a woman warped by abuse and a confused self-sacrifice, warped by punishments inflicted on her by powerful men. The episode, which also followed modern Mellie as she filmed a newsmagazine segment in the White House, also drew an intriguing and dramatically instructive portrait of this frustrated power player and aggrieved wife as she forced herself to pretend to conform to the old Jackie Kennedy model of gracious first-ladyship. You felt Mellie’s shame at such role playing, and that was something new, too. Bellamy Young, who has always played Mellie with strong humor—a sort of Designing Women flounce—brought out these new facets very directly and forcefully. I never would have expected Mellie to make me think of Catherine Deneuve as soul-murdered Tristana, clumping around on her peg leg. Young has deepened and enriched her character.