My New TV Obsession: Scandal

For the past year or so, every Thursday night I would log onto Twitter and see people talking about what happened on the night’s episode of ABC drama tv show, Scandal. Most of the reactions included a lot of exclamation points and an “OMG” moment of some sort. I never gave it a second thought because judging from the commercials I saw, although it did indeed look very intense, the storyline never intrigued me. However, I actually never knew exactly what the show was about. I knew it had something to do with Kerry Washington having an affair with the POTUS — this being the “scandal” that the title of the show refers to — but that’s all. But after seeing how great the show was doing rating-wise and with so many people watching, I decided to give this show a try. So coming off of another school year in the books, I watched the first episode of season 1 — the first season was only 7 episodes, but they were given 22 episodes for season 2.

After the first episode, I WAS HOOKED.
I finished the rest of the first season in one day. And the second season only took me two days…
Yup. Consider me now on the Scandal train #newgladiator

A few things about the show that I found out when watching w/out giving too much away:

- Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) is a BADASS; but also flawed and emotional. Kerry Washington does an excellent job of portraying her character — a fixer, a gladiator.

- the “scandal” with Olivia Pope (aka Liv or Livvy) and the POTUS is definitely not always the main plotline, every episode usually deals with a different “scandal” that Liv and her team “fix” — and it is usually separate of the little thing she has with the Prez. The whole affair part of the show is not my favorite story arc at all, I always find myself rooting for Liv to get with any other guy that seems to have potential, but it’s pretty obvious that Olivia and Fitz (POTUS) are endgame.

- There are so many times when you don’t know whether you actually like a character or not (kind of like in Breaking Bad, at least for me)

• the POTUS (Fitz) — He seems genuinely like a good person, but the way he treats his wife, and the way he asserts himself to Olivia — makes him not likable. Sometimes seeing how much he really loves Olivia Pope makes you feel for him, but sometimes, it’s just kinda creepy and obsessive.
• the FLOTUS (Mellie) — she really enjoys being First Lady, she just really wants to be high up in the political hierarchy, and she’ll do whatever it takes to keep that First Lady title (a lot of lying and pretending) for the most part; but she does have to deal with a cheating husband, and a part of me really thinks that she still loves him (at least a little)
• Cyrus Beene (White House Chief of Staff) — Oh Cyrus, conniving, plotting, sometimes evil Cyrus. With Cyrus, there are so many times when you think “He is SO ANNOYING! Why would someone marry him? HE SUCKS! I HATE YOU!” But then there are times when you don’t hate him as much — usually when he is with Olivia, he is more tolerable. Regardless, he truly is a political animal. But you never know where is heart lies.
• The team at OPA (Olivia Pope & Associates — “gladiators in suits”):
• Huck: My favorite. Guillermo Diaz does such an amazing job here. A character with a very dark past, tends to be distant and behave oddly sometimes, but you definitely warm up to him later. Also, bad things tend happen to him a lot. #poorhuck
• Abby: I never know with Abby. She provides the LOLs within OPA, but she can also be very annoying. Often too quick to judge, very judgemental. But in the end, she always picks OPA, Olivia, her team, over everything.
• Harrison: Harrison is also a favorite of mine. For one thing, he was in 2 episodes of That’s So Raven a while ago — he played Trey in Boyz n Motion (Boyz! We are the Boyz n Motion! We give you our devotion!) #lovethatsong. He’s one of the most trustworthy on the team, whatever Olivia says, he follows, he is never one to ask questions. Hopefully next season he can have a bigger story arc though, and we can learn more about his past. Or at least have him become more involved in the show in any way (i.e. possible love interest, or something)
• Quinn: I really like Quinn. She also provided some LOLs during the show. She is a newbie to OPA, therefore, she has no idea what’s going on and is kind of clueless. She’s kind of a struggle in the beginning which I find kind of funny. It’ll be interesting to see what will happen to her character in the next season.
• David Rosen (Assistant U.S. Attorney) — Has a complicated friendship with Olivia — friends, not friends, acquaintances? Takes his job very seriously, never willing to bend the law. Always finding himself going against OPA, and often losing. He gets annoying sometimes, but it is kind of understandable considering what he’s been through.

This show really opened my eyes to what being in crisis management really entailed. This show has everything — suspense, drama, romance, etc. And it always finds a way to keep viewers on their toes with unexpected twists and revelations. It’s hard to say anything without giving away future plot-schemes and happenings, but believe me, it will have you screaming and going OMG just like those people on twitter say.
I LOVE THIS SHOW. It’s so good.
I definitely would encourage anyone to give this show a try!

:)