Scandal - S4E1 - Randy, Red, Superfreak and Julia
Previously on Scandal, season 3
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Gone Girl
Where in the world is Olivia Pope? On a remote island rocking natural curls and sexing it up with Jake on the beach. In other words: paradise. Olivia Pope is in paradise. Except she’s not O.P. on this island; she’s Julia Baker (Hey, Shonda! I see your nod to Diahann Carroll.) and she gets fresh fruit, books, and rare wines delivered by boat. This is all interrupted by the delivery of a newspaper clipping about Harrison’s death.
Back in the Saddle
Olivia and Jake return to D.C. to plan Harrison’s funeral and then they’re gonna head back to Shangri-La after a few days. At least that’s what Olivia says. Girl, bye. We all knew that wasn’t happening. And that was BEFORE Olivia got involved in a case where a woman senator critically injured a male senator who got grabby with her. Once Olivia learns the senator was covering for her aide, who was the one who actually pushed him, and that the senator purposely set her aide up to be harassed in order to solidify the senator’s vote for an equal pay bill, well… even she can’t deny that her ass is back in D.C. indefinitely.
This doesn’t make Jake happy, nor is he thrilled that David Rosen hasn’t done squat with the box of evidence he left him to bring down B613. We learn that maybe David tried and his obsession with the files may have cost him his relationship with Abby, who is now the White House Press Secretary. But by the time Jake returns to town and confronts David, David is mulling over an offer from Cyrus to become the next US Attorney General. Is this because Cyrus thinks it will keep David from messing with B613? Maybe. But Abby rightfully points out that if David wants to affect real change, he might want to get himself some power and start using it.
Hail, Hail, The Gang’s All… Somewhere
We may have been happy to see Olivia Pope again, but the same can’t be said for her ex-employees. Abby is downright furious with Olivia for leaving and blames her for Harrison’s death, Huck is now Randy and working at a low-rent Genius Bar and doesn’t want anything to do with Olivia unless she’s back for good. Quinn was happy to see Olivia (she was the one who tracked her down and sent the clipping, after all), but that quickly fades when Olivia refuses to do more than arrange Harrison’s funeral. By episode’s end: Huck and Quinn are back at her side as she defends the aide who injured the senator and Olivia and Abby are not yet where they were months ago, but they did hold hands at Harrison’s grave.
#FuckItMellie
Mellie is all out of fucks to give and I’m here for every second of it. She’s walking around the White House in PJs and Uggs, eating cereal from the box and she doesn’t care how you feel about that. When she learns Olivia’s back in town, she warns Fitz that when he see her (when, not if) she’d like to know. Also of note: Mellie has stopped waxing her lady parts and it’s like “1976 down there.” Welp. I guess that means she’s no longer banging Andrew. And while I love Uggs, wearing them in certain situations (with a bathrobe, walking around the white house, and at your son’s grave) just means you’ve given up on life. This is sad Drunk Mellie. I want fun Drunk Mellie.
Fitz seems to be doing much better. His presidency is on an upswing (kinda? Fitz 2.0?), he’s no longer drinking, and he doesn’t completely lose it when Mellie confronts him with the fact that she knows about his suicide attempt. Yes, he looked like a wounded puppy when Cyrus told him Olivia was back, but hopefully they’ll wait awhile before putting us back on the Olitz Crazy Train. Judging by the way the two of them almost touched hands while walking by each other at episode’s end, I’m not holding my breath.
Sure this played out while she was giving a press conference about standing in your truth, standing in the sunlight and being in control of the type of woman you want to be, and the little smiles they had after they passed could be each of them making peace that they’re not together and happy that the other seems to be doing okay… but I don’t trust it!
Questions & Observations:
- I love the chemistry between Kerry and Tony as much as the next girl who enjoys hot interracial sex, but come on. What’s the point of having her leave at the end of the last season, purposely not taking his calls, if she’s going to IMMEDIATELY jump back into the same drama that nearly ruined her months prior? Sure, they can try to paint this as her honoring Harrison’s memory and that she’s jumping in to defend the helpless because she’s a gladiator and not a bitch, but from the moment she took that envelope in her hands on the island we all knew it didn’t matter what was in it. If it gets her back in D.C., she’s going and not because she missed what she did for a living or missed her friends. D.C. is where Fitz is and she’s all about Fitz even when she has someone who is much better for her.
- When Jake was like, “I’m the one you like to ride,” I was like:
Not sure what to make of the new RNC chair played by Portia de Rossi. She’s certainly not happy about David Rosen (a Democrat) being nominated for Attorney General and I suspect there will be lots of conflict between her and Cryus and her and Fitz.- What happened with Huck’s family? There really wasn’t any room to address it in this episode and of course they’ll get to it later, but it’s still an open question.
- Can we talk about how smooth that lie rolled off Papa Pope’s tongue? “I had nothing to do with your friend’s death.” Aight, pops.
- Harrison’s funeral was so damn sad. As viewers, we had months to deal with the fact that the character was gone. The show did a great job of conveying how much the character will be missed.
