Blogging Scandal: Season 2, Ep. 13; “Nobody Likes Babies.”

Verna likes to watch.
Verna likes to watch.

Stacia,

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Last week, a commenter suggested that I was getting some details  twisted when I called the whiny, impulsive, emotionally stunted, and violent “Fitz vaguely serial killer-y.”

“Um, as far as I know, Fitz hasn’t killed anyone.”

But it looks like we just give him a little time.

Because while the Scandalverse is supposed to a soapy melodrama with a political backdrop, we’re  through with murderers. The number of characters on this show who’ve caught a body has become pretty impressive.

Cyrus had a pregnant woman killed last season and almost had his husband killed this week.

Huck actually was an insatiable serial killer (with a heart of gold) until the writers dropped that storyline.

Huck’s girlfriend shot up an entire family a few months ago (in the episode that aired the day before the Newtown massacre).

Verna, the Supreme Court justice, put out a hit on Fitz.

Gov. Reston, the dude Fitz beat out for the Oval Office, killed someone at his house in the front half of this season.

And now Fitz, the President of the United States, has killed someone — and not in that several-layers-of-extenuation-via-the-military kinda way —- but a terminally ill old lady. (So basically, the American people were going to vote for a murderer either way.)

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with killing off lots of characters, but it matters how and why people get offed or why someone opts to have someone murked. So when Verna was giving her sanctimonious speech about why she had to kill Fitz — he was a liar and mean to the Statue of Liberty or whatever the fuck — the music swelled and she started to shout. It’s like the show felt that by turning up the volume on Verna that her motives might resonate or seem convincing. NOPE. That rationale was pretty stupid.

And come on!  This is Scandal were talking about; the details almost never matter. Everything — character consistency, continuity, the show’s own internal logic — takes a back seat to the Next Big Plot Twist. (It feels sort of like watching a weekly M. Night Shymalan movie; why would you invest in anything the story establishes in the first two acts if you know that it will all be revealed to be bullshit by the third?)

This is why I think I’ve come to like Mellie so much. She’s supposed to be a villain, but she’s easily Scandal’s most sympathetic and consistently written character. She resents her husband because she’s smarter and more savvy than him, but he has the career she should have while he’s been forced into pointless, demeaning photo ops. She hates Olivia for all the obvious reasons, but also because it reminds her of Fitz’s impulsiveness and short-sightedness. Sure, she fires off lots of purple insults at everyone, but wouldn’t you if you were surrounded by all the incompetent, would-be Machiavellis that populate her world? At least you know where she stands.

— G.D.

Notes on a Scandal:

  • Was anyone every really sold on that half-assed story arc with Olivia and #SenateBoo?  Because he was only there to be Not-Fitz.
  • Also: no way Abby was going to leave Pope & Associates after she found out Olivia/Harrison lied to her about David Rosen beating his ex. She was understandably livid, but her feelings of betrayal of weren’t  hug from Olivia. This show doesn’t believe in personal stakes or lasting consequences for anyone.
  • Harrison’s loyalty Olivia has ceased to seem like principle and now just seems like Stockholm  Syndrome.

G.D.,

Right after this episode aired, the Scandal writers tweeted that the next ep will take place TEN MONTHS INTO THE FUTURE. To eprove it, the teaser for next week shows us that Liv’s hair has changed significantly. They also show us Felicity’s Scott “Noel” Foley as her possible new love interest (ain’t mad at all).

My first thought was, “Who pulls that big a stunt when it isn’t a hiatus or finale?” And of course, the answer to that is: the writer of a story that has nowhere else to go.

This week, every open plot arc was closed: in one of the better, over-the-top scenes of the episode, James forces Cyrus to confess to election theft; Fitz finds out who-all was in on stealing the election for him (and he doesn’t care about anyone’s involvement but Liv’s); Edison gets his grandmother’s engagement ring returned for a second time; David Rosen stays failin’; Abby finds out Liv and Harrison were behind her break-up; even useless Quinn decides to stop chasing down the details of her already-known-to-us story and just accept that she’s Quinn now, for good. And like you said, G.D., Huck makes a miraculous, no explanation-needed-recovery.

Mostly laughably, however, is the hamfisted way we find out who’s behind the president’s assassination attempt. Verna’s condition has gone from a year or two to live to “Somebody Gon’ Die Tonight; Somebody’s Mama Gon’ Cry Tonight.” So when Liv buys a clue and starts “confronting” her, Verna spews all this, “Yeah, I did it and I cried two tears in a bucket” vitriol. Liv feels “betrayed,” and I’m not entirely sure why. She has zero healthy friendships in this world.

You’re right that Verna’s logic for the assassination attempt makes zero sense, and neither does Fitz snatchin’ that oxygen (her wig was already gone; she’d snatched that herself. So this was the next logical progression, I guess).

No one’s going to be brought to justice for any of this. So there’s very little to do for the rest of the season.

Scandal has rushed all its resolutions. There are a few things that could’ve stretched all of this ep’s events out until the end of the season. They could’ve brought back the Scandals of the Week. They could’ve let Verna live longer. Huck could’ve killed one or two more folks. David Rosen could’ve, for once, gotten ahead. Abby could’ve let the firm for a while. Harrison could’ve botched something that would’ve taken about three eps to “fix.” Fitz really could’ve started divorce proceedings on Mellie. And Mellie could’ve waited on a natural birth (that would’ve conveniently coincided with the season finale).

But this is the route they took, and it ends with Fitz inexplicably heaping all his hate for what’s happened onto Liv. I guess we’re supposed to feel bad about that, or consider this whole thing an allegory about how adulteresses always end up alone. In a church pew.

Somehow, I don’t think that’s what the writers had in mind….

—  Stacia

Notes on a Scandal:

  • Some people have been saying that Harrison might be in love with Liv. I’ve never gotten that vibe. But I do think exploring that would’ve made more sense than hiring a guest star she’s obviously not going to end up with to shake things up.
  • Fitz is reprehensible. Is there anything that could be done to redeem dude’s character at this point?
  •  Do you think Cyrus was willing to kill James because he was testifying or because he’d allowed himself to be so vulnerable with him?
  • “Love isn’t supposed to hurt, Liv.” Epic burn.
G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.
  • I am happy they resolved these story lines. Now they can start new, ridiculous story lines!

    I hope they delve into why Harrison is ride or die, and I hope that it is not because he is in love with Liv.

    • Leonor: while that would be super obvious, if Harrison were in love with Liv, it would at least be plausible. the other things this show might dream up to explain his ride-or-die-ness frighten me.

  • i’m 5 inches from officially proclaiming that this show has just jumped the shark. i want to blame twitter for this. i feel like the writers are getting together like ‘okay, what can we do to get as many people to tweet OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG #SCANDAL as possible?’ answer: kill everybody. have everybody attempt to kill everybody.

    mellie’s baby? watch your back fitz. that kid’s first steps are going to be to the kitchen to get a butcher knife to go after somebody.

    in conclusion, im only tuning in next week to see who Liv kills. it’s her turn.

  • yes to all of this. everyone in this show has done something terrible to someone else, with the exception of Quinn, who only considers doing so. i don’t understand why Fitz didn’t just intercept the prosecutor. or why Cyrus couldn’t just figure out how to discredit his husband instead of having him killed (my biggest WTF moment so far).
    and Harrison still REFUSES to take his shirt off.
    (would it kill him? doesn’t he need to shower or change clothes? i’m just saying. i’m JUST saying.

    • Harrison is pointless, although i appreciate his suit collection.

  • his suits are impeccable. i feel like he shouldn’t be pointless-they could do so much more with his character. i agree with Leonor-we need a backstory on why Harrison is devoted to Liv. perhaps we could get insight into his criminal past.
    oooor….we could see that devotion start to get chipped away slowly. wait, what am i saying, Shonda does nothing slowly. but that could be at least 2 eps. it could include (JUST throwing out ideas here) an epiphany in the shower.

    • keep it in your pants, Lauren.

  • Patrick

    Harrison must be Catholic. He believes that the Pope is infallible. 😉

  • T.

    I think the greatness of the show is in the camp factor. The fact that people DO gasp and act, for lack of a better word, scandalized, at all of the ridiculous plot twists is deeply enjoyable. It doesn’t require deep engagement, just a little melodrama to discuss at the cubicle the next day.

    Also, Harrison is so fine. Like, so, so fine. I just need them to throw him a bone, something, ANYTHING. Stomp a Yard, crump, SOMETHING….he’s just too good looking to go to waste. Can he please have a baby momma in PG County or something? Or at least have some type of personal life? I don’t think he’d be into Olivia because her pants are too loose in the back. (Does nobody else see how tiny Kerry Washington is??? Somebody take her to Potbelly’s)

  • T.

    And also, where is Sally Langston?

    • Right?

      (So I’m working my way through “The West Wing” again — it’s aged horribly by the way, particularly on issues of race and gender — and Mellie and Sally show up in consecutive episodes.)

  • Also, this is strawmanning:

    http://thefeministwire.com/2013/02/olivia-pope-and-the-scandal-of-representation/

    “political mammies,” tho?

  • Shonda Rhimes: “Calling a show a ‘guilty pleasure’ — it’s like saying it’s a piece of crap”:

    The latest thing now is that people are saying, “Oh, Mellie’s baby can’t be Fitz’s. Clearly, that’s not Fitz’s baby.” And for them that’s filling in the blank because Fitz can’t possibly have a baby with his wife, because he loves Liv. It’s the strangest moral juggling ever to make Fitz feel good to them. But to me, I’m like, “Of course he’s had sex with his wife to have a baby. Because she’s his wife.” I’ve been very surprised by it. And also I understand it because the construct of most television shows is: people are good. And there’s a hero and there are bad guys. I mean that’s storytelling 101 on network television, for sure. And there’s just no hero here. You’re rooting for Liv, but she’s not a hero.

    AND

    The latest thing now is that people are saying, “Oh, Mellie’s baby can’t be Fitz’s. Clearly, that’s not Fitz’s baby.” And for them that’s filling in the blank because Fitz can’t possibly have a baby with his wife, because he loves Liv. It’s the strangest moral juggling ever to make Fitz feel good to them. But to me, I’m like, “Of course he’s had sex with his wife to have a baby. Because she’s his wife.” I’ve been very surprised by it. And also I understand it because the construct of most television shows is: people are good. And there’s a hero and there are bad guys. I mean that’s storytelling 101 on network television, for sure. And there’s just no hero here. You’re rooting for Liv, but she’s not a hero.

    AND

    There were several reasons why I didn’t make [Fitz] a Democrat. One, we have a Democratic president in office right now and I wanted — Kerry [Washington] works on Obama’s council — and I wanted absolutely no comparisons to Obama. Like, none. In any way, shape or form. Two, I didn’t want him to be a Democrat because of the Monica Lewinsky-Clinton thing, and we were telling the Amanda Tanner story in Season 1, I just didn’t want that to be a thing. Three, the Karl Roves and Dick Cheneys, when you read the history of things that happened — not that anything like what happens on the show ever possibly happened — but things got interesting for me creatively when I started to make up scenarios. It felt more interesting to me if they were Republican.

  • Geo

    That interview is very interesting. She seems off somehow or something like there’s a bulb or 3 missing from the chandelier. I need more time to process it, but Shonda Rhimes comes off as oblivious and short-sighted.

    • Really? I don’t agree with everything she says, but it’s a really lucid take. I’m most surprised at her idea that Scandal isn’t soapy and trashy; that seems kind of impossible to argue against.

  • Absurdist

    It should be noted that the TEN MONTH JUMP was undertaken after ABC approved a full-season pickup; in short, “Nobody Likes Babies” was intended to be the season finale until ABC came back and asked for another nine episodes.