TV Corner: Scandal

[Content Note: Coercion; violence; self-harm. Spoilers for the most recent episode of Scandal.]


This is how I felt watching this episode.
Y'all, every single storyline on Scandal last night made me feel so upset! No one has any agency! Everyone is being manipulated! Everything is terrible!

1. Commend has been keeping Maya (Liv's mom) in a cell for 20 years (!), for some transgression the details of which we don't yet know. All she wants is to see Liv before he ships her out to a shitty cell in another country, and he won't let her. So she chews her own wrists, but doesn't die, and then somehow manages to escape by giving a doctor a shot of tranqs that were meant for her. WHAT WAS THAT SCENE when she and Command were looking at news clippings of Liv and laughing together like old pals?! NO. No. Pretty much the only thing I loved about the entire episode was when she told Command that providing for a child and being a parent are not the same thing. GOOD POINT.

2. Charlie has essentially assumed complete control of Quinn, and tells her it's more fun if she pretends he's her boyfriend. WHAT. I hate this plot arc SO MUCH. And then Huck threatens to torture Quinn?! If there is anyone who knows that Quinn is involved with B-613 under duress, it's Huck. Would his first instinct not be to, oh I dunno, maybe rescue her? And if his meaningfully displayed torture kit is just a red herring, FUCK THAT. That is not cool. I am not on board with cheeky reversals about Quinn being tortured by Huck.

3. Abby tells David he'll have to sleep on the couch because of his "snoring" if he doesn't use the US Attorney's office the way she thinks he should. Do not like.

4. Josie Marcus takes the fall for her daughter over the staged laptop theft, because what mother wouldn't do anything to protect her kid? Uh, maybe a mom who wants her kid to be accountable for her fuck-ups? This was such a shitty way to get Josie out of the road so that Liv could be free to work for Fitz. Boo.

5. Mellie. Oh, Mellie.

6. Fitz is the worst. He is President Worst of the Worstnited States of Worstmerica. "Are you suuuuuuure you still hate me for murdering your mom now I that built you this beautiful house? What if I made my classic sad face? What if I remind you about making jam? How about if I tell you about all the bedrooms for all our babies? Are you noticing how heartbroken I look? Liv?" Ugh! Kiss kiss kiss. Sex sex sex. Now Olivia's gonna have to buy a new FitzPhone! Damn.

7. Wait, did I just say that Fitz is the worst? NEVERMIND I FORGOT ABOUT CYRUS. This fucking guy. Are you even serious that for one second you thought it was a good idea to dangle your husband as gay bait while letting him (admittedly dimly) think you are helping his career?! And how horrendously incompetent a reporter do you think he is that he wasn't going to figure that shit out?! If I were James, I don't know which would offend me more—that my husband sent me in to a situation the hopeful outcome of which was essentially a sexual assault in the form of an unsolicited sexual advance (which is exactly what happened!), or that my husband is so contemptuous of my professional competency that he assumes I won't clack on to the fact that his heinous ass is behind it. James, you need to IMMEDIATELY dump that zero and get with literally pretty much anyone else.

What did you think?