“We the people” might not be “the people” we think…
When you cheat, you essentially set yourself up for failure. And when you make a deal with the devil, it’s bound to come back and bite you in the ass. But this is no simple black and white situation. The cheating done here is presidential election rigging. It’s a huge offense. And the DC5 in charge of it all have a stake in it--they all have their various reasons. Yet one of them has a more forgivable reason: Love. However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s a gargantuan federal offense that could bring them all down. Scandal continues to weave this wildly compelling conspiracy story by sending us back some days before Fitz’s presidential win, reestablishing how those involved in this act of desperation to cling onto a bright political future, got into the positions they are in today. After the assassination attempt on his life, Fitz is back, and ready to show his strength by displaying his weaknesses. What this very revealing installment also does is show us who is Fitzgerald Grant really is.
Olivia returns back to her office to find Edison who asks the million dollar question: Is Olivia’s ex boyfriend, the President of the United States? It’s a question Edison has no right to ask, but he asks it as a confused and frustrated petty boyfriend. Edison also makes it clear that he knows Olivia quite well and can tell by her reaction that she has something to hide. While we don't like Edison, we cannot forget that he does have quite an extended past with Olivia, so it makes sense that he could read her like he does here. However he confronts Olivia with zero tact, by calling her a criminal, a whore, an idiot, and a liar. All things that some could argue are true (and they are in a way) but Olivia does well by throwing this venom back in his face and shutting down these accusations. However confident Olivia is during this smack down, she is right on the phone to inform Cyrus of this problem. Edison is starting to sniff out Liv’s BS and we all know that when that BS has to do with Fitzgerald Grant, she’s a bit off of her game.
As Fitz finally wakes up to get back to work as President of the United States and send Sally Langston back to the black hole of Vice Presidency. However victorious that sounds, there are great bumps in the road. Fitz is not back to his full health and his doctor even insists that he stay rested for at least three more weeks before going back to the hardest job in the world that is being the leader of the free world. Fitz’s return is just in time, as he makes it back to the West Wing right before Sally Langston can inform the cabinet of Mellie’s forgery. Interestingly enough, Sally was not going to call it forgery, but instead was going to strategically insist that Fitz was not healthy enough to go on as president. Sally is always thinking just a few steps ahead. But even with Fitz back in the White House, there are things to be done. The move in on East Sudan, putting confidence back in the hands of the American people, and cloaking his own weaknesses. Fitz spends most of the episode attempting to show that he’s the strong leader everyone needs right now, covering up the reality of his weakness, which has him reeling. The only one that can calm him right now is Olivia, which is largely familiar territory for them both…
The scenes set two years ago before the presidential election, develop in excellent pace, adding some accentuating layers to our characters and the storyline they are all woven into. At this point in the election, it is clear, that even with Olivia and Cyrus’ help, he is losing. The debates, the numbers, nearly everything is not turning out the way they thought it would. It is a big surprise when the man with the money, Hollis Doyle so quickly in the episode mentions the idea of rigging the election to Olivia and Cyrus. In fact, Hollis mentions it so lackadaisically, as though rigging a presidential election is no big deal, that it should have been a warning flag to both Liv and Cy of who they were dealing with. Hollis is, for all intents and purposes, the tempting devil in this case. Shonda Rhimes has recently referred to Hollis Doyle as this world's Koch brothers, which is rather telling. Olivia and Cyrus immediately dismiss the idea, but they can't deny that they need help.
With Fitz literally faltering under the pressure of politics, the group insists on the help of Fitz’s father, Jerry Grant. Right off the bat, Fitz’s father is arrogant, passive-aggressive and is not what one would call a good father. Jerry is a pusher and Fitz knows this. We all know how certain members of our family are, which is why Fitz didn’t want his father anywhere near his orbit at all during this election. It’s not even the fact that his opponent would call him a “daddy’s boy” riding off of the political success of his father, but rather because of Fitz’s own history with Jerry, who makes it a point to one up his son constantly. Jerry seems to enjoy berating his son and making Fitz feel small, which is a bit off-putting to Olivia when she sees how much it affects the man she loves. Olivia is not as charmed by Fitz’s father as, say Mellie is, who clearly only married Fitz because of his father’s legacy--a legacy she thought Fitz would continue. Olivia is actually appalled at how Jerry talks to Fitz, and how Fitz allows his father to rule his mind and his staff.
Fitz barely endures an entire day of his father’s BS, drinking his way through an uncomfortable dinner that ends with Fitz biting back by revealing a few of Jerry’s own bad deeds and why he himself did not/could not run for president. Drunk and in need of a little TLC after this long tortuous day, Fitz gets too “happy” with Olivia in the elevator, which turns into an ambiguous sexual assault witnessed by Mellie. This scene alone does so much to really identify who Fitz is and who he is not to both Liv and Mellie. Fitz is in love with Olivia, and had he not been forced to deal with his father all day and drank himself under, I don’t believe this crass indiscretion would have transpired. However, what the somewhat shocking scene also does is explore Fitz and Mellie’s relationship a bit more. By this point, Mellie is sharp enough to know that Fitz had feelings for Olivia, although she may have brushed them off to be simple sexual feelings and nothing more. Mellie’s shocked apology to Olivia about the situation is only for her benefit to secure her own political future with Fitz and make sure this election campaign’s glorious fixer would not leave right when they need her the most. Mellie is smoothing over an awkward situation to ensure that Olivia stays to work toward a success. But this apology only fills Olivia with guilt, seeing as how she is in fact Mellie’s husband’s mistress. It all makes you want to go back and watch more interactions between these two women!
Fitz’s father, Jerry continues to pressure Fitz into fighting dirty as the election day gets closer and closer, and although Olivia and Cyrus have kept this election campaign as clean as freshly washed linen, Jerry insists on some mudslinging, ordering Olivia to find some dirt on Fitz’s opponent. Olivia calls in Abby, Harrison, and even a very shaggy Huck (all of whom are introduced to one another for the first time at this point) to get the job done. Once the dirt is secured, Jerry pushes Fitz to strategically utilize it in the last town hall debate. Olivia continuing to cling onto that White Hat of justice and fairness is apprehensive of it all and hates the fact that Olivia’s gut has been clouded to see the reality of Fitz’s cloaked insecurities--insecurities that are accentuated by his diabolical father, Jerry. It’s only when Olivia finally confronts Fitz during a practice run of the debate that she can get him to show his true colors to the American people. It’s a scene that once again establishes Olivia and Fitz as the one true pairing to rule them all. Olivia knows Fitz in every conceivable way, but she is also starting to realize his weaknesses, one of them being his father. And Fitz allows her to really know him, even beyond his own wife who insists in this episode that “He actually listens to you [Olivia].” Olivia pushes Fitz to stop running for president just to please others and to stand up and run for himself--to become the strong leader he needs to be in order to secure a win. And to do that Fitz must to be willing to bare his soul before the people of America just like he does to the woman he truly loves. Only then can he be confidant enough to take on the responsibility of American presidency.
In the present day, Olivia readies Fitz to announce that his mission to deal with the East Sudan crisis was a success, in only a way she can. When Olivia briefly meets with Fitz alone, it is to encourage him and non-verbally inform him of how proud she is of his strength, even as he sits sweating and fragile. The love of the person you love can help pull you through a lot, and it is what ultimately gives Fitz the strength to get up and make his announcement a successful and revealing return to being the leader of the free world. But not before Sally Langston can make her peace with Fitz. We forget that while Sally is a conniving, sacrilegious witch most of the time, she did overnight become the first female President of the United States, and she had a lot to prove. Sally’s strength to take over, while not good for Fitz and the DC5, is admirable, and she began to realize that her adamancy may not quite match her ability to take on the huge responsibility of running America. At least not yet. While Sally is still on the list of characters to keep our eye on, I think this is the first time we really see her as a concerned human being.
Back to the town hall debate flashback, where Fitz decides to take the high road and really connect with the American people. While Jerry Grant is adamant on Fitz fighting dirty out there, his son takes Olivia’s talk to heart and shows that displaying vulnerability is the vital step into becoming the strong leader Fitz hopes to be one day. Jerry leaves angered that he’s lost control of his son’s decisions and the situation. In a way Jerry has the last word, especially when Fitz gets word that Jerry had died of a heart attack. After Jerry’s funeral, Olivia and Fitz have another heart to heart that reveals more about Fitz’s character. When a parent dies and a child doesn’t have the ideal, great relationship with them that they might have wanted, the child is essentially mourning a childhood and relationship with that parent which now will never happen. Also, Fitz is left unable to prove to his father that he could in fact become president and did. So in essence, Jerry has the last sick laugh. It is another scene that bares Fitz’s soul, and when a man bares his soul to the person he loves and does not hide his weakness or his tears…that’s how you know he is yours. When your president bares his soul and shows you his weaknesses, that is when you know that he is the ideal leader. It again strengthens the fact that Fitz and Olivia are soul mates. This is also the last push Olivia needs to make the man she loves’ dream come true.
After all of the pushing from Hollis, Cyrus and Verna, and even Mellie are in to rig the election, but its up to Olivia to have the final say. Cyrus insists that the decision be unanimous, so they all share in the risk. The mistake that these people make is trusting Hollis. All of these people have stakes in this agreement: Mellie becomes First Lady and her political future is secured, Cyrus becomes the President’s Chief of Staff, Verna becomes Supreme Court Justice. But what about Hollis? He never answers the question of what he wants in this, beyond responding with the suspect statement of “I’m the guy in here everyone owes a favor to.” What favor? That’s the question they all were too blinded by desperation and the possibility of power to ask. And now, they are paying for it in the present day. Olivia, Cyrus, Mellie and Verna all set themselves up for failure when they skipped on finding out more concerning the master of this game. And Hollis is always at least two steps ahead.
All it takes for Olivia to crack is a final diabolical push from her friend, Cyrus, who reminds her that they are the ones--the people--who are responsible for making history and that Fitz will make one hell of a President. As the wearer of the White Hat, Olivia is put in the middle of two evils and is in the end, her gut falters and she is driven by her heart in order to give Fitz the ultimate gift. But it’s tainted. It’s tainted by the lies and conspiracy that have created such a mess for everyone in the present day. And in some ways it is also a betrayal to Fitz. If Fitz one days finds out about this, will he feel as though his friends and the love of his life truly did not believe that he could become president? He might also feel as though Olivia feel in love with Fitzgerald Grant, the President of the United States, not him, although that is far from the truth. It also makes one wonder that even if Olivia didn’t agree to go along with the election rigging, would Fitz have still won? And would Hollis have still gone through with the rigging? And if Fitz didn’t win, wouldn’t it have heightened the possibilities of him and Olivia having a normal life together? It makes you think of what could have been…
The installment ends with two relationships take big turns. Edison apologizes for his recent aggravations and then goes so far to ask Olivia to marry him. Edison went from calling Liv a whore then asking to be sealed in holy matrimony with her in the same day? He might need to see someone about that. Meanwhile, as Mellie is busy yapping about the reinstatement of Fitz (her political pathway), talking of his heightened approval ratings and the fact that he could have anything he wanted, Fitz responds. Out of everything he could have…he wants a divorce. A proposal and a divorce, both of which we are left cliffhanging on until January 31st! Scandal is doing an amazing job of telling a thrilling political story and developing a juicy forbidden romance, full of twists and turns, and characters with a lot to hide! Pulling back the many layers of what makes this underrated political drama series so great, “A Criminal, a Whore, an Idiot, and a Liar” gets 5 out of 5 stars!
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© Patrick Broadnax 2013
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