Tweetable Takeaway: Scandal’s winter premiere answers some hanging questions, but leaves viewers with even more.Tweet
Airtime: Thursday at 9pm on ABC
By: Gabriela Leverette, Contributor
In the winter premiere of SCANDAL, nothing is as it appears. Cue camera shutter sound.
The finale left audiences members in awe over the disappearance of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington). Where did she go? Who took her? How did her wine glass fall without making a sound? These are the questions I need answers to, so of course, this episode primarily deals with answering those questions—sort of.
First, we relive Olivia’s kidnapping—repetition seems to be a common thread in this episode. A group of masked men whisk her away while Jake (Scott Foley) is in the other room. Although he’s known for his B6-13 training and killer instincts, he does not hear Olivia struggle and drop her glass on the couch (oh, so that’s why there was no sound!).
Being the smart captors that they are, the men take Olivia into her neighbor’s apartment across the hall, but stage a fake getaway car to give Jake a false lead. Eventually, she wakes up in a small jail cell type room where she befriends “Ian,” a journalist struggling with his sanity and his diminishing hope.
After a failed attempt to escape using her bra wire to open a window, her two captors punish her by “killing” Ian. Note the air quotes because they did not in fact kill him, but I digress.
When left alone for an indeterminable amount of time—I don’t know how long it was but she gave up pretty quickly on the whole covering the toilet with paper thing—Olivia starts to dream about being saved by Jake and living her life in Vermont with Fitz.
Many interesting things happen during her fantasy:
- She apparently has FINALLY decided which of the men she wants to be with i.e Fitz. However, it’s possible that after realizing how absolutely boring that life is, that she has changed her mind again.
- The psychological manifestation of Abby (Darby Stanchfield) has become the voice of reason. She tells Olivia “You’re the only gladiator left in the place. You have to rescue yourself.”
So after she has this huge revelation about her own independence (or lack there of) Liv takes a pipe from the bathroom sink and beats the first guard with it. She grabs the guard’s gun and makes a mad dash for the door—why is the hallway so long!?—and runs into the second captor, BAM, she shoots him. Here is where I ask myself, why did Olivia drop the gun, especially seeing as she didn’t know what lied beyond the next door.
Now free, Olivia runs out of the doors only to find Ian standing there—see the gun would’ve been helpful. She realizes it was all an illusion and the small room was actually staged in a warehouse. Ian—if that’s even his real name—had pretended to be held ransom in order to extract information from her. He seemed particularly pleased with himself when he sussed out, one, her innate need to save people and two, that the president is willing to go to any lengths to save her.
This episode was by far the biggest departure from the series norm—even the music was off!
The constant flashbacks to things that took place mere seconds before and the over emphasis on being dramatic, distracted from the real draw of the show—Liv being badass.
Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but this episode was so flawed on its own that I can only assume the confusing imagery, wayward storyline, and plot holes serve a purpose for the series’ bigger picture. The acting by everyone but Washington was mediocre, there seemed to be no rhyme-or-reason for the way scenes were shot and spliced together, nor for what the heck is happening! Gone are the days where some middle aged mayor messed up and Liv rides in on her white horse and saves him. No, now there’s just Olivia on the floor of a dirty bathroom crying. Where is Huck when you need him.
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Mover And Shaker- a certifiable 9.5 on the richter scale.
@GabbyLeverette / GabrielaLeverette.wordpress.com
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