Scandal: Randy, Red, Superfreak And Julia

September 26, 2014 7:54 AM - Season 4, Episode 1

Two months after the reelection, everything has changed. Fitz and Cyrus try to make a positive impact with their second term. The gladiators feel the impact of Olivia's absence.
posted by donajo (8 comments total)

I forgot how frustrating yet watchable this show is. The episode had to strain credibility, especially in the case of the week) to get back to something resembling the status quo, but I guess Jules and Jake's island sex show wouldn't hold much lasting interest.

Olivia's jumping to "I HAVE TO PLAN THE FUNERAL" instead of "Guess I probably missed the funeral" seemed like a big leap to me, but at least it set up a nice reunion scene and a goodbye to one of the most ill-used characters.

Love drunk grieving Mellie, sad but she's still got a bite to her. Set up as a shrew early on, she's really evolved into one of my favourites.

So good to see Nan Flanigan and Perd Hapley! Portia de Rossi wasn't really working for me, but we'll see how the plotline develops.

(Not meant as a comment on women's bodies but) Also good to see petite Olivia back in her stunning white wardrobe as opposed to the frumpy pregnancy trenches she was (still rocking while) wearing last season.

As for the other characters, it's supposedly the season of Abby which should be nice, she's a strong voice often underused. Quinn looks like she's finally made it back to gladiator status. Huck remains elusive, but at least he didn't default back to homelessness.

Fitz and Olivia, ugh. Here we go again. I would like for their little self-smiles after passing without acknowledgement to be "Ha! I don't need you" and not "Ooooooh so good to see you again" but this show is not going to keep them apart for long.
posted by yellowbinder at 8:19 AM on September 26, 2014

I don't dislike the B6-13 stuff as much as many (like Shonda Rhimes, I was a big time Alias fan too) but I watched all the episode on Netflix this summer (rather than watching unspool in weekly network real time), so I can really see how if you didn't like it, it would have gotten old.

But even as someone who didn't mind that particular part of Season 3, I'm glad that it seems like the show might be moving away from that, as much as I like love Joe Morton and Khandi Alexander.

I was glad that there was an actual scandal for Olivia Pope (and eventually her associates) to get back in the game with, even if the particular twists made me pretty uncomfortable; the depiction of a false (somewhat) sexual assualt claim starts us down a road I'm not sure the show is built to handle (no matter how much speechifying Olivia does about it).

Mellie lying prone on her son's grave in the sun in a similar shot to the opening one with Olivia on the beach puts the "opera" in "soap opera" and I loved every second of it.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:47 AM on September 26, 2014

Mellie is such a great character. Even down in a pit of grief and dysfunction, there's still flashes of the coldly analytical ferocious monster she can be.

I missed much of the second half of last season, but I figured the season opener would catch me up to what the status of things was, and so it did. In general, this show does a fun job of being quick-moving and very watchable, which means I get carried along and can keep the "wait, what? how would that even work?" suspension-of-disbelief failures in check.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:46 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

We called the opening shot of Olivia alone on the beach a "Hey, I'm not pregnant anymore, see!" shot.

I love Mellie. Even unwaxed and in Uggs and pjs, she still shows up to the morning meeting in the Oval. I got a lump in my throat when she was in the cemetery. Bellamy Young has such chops.

I was THRILLED that there was a scandal of the week for Olivia to solve. I missed the weekly scandals last season and hope that even if B613 comes back, there will still be scandals. Maybe lawyer guy from Season One can come back and rejoin the gladiators now that there are two spots open.

Oh, Quinn. I hated you so bad by the end of last season, but finding Julia Baker by tracking wine purchases is pretty slick.
posted by kimberussell at 12:55 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was glad that there was an actual scandal for Olivia Pope (and eventually her associates) to get back in the game with, even if the particular twists made me pretty uncomfortable; the depiction of a false (somewhat) sexual assualt claim starts us down a road I'm not sure the show is built to handle (no matter how much speechifying Olivia does about it).

It's the same "sometimes you have to do wrong to make things right" mindset this show has had from the very beginning. I just found it distasteful that someone was planning to instigate a sexual assault claim as a political maneuver.
posted by fuse theorem at 6:47 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

I just found it distasteful that someone was planning to instigate a sexual assault claim as a political maneuver.

I agree that it would be distasteful, though I think/would like to imagine what Senator Slimeball was trying to explain when her assistant walked in on her was that she was just hoping to get leverage over Senator Sex Offender by sending him a purdy lady to negotiate with, with the hopes that said purdy lady would, like, trick him with her feminine wiles instead of getting assaulted. Not great either way, but not quite as reprehensible as instigating assault.
posted by zeusianfog at 1:25 PM on September 28, 2014

I love Mellie so much.

Also, Olivia's non-straightened hair! So great!! I felt sad when she straightened it to come back.
posted by librarina at 12:50 PM on October 22, 2014

Not a fan of Olivia's "Assault victims remember everything" speech. It started out promising but if you're as feminist as Olivia claims to be, you don't say things that are so damaging with an air of authority.
posted by bleep at 6:28 PM on November 21, 2014