'Scandal' Review/Recap: "I’m Just a Bill"
By Nora Dominick ‘17/ Emertainment Monthly Assistant Stage Editor
This week Papa Pope returns and gives Olivia an ultimatum dealing with the B-613 trial. Her hatred for her father is put to the test when it begins to endanger Fitz’s (Tony Goldwyn) reputation and presidency. Joe Morton continues to astound in this role. His presence was definitely missed in these last several episodes. Morton’s ability to create a character that sends chills down fans spines with a single world is astounding. This is a testament to Morton and the superb writing skills by the Shondaland team. Papa Pope gives Olivia 48 hours to decide whose side she is on.
David Rosen (Joshua Malina) continues to go full steam ahead with the B-613 trial. With Quinn (Katie Lowes), Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Jake (Scott Foley) fully invested in taking B-613 down, things start to come together. In one of the big revelations of the night, David is interviewing Jake with Olivia in the room. David does what he does best and squeezes informations out of Jake. It’s finally revealed to David that Operation Remington, a B-613 operation to take down a commercial airliner thus killing 329 innocent people, was accomplished by the pilot, President Fitz. Fans can tell from this simple exchange that Olivia doesn’t mind taking down Fitz in order to put her father away. By episode’s end, Papa Pope visits Olivia and is truly proud of his daughter. She may not have chosen him but at least now she will make a worthy opponent. Morton and Washington have created two of the greatest characters on television and their ability to keep surprising fans is astounding. Morton brings a whole new life to Scandal and here’s hoping he sticks around to cause trouble forever.
Meanwhile, with David and Jake heavily invested in taking down B-613 and Olivia dealing with Marcus Walker, the Grant Administration is getting ready to pass an instrumental bill. The Brandon Bill focuses on the events that happened in the episode “The Lawn Chair.” That emotional episode focused on the innocent shooting of Brandon Parker, a young black teenager, by a Washington D.C, white police officer. The episode was one of Scandal’s most challenging and moving episodes to date and having it continuously be part of this universe is amazing. With the Senate voting on the bill at any moment, the final vote is left up to VP Susan Ross (Artemis Pebdani).
With Susan not being a trained lawyer, although it’s hard to believe she got this far in the political system without picking up a law textbook at least once, she is having trouble with the 1200 page bill. In comes Mellie (Bellamy Young) to save the day and dole out some hard, but loving advice. She tells Susan, “We are running out of time the country needs this bill now. The President needs this bill now.” With Susan still unable to make up her mind, Mellie and Fitz need something to distract the Senate. In a big reveal, Mellie officially announces that she is running for Senator of Virginia. Mellie has become a major fan-favorite character and she has been through a lot. Between constantly dealing with a cheating husband, losing her only son and being raped by Fitz’s father, she doesn’t seem to catch a break. It’s about time she got a main storyline, that is sure to be interesting, fun and stressful . Young continues to astound as Mellie and this Senate storyline will continue to show off her growth as an actor.
