At Some Point We All Have to Choose

"Scandalous Thursdays!"

"Hi!  My name is Faith Margaret and I watch Scandal."  I enjoy it.  Thoroughly…and will blog  right here about all new episodes on Thursday nights beginning next week.  Oh!  Your theories about what is happening next in this suspenseful show are welcomed along with my musings.

Cardinal Rule in Crisis Management:  Do Not Lie

Reporter:  “Olivia Pope!  Are you the President’s mistress?”

Olivia Pope:  “Yes.”

Said no woman EVER when confronted with a crowd of people thrusting microphones and cameras in her face as she tries to quietly duck into some building to avoid the question she has been avoiding all along.  But not Olivia.  Nuh uh.  She caught a glimpse of the possibility of her long nurtured fantasy coming to reality and gave up the biz’ness.  And Fitz?  Well, Fitz finds this admission by Olivia quite hot and can’t contain the smirk that settles on his face (and likely rise in his hand tailored trousers) when she walks into the Oval Office. 

I find it fascinating how Mellie facilitates the affair between Fitz and Olivia when it suits her andngets quite self righteous when it no longer suites her.  Like right damn now when she finally is making inroads to playing on the field with the big boys. If we know anything about Mellie we know she embarrasses easily and is having none of that foolishness.  The inside is a mess but the outside is perfectly coiffed, polished and buttoned with a smile that brightens up the room.  Somebody told Olivia and Fitz wrong!  I can hear Mellie’s heels click clacking across the shiny polished floors of the White House searching for a secure phone line. “Put me through to Cyrus Bean, please.”

Where the hell is Papa Pope?!?

Awwww, sookie sookie now!  Cyrus is back!  He answered the call to serve made by the Junior Senator of the great state of Virginia.  Time to get dirty!  We all know Mellie has wanted to destroy Olivia Pope and watch her and Fitz suffer terribly for their wanton lust for one another and she’s all in her feelings.  It takes cool, calm and collected Cyrus to give Mellie a little straightenin’ about how to work this thing to her advantage.  He reminds her, “This is a very important moment.  Don’t waste it being human (code for woman).  Think like a champion.  Tell me, what do you want?”   Surpise!  Mellie wants to be the first woman President of the United States…the Oval Office and the highlights of her 3 page list of demands include: 

1.  The President will be the Senator’s b!#$h and support her run for the White House with all great enthusiasm.

   2.  There shall be no canoodling in public between Fitz and Olivia until the divorce is final.

   3.  Olivia will not move into the White House until the divorce is final.  Wonder if staying really late and creeping out before the sun rises without any need for pajamas at the White House is prohibited, too?  Hmmm… 

   4.  Olivia shall have no interaction with the Senator’s children without the Senator’s consent.  Of course!  Must include the kids in this, especially since their daughter saw Mellie getting her knees dirty last season.  How soon she forgets… 

   5.  There is only 1 Mrs. Grant and there shall NOT be another Mrs. Grant.  Irrelevant.  For some reason I think Olivia would be hard pressed to give up her maiden name, anyways. 

All of that sounded like a good idea.  Until Mellie had some time to think this thing through a little more and blames Cyrus for not giving her more than what she asked for.  She dares to call him soft *insert the puppet strings* and off Cyrus storms with that 3 page agreement to be the beast he was before he was fired from the White House by Fitz himself.  Only that beast inside old Cyrus must have been hibernating because he looked like a sad little puppy as he shuffled into the Oval Office to speak with Fitz.  It almost works, too!  Cyrus gets Fitz to pause and think of

Blow up the spot, that's what!

postponing the realization of the Fitz and Olivia fantasy to keep Mellie happy for the time being.  Just until he finishes his last term as President because of course, Cyrus wants to be put back in the game with the President again.  Cyrus’ theory that Mellie knew her marriage to Fitz was lacking but she never imagined she would be without her friend actually makes good sense.  She is mourning the loss of her lifelong friend, companion and team member.  Without Fitz, Mellie is alone in the world and without a companion or love relationship.  Remember the other cat that truly loved her is somewhere in a hospital in a coma.

Anyways.  Now Olivia has to tell her BFF why she lied to her face when she denied being the mistress she finally admitted to being in front of countless reporters.  Not because Olivia wanted to protect Abby but because Olivia knows Abby is no Olivia Pope.  More like…Olivia Nope.  Or Faux Olivia.  Or No-livia.  You get the picture…

And there goes Olivia all comfortable in The Oval Office sprawled out on the couch with that bad coat off instead of tightly cinched around her waist.  Fitz is in the building and he’s feeling himself, huh?  Only thing is he is still doing whatever Olivia tells him to do.  “Listen to her, Fitz.  She is right, Fitz.  Don’t do that, Fitz.  Think about it this way, Fitz.” 

Where the hell is Papa Pope?!?

Quinn and Huck are still the last gladiators standing and holding down the fort with Jake lurking in the shadows pretending like he cares about Pope & Associates.  You know that I know that you know that I know that Jake is really just waiting to throw his cape on and save Olivia when her fantasy fades from view again.  He’s kinda like the “Emergency Penis in the Glass Box” (we all grown) that plenty women have and save for the most desperate of times.  Sorry fellas, just keeping it real.  Case in point, dig how Olivia laid across the bed in the White House and called Jake for comfort as the world was spinning crazily around her while she and Fitz were trying to make their fantasy a reality?  Mmmm hmmm.  Emergency.  Penis.  In.  The.  Glass.  Box. 

Where the hell is Papa Pope?!?

Olivia and Mellie have another face-to-face showdown as Mellie pants and claws through her walk in closet in search of some old hooch in a mason jar.  And you knew just like I knew that Olivia wasn’t going to drink after Mellie.  That’s just nasty. We don’t do that because we, “…don’t know where you lips been!”  Mellie caused her to think, though about just what she was signing up for.  Reminding her lonely and selfless an existence it can be being the FOTUS.  Smart play, too because Mellie knows Olivia just about as well as Fitz does, right?  All that chatter dug up Olivia’s uncertainty about the fantasy.  Just mentioning to Olivia that whatever she wants now has to be put to the side or at least she has to figure out how to coexist with the demanding wants of the man she loves?  Mmmm hmmmm.  You can see the wheels of her brain turning.  Olivia ain’t really ‘bout that life.  She’s ‘bout HER life ultimately. 

Is that James Ingram and Patti Austin singing quietly in the background while Fitz and Mellie have a heart to heart on the balcony of the White House facing the Lincoln Memorial?  Really?!?  R e a l l y?!?  Where is James, anyways?  “How do you keep the music playing?  How do you make it last?  How do you keep the song from fading too fast?”  Lord.  But wait!  This could easily have been the conversation Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton had on that same balcony in front of that same view when the scandal that was Monica Lewinsky was dominating their lives.  Mmmm hmmmm.  And Hillary is running for President of the United States.  For the 2^nd time!

Did Cyrus really believe Fitz was going to hire him back?  After he picked up his ENTIRE face off the ground thing got clear for good old, Cyrus.  Like, crystal.  He will use his evil ways to plot and scheme the ultimate downfall of the man he wishes he could be.  Right alongside Mellie.

With the deal for Mellie to appear on television with Fitz and deny the entire sordid affair completely up in flames, it’s time for Plan B.  Label Olivia as a ‘ho (in a classy I didn’t say that about her but you did kinda way) and fix this thing, already!  Aretha “I don’t sing in cold venues and cancel tours less that half way through” Franklin’s soulful voice reminded us lovers can foolishly believe they are all they need to get by.  And suddenly Olivia chooses someone other than herself and goes right along with the smear campaign.  She issues ANOTHER directive to Fitz, “Sit there and watch me choose you.” and they cuddle on the couch in the Oval Office and watch the press room explode when Plan B is put firmly in motion. 

Where.   The.  Hell.  Is.  Papa.  Pope?!?

Mr. Come Hell and High Water is visiting with that damn Jake in the penitentiary about the fire in the Louve.  That’s where the hell he is!

Side note:  What is the significance of the high heels in this episode?  Notice how Olivia is not walking through the hallways of the White House with the confidence and authority she usually has?  This time she’s walking slowly.  Uncertainly.  Without great purpose.  Until next week…