Scandal Recap 2.11: “A Criminal, A Whore, An Idiot, And A Liar”
By Kendra James
Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope on “Scandal.”
It’s Scandal Thursday! A brief reminder of the drill: Each week, Joe and Kendra will provide a Friday Scandal recap the day after the newest episode airs. The next Thursday a longer roundtable discussion of the episode is posted featuring Joe, Kendra, and a variety of guests commenters. This week’s recap is provided by me, Kendra, who, in full disclosure, enjoys the show but has a little less tolerance for some of its more outlandish situations.
Like how characters seemingly up and change personalities at the drop of a hat.
Spoilers for Scandal 2.11 “A Criminal, A Whore, An Idiot, And A Liar” are below the cut!
We start with Edison casually letting himself into Olivia‘s apartment to take her to task for a litany of illegal and immoral activities, including high treason and sexual escapades with the married president. Liv’s subsequent kissoff of Edison begins with the worst face of denial I’ve ever seen and is rather remarkable, given that she’s guilty of pretty much everything he’s accusing her of. Remember this scene for the next forty minutes, because the 180° switch Edison does by the time we get to the end is stunning. Not good stunning, more like heck-of-a-job-Brownie stunning.
Anyway, cue a flashbach, which we’re going to be relying on heavily tonight for our plot juxtapositions. This one takes us to a town hall debate moderated by someone who is not Gwen Ifill and that doesn’t look anywhere near as good as anything The West Wing ever gave us. There’s not much of substance in this first flashback aside from our first introduction to Hollis (and Hollis’ accent) and the revelation that TV President Fitzgerald, like TV President Bartlett, has daddy issues. Because I can’t help but compare this show to The West Wing at every turn, I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of a snarky-yet-dedicated-and-discrete psychiatrist to help Fitz work through said daddy issues along with the trauma of an assassination attempt.
Speaking of that assassination attempt? Back in the present Fitz is recovering rather remarkably from a bullet to the brain. “Walking across the room will feel like a marathon,” his doctor tells the President and First Lady…thirty seconds before Fitz walks into the Oval Office under his own power. We’re meant to fist pump this triumphant return–and I’m sure some of us did–but I find it hard to forget that Fitz is weird and controlling and maybe only one step below that guy who tried to kill Demi Moore in Ghost. As if I could forget, watching him almost immediately tear into his pregnant wife as he demands a clean shirt between bouts of wallowing in righteous self-pity.
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