The Scandal Roundtable 2.12: “Truth Or Consequences”

February 7th, 2013 by Joseph

Jordan: I would rip that damn coat of Liv’s off her back if I could.

Joe: Jordan, her coats are the business. All of her coats are the business.

Jordan: Huck looks odd in a suit. Also, how is it that Huck still looks like battered, bruised crap and the President’s stitches have magically disappeared?

Joe: This. His hair is totally back, too. Did they keep the clippings from an old haircut and make a merkin? (I know that’s the wrong word; I just think it’s a hilarious idea.)

Jordan: I love Mellie’s speech about her mistress-hate and her anger at Fitz. It reminds me why she’s one of my faves on this show. Damn straight she’s not going to let this woman who has been with her husband less than two years take the position in the White House that she fought for and claim a place next to the man that she built (and, if there is one thing this show supports, it’s that Fitz is nothing if not for the people who prop him up). She’s earned a place next to him at the top. I love Liv but, I gotta side with Mellie: it’s her husband and her place. Mellie doesn’t disappoint. That card wasn’t up her sleeve though.

Joe: Could you see Olivia picking china patterns or choosing an issue, like childhood obesity, to care about or giving up her job? No. No. Definitely no.

Johnathan: I don’t know if it was the roundtable discussions or this new episode but I finally came around to Mellie this episode. During the ultrasound when she talks about past pregnancies, she says that “both times we were a team.” and I got a little sad for her.

T.F.: Yea, I think Mellie is in an awkward and unenviable position. Her role and abilities are super-undervalued, and her work constantly goes unrecognized (FLOTUS in a nutshell, I guess.)

Zach: Wait, I am sorry, but this episode made me dislike her even more. I am assuming she had her doctor go ahead and prematurely send her into labor so she could save her marriage? Come. On. That’s absurd. Because we all know she really doesn’t care about the marriage, but it is really more about her maintaining the power she has as First Lady. We have evidence for this in her discussion with Cyrus about how she “made Fitz” and all that mess. She isn’t mourning the potential of being a divorcee and losing her marriage–she is mourning a potential loss of power. And she will even put her child at risk for that.

Johnathan: I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive, Zach. Do I think she induced labor? Yes. But her first scene in the doctor’s office was sincere. She was missing her teammate.

Joe: I mean, we are often shown the shrill side of Mellie and not the side that actually fell in love with a pretty great catch. I mean before the cheating and threatening to destroy her with his eyes every time he looks at her.

Johnathan: There was also a powerful lesson in accountability this episode. Olivia wanted to come clean for what she felt she’d done wrong. She assessed the impact of her actions and did the right thing. When her and Cyrus are walking down the street, she makes the distinction between vengeance and justice. She doesn’t believe anyone is outside the scope of being held accountable, not with connections, not with power. It only reaffirmed my love for Ms. Pope.

Loree:  Yes, to be a human being is to have a conscience. Those who hurt people are basically sociopaths or just have become an expert at lying to themselves.

Joe: Yes… hello, Cyrus. I maintain that he is ultimately a villain on this show, as much as the Evil Southerner Brigade. I think that “discussion” with Olivia made that ever clearer.

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  • http://wifeyjd.wordpress.com/ Brownbelle

    I love that y’all are doing this, btw. There’s such rich discussion material and it’s nice to see the show discussed where you can criticize all the characters w/o getting shouted down. Anyway, this was one of the best episodes so far in terms of character development so far IMO.

    Fitz just makes me angrier every week. He cheats on his wife, flaunts his affair and then has the nerve to hesitate before he offers his hand to support her through labor? However bitter their relationship has become, a) he CHOSE to marry Mellie (she’s certainly not the type to propose to a man) and b) he should at least give her some modicum of respect out of human decency, and the fact that she is the mother of your children. Also- so you’re going to divorce your wife and assume that Liv will be waiting for you to scoop her up? Oh, okay -_-

    Olivia restored my faith in her by deciding to come clean about the election, no matter the consequences. Fitz may be her achilles heel but when it comes to work her moral compass points true north.

    Ah, Mellie…clearly she’s made some bad decisions. I would even agree that she’s probably not a good person. But so many people demonize her while ignoring the part Fitz played in all of this- from the flashbacks, there was a time when part of her loved him for himself. And obviously still does, or his behavior would not make her lash out.

    And I wish they’d let David Rosen put somebody in jail who actually *stays* there for once. The writers let him talk so much crap but he never gets to act on it!

  • Foxessa

    Could you see Olivia picking china patterns or choosing an issue, like childhood obesity, to care about or giving up her job? No. No. Definitely not.

    I disagree. I can see Olivia doing it very well, as well as our current Flotus, whom, well, let’s be honest here, I admire from the bottom of my heart, think is the best Flotus we ever had, at least in the years I’ve been alive to be aware of First Ladies at all, and the only one with whom I feel that both of us might enjoy our time together, if we ever had any — and I’m not being romantic or anything like that, just to be on the record. What I’m meaning is that our current First Lady is as close to the women I know and my friends as there ever has been in the White House.

    Olivia, though — hmmmm. I don’t have friends like Olivia who are professional fixers who navigate grey verging on black ops areas. Unless they are so good I’ve never noticed!

  • Felise

    “Could you see Olivia picking china patterns or choosing an
    issue, like childhood obesity, to care about or giving up her job? No. No.
    Definitely not.”

    A Scandal Roundtable?!? If only I could participate! I may try doing something similar
    with my friends; thank you for the idea. As for the quote above, I find the comparison
    between Olivia Pope (possible Senator’s wife) and First Lady Michelle Obama an
    interesting one. On paper Michelle Robinson (pre-Obama) didn’t read as the china picking type either: Princeton University for undergrad, Harvard Law School graduate, Barack Obama’s boss at a
    major Chicago law firm. No. No. Definitely not the makings of a garden planting, childhood obesity champion, right? Wrong. Not only is she planting gardens and getting kids to move with Beyoncé, but she is fashionable while doing it!

    So what does this mean for young, ambitious women (like me) who see themselves as the next Olivia Pope or as the President as opposed to the First Lady? Is there power in picking out the china patterns?
    Is there strength, intelligence, and integrity exhibited in those tasks as well. Perhaps Mellie would have the answer for me or maybe Olivia will if she gives into “normal”…. I hope not.

  • Felise

    “Could you see Olivia picking china patterns or choosing an
    issue, like childhood obesity, to care about or giving up her job? No. No.
    Definitely not.”

    A Scandal Roundtable?!? If only I could participate! I may try doing something similar
    with my friends; thank you for the idea. As for the quote above, I find the
    comparison between Olivia Pope (possible Senator’s wife) and First Lady
    Michelle Obama an interesting one. On paper Michelle Robinson (pre-Obama) didn’t read as the china picking type either: Princeton University for undergrad,
    Harvard Law School graduate, Barack Obama’s boss at a major Chicago law firm.
    No. No. Definitely not the makings of a garden planting, childhood obesity
    champion, right? Wrong. Not only is she planting gardens and getting kids to
    move with Beyoncé, but she is fashionable while doing
    it!

    So what does this mean for young, ambitious women (like me) who see themselves as the next Olivia Pope or as the President as opposed to the First Lady? Is there power in picking out the china
    patterns? Is there strength, intelligence, and integrity exhibited in those tasks as well. Perhaps Mellie
    would have the answer for me or maybe Olivia will if she gives into “normal”…. I hope not.