Plot: Taking a few more pages from a lust novel with The Capitol as the backdrop and the lover, Scandal returned with its fourth season.
Fans and on-the-fencers (like myself) were waiting to see what happened after Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) left her “gladiators,” Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) and The Capitol for a rogue flight with her beau Jake (Scott Foley). We also wanted to know how Scandal was going to finalize the first season without its ultimate gladiator, Harrison (played by Columbus Short).
The season premiere was back at the drama within three minutes. We get a little break from the norm seeing Olivia letting her hair down on some off-the-map tropical island until Quinn tracks her down and sucked her back into Washington. Olivia returns to a ghost office haunted by Quinn (Katie Lowes) and a dismantled team; Abby (Darby Stanchfield) is the “Red Head Lady” on Fitz’s cabinet, Huck (Guillermo Diaz) is at a computer store snooping out cheating spouses as Randy the Smart Guy, Harrison is dead and David Rosen (Joshua Malina) is on his way up the federal ladder.
This season has supporting characters out of… well, character. Abby and Liv’s square off really gave Darby Stanchfield a chance to show us a side to her acting that woke the scene up. Her character never looked better. Kerry Washington has proven her range already so its always refreshing to see the rest of the cast develop their characters too. The only character that seems more like an irritation than an interesting story line is Quinn, I liked her better when she was fresh meat on the team.
The mises en abyme or stories within the main story of Olivia’s life are getting juicier and more grounded than Liv’s. For people who are so over Olivia’s ridiculous yet tantalizing love woes then the rest of the story lines are the amazing hors d’oeuvres to fill up on before the main course. Shonda, please give us more breaks from this endless sick love that we are tuned into all over again.
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Asia Martin is a staff writer for Pop-Break covering TV shows and movies that make her laugh or cringe. She spends most of her daytime hours assisting Hurricane Sandy relief at The Children’s Home Society of NJ, yes people are still in need. In her spare time, she runs her own social media management business, Rising Dynamics, LLC and freelance writes. Asia is a graduate of Rutgers University with a major in Journalism and Media Studies. She loves superhero cartoons, films and Comic Con but continuously skips out on comic books #sorrybutnotsorry Follow Asia on Twitter: @ColoredIn
