To Shonda, From a Confused "Scandal" Fan
(L-R) Shonda Rhimes with Kerry Washington at the 2014 Lucy Awards
By @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer
Dear Shonda Rhimes (A.K.A. Queen of TV Broadcasting),
I want to begin this letter by saying I absolutely love your work. I was a bit late in registration and missed the Grey's Anatomy class, but I was present and on time for Scandal from episode 1, "Sweet Baby." I love the story arcs, pacing, character development and plot twists, and have seen every season in full at least 3 times, thanks to DVR. So, when I say I'm genuinely confused and curious about this current season, it's not coming from a shallow, "I'm not amused" place. As a devoted "gladiator," it doesn't make sense to me how much the direction is shifting, much less why.
Confused Face #1: How Universes Work
When I say "universes," I don't mean the cosmos. I'm referring to the entities and canon that creative people form when they put together a recurrent body of work, like that of comics, television shows, movies and even albums (that is, if you're Janelle Monae). Much like how our universe has laws (gravity, physics, chemistry, etc.), story-writers ultimately formulate each character, setting and scenario to abide by their own terms of "laws." These are things like a character's weaknesses, strengths, thinking and behavioral patterns, social interactions and the significance of certain environments. I know you're aware of this; it's why Olivia is still head-over-heels for Fitz, and why Mellie is beginning to snap, but has political aims. Taking this into account, I'm puzzled as to why this season is beginning to defy ALL the basic logic of the "universe" your team has worked so hard to build, mainly in the area of character development.
​Why would Olivia consider helping her father and getting him released from prison? Why would she sway?? I get that it was a difficult choice between her independence and possibly getting "lost" in White House trappings while being married to Fitz (it's also against the show's logic that Olivia would internalize Mellie's warnings about this or even have an advice chat with her, but I relevantly digress), but she would never take the illegal route when there's a perfectly legal one right in front of her that wouldn't take much work to fix in her favor. Part of her rationale was that she "didn't want him to die," but she aimed a gun right between her father's eyes and pulled the trigger (it was unloaded, unbeknownst to her). She's helped set him up twice and tried to have Jake kill him on multiple occasions. Letting this man go makes no sense after working for God knows how long in Scandal-years to have him arrested to begin with. All of this support for Rowan has come from nowhere, much like her left-field "at least my father loved me" statement during an argument with Fitz, but we'll talk more about that later.
Justice for Mellie! "Scandal" Disappointments & Fitz Hatred
No can do, Mellie (ABC promo)
WARNING: If you haven't seen the October 16 episode of ABC's Scandal, you might not want to read this ranting article.
Scandal, America's favorite political drama, is back and off to an auspicious start, but this viewer is perturbed. At the close of season 3 last April, I expressed my grave disappointment in how the unmasking of First Lady Mellie Grant's (Bellamy Young) rape by her father-in-law was written. In short, my opinion and grievance was that Mellie's story was made about Olivia Pope (the lead character and her husband's mistress) and that President Fitzgerald's response was nonsensically contradicting and unfeeling. Given the sweeping finale (a lot went down), I had hopes that this plotline would be fleshed out in season 4, but after Thursday's episode, "Like Father, Like Daughter," I'm not as optimistic.
After the death of their son, Jerry Jr., both Fitz and Mellie suffered emotional breakdowns. Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) had a failed suicide attempt, but eventually buried himself in presidential duties to stay afloat. Mellie began over-eating, became an alcoholic and stopped showering, grooming and caring about White House affairs. She'd visit Jerry Jr.'s grave wearing a bathrobe and Ugg boots and lay in the grass. Their teen daughter, Karen, was quickly sent back to boarding school to resume her life. When Mellie tries to assert her position as a mother and fumes that Olivia (Kerry Washington) was the first called to handle Karen's sex-tape drama, Fitz snaps, "I have dealt with drunk Mellie and smelly Mellie and screw-everything-to-hell Mellie and crybaby Mellie and eat-everything-that-is-not-nailed-down Mellie and I have not complained. But I will not put up with whatever righteous, history-rewriting Mellie you have going on…This is not your family, you are not the mother…since Jerry died you have abdicated your role; you have mothered no one…Olivia Pope is fixing this mess, this mess that you made…we made…I know I share some guilt in all of this, but you want to know the difference between you and me?...All day, every day…I'm grieving the loss of my son, but I am also running a country!"
Fitz is such a disgusting, impudent, ungrateful creature with too much nerve. How dare Fitz go on about how he's had the strength to continue running the country, when his wife is the one who got him in office, rigging elections and supporting his political career to the point of forfeiting justice for her rape and raising the child whom she thought was the product of said attack for 15 years. That same child died right before her eyes and instead of clinging onto her in his anguish, Fitz begged for his mistress. A mistress that Mellie had to sit back and let Fitz have because she knew she couldn't stand to be intimate with the man she loved after what happened to her. She had to sit back, feel, breed and watch Fitz's resentment of her unfurl and fester, while harboring a burdening a secret. She sacrificed her marriage, justice and sanity to preserve Fitz's spirit and dreams. How dare he call her a "crybaby" and criticize her for crumbling; it's a wonder she didn't snap earlier! You want to know why Mellie isn't holding it together anymore, Fitz? She's been doing it for the last 15 years! That's why, you piece of crap! How dare he ridicule her parenting when he has never parented his children! You didn't have that very necessary and consoling talk with Karen about grief, notoriety and sexuality--Mellie did! "I'm running a country!" Oh? Well, who helped you run it while you were in a coma and sharks were circling to take your place? Mellie. There was a half-hearted, rushed scene where Fitz tells Mellie he knows about her assault in season 3. We have yet to see a thorough moment of acknowledgement, sensitivity or gratitude from Fitz. Don't say, "What about his give-her-what-she-wants attitude?" He canceled all that out with his little "Smelly Mellie" speech and his tries at shirking responsibility. He had to correct himself when he said "the mess you made" and followed that with "I know I share some of the guilt in all of this, but…"
Yeah, but he doesn't care (ABC promo)
As usual, in the midst of all the chaos and Olivia informing him that the holders of the sex-tape wished to monetarily blackmail his family, Fitz focuses on his paramour. He cockily, no pun intended, does his typical "all I have to do is kiss and/or stick my hand down Olivia's skirt and I can have my way" move. Since Olivia pathetically has no will-power (which is part of the reason Fitz is cocky), she admits she was with Jake Ballard, Fitz's romantic rival, when she tried to escape her life to a hidden island to get Fitz to back away. Being the childish, hypocritical, fragile-to-ego-bruising guy he is, he instantly flips to detesting Olivia, roughly grabbing and shoving her arm away and dismissing her. No double standards or anything.
With things being written this way, it adds to the continual and problematic practice of using rape as a quick, sensationalist plot device (especially to propel other characters), instead of something to help give a voice to the voiceless. These kinds of stories should be teachable moments to reduce the callous and avoidant ignorance on the topic that results in sexual attacks in the first place and lack of proper support for victims. It's a disservice to our society when characters like Mellie are disenfranchised. There are hundreds of well-written articles and blogs describing the various ways in which media mishandles rape, from using it as a way to soften characters or make them more endearing, to explain brokenness, advance plots or gain ratings. Perhaps Fitz's behavior and response, if you could call it that, is supposed to exemplify how much of a selfish person he is, but I doubt there's a method to the madness of dropping this ball. Justice for Mellie!
My ONE Beef with the 'Scandal' Finale
Twisted triangle: (L-R) Young, Goldwyn & Washington
WARNING: This article contains spoilers; however, I doubt there's a human being who didn't watch "Scandal" live, ha-ha.
It was the finale watched 'round America…ABC's "Scandal" closed its 3rd season (April 17) literally and figuratively with a bang: terrorist (and mother to the protagonist) Maya Pope unsuccessfully tried to kill President Fitzgerald Grant with a bomb, Grant only won the election for a 2nd term because his son died (I still can't believe they killed Lil' Jerry), B613 was re-launched with Papa Eli Pope as command, and Olivia decided to be Vanessa L. Williams and erase herself to start a new life (shout-out to all the people who understand the "Eraser" reference). That very much of an episode summary was just the tip of the iceberg and doesn't do the post-traumatic-stress inducing finale justice (Brava to Shonda Rimes and her writing team for providing edge-of-your-seat TV weekly; I don't know how they do it), but that's not why I'm here, so I apologize if you were hoping for more details.
I'm here to address my one, singular issue with the finale--how Mellie's rape secret was handled. 15 years ago when Fitz (handsome Tony Goldwyn) was running for governor, his cold-hearted father, Jerry, raped his wife Mellie (portrayed by the talented and gorgeous Bellamy Young). Mellie never told Fitz what happened, even when she became pregnant (a recent paternity test showed that Fitz was the father). Afterward, she emotionally and physically withdrew from Fitz, leaving him to think she didn't love him. Various incidents lead to Mellie's resentment of Fitz, chiefly his affair with government scandal-hider, Olivia Pope (the also talented and gorgeous Kerry Washington; there's a lot of good-looking people in this cast). The audience learned of Mellie's assault in the 7th episode of the season ("Everything's Coming Up Mellie") and it was a big 'ah-ha;' we then understood and had a context for her demeanor and behavior. People who hated Mellie from day 1 had a change of mind. We eagerly waited for the secret to come out because surely, Fitz would have an even bigger epiphany. It would change everything, particularly between him and Olivia, right? Wrong. It all stayed ridiculously the same, to where I wondered what the point was of even putting the secret in the script.
From how it was unveiled to what unfolded after, this part of the story wasn't executed well. When it appears that Fitz won't win a 2nd term, he suggests to Olivia with gradual giddiness that they can finally be together. Knowing what she does (Mellie implicitly told her about Big Jerry), Olivia recoiled when Fitz spoke of divorcing Mellie and accused her of marrying him only because of his position. Olivia breaks her promise to keep quiet and after a moment of denial, Fitz goes to find Mellie. Mellie quickly gathers that Fitz knows the truth, tells him about the paternity test and emphasizes that she tried to fight Big Jerry off. Fitz kisses her on the head, they embrace and it's on the rest of the episode. First mistake. This was Mellie's story, this was her withholding that would affect her marriage. This was a major, intensely personal barrier between Mellie and Fitz, and Olivia was the messenger? Despite her having little to do with this colossal spot in their marriage, here Olivia was again, written in the middle. She continued to be in the middle too. Before making one his last pre-election appearances, Fitz calls Olivia and tells her they'll have to once more put off being together because he "can't leave her [Mellie] now." Within the conversation, it's confirmed he still intends to leave Mellie and he's staying with her at present because of principle. Principle. During Fitz's speech, Lil' Jerry dies of a lethal strain of meningitis (it was a calculated murder by Papa Pope). The nation sympathizes with Fitz and he wins the election. Everyone celebrates, but Fitz collapses alone in the shock of all that he's lost just to remain in power. When Mellie tries to console him, he asks for Olivia. Olivia. I was floored. Let get this straight: this is the woman you once loved and claimed to be shattered over when she retreated from you. This is the woman you created children with; one of which was thought to be a product of rape by your own father. This is the woman you are currently grieving the sudden, unjust death of a child with. This is the woman trying to catch you when the gravity of these events brought you to your knees and you asked for Olivia?! No one found this absurd?!
It's completely unrealistic and contradictory to the story that Fitz's feelings for Olivia would remain unmoved and unshaken in the wake of finding out about Mellie's rape. I didn't expect his love (if you can call it that) for Olivia to instantly evaporate, but I did expect him to be emotionally on the fence between the 2 women. Just 4 episodes ago ("Mama Said Knock You Out," E15), Fitz was expressing his hurt, sadness and anger that Mellie detached from him all those years ago and had an affair, blaming her for the demise of their marriage, and now that he has the answer to all of his questions, he's just staying with her on principle?! No instincts or urges to rebuild his marriage? Not even a little? No realizations that Mellie indeed loved him, so much so, she sacrificed her sanity to protect him from a devastating truth and support his dreams? Are you kidding me? As the kids say, where they do that at?! All of this should've brought him closer to Mellie than he ever has been, but it was still the Olivia show.
Yes, Olivia is the lead character and Fitz is her primary romantic interest, but it was just ludicrous that Mellie was a co-star in her own plot-line. Given the pace of the other surrounding stories, I'll concede to the consideration there might not have been enough time or space to explore any changes to Fitz's dynamic with Mellie and Olivia, so I'll cross my fingers and hope to see it in season 4.
Thoughts on my rant?