I definitely feel like Olivia is always fighting her own feelings when it comes to Fitz and that she's also carrying around a lot of guilt about a lot of things. I wonder if Scandal will ever give us an Olivia healed from some of her pain…

Sweettweeny, that's a really interesting point you make that "Olivia will never make the first move sexually with Fitz because Fitz is married." It offers a subtle account of why she holds back from instigating or being the aggressor in their sexual encounters that's slightly different than what I suggested (that she…

I agree with this as you'll see from my above response. I feel like I should add I'm also speaking from a woman's point of view, but I say that not to lay claim to my pov being representative of other women's points of view, but just because I'm totally weirded out by the way the av club is defaulting me to a male…

Just to clarify though, I don't see *all* of their initial contact as problematic for the reasons sweetweeny outlines below—not all the scenes have the exact same initial contact, and Olivia's resistance is often a fight with herself about wanting to have sex versus wanting to do the right thing. I didn't like the…

I still feel that focusing almost exclusively on Fitz in
your analysis excludes another crucial element at play in their relationship and sexual encounters, namely: Olivia’s desires/wants/needs.

There’s a lot I agree with here especially about power imbalances and about patterns repeating themselves too often; however, I still don’t see the relationship with Fitz as something that is just being done to Olivia without her own participation, consent, power, and desire.

It's true that part of the scene didn't make sense. We already knew—that at least for a period of time—Mellie had much higher approval ratings than Fitz.

I really appreciate your point of view here and the argument
you are making. My concern stems from seeing the term rapist and rape used hyperbolically lest it makes us less sensitive to recognizing rape when it is actually taking place.

Adrian, You take away all of Olivia's agency when you say that Fitz is a rapist and she's not giving her consent. Olivia holds way more power over him in that relationship to credibly make that assertion. Also, every sex scene they've had on screen very carefully marks her consent (for instance, if Fitz initiates…

Agreed.

Yes, thank you. Scandal, please do not have your B613 characters saying “we’re the good guys” as if your audience has no memory whatsoever and has forgotten what they have done from episode to episode and season to season.

I'd also add that Cyrus might just think that Mellie isn't a good candidate for president—after all, he's had a front-row seat to her volatility for the past few years. His overriding loyalty is towards Fitz and protecting his presidency—he'll do pretty much anything to protect Fitz from any potential political…

"But there's no evidence of love on this show"—hm, I'm still trying to figure out how that's the take away from this episode, of all episodes. I think one of the strengths of Scandal is it doesn't ever give its audience an easy love plot, but always tangles it with its opposite—the fear of being used or manipulated,…

"Fitz is soooo whiny" whines yet another commenter.
I don't really understand this whole line of thought—are you saying because he's a bad president, it means he's not an interesting character to watch? When people argue that he's just "the worst EVER," does it mean that what you really want to see on Scandal is just…

I know you might end up deleting some or all of your post (if so, I can also delete this response to it), but I just wanted to say I found it really brave and moving. Especially the way you are at once able to have and process your own experience and let it inform what works for you and yet not let it prevent you from…

Yeah, it was really heartwarming when he asked for payment for his surveillance. Before we romanticize Jake, just remember, he's that guy who KILLED JAMES. And the one that gave Liv a concussion.

Well, it seemed like everyone was hot and bothered after reading the book (cf. Abby; butter) and I agree with you about how abrupt the transition was for Olivia. Actually, the difference between Abby's enacting of some fantasy and Olivia's maybe matters. For Abby, it was a very clear—"here's something I want to try…

Yes, please. Jake Ballard is the most boring character on the show. His only function to this point seems to have been to reduce a complicated love story to a ridiculous set of marketing taglines (team fitz! team jake!).

I liked Lena Dunham in this and I thought a few of the monologues addressing sexism were pretty great, but wow, I didn't like this episode. I have a few questions, among them: Was the show asking us to read the last scene of Olivia and Russell as true "sexual healing" that repairs Olivia or as another manifestation of…

Yeah, but aside from this episode, I wonder what exactly constitutes “serious business” on Scandal? I think of Scandal as a show that takes the component parts of “serious business” re-purposes them into something else—I don’t even know if I’d say “fluff,” but
definitely something that isn’t realism, and that treats…