I really hope they sustain the coherence. I think a lot of the incoherence stemmed from how the spy agency that shall not be named took over the show, so I'm just hoping they don't make that same mistake again. I also wonder how some of what you're talking about is a fault of the quick pace of the editing. I mean…

As long as Charlotte isn't the last standing member of the spy agency that shall not be named. Of course, it could always be the ghost of Verna.

Fitz has motivation, but I don't think it was him both because he had finally come around to Olivia's point of view, and because the show has already used that as a major plot twist before. I'm sure the fact that he leaked Olivia's name back in season 2/3, will figure into things. So many others also have motivation,…

Yeah, Abby was being the annoying friend there.

The lie wasn't about the call; it happens when they're in the bathroom touching up their makeup, Abby again asks Olivia if Fitz called, and Olivia says, "No, he didn't call, because we don't have anything to talk about, why would we, That's over." So, she definitely lies to Abby and says the relationship is over when…

Agreed, Olivia's motivations to lie to Abby there are interesting. I think it underscores how much Olivia wanted to keep her relationship with Fitz there to enjoy for herself, on her own for awhile, before opening it up to anyone's scrutiny or judgement, even that of a friend. Also, since Abby is sensitive about what…

Very true. Sigh. I hope the Scandal writers don't screw up again.

Wanting better for Olivia is a sophisticated motivation, obviously, since it also gets to the heart of the show's sexual politics, and its version of feminism. I guess what I appreciate about the show's depiction of Olivia though, is that it would be so easy to put her on a pedestal and present her as an invulnerable,…

I root for Olivia above any other character and agree that she has handled her pain much better than Fitz has (although she still has a lot of trauma to work through). I think she manages it better in part because she tends to lead from the head, whereas a lot of Fitz's decisions tend to be emotionally based, a…

A season 3 tangent: I think a lot of the people who hate Fitz agree that Rowan's reading of him in the masterful "You're a boy" speech is a completely accurate one. Although, on the one hand, it seems right as an indictment of a politician who is white, male, republican, and born to privilege, on the other hand, it's…

Divorcing Mellie and going public with Olivia are separate decisions though: I'm not sure why Olivia should decide whether or not Fitz should divorce Mellie, that should be Fitz's decision. It definitely, however, should be Olivia's choice to decide if she wants her relationship with the president to go public.

Well, I think Marcus is coming aboard to OPA soon, so that should help.

I thought this exact structural problem was what doomed the last half of season 4: the show simply ceased to work or even be recognizable as "Scandal" when it followed an unintegrated B613 plotline, OPA plotline, and White House plotline. This episode's structure was different, however, and felt closer to the tighter…

Olivia could have a pretty large, compelling emotional arc contending with the reactionary racial and sexual politics that will be thrown in her direction when the American public and Sally Langstons of the world find out that the president has filed for divorce and is living with/sleeping with another woman, and that…

See below response; I realized I'm wrong.

Um, I think you are confusing me with another poster? When did I attack someone or write a nine paragraph response? So confused. *Proof of the perils of jumping into threads*

Well, she has Remington and the real reasons for the war in her back pocket. I guess it depends on whether or not they focus her plotline on destroying Fitz, or on being Mellie, junior senator of Virginia with an eye on a presidential run.

The point is watching a highly flawed fictional president have to spin why he is no longer living with his wife would be a thousand times more interesting—and more recognizably Scandal—than watching more B613 torture scenes and insane kidnapping/auction plotlines.

The question of the ratings is an interesting one. I think the ratings crashed in the second half of the season because we went from the auction of the protagonist of the show (!), along with a coup mentioned for one episode and never heard of again, and then back into B613 garbage. In the combo of the kidnap/auction…

I know everyone's all excited about the F grade, but this recap is pretty hyperbolic, and, more than that, it's always weird to me just how much Olivia Pope herself gets completely marginalized in these discussions. Yet, something important happened to her this episode that I’ve been waiting at least a season to see:…