I'm not entirely sure what a feminist show is or would look like - women who have agency and act like human beings? (I'm not being sarcastic, I'm honestly not sure) - and I do think that there is a lot about Scandal that is hugely problematic from a feminist perspective, but I think it does (every now and then) raise…

agreed.

sadly, I have to agree. I love Mellie, just because Bellamy Young has so much fun with her, but she does seem to fuck up every time she tries to get involved with politics. I think it goes back to last week's review - the show is about Olivia Pope - the characters work when they're reacting to her. Mellie is brilliant…

Yes she did, yes she seems to love Fitz more, but I don't think think that precludes her from having strong, meaningful feelings for someone else. Considering how far she's willing to go for Jake and how upset she was when he disappeared (see also: taking him to see her father, not being satisfied just with booty…

Yeah, I recognise that it's problematic because Jake wasn't "given" B613 by Rowan, but he launches directly into a rant about Jake's arrogance and need to be known, how true power "hides in plain site", suggesting that what he fucked up was his management of B613, not of Olivia. On the other hand, he follows the…

Yes! I think that was my favourite line.

It's also very limiting. The OPA stories have become irrelevant, unless they directly affect Olivia. I agree that it works, but I don't see how it can sustain a show; it's also why we can't move beyond "Olitz", because if they have even a moment of happiness, the show falls apart, or perhaps even if Olivia has a…

fair point also

I dunno, I was watching them drink scotch together and just kind of dumbfounded - don't they remember that time about 5 minutes ago when Fitz talked about screwing his daughter and Papa Pope called him Boy in his best speech ever?

actually, that line about "his greatest treasure" I also first took to mean Olivia, but then he turned it to be referring to B613, which shows how truly fucked up Papa Pope is.
I have to say that in general I'm pretty grossed out by the way this show uses sex, and the way it talks about it is possibly even worse

Olivia's friend was accused of murdering her step-daughter - the step-daughter whose boyfriend she had been sleeping with. The step-daughter had given her friend a key to a locker that held documents from her (the step-daughter's) dad's office and that was the girl who was killed with the key.
Wow that sounds…

fair enough, thanks. I need to rewatch the end of season 3…

I am a big Mellie fan, but that reaction was a little too callous and off the deep end even for me.
I really liked the Abbi and David scenes this episode, and nice to see Abbi actually being competent at her job (as I'm sure she is) for a change
But more importantly, I have a few questions, may have to do with poor…

Ah thanks, yes I had forgotten. It doesn't really seem deserving of an arc, but I guess it saves them from having to make up more one-shots

what happened to the plot from last week about Liv's friend killing her daughter? Did that go anywhere and I forgot? Or are the cases entirely irrelevant now?

speaking of someone being stupid - how does Cyrus not know he's being set up? Is there anyone who believes that Cyrus would fall for a set up so obscenely obvious that at first I thought the trick would be once he knows this is a set up it leads to some other plot? Cyrus? Key cynic and plotter?
His husband died, he…

I dunno, I don't buy it. I think she must have been threatened, perhaps even told of Tywin's grand plan - testify, we won't kill you, and we'll send Tyrion to the wall. Don't testify, we'll kill him and you. I think better of Shae and their relationship I guess

Sansa is now the last Stark not to have killed anyone (I'm not counting baby Stark who can't kill anyone because - why does he exist?)

as a character, he is awful, but I do quite enjoy him. I was actually thinking this episode that all the actors Shonda has recycled have been put to much better use in Scandal than in the first show she put them in (though admittedly I didn't watch that much of Private Practice).

Let me help you out - It is the Dr Who of politics. It has no need for the space-time continuum of reality. Suspend your disbelief, it's really very fun