I don't know why I'm so surprised that Gwen totally glossed over the main meat of this episode in favour of validating Mellie's woe-is-me rhetoric, bitching about Shondaland using actors from The Gilmore Girls, and whinging about Fitz. She barely remembers that Olivia is a human being who has gone through a lot, while…

He did the "right thing" when he basically handed Mellie the senate seat in VA, a seat that she didn't lift a finger herself to win. Or should I say he was trying to do the right thing because Mellie is a terrible politician who wants to rule rather than serve.

You backed up nothing, and the one example you gave was utter bollocks.
But yeah, let's pretend that you don't want to engage in tit for tat because you're so above all that. Lol.

When people on here can't counter with a credible argument, they either resort to disdainfully referring to me and others as shippers, or they tell us that we take the show too seriously. It's almost like you haven't been a part of this conversation talking about these fictional TV characters.

How did Cyrus get him back with one line to Mellie? Fitz had already agreed to all Mellie's somewhat nonsensical demands, now he doesn't have to honour any of it. Mellie got played because Cyrus was hurt that the man he loved had spurned his advances, if you would. Did you see how supplicating he was to Fitz? How…

Apart from the above, what else on that list is a stretch?

I'm going to have to repost this in response to your comments. The following aren't my words, but they were part of a larger conversation and perfectly highlights the double standards and the danger of the Mellie Grant woe-is-me rhetoric that less discerning viewers are swallowing hook, line and sinker:

The following aren't my words, but they were part of a larger conversation and perfectly highlights the double standards and the danger of the Mellie Grant woe-is-me rhetoric that less discerning viewers are swallowing hook, line and sinker:

Exactly. Compare her lot in life with Olivia's. They were both financially privileged, but that's where the comparisons end. Olivia was abandoned at the age of 12 by her father. Up until two years ago she believed that her mother was dead, only to find out that she was a terrorist. She also discovered that her father…

What can I say, it's part of my charm.

No, he's a bad person because he is blatantly emotionally abusive to both his wife and his mistress

Chris, I'm a married woman, I've said to my husband don't touch me, plenty of times when I've been hurt or upset, and when he invades my space to try to reach me, I don't consider that abuse, that's part of the dynamic of MY relationship, and unlike you, I understand those scenes with Fitz and Olivia. Does my letting…

Does anyone else have issues with this narrative that Mellie has sacrificed SO MUCH for Fitz?

Again, what quality of discussion? The reviewer herself set the tone, and people either agree or disagree. Do you believe that somehow you are superior to me because I happen to like the fictional couple that we're discussing and you don't? Is that how this works? Does being a so-called "shipper" negate my…

"I don't give two shits what happens on Twitter. This is the AV Club; we have a higher caliber of discussion here."

I bet it's not a scene that stayed long in your memory bank though is it?

Gwen sympathises with the privileged white woman and isn't interested in the humanity of the black woman. It is what it is.

Does anyone else groan when they see Joe Morton in the credits at the beginning?

"That Liv apparently finds this a big turn-on doesn't justify Fitz's behavior,

Fitz is a selfish, immature boy, who wants what he wants when he wants it, is accustomed to having his every desire handed to him, and has never managed to think about anyone but himself for longer than a few months at a stretch.