Let's get one thing straight. Everyone who hates this show now didn't use to feel that way. Seasons one and two were excellent, and deserved all of the praise it got. Even season three had some worthy moments, despite its worrisome missteps. But ever since, it has been so goddamned awful with only occasional bursts of…

This episode was not as appalling as the Andrew "Thwack!" fest of two weeks back, but so much of this episode did not work at all. Let's break this down…

That is my issue as well. The tragedy quotient has reached beyond the edge now, and Scandal has turned into an ironic dark comedy played horribly straight. In season one, a black ops force killing former presidential intern Amanda Tanner was enough to make us queasy, but now? Scandal has made human tragedy into a…

And I wrote that part before Rowan stepped in and added his own, ahem, creative perspective of the whole thing to motivate the younger and more feral Jake. At one point, he described Jake's dad's abuse of his sister into "making his fantasies come true". Papa pope made it sound like incest porn, even though they were…

I probably should not post until after I finish the episode, but the opening minute was…strangely hilarious, and I know goddamn well it should not have been.

I loved how savvy the producers were when it came to the credits roll. They learned well from TVTropes to keep D'Onofrio's name hidden until the episode finished. I actually laughed out loud when his name appeared after the cliffhanger. Just…awesome.

When you present my statement that way, it does sound kind of trivial. Then again, in the world of Scandal, every form of human depravity has become trivialized, especially after season 3. Now, Olivia doesn't even flinch when her threats made Susan's ex-husband hang himself, Cyrus orchestrates a mass shooting to boost…

If nothing else, you do well posting random Scandal facts that damn near everyone forgot about. Including the writers, tragically enough.

Oh, yeah. THAT. I really don't like how fictional political shows like to inject themselves into real life political timelines. I do remember how illogical that line sounded. Not relative to the failed McCain strategy, but how close the Fitzgerald presidency is to Obama's. It was just…bizarre.

For real.

That's what she said.

But…wasn't the previous episode making Mellie out to be a whiny and unlikable candidate, like a certain female VP in real life? Clearly, Shonda is not blind to that criticism of Mellie. Hell, the comparison works much better than Hollis Doyle Trump.

Maybe I should have asked this during your other "Adventures of Huck, Billionaire" segments, but what happened to that billion dollars Huck was supposed to be used for the auction?

It wasn't "The Mountain and the Viper" gruesome, but…yeah. That bludgeoning was one of the harder TV deaths to stomach.

Through most of season 4, I joked on a few instances that Eli's obsession with Olivia Pope were borderline incestuous. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen, but it would definitely be the most distasteful.

LMAO

Gwen was wrong about one thing. This episode has brought more attention to Scandal than ever, via bile fascination.

There's also Michael. It says a lot when the male prostitute is one of the least despicable characters on the show.

Before I go off into an epic rant, let me say that stroke afflicted Andrew made for one of the most unintentionally hilarious performances of the year. Half of the time, Andrew sounded incomprehensible. The other half, he channeled Milton from Office Space. Too bad his luck was not nearly as good as dear Milton.

I finished watching an hour ago. I half-agree and disagree with Gwen's F grade. Overall, I'd say the episode was closer to a C- or than an outright F. Abby's turn to the dark side was a surprisingly ballsy and effective direction to take her character. Marcus, though underused, is a borderline audience surrogate at…