‘Scandal’
Grade: A-
ABC’s #TGIT was back and better than ever Jan. 29 with the premiere of “Scandal.” After a long winter break filled with anticipation, show creator Shonda Rhimes delivered in the best way possible.
This wasn’t your typical episode where the underlying plot was Olivia Pope jumping from Jake to Fitz and from Fitz to Jake.
Viewers were left off with Olivia finally choosing between President Fitz and Jake. Just as she tells Jake she picks herself, she is abducted.
And the viewer is left with so many questions.
Who did it? Was it her estranged and dangerous father? Was it the president and his many men? Was it the president’s enemies?
No, no, and, well, maybe.
Olivia is taken to a run-down, prison-like place to hold her until these masked men, who we have never seen before, get what they want. And it isn’t just money.
The minute she was taken to this prison, I become overwhelmed with disappointment. Was “Scandal,” the show that never draws any plotline out too long and always keeping things moving, going to keep Olivia locked up in this chamber for episodes to come?
But just as the episode neared its end and I feared it selling out, Rhimes showed us what she was made of once again. Boring and typical is just not in her DNA.
Olivia wasn’t just going to be “some” prisoner in “some” prison. This was going to be good, and if you could survive this premiere, you would earn a new and exciting story line.
For all you “Scandal” lovers who were getting tired of the Fitz-Olivia-Jake love triangle, never fret. You will be rewarded for your patience.
I was mostly shocked by the entire episode focusing on Olivia. There were no flashes to what was being done in Washington, D.C., to save her. For once, Olivia was completely on her own and it was refreshing.
The episode also makes you wonder if Olivia can truly leave behind her lifestyle. We’ve seen her try before, wanting to stand in the sun with Jake, only to step back into the darkness of Washington, D.C.
It’s not clear in what direction Olivia is headed, whether she will be pulled back in or if she already has been.
