Are you breathing? This episode of Scandal, “Everything’s Coming Up Mellie” was one rough tumble-down the rabbit hole in Shondaland. Honestly, I’m still a bit nauseous. When you’re on the line for a roller-coaster, looking at those big loops and twists on the big ride you think, “this is gonna been fun!” Then after you’ve done it and get off … you throw up. It’s not that you didn’t see what was coming, but you honestly thought you could handle it. Maybe you could have…if the darn thing didn’t also go backwards! Also, that one twist was a lot worse than it looked from ground!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I’m not doing a straight-up recap because, honestly, I don’t know if I could handle reliving the sequence of events. Don’t worry though, I’ll be hitting all the facts. Therefore, a full SPOILER WARNING is still in effect for Scandal, episode 3×7, “Everything’s Coming Up Mellie.” Everything is coming up Mellie, so I’m going to cover her big main story arc last.
The saying, “Nothing occurs in a vacuum” is apparent throughout this episode, however it seems that so much of the characters on Scandal have been, or are in, Let’s start with the mild and fun part of the night. Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) and First Lady Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) have been one step ahead of Vice President Sally Langston (Kate Burton) and her plan to run for president against Fitz as a third-party candidate. Once Mellie found out Sally’s husband Daniel Douglas Langston (Jack Colman) was “a bit handsy” she and Cyrus arrange for a hooker to temp him and likely get some blackmail pictures. Mellie picks the perfect hooker, and at the swanky White House soiree for she’s supposed to seduce him. That doesn’t happen, but as you see, they aren’t too upset!
That was priceless! I guess, like Mellie, Cyrus is practical. However, there could be a problem. If Sally’s husband has an affair with Cyrus’s husband, won’t that effect Cyrus too? No worries. I think I know how James Novak (Dan Bucatinsky) will get his job back, and get back into Cyrus’s good graces – and it won’ t be by sleeping with him. James may not have been keen on playing the lesbian card on Josie Marcus (Lisa Kudrow) – but that’s because she’s a liberal democratic and is likely on the side of supporting gay rights & gay marriage. However, Sally Hanson despises gay people, so outing her husband could be a real blow to her perfect family image. As a side note, wasn’t Cyrus cute when he realized James had been fired? I think he actually felt badly for minute!
In terms of romance, here’s a quick note of speculation. Now that Olivia has brought the gladiators in on the deal with her dad, the stakes are much higher. I’m already betting that the romance between our dear Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield) and David Rosen (Joshua Malina) is living on borrowed time, because that hug Abby gave Olivia is a reminder of just where Abby’s loyalties are, and while David has learned how to play a bit dirtier, he still thinks the law can fix things. This is fine with me, because Harrison Wright (Columbus Short) is going to need a partner who gets the whole Olivia thing and can support him through whatever part of his past is getting ready to rise from the dead (we saw that last week). Gladiators should stick with gladiators – so bring on some Abbison!
The descent into the rabbit hole starts with Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) trying to not answer the phone designated for President Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant (Tony Goldwyn) , her former lover whom even if it were possible for them to be together she wouldn’t be. Soulmate or not, the man shot down the passenger jet that had her mother on it.
Watching Olivia dive for that phone is like watching an alcoholic trying and failing to not take a drink. There’s a reason that love is often compared to addiction! Scandal writer and creator Shonda Rimes writes some of the most gut-wretching scenes on TV – and this qualifies, but it’s the performances of Washington and Goldwyn (How have I never noticed that their last names rhyme?) that really fill those words with the anguish and sense of self-division that make it so painful to watch.
There’s so many salient points in that scene, but the line that I think speaks most to the sense of “Forged in Fire”
I’m surrounded by murders, that’s how I am. I’m surrounded by men who have a body count, I’m standing in a graveyard made by people I thought I loved. That, is how I am.
Fitz doesn’t know just how deep that goes for her. He likely hears it as referring to him. Does he know Huck (Guillermo Diaz) is a B613? He’s only recently learned about Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) and he doesn’t know who her father is. I suppose once he learns who her father is the attraction to men who kill will make more sense to him – and explain a lot more about why she’s such a good fixer. (The same way it’s helped us viewers!)
Speaking of Huck, can we talk about this whole HuckleberryQuinn disaster?
Damn-it, I knew Quinn Perkins (Katie Lowes) was going to get “recruited” by B613 – but come on girly, getting all hot and bothered over Charlie (George Newbern)? I’ll admit the way they got her surprised me. I thought they’d kidnap her and try to program her like Huck, Charlie, and Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) had been. Blackmailed into B613 I was not expecting!
I know Huck wanted to smack her when she was gloating about being right, and interested for “the right reasons” because she’s still oblivious to the Pandora’s’s box she’d opened. For her it was just about getting something on Olivia. She’s never quite forgiven Olivia for all that’s happened to her, hence her always challenging the woman, but it was Quinn’s trusting nature that hooked her up with her lying cheating boyfriend whose death she was framed for. Olivia just picked up the pieces of the mess Quinn got into because her bad taste in men – and it’s screwed her over again.
Nevertheless, I did feel bad for her when she realizes that she’d killed the guard. It definitely wasn’t the rush she thought it would be. That’s because it was never about wanting to kill for her – it was about wanting to be in control. She’s felt like she’s had no control over her life and her circumstances. To her Huck seemed to be able to handle just about anything. Quinn thought if she learned all the stuff Huck did she’d be safe from having the rug pulled out from under her ever again. Mastering that gun made her feel even more powerful – invincible. Only now does she realize how wrong her thoughts were. Skills are nice, but it’s the mind that gets manipulated…. Welcome to Wonderland, Quinn.
The guard Quinn killed was the last possible link available that could explain what happened prior to the plane Fitz shot down took off. Jake was supposed to meet with him that night. The gladiators have already figured out that someone was taken off the plane that night. Supposedly it was some guy named Omar. The big reveal was that it was Olivia’s mom that was taken off the plane (in a very elaborate way so that it looked like this Omar guy.) Rowan Pope (Joe Morton) has had her hidden away in a maximum security isolated cell the entire time! What the Huck! Maybe the tears in last week’s flashback were over all the innocent people he’d had murdered? I can’t wait to find out the story behind this one!
However, even finding out that the mom is alive (which we all suspected, but again, I wasn’t expecting her being held under lock and key by Rowan!) couldn’t top the revelations about Mellie. Did you ever ponder how the red queen got so insane? “Everything’s coming up Mellie” does for Mellie what “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” did for Olivia. It explains how and why Mellie Grant became such a total nut case.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
First of all, Cyrus, I’m nicknaming you Dr. Frankenstein because you are the first catalyst for the Mellie we have today. You are the one that told her she had to give up any idea of personal ambition and make Fitz her full-time job and project. It’s that 1950’s idea that a woman lives through her husband’s career. In that one moment with Cyrus all of Mellie’s personal ambition is turned from herself and onto Fitz.
We saw earlier that a) Mellie and Fitz were in fact happy b) Mellie witnessed how awful “Big Jerry” – Fitz’s Dad (Barry Bostwick) – was to Fitz. So when it’s presented to her that she needs to be the one to fix things she stays up with Big Jerry to try to get some insight into what’s going on. As we saw she got far more than she bargained for. When Fitz’s father rapes her – supposedly because he’s had too much to drink – she uses that fact to blackmail him into apologizing to Fitz so that he will run for governor.
That rape scene really bothered me. Rape is an act of violence and control. It is not because a man likes pretty girls and just loses control due to an abundance of alcohol. I could guess at the psychology here – a punishment because he revealed information that he shouldn’t have, a way to get back at his son, proof that he is the powerful Grant, not Fitz. Mellie could have been a high unattractive woman and he’d have done the same thing. Not only did Mellie not encourage him – his actions had nothing to do with her looks. I don’t like the suggestion that it’s Mellie’s beauty that got her raped. Jerry being a misogynistic, power-mad, bastard who doesn’t think laws in general apply to him is why she was raped.
To top it off, Mellie gets pregnant from that rape. It looks like Fitz’s first child is really his half-brother! No wonder Mellie is insane! It’s also why she won’t let go of Fitz and will do anything to keep him in the White House. If Fitz loses, then everything that’s happened to her that she’s done and endured is for nothing. So, now I at least understand Mellie. 15 years ago Mellie’s life deteriorated into a version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe even more sinister than the play. Now, Mellie’s monologue from “Molly, You In Danger, Girl” has a context. It’s worth looking at again:
Fitz, it wasn’t you, it was your father – and the man you’ve sometimes claimed as your best friend. Now the question for me is this: which big bad daddy is the worse bad daddy – Olivia’s or Fitz’s. Right now I’d say they are neck and neck.
Once upon a time Fitz and Mellie really loved each other. Once upon a time there was a bit of fairytale magic between them. I think that’s why throughout Scandal there are times that they’re both able to remember that they were once friends. For now, what Fitz really needs is a friend. When Mellie comes to him saying he doesn’t have to love her, but could he at least show up for her, that’s something he could do. 15 years is a long time to know someone – even if you don’t love them anymore. So Fitz shows up – big time!
Later he tells Mellie that he meant every word. After watching this episode I think it’s partially true. It’s not Mellie’s fault that he had the affair. However, it’s not all Fitz’s fault either. Maybe if that weekend 15 years ago had never happened he’d still be in love with Mellie. Even if not, Mellie would still have enough of a self to just let go and walk away. So if this fiasco is anyone’s fault – blame Cyrus and Big Jerry.
Join us on GossipandGab.com for our season three news, previews, and reviews for ABC’s Scandal. Bookmark us or friend us on Facebook or Twitter for all our latest updates. You can also follow me on Twitter.
The post Scandal Episode 3×7, “Everything’s Coming Up Mellie” – Review: Forged in Fire appeared first on Gossip and Gab.