Hey, y’all. It’s a lazy Saturday morning here and I want to talk about movies. I don’t want to say that my muse is taking a nap again. I usually talk movies whenever that happens ahahhaa. The movie in my plate today is the series, Scandal created by Shonda Rhimes. I’ve met quite a few people who said they do not like the series probably because of the nature of the relationship between Olivia Pope and President Grant. Morality compass much. Same with Power. Let’s stay with Scandal though.
Olivia Pope, a former media consultant to the president, is ready to move on with her life and opens her own crisis-management firm, but she can't seem to shake ties with her past. Olivia's staff includes Quinn Perkins, who has a complicated history, and hacker extraordinaire Huck. As she moves forward it becomes clear that, while her staffers may specialize in cleaning up the lives of other people, they can't seem to do the same for themselves.
Season one is about how Olivia went back to the white house after two years of being away. It also shows how Cyrus brought her into Governor Grant’s presidential campaign and how she turned everything around, right before she fell in love with him of course. I think my favourite scene is where she told him right in front of the team that he’s loosing because he isn’t sleeping with his wife and that anyone can’t smell the distance between them from miles away.
The series has seven seasons and each one shows the cases Olivia takes up with her little team, her kidnap, her bittersweet relationship with the white house and her father.
Now, the main Characters.
Olivia Pope - Olivia is a difficult character to interpret. I understand people’s reservations and all but it goes beyond that. Kerry Washington is an A actress and it takes a really good actress to pull it off. She did that effortlessly.
Fitzgerald Grant - Another effortless acting there. His screen chemistry with Olivia is perfect, and he wore the presidential suit well too.
Mellie Grant - The President’s wife. I didn’t really understand her choices in the beginning but it came together before the end of the series. I mean, what kind of wife scolds a mistress for leaving her husband? Her character is at the receiving end.
Cyrus Bean - The dog. The power that held the oval office together. Another different role there and he played it well with his boyish looks.
Eli Pope - Olivia’s formidable father and founder of B613. An apple doesn’t fall far from a tree, they say. He raised her in his image. I think what I like best is the way he speaks. It sounds like a lullaby except the words are not meant to put you to sleep.
Jake Ballard - Olivia’s love interest. NSS director and B613 member. I’m not sure I particularly like his character. It’s too puppet-ish. Maybe it’s just me.
Abby Whelan - One of Olivia’s crew members whom she saved from an abusive marriage and gave her a life. Abbie doesn’t exactly have Olivia’s backbone but she's a good gladiator, always putting Olivia back on track.
I think the above are my favourites. What I love about the series isn’t just the plot but also what Shonda did with the characters. She gave them life. Another thing is maybe because they are women of colour – Kerry and Shonda. I love it when women of colour produce something beautiful.
Like the name implies, the series lives and breathes scandal. It’s one series you won’t regret watching, so long as you do it with an open mind.
Thanks for stopping by! What are your thoughts?