S04.E21: A Few Good Women

[thewhiteowl]

 

Vice President Ross continues to defy the Grant administration when she hires Olivia Pope to defend a woman in the Navy. Meanwhile, Quinn and Huck must do what they do best to get answers about B613 and Mellie’s campaign for Senate continues to be a struggle.

 

 

[janeta]

I think Jake does a better Rowan than Russell does.

Aaaand now Russell is in a hole somewhere.

[wanderingstar]

Mellie sneering at the mere mention of Lean In was gold. 

 

That's all I got.

[bmoore4026]

I think Jake does a better Rowan than Russell does.

Aaaand now Russell is in a hole somewhere.

 

Live hole or dead hole?

 

And Foxtail is the codename for The First Lady!?

[janeta]

Oh, i think he's alive, just in a hole. :-)

[reggiejax]

And Foxtail is the codename for The First Lady!?

 

So B613's secret plan is codenamed Foxtail, which is also Mellie's Secret Service code name. And yet somehow Liv and her gladiatiors remain mystified? WTF?! 

 

Liv, of all people, should be very aware of what both Fitz and Mellie's Secret Service codenames are. 

[Luciano]

Damn it, that was a good time to kill Huck. Stupid deathteases.

[DB in CMH]

Why are you still dragging out this b613 stuff, Shonda?

 

I am so, so, SO sick of it. I FFed most of last week, and some of this week. I cringe every single time I hear B613. It's completely ruining anything I liked about this show.

 

It's not like it's just a few random people on the internet bitching - Scandal is getting critically savaged over this stuff. Yet they keep digging deeper.

Edited May 8, 2015 by DB in CMH

[wanderingstar]

The writers really painted themselves into a corner with this B613 stuff. The more they double down on it, the dumber it gets. 

[ChicksDigScars]

Shonda's crush on Joe Morton continues to bring the show down. He's like the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Only louder and more bloviating.  Even when he's not actually IN the episode, just the mention of his name makes the scenery quiver in fear that it will soon be chewed. 

[Abstract]

I have to admit to being a little clueless. Why did Mellie act like she was about to kill Liz over "lean in"?

Jake and Russell doing the Rowan imitations -- is that what people mean by saying something is "meta."

Edited May 8, 2015 by Abstract

[Black Knight]

Ugh - does B6whatever have to infect absolutely everything on this show? One of the things I liked about Mellie's storyline was that it's never had anything to do with B613 or Papa Pope, it was just old-school Scandal politics. In this episode in particular, I appreciated the breaks Mellie's storyline gave me from the torture going on in the other apartment. And now that's all blown to hell.

 

And for the love of god, why can't any of these B6 assassins actually manage to kill anyone? I didn't mind Jake surviving, but I desperately want Huck dead. And Papa Pope dead. And the B613 story dead forever. Is Shonda trying to make it more popular by dragging fan favorite Mellie into it? Because that's not going to work, Shonda.

 

Bellamy Young can do so much with a single line and look. Even though there was no discussion of it in this episode, even though for whatever reason the show has chosen never to let us hear an actual conversation between Mellie and Fitz about what his father did to her, BY still managed to infuse that history into the "It would tell the world we don't condone rape" moment.

[Dowel Jones]

Olivia barks, and the President shuffles along. 

 

I was really hoping for a Person of Interest scene during Russel's interrogation, where he somehow gets the drop on Quinn with the attendant result, and then leans back and says "Okay, I'm done. What do you want to know?"  Maybe later.

[LydiaMoon1]

More Susan Ross, please.  And MUCH more of Cyrus Bean being completely discombobulated by her honesty and integrity. 

 

More good cases of the week.  The military rape case was timely, believable, and it had enough dramatic tension to make it  emotionally-compelling.  Plus, it had a reasonably plausible resolution. Best of all, it didn't feel like useless filler. That hadn't happened in a while.

 

You know what did feel like useless filler?  The torture porn.  Please, stop it with that mess already.

 

MORE Daddy Pope.  I waited the whole show for his bloviating badass to show up.  Can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve.

 

Other things I liked:

Fitz and Mellie's partnership

Mellie's campaign

The fakeout with the incompetent Naval attorney-didn't see that coming at all.

 

Other things I didn't like:

Jake's still alive

Huck's still alive

Jake saying Russell is good at what he does.  Jake's still alive.  Clearly, Russell is incompetent.

Edited May 8, 2015 by LydiaMoon1

[SimoneS]

It will never happen, but Scandal needs a character purge and reboot. In the estimable tradition of The Walking Dead, a herd needs to hit D.C. and eat Huck, Jake, Quinn, and Abby alive.

[CofCinci]

I stopped watching Scandal a few weeks ago because it turned into Quinn & Huck's Torture Porn fest, but I tuned in this week because I am a Veteran who experienced military sexual trauma (MST). 1 in 3 women in the military are sexually assaulted by the men they serve with. It's horrible. More men are coming forward to report MST as well. This episode made is seem like the military does nothing but so much has been done in the last decade. I'm a VA therapist now who specializes in MST. Treatment and compensation is available --- as well as prosecution.

I am curious about the whole Foxtail thing.

[Eolivet]

I find it so interesting that this show is almost entirely devoid of "romance" now. Not even "romance," but any relationships. It's like these people have turned into automatons existing through life without companionship. I don't think I'm complaining exactly, but I do feel like something has been missing from the show and I think that romance -- good, bad or indifferent -- did add something they haven't quite figured out how to replace.

 

Which is why I found the most compelling scenes to be Jake and Russell discussing the "job," as well as Olivia. It felt...human in a way this show hasn't felt on a consistent basis in quite some time. I think that's why I've always enjoyed Papa Pope, because -- good, bad or indifferent -- we get to see different sides to Liv when he's around.

 

That one second of his face made me grin. Again, it's why I love watching him: he should be a soulless automaton, and yet he is somehow the exact opposite.

[WhineandCheez]

More Susan Ross, please.  And MUCH more of Cyrus Bean being completely discombobulated by her honesty and integrity.

 

In another series, and if Cyrus wasn't gay, there would have been a dramatic pause, then the 2 would have starting kissing and tearing off each other's clothes.

 

Speaking of which, When does Susan Ross get some?  Just because she's a larger woman doesn't mean she can't date.  Send over Cyrus' husband to service her, because Lord Knows we aren't going to see him again.  WTF is it about that?

[Sidney]

I can't believe how unlikeable they have made Olivia. I wish her and Papa Pope would just disappear together and torture each other with their sick games.

Edited May 8, 2015 by Sidney

[SimoneS]

I find it so interesting that this show is almost entirely devoid of "romance" now. Not even "romance," but any relationships. It's like these people have turned into automatons existing through life without companionship. I don't think I'm complaining exactly, but I do feel like something has been missing from the show and I think that romance -- good, bad or indifferent -- did add something they haven't quite figured out how to replace.

 

The question I have is: Why has SR basically sidelined the Olivia/Fitz illicit romance that carried the show for the first three seasons? From the beginning the show has been about their romance and relationship as well as Olivia's relationship with her team, yet now it is all about the intrigue of B13 or whatever it is. The only relationship that we see is Fitz and Mellie which is only believable if he secretly underwent a lobotomy. 

[Primetimer]

Liv tries to thwart two hundred years of misogynist military laws and help a victim of rape, while Huck and Quinn torture Russell to find out more about Foxtail.

Read the story

[Cekrypton1]

Interesting that the show was tackling a rape case at the same time two of its 'heroes' were torturing a man. Like, you don't get to rail against evil and be evil at the same time. And of the two victims, Russel the torture victim gets a great, humanizing scene, where as Amy exists as merely a prop. While they make Russel a real person, the only attempt to make Amy more human is that she is pregnant? Sigh.

[justme]

ditto...I am so tired of all the B613 drama, enough already

[Skyler Durden]

I feel like that's fairly public information.

Is it? I don't know the first family's code names, do you? (asking for a friend)

[Skyler Durden]

I have to admit to being a little clueless. Why did Mellie act like she was about to kill Liz over "lean in"?

Lean in is a book by by Nell Scovell and Sheryl Sandberg about powerful ladies bein' powerful. The implication was that Mellie use her son's death as an opportunity to pander for votes. It IS kind of gross when you think about it.

Also, what is Lizzie still doing on this show? Her boss is a vegetable and she was recently flayed, Jamie Fraser style. WHY is she still working with these people?

[Guest]

Hated it.  

 

Too much torture, too much B613, and the whole Mellie plot is so stupid.  I have no idea where they are going with it, but I feel like the last scene was just for shock value.  Not that she's really in some big bad plot.

[TVAddict]

The only character that is remotely likable still is the one brought in to be a patsy/scapegoat/non-factor, and that's Susan Ross.  I'd like to see a meteor take out everyone in Scandal-DC except the VP and see what kind of government she would rebuild.  Gladiator, indeed!!

[JoannKB]

Is it? I don't know the first family's code names, do you? 

 

Quick google gets the answer on Wikipedia:

Barack Obama – Renegade

Michelle Obama – Renaissance

Malia Obama – Radiance

Sasha Obama – Rosebud

 

Which makes it all the more ridiculous that no one on Olivia's team knows that Foxtail is the first lady's Secret Service name.

[politichick]

I feel like that's fairly public information.

Is it? I don't know the first family's code names, do you? (asking for a friend)

It is. I am a political reporter in Washington, but I read this WH's names in the newspaper or on a news web site at the end or just after the first election cycle. It's just not something most people think about until they watch a show like Scandal. But is that really Mellie's code name because that would make Olivia all kinds of stupid to not even consider the possibility that Mellie was a target given how her stupid father killed the poor woman's son. 

 

Seriously, this B613 shit needs to end. If it's still going on next season, I think I am going to be out.

[Ohwell]

I want Huck dead, but I want Quinn even "deader."  I really want her to be tortured s-l-o-w-l-y.  Just having a couple of teeth snatched out isn't enough.  Crazy bitch.

 

I like Papa Pope and I hope he doesn't have Russell killed, although I fear he's toast.

[wanderingstar]

I want Huck and Quinn dead too - except I want it done quickly. After 4 seasons, I have had enough of those two.

[gazebo]

So what was the point of the Jake and Russell scene where they're both drinking beer and talking shit about their old boss, Rowan Pope?  I kept on thinking that Jake was going to try to convince Russell to turn on Papa Pope and instead we get this weird shit with them talking about Control and imitating him.  It was all very amusing, but seriously, what's the point?  It's like, Huck comes back and Russell is all, well, off you go dude, tie me up 'cause Huck is back!  What happened?  I wonder if Russell did spill anything concerning Foxtail, but I guess not.  Poor Russell, they gonna throw his gorgeous, well muscled body into the Dark Hole!  I wonder if we'll see him again.

 

Why didn't Huck get killed when the bogus military lawyer went and retrieved Russell from his kidnapping?  Russell had the chance to kill off Jake, but failed.  Bogus military lawyer had the chance to kill Huck, but failed.  The quality of Rowan Pope's agents are going down.

 

The rape in the military story was disturbing to me.  I'm glad Olivia was able to help that poor young female soldier.  I have to say, I felt awful watching this young woman go through an abortion with Olivia by her side.  I understood why she wanted the abortion, but it made me sad.

 

Does Fitz know Mellie was raped by his father?  Of course Mellie was going to get really angry and outraged over the rape case.

 

I think I might have missed something, but did the president give Olivia the evidence to win the case against that military officer for Mellie's sake?  Could someone please explain?

[Cocoa Puff]

How is it that Mellie has never seen a photo of Papa Pope? And Poor Liv she was getting all a flutter expecting to see Fitz in her office and it's only the Vice President *que the price is right loose muisc* 

[shantown]

Has it been said before last night's episode that Mellie's codename is Foxtail? My take on it was that the person who said she was secured was not actual White House security using first family code names, it was a B613 person using their own secret names.

[buttersister]

Rowan was in the room, so hard to say who that person would have been talking to--can't see anything happening to Mellie while she's in the room with Rowan. Unless Mama Pope got out of that hole.

[Black Knight]

Does Fitz know Mellie was raped by his father?  Of course Mellie was going to get really angry and outraged over the rape case.

He does, but I don't blame you for not knowing that since it was done so fast that if you blinked, you would've missed it. They spent more time on Olivia's realization that Big Jerry raped Mellie than they did the reveal to Fitz!

[TVHappy9463]

Shonda stop soap boxing.  Aaron Sorkin did it better.  After everything Olivia, Jake and the fabled "Gladiators" have been thru including just having Russell fool them, they couldn't see the JAG attorney was a plant.  After I watch a stupid episode like this I go to Netflix and I watch season 1 so I can remember how smart and good this show used to be.  

[CofCinci]

The only Gladiator on this show is that patsy Vice President.

[Dowel Jones]

Could someone please explain?

 

That would appear to be the main reason, but it was Olivia who made the request in her role as "advisor" to JAG attorney.

 

The implication was that Mellie use her son's death as an opportunity to pander for votes. It IS kind of gross when you think about it.

 

She erupts at her campaign manager for even suggesting it, but then launches right into the connection in her rally speech.  Not only that, but she does it, along with the mention of the rape case, with an  "I'm so happy to be here running for Senator smile" that the whole moment seemed to me to wholly contrived.  She should have showed a ton more righteous indignation at the series of events to establish her position. 

[dr pepper]

When they showed the bruise i immediately realized what the veep was thinking. And she not only stepped up, damn the consequences, but she completely handed the situation off, throwing away a true political opportunity. I've been kind of hoping she'll turn out to be the wolf in ugly duckling's clothing, but so far she's just the clueless naif everyone's expecting her to be.

Maybe she'll be the one to kill Rowan.

[marceline]

Is there some significance to the fact that Olivia seems to have returned to her S1 Farrah Fawcett hair? Or am I too used to watching shows where styling choices matter? Because I'd also like to know which polyurathane spray they used on Mellie's hair for her campaign speech. The shine off that was hurting my eyes. 

 

That moment between Fitz and Mellie talking about Jerry was sweet. I don't want any of these people in a couple but on a different show I could really love them.

 

The torture porn on this may be the thing that finally drives me away. What they did to Russell's knee almost made me sick.

 

I don't know what I was supposed to think of the convo between Jake and Russell about Rowan but all it did was remind me how much I loathe B-613 and what it's done to this show.

[Haleth]

I hope we are FINALLY done with B613 by next week so next season the show can get back to what it does best.  Gladiators should not condone torture.  The end does not justify the means.  Olivia and her crew are a bunch of damned hypocrits.  This is not fun to watch.

 

What IS fun is watching clueless Susan be the real gladiator for justice.  I'm sorry she disappeared after handing the case over to Olivia, despite Fitz not wanting the administration to become involved.  I would have liked to have seen her bring the logs to Olivia instead of Abby.

 

Anyway, the case was especially repugnant because 1) face value and 2) all the FNL alums.  I mean, Landry's dad raping Epyck (or however she spelled it)?  No, not right.

[wanderingstar]

Shonda's crush on Joe Morton continues to bring the show down.

 

I adore Joe Morton and have done since he was in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. But I need Rowan to die. There is zero suspense on the show because his character is always 12 steps ahead of everyone else. 

 

ETA:

I hope we are FINALLY done with B613 by next week so next season the show can get back to what it does best.  Gladiators should not condone torture.  The end does not justify the means.  Olivia and her crew are a bunch of damned hypocrits.  This is not fun to watch.

 

It would be one thing if the juxtaposition of those torture scenes with the other stories was presented as a commentary on their hypocrisy. But my sense is we're just supposed to passively accept that the OPA Gladiators fight for justice while also engaging in torture, and that the two things are completely unconnected.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Gillian Rosh

[Happytobehere]

I continue to agree with those who say major characters need to be killed off of this show. Quinn needs to go. I still have an unexplained soft spot for Huck. While I agree with the whole B-613 critique. The fact that Rowan continues to read Olivia for filth every chance he gets earns him a pass. I wouldn't mind if. Abby, Mellie or Cyrus gets killed of, as I am sick of all of them. I won't dare hope for Fitz's because it will never happen.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Happytobehere

[SimoneS]

Has Shonda Rhimes ever explained where the B613 concept came from? It is so incongruent with the Scandal's romance/political intrigue theme. Olivia is a political consultant, it would make far more sense and there would be more drama and stories if her father was an ambitious Democratic senator in constant conflict with the White House. Her mother could have been a bored politician's wife who had an affair with Jerry, Fitz's father. In the rein of Meredith's family drama on Grey's Anatomy. Instead, Olivia's father is a blow hard know-it-all murderous spy and her mother is a terrorist. Seriously, where did this craziness come from? It is only the third season, if SR is bored already Scandal will not last much longer.

Edited May 10, 2015 by SimoneS

[OldWiseOne]

Gladiators should not condone torture.  The end does not justify the means.  Olivia and her crew are a bunch of damned hypocrits.  This is not fun to watch.

I agree. Is the torture supposed to be ok because Russel is one of Papa Pope's minions, and therefore a bad guy? Enough already.

 

I also was really put off by the way that Cyrus spoke to Susan Ross in the Oval Office, yelling in her face like she was an idiot. He might not agree with what she's done, but how does anyone figure the Chief of Staff gets to treat the VP like that?

[buttersister]

All the Gladiator torture reinforces for me is that there is no single "good" character on board. Complexity!, eh Shonda? Mellie's probably the only one I could stand to be in a room with. Mostly because she rejects her well-earned victim status whenever she can. (What drives here isn't an ambition I can identify with, but I understand she considers some things pre-paid.)

 

Whatever political view that condones torture by the good guys on this show in order to demonstrate that sometimes ya just gotta go there--can go fuck itself. And if it's to show, "see it doesn't work!" then gratuitous torture porn can pleasure itself as well.

[CofCinci]

When they showed the bruise i immediately realized what the veep was thinking. And she not only stepped up, damn the consequences, but she completely handed the situation off, throwing away a true political opportunity. I've been kind of hoping she'll turn out to be the wolf in ugly duckling's clothing, but so far she's just the clueless naif everyone's expecting her to be.

Maybe she'll be the one to kill Rowan.

From your lips to Shonda's ears. It would be hysterical and historic if the Veep accidentally killed Command. Bonus points if she took Quinn and Huck out with him.

[marceline]

I adore Joe Morton and have done since he was in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. But I need Rowan to die. 

 

Yay for a T2 reference! I might forgive everything if Shonda can arrange for S. Epatha Merkerson to come on as Rowan's long ago lover. I'd be double forgiving if I could get a scene SEM stepping up to Mama Pope.

[slayer2]

Good episode. I like that Vice President more and more, she's bringing humanity back to the white house. Also, Jake and Russell's bromance was everything. Always nice to see Abby back on Team OPA. That's pretty much all I've got. If next week's episode doesn't end up with Rowan in a bodybag I'm quitting everything. The Invincible Villain trope got old last season. Kill him Shonda, kill him dead.

 

 

I also was really put off by the way that Cyrus spoke to Susan Ross in the Oval Office, yelling in her face like she was an idiot. He might not agree with what she's done, but how does anyone figure the Chief of Staff gets to treat the VP like that?

 

I was okay with it because if this episode proved anything to me it was that what Susan wants, Susan gets and that her IQ level is leaps and bounds above Cyrus Bean's paygrade. Neil DeGrasse Tyson isn't bothered by yappy idiots who can't even manage to correctly spell the word neutron, so too do I assume does Susan take Cyrus with every grain of salt he's worth (which if you're counting is about 3).

 

 

Shonda's crush on Joe Morton continues to bring the show down. He's like the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Only louder and more bloviating.  Even when he's not actually IN the episode, just the mention of his name makes the scenery quiver in fear that it will soon be chewed.

 

He is the Klaus Mikaelson of this show, the Slade Wilson, the Malcolm Merlyn, the Chuck Bass. Sorry I seem to only speak in CW and Harmon. He is a pizza burn on the roof of the world's mouth, he is a long hard winter followed by a trip to the North Pole, he is a Hunter S Thompson novel read by Kim Kardashian, he is a hipster moustache twirling villain. He is the OPPOSITE of Batman.

Edited May 11, 2015 by slayer2