S03.E18: The Price of Free and Fair Elections

[formerlyfreedom]

Season Finale!

Election Day has arrived and nothing is off limits as the candidates try to capture votes. Meanwhile, Olivia tries to understand Maya's motives and Charlie makes a very surprising move.

[janeta]

Yeah, ok, didn't see that coming (little Gerry). I expect Huck's family will not live long, now...

[formerlyfreedom]

Oh, I gots to quit this show. TOO MUCH SADS!

(yeah, not quitting. YET.)

[scrubs14]

Welp. I'm done.  Glad to have some extra room on my DVR.  

[CleoCaesar]

What an insipid finale. Fitz and Olivia really need to shut up about making jam in Vermont.

[AmandaPanda]

Well, that was an easy way to take care of all the Columbus Short drama currently going on.

[picklesprite]

Damn, did Fitz learn nothing from The Bible? You ask for someone's head on a platter, you need to SEE that head on that platter! Sally would have known this.

[Bavct]

I really want to say so many nasty and unkind things right now so I have to figure out how to keep it civil.

Suffice it to say for now that what I just saw was pure crap.

I was only holding on for Mellie to reveal the rape to Fitz and of course the maid had to do it for her.  And get her son killed beause her daddy was pissed that his kid couldn't keep her legs closed and Fitz couldn't well....do anything.  And asking the grieving mother of her dead son where his screwtoy was?  Shoot him Mellie and you can wait a month and marry Andrew and still be FLOTUS.

I'm so glad it's over

[buttersister]

21st century "Father Knows Best?"

[quarks]

After thinking it over for a bit, I realized that if you ignore the sudden death of the 14 year old and assorted bombing casualties, this episode had everything I needed for a happy ending: Huck and Quinn are over (yay!), Huck has found his family which at this point he doesn't deserve but I'll just handwave that (so also yay!), Quinn is ALL ALONE (yay), Mama Pope is in a hole so I don't have to think about her anymore (five yays!), Daddy Pope won (yay yay) even though David had piles and piles of files and dirt on the secret spy people (yay yay yay yay), Abby is going to get lots of money (yay!), Mellie's soul is finally unburdened (yay!), Cyrus finally realized that he's no longer a human being (I feel weird about yaying about this, but, yay!), Sally got her hands covered with blood (yay), Olivia and Jake are going to fly to the Lost island and get chased by polar bears and smoke monsters (yay yay yay yay) but be happy forever and ever (smaller yay) and Fitz can't have Vermont and is all crushed and miserable in the Oval Office (YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY you suck, Fitz YAY YAY.)

So, you know, I'm totally satisfied with this as the ending of the show for me. 

[DanaMB]

Every time Papa Pope gives a monologue, I think of when The Soup had one of his very long ones as their clip of the week. Then, tonight, he starts monologue-ing from his hospital bed and I couldn't believe it.  So silly.

[random chance]

I actually enjoyed the finale, because I did not see the twist coming, and being surprised by a twist is one of my very favorite things in life.  But I really do not need to see another scene of Huck mounting Quinn ever, ever again.   It is the very opposite of sexy.  It's something you would show to people who were trying to remain celibate, to give their willpower an extra boost.

[Ostrich]

Papa Pope is like one of those genies who will grant every wish of yours, but with horrible consequences. "But you wished for him to be President, right? Ta-da!"

Edited April 18, 2014 by Ostrich

[Haleth]

I thought the finale was mostly meh but my heart broke for Mellie.  Olivia telling Fitz about the rape was kind of infuriating, and then Mellie's anguish over losing her son was brutal to watch.  Bellamy Young's performance was the only thing that moved me.  Yeah, this would have been a good end to the series with all the ends tied up.

It's been a rough week for teenage boys on tv.

[Empress1]

Huck and Quinn fucking doggy-style in the office was just nasty. "Good Lord, my eyes!" is right. I did feel very sad for Huck when he was sitting on Liv's couch saying his family was better off without him.

Didn't see Little Jerry's death coming. And was there really no Democrat in the race? What?

[Good Queen Jane]

I really thought Fitz was going to kill himself when he went off alone to the Oval Office, which would make Andrew the President and he and Mellie could live happily ever after. Am I a bad person for being disappointed that it didn't happen?

[picklesprite]

Good Queen Jane, I'll join you on the bad person couch. I don't know which disappointed me more, that moment on the rug when he didn't kill himself, or looking into the hole and seeing Mama Pope. I figured she was still alive, but, I was hoping. . .

I'm not sure I would have been satisfied with anything less than a whole-cast massacre.

[kimberussell]

Reston was the Democrat in the race, and he was basically eliminated from public favor after the video of him visiting/berating his wife in prison leaked.

"So, you know, I'm totally satisfied with this as the ending of the show for me."

Exactly. I'm thinking of not coming back next season. I like the idea of Olivia and Jake standing in the sun together too much to watch the show destroy it. I just hope she buys a new phone.

[Bavct]

GoodQueenJane - I was hoping that Mellie was standing a few feet behind him with a gun locked and loaded and since she's an excellent shot and he has such a big head...

I actually thought that Fitz was more upset that his little plaything was gone than his son was dead.

I know it will never happen, but I really want Mellie to be the one who ultimately kills Rowan for Jerry. 

[Lamplighter]

Lurker mostly but I just wanted to say I am so disappointed we appear poised for yet another year of B6132.0. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

we appear poised for yet another year of B6132.0.

Maybe not. Joe Morton has taken a lead role on a pilot for a hospital drama (on cable) and Jake has pretty much closed the book by giving David all the B613 dirt (unless it was fakery to put David off the scent). I think B613 will be put on the back burner for a while. Surely SR realizes now that it was a poor plot device.

I really want Mellie to be the one who ultimately kills Rowan for Jerry.

Me too. She needs to take out Tom too. He's been stabbing her in the back for a while now. Turnabout would only be fair play.

[NJ RadioGuy]

And everything I thought would (not) happen (not) happened. Yet another coverup, not a single one of the reprehensible pieces of excrement involved wind up arrested or killed for their crimes; the $#!+stains win another round.

Harrison will not die but rather become a mole for B613 back in OPA, maybe even running OPA for the 2 weeks Olivia is having her "In The Sun" time. Those boxes in David's office will be found and seized or else nothing will ever come of them. I've said it before and I'll say it again: David Rosen is the Hamilton Burger of this decade (He was the D.A. who lost every single case to Perry Mason). He'll snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again.

I don't care who OP is boffing--she's a train-wreck and about as appealing as a wine-soaked lip-quivering platypus. B613 needs to Go Away, but it won't. It's too heavily integrated into the plot. So why not have Command just subsume OPA and turn it into a front for B613. Instead of Gladiating they seek out threats to the Republic and deal with them black-ops style.

David: Those boxes. 1) Scan the contents of everything in there, save it to disk, make a dozen copies of the disks and keep them safe, around the world. 2) Anonymously FedEx one case to every TV network or newspaper newsroom around the country, to radio talk show hosts and prolific bloggers, much as in the real world we have Rush on the right, Maddow on the left, and Drudge / Huffington sites. 3) Send one of those saved disks to WikiLeaks or a similar organization. 4) Sit back and start drafting indictments cuz the firestorm, in a real world setting, would consume the nation for 50 years and would probably be the "reset button".

Shonda needs to sit down and binge-watch Game of Thrones if you want to see politics done right (and wrong). Harrison pulled a Ned Stark in going to command and figuring things out. Look where that got ol' Ned--and SHOULD have gotten Harrison. Here in Shondaland actions have NO real long-term consequences and as a viewer, I'm sick of it. I'll still keep it on the DVR for one more season, but at low (bumpable) priority and I will probably just binge-watch everything in the buffer a couple of times a season. If it's still this horrible by mid S4 then I'm out.

[quarks]

Not to descend too far into gossip, but I think Harrison's fate has ultimately a lot more to do with the current personal/legal issues facing the actor than anything that happens in the plot. 

[CleoCaesar]

I actually thought that Fitz was more upset that his little plaything was gone than his son was dead.

Same here. I didn't get much of a sense of anguish from Fitz at losing his son. He just had that same constipated look on his face he does whenever he and Olivia are within ten feet of each other. 

I'm not sure I would have been satisfied with anything less than a whole-cast massacre.

Heh. Replacing this sorry group of sneering, screaming, bug-eyed "actors" with an entirely new one could only improve the show. Shonda is usually good about mass catastrophes culling unnecessary cast members (Grey's is practically a bloodbath), so why does a much-touted finale disaster on Scandal have a kill count of one teenage boy no one gave a shit about to begin with?

[Happytobehere]

Not to descend too far into gossip, but I think Harrison's fate has ultimately a lot more to do with the current personal/legal issues facing the actor than anything that happens in the plot.

I agree. I think SR saw the train wreck and derailment forming for a while (think of all the cast things he missed at the end of Season 2) and that set up was the get out of jail card in case things got worse. And anyone reading the press knows things just got real worser (I know it is not grammatically correct). I think based on the headlines that came after the season had wrapped means Harrison is done.

Signing on with those saying Mellie needs to leave Putz. Olivia needs to stay with Jake, because although she is undeserving, no one deserves the nothing that is Fitz and Jake deserves some happiness. Now if Jake realizes she ain't worth it and dumps Liv, oh well. Cyrus, is beyond evil and I'm glad he finally realizes it. Now if someone can take that darling baby Ella from him.

[blueroses]

This is my first Shonda Rhimes show (I know). For my sanity it will be my last. But if I had a wish list for Season Four, it would be for the show to revolve around David Rosen, Abby, Cyrus, Leo, and Melly - the only people who don't make me wish for bacterial meningitis.

[ReadingZombie]

So, I'm not sure if it was my recording or what...  did they do some sort of crazy special effects when Fitz was telling Olivia about her mom being the one responsible for killing Li'l Jerry? And did anybody in this brainstrust stop to think about how, exactly, Mama Pope was supposed to have gotten the stuff into Li'l Jerry in the first place? It would have had to have been someone who had gotten into close contact with him, right? (I know it was really Tom, but these numbnuts, minus Papa Pope, don't know that.)

Pretty pathetic that it takes a rigged election and a dead kid to make Fitz prez. Ya sure do know how to pick 'em Liv. (Not that she is any great prize, herself.) 

Edited April 18, 2014 by ReadingZombie

[TVAddict]

I can't help but think that Jake has reverted to B613 soldier, whisking Olivia off on her father's orders.  Of course it all was supposed to seem like her idea.  Poor little Olivia.

Also, why would Papa Pope think that it would be a punishment or even a hardship for Mama Pope to be in the hole after so successfully surviving and even thriving after being in solitary confinement in prison for a gajillion years?  

And then there's Mellie, who just wanted her four more years.  I guess she should be careful what she wishes for?

[Empress1]

I agree. I think SR saw the train wreck and derailment forming for a while (think of all the cast things he missed at the end of Season 2) and that set up was the get out of jail card in case things got worse. And anyone reading the press knows things just got real worser (I know it is not grammatically correct). I think based on the headlines that came after the season had wrapped means Harrison is done.

Agree. Shit is really real for Columbus Short right now, and I suspect Harrison's ending was written with that in mind.

And then there's Mellie, who just wanted her four more years. I guess she should be careful what she wishes for?

On Twitter last night someone asked Tony Goldwyn if being prez was worth it and he replied "Good question." When Fitz thought he was going to lose and said he could go to Vermont and "be mayor" (of which town?), I thought "After all this, small-town, quiet life probably sounds awesome." I love big cities and can't imagine not living in one but if I'd had the year these folks have had, I'd pack up my shit and go live by myself on a mountain somewhere, alone.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Here's Tara's last Particle of the season! snif

[SonofaBiscuit]

I'll add another yay...Andrew isn't dead!  I swore that I saw him at the same funeral that Sally was at in last week's episode, but I could just be imagining that.  Maybe he wasn't there because I thought it was really strange that after the explosion, we didn't see him or hear about him until he showed up in the White House.  Eh, I only halfways pay attention to what's going on in this show anymore. 

I too thought that Fitz was going to kill himself in his office at the end.  I thought that maybe Tony Goldwyn had pleaded to be let out of contract.  If he can't get out of the contract and wishes to be let go, he should consult with Katherine Heigl, Isaiah Washington, or apparently Columbus Short for what his best strategy would be.

Didn't see the death of Fitz's son coming, but I didn't really care either.  They probably should have made us care about Jerry Jr. by spending a little more time on him or something.  The only time that I thought about his character was when I wondered if that actor had always played him because I never noticed him before.

[ToniW]

It's interesting how SR thinks that "the media" chooses the President. Bomb goes off at a funeral, and "the media" chooses to show the Vice President nursing the wounded after starting out with a split screen of her and then the President giving a speech at the White House. Would "the media" ever really choose to show someone else while the President was making a speech during a tragic event? It's something to think about.

Who was Olivia Pope to think that she had the right to spill Mellie's secret and then tell Fitz that she didn't want him to leave his wife "right now"? I mean, really, who does she think she is? That relationship disgusts me. Why Jake would still want to "stand in the sun" with her after she's told him over and over again that she is in love with another man, I will never understand.

Mama and Papa Pope are both monsters. I thought that I didn't know which was worse until little Gerry fell down. R.I.P.

This show is completely nuts, but I'm glad that I stuck it out until the finale. I'm on the fence about whether or not I'll watch next season.

[3girlsforus]

It's interesting how SR thinks that "the media" chooses the President. Bomb goes off at a funeral, and "the media" chooses to show the Vice President nursing the wounded after starting out with a split screen of her and then the President giving a speech at the White House. Would "the media" ever really choose to show someone else while the President was making a speech during a tragic event? It's something to think about.

It is interesting and the answer is that yes the media has a lot to do with elections but no they would never cut off the President giving a speech during something like that. But even more silly than that is the idea that Secret Service would allow a sitting VP and Presidential candidate to hang around the scene of a bombing to lend aid to the injured. When something like that happens the Secret Service is in charge over even the Pres and VP. Just listen to accounts of 9/11. Multiple members of the cabinet and the VP talk about basically being pushed so quickly to various safe zones they were practically carried. Absolutely no questions asked. And Bush wanted to go directly to DC but wasn't allowed for many hours. He was the Pres and was told no. And they weren't even at the Pentagon or in NY. Do you think for a minute they would have been allowed to stay if they had been on site at either attack zone? But then this is Shondaland.... nothing is even remotely realistic. 

[ribboninthesky1]

Agree. Shit is really real for Columbus Short right now, and I suspect Harrison's ending was written with that in mind.

On Twitter last night someone asked Tony Goldwyn if being prez was worth it and he replied "Good question." When Fitz thought he was going to lose and said he could go to Vermont and "be mayor" (of which town?), I thought "After all this, small-town, quiet life probably sounds awesome." I love big cities and can't imagine not living in one but if I'd had the year these folks have had, I'd pack up my shit and go live by myself on a mountain somewhere, alone.

I'll be honest - I never thought Columbus brought anything to the character, anyway.  And he's looked increasingly bloated this season (perhaps the alleged drinking?), and he was even less effective with his lines.  I realize that Joe Morton has been at this considerably longer than Columbus, but good gravy, their final scene just confirmed how out of his league Columbus was. 

I don't plan to watch next season (I skipped several episodes in this one), but I hope Harrison is written out, in whatever fashion.  If nothing else, for Columbus to seek help/serve jail time or find another role more suitable to his ability.  This one was never it, not even in season one.     

Who knows, even without his personal life troubles, it's entirely possible he would have been written off or had even a more diminished role.  I don't know when the finale was shot (don't care enough to look it up), but it's possible that it was before the recently publicized incidents.    

As for Olivia, I really wish she'd gotten on that plane alone.  Because Jake and his demands to "Save me" (and the hilarious deadpan, "I can't believe I have to say this" delivery by Foley) always had me wondering why he couldn't save his damn self, especially after Olivia repeatedly told him she was in love with someone else.  I never hated the character like some, and was even initially intrigued by him.  But that quicky dissipated, as he basically turned into the white male version of Edison, right down to not being able to take a hint.

I didn't see much grieving from Mellie or Fitz regarding little Jerry.  But then, I thought it was appropriate for both characters, and I wasn't moved by his death, either.  Now if it had been Teddy...

[thewhiteowl]

I kinda loved it. Even with the plot holes large enough to swallow entire cities, it was fun to watch Olivia get played. Huck and Jake told her  that Papa Pope was playing her but she couldn't get a clue. Poor PopeDaddy having to deal with these amateurs who only think they got game.  He was boss.

I  had an  odd moment  when I thought I liked Fitz, as he  comforted Mellie but  then I realized he only believed  her because Olivia told him that she did. I liked that Olivia told about the rape even though it wasn't hers to tell. I don't think Fitz would ever have believed Mellie otherwise.  I was glad Andrew didn't get blown up.

I bet Jake is working for PopeDaddy again, if  indeed he ever stopped.

I've been very hard on the show this season but I really  liked where it ended up. I'll be back if it's renewed.

[Marigny]

I really want to say so many nasty and unkind things right now so I have to figure out how to keep it civil.

Suffice it to say for now that what I just saw was pure crap.

I was only holding on for Mellie to reveal the rape to Fitz and of course the maid had to do it for her.  And get her son killed beause her daddy was pissed that his kid couldn't keep her legs closed and Fitz couldn't well....do anything.  And asking the grieving mother of her dead son where his screwtoy was?  Shoot him Mellie and you can wait a month and marry Andrew and still be FLOTUS.

I'm so glad it's over

 

Say it like you mean it! Don't hold back!

  But I really do not need to see another scene of Huck mounting Quinn ever, ever again.   It is the very opposite of sexy.  It's something you would show to people who were trying to remain celibate, to give their willpower an extra boost.

A-fricken-men!

 

I really thought Fitz was going to kill himself when he went off alone to the Oval Office, which would make Andrew the President and he and Mellie could live happily ever after. Am I a bad person for being disappointed that it didn't happen?

Not at all. If that had happened, it would have made my night. 

 

I can't help but think that Jake has reverted to B613 soldier, whisking Olivia off on her father's orders.  Of course it all was supposed to seem like her idea.  Poor little Olivia.

 

Yup. I also think Mama & Daddy were working together the whole time. 

[Ohwell]

Yup. I also think Mama & Daddy were working together the whole time.

 

Hmmm...never thought of that.  Although it did strike me as strange that she most certainly could have killed him, but didn't.  Mama Pope wouldn't have missed with a knife.  Plus, they gave each other strange looks when she was sitting in that hole.  I was half expecting him to climb down there and get it on with her after everyone left.

[April Bloodgate]

  Plus, they gave each other strange looks when she was sitting in that hole.  I was half expecting him to climb down there and get it on with her after everyone left.

Yeah, I thought they might be working together earlier this season, then I changed my mind, but now I'm back to my original thinking after the look they exchanged in the hole.

[Guest]

That was crap - complete and total crap.  I wasn't at all invested in it.  It's just sad to me how Shonda Rhimes destroys shows in their third season. The first two seasons of both her big shows I was hooked, and then it all fell apart. This one in spectacular fashion.

 

I did like the ending with the flashbacks of Rowan telling Liv at the beginning of the season she was getting on the plane and seeing how he still managed to mastermind it, but there were gaping plot holes in most of it.

[Chaos Theory]

I am coming in late...,(yay Netflix) but after 3 seasons it seems i have a very unpopular opinion. I like the Huck and Quinn pairing. It is dark and strange and Interesting. Most of the other pairings and triangles got old by the end if season 3. I really hate the Olivia and Fitz pairing. I wish that one ended a long time ago but I guess the show is based around it so oh well.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Chaos Theory

[FAU]

That was crap - complete and total crap.  I wasn't at all invested in it.  It's just sad to me how Shonda Rhimes destroys shows in their third season. The first two seasons of both her big shows I was hooked, and then it all fell apart. This one in spectacular fashion.

 

Thanks, I didn't realize the similarities between both shows and their success.

[Anna Yolei]

I am coming in late...,(yay Netflix) but after 3 seasons it seems i have a very unpopular opinion. I like the Huck and Quinn pairing. It is dark and strange and Interesting. Most of the other pairings and triangles got old by the end if season 3. I really hate the Olivia and Fitz pairing. I wish that one ended a long time ago but I guess the show is based around it so oh well.

I just binge watched this show because all the women on my ship are obsessed with this (and, coincidentally, the show that all the chicks at my last ship were obsessed over Grey's, but that was way too long for me to jump into) and I agree about Huck and Quinn. I've liked Guillermo Diaz in almost every role I've seen him in, and I liked Quinn having a purpose beyond exposition bot and staring off in space in confusion. I'm not broken up about them being done (for now), but for what they are I was happy with them.

Poor little Jerry is a sacreficial lamb. :( Also, Mellie :(

Not sure if I'll watch next season, but I won't be buying episodes to download if I do.

[JAYJAY1979]

After binge watching season 3 on Netflix, I now understand why Olivia can't seem to shake loose from her addiction to Fritz.  Looking at her parents, especially how her father basically controls her... it makes perfect sense that she would be drawn to Fritz.  Yes, Fritz is indecisive but I think he partly does this on purpose to keep a hold over Olivia.

 

What I find ironic is that Mellie was a small part of season 1, and yet by the end of season 3, she's my favorite character.  Didn't that happen with Addison on Grey's?

[stillshimpy]

Huh.  So, I started watching this show as a workout show.  Something I watch while on the elliptical or a couple of lower body workouts.  I don't ask a lot of a show I watch while working out, essentially it has to hold my attention without making me actively want to blow my brains out. 

 

Let me get this straight: Fitz the Manchild in Chief, won a second terms basically standing atop his son's corpse.  His son, who was murdered as a prop in an election and specifically because Daddy Pope wanted his darling daughter to get what she wanted.  Meaning that, among every other disgusting thing about the great love between Olivia and Fitz, they've now gotten a completely innocent kid killed?  

 

Also, that upon learning that his wife, who once loved and adored him, only became distant and cold because his father raped her, Fitz has to be reminded that he shouldn't leave her at the moment.  

 

I'm completely at a loss for why I shouldn't be cheering on a rain of satellites falling from the sky and directly atop all of these characters in a barrage of crushing justice. In this past season, which represents about sixteen workouts to me, I've grown to loathe Jam, any talk of standing in the sun, Vermont -- because of its association to Jam -- wine, wine glasses, the word "Command" and I have a high level of resentment towards the letters B and the number 16.

 

It started out as kind of a fun show, and on the upside, I can finally forgive my beloved BSG for that Final Five shit, because apparently, it really could be worse in terms of plotting.  

[FozzyBear]

Huh. So, I started watching this show as a workout show. Something I watch while on the elliptical or a couple of lower body workouts. I don't ask a lot of a show I watch while working out, essentially it has to hold my attention without making me actively want to blow my brains out.

Let me get this straight: Fitz the Manchild in Chief, won a second terms basically standing atop his son's corpse. His son, who was murdered as a prop in an election and specifically because Daddy Pope wanted his darling daughter to get what she wanted. Meaning that, among every other disgusting thing about the great love between Olivia and Fitz, they've now gotten a completely innocent kid killed?

Also, that upon learning that his wife, who once loved and adored him, only became distant and cold because his father raped her, Fitz has to be reminded that he shouldn't leave her at the moment.

I'm completely at a loss for why I shouldn't be cheering on a rain of satellites falling from the sky and directly atop all of these characters in a barrage of crushing justice. In this past season, which represents about sixteen workouts to me, I've grown to loathe Jam, any talk of standing in the sun, Vermont -- because of its association to Jam -- wine, wine glasses, the word "Command" and I have a high level of resentment towards the letters B and the number 16.

It started out as kind of a fun show, and on the upside, I can finally forgive my beloved BSG for that Final Five shit, because apparently, it really could be worse in terms of plotting.

Yup. Fitz is the worst. Couldn't win an honest election for dog catcher. Can't be a decent partner to his wife or his mistress. Complete spoiled man child. That's Fitz. I think the only people who are not aware of the shallow wading pool that is Fitz are Olivia and Shondra Rhimes.

[La Tortuga]

Having watched the whole thing on Netflix, I keep trying to figure out when President Grant does any of the actual work he was elected to do. The show used to have him dealing with actual problems that plague our country on top of his personal crap, but now it's just him constantly swinging back and forth between shtupping Olivia, thinking about shtupping Olivia, engaging in all these power plays and coverups (with or around Olivia), fighting with his wife, and making public appearances. Shouldn't the president be signing bills into law or having cabinet meetings or arguing with some senators about the budget? The only time we see him behave like an actual leader is when there's some immediate crisis that requires his presence in the Sit Room, and somehow there have been no international crises for him to deal with now that it's an election year. I think I might just scream if I have to hear him shout about how he's the Commander-in-Chief one more time; what does he even command anymore besides that one chump-looking secret service agent? We never see him presiding over anything that matters to the well-being of the rest of the country, at least not anymore; he's just Presidenting, and doing a poor job of it at that.

 

I think if the writers somehow managed to incorporate Fitz getting some legislation pushed through, solving a problem he didn't create in the first place, or just getting anything of substance done without needing Olivia to hold his hand through it all, then the audience might actually have some respect for the character and understand why on earth Olivia still loves him. Part of the reason she fell in love with him in the first place--and the reason she was willing to participate in the election-rigging at all--was because she thought he had the attributes that would make him the right man to run the country. As it stands, it has become clear that Fitz is just there to smile for the camera and fill a spot on the board while everyone else moves the pieces around him.

[La Tortuga]

I've liked Guillermo Diaz in almost every role I've seen him in, and I liked Quinn having a purpose beyond exposition bot and staring off in space in confusion. I'm not broken up about them being done (for now), but for what they are I was happy with them.

Once Quinn went all Crazy Eyes, at first I thought it was a little Too Much. But since this show specializes in the far-fetched, I decided to just be glad

Quinn had finally gotten interesting. You can only participate in so many murder victim clean-ups before the wide-eyed innocent routine just gets old.

 

But then she and Huck had to get profoundly gross, and now I just want to scrub my eyeballs. Even so, I think Shondra Rhimes should lobby for a pay raise for the actors, because that much visible tongue action from two people who probably still have to go home and look their significant others in the eye requires a level of theatrical commitment I can't even imagine.

[wanderingstar]

Having watched the whole thing on Netflix, I keep trying to figure out when President Grant does any of the actual work he was elected to do.

 

 

I'm convinced that the brainstorming for the character of Fitz involved Shonda Rhimes simply saying "I know! I'll make him president," and no further thought was given to his actual characterization. How else to explain the character being written and portrayed as a 13-year-old boy?

Edited July 21, 2014 by Gillian Rosh

[jjj]

Just watched all three seasons in the past three weeks, and have vertigo from the swift drop of plausibility in Season Three.  The gross parts (Quinn/Huck) were *so* gross -- and when you consider that they are competing with rooms specked with squishy bloody brains, that is an accomplishment of the worst kind. 

 

Of all the possible nitpicks in finale/3 -- why on earth did the Secret Service, or B316, pass along the information that l'il Jerry III was murdered?  So easy to paper over that one and move on.  Have to admit that SS agent Tom had guts to place the fatal needle in his fingers.  Seems it would be so easy to have an accident. 

[PrincessTT]

Just watched all three seasons in the past three weeks, and have vertigo from the swift drop of plausibility in Season Three.  The gross parts (Quinn/Huck) were *so* gross -- and when you consider that they are competing with rooms specked with squishy bloody brains, that is an accomplishment of the worst kind. 

 

Of all the possible nitpicks in finale/3 -- why on earth did the Secret Service, or B316, pass along the information that l'il Jerry III was murdered?  So easy to paper over that one and move on.  Have to admit that SS agent Tom had guts to place the fatal needle in his fingers.  Seems it would be so easy to have an accident. 

 

Because Rowan wanted Fitz to think that Maya had killed Jerry, so that he could be the hero who then got rid of her in order for him to get his job as command back.