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S06.E10: The Decision

thewhiteowl

By thewhiteowl
in Scandal [V]

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thewhiteowl

thewhiteowl

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With the ugly truth behind Frankie's assassination revealed, a torn Olivia wonders how different her life — and the country — would be if she, Mellie and Cyrus had never rigged Fitz's election.

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Spartan Girl

Spartan Girl

Well, Kerry looked fabulous in the wedding dress. That's the only thing I liked about this episode. Hell, it's the only thing I've liked about this show in years.

So not surprised that Fitz and Liv would get sick of each other so soon after getting married in the bizarro timeline. What men love in mistresses they soon learn to hate in wives. But at least in that universe they both decided to grow up and work on their marriage.

Had to crack up at Bizzarro!Huck being a reality TV addict.

  • Love 4
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Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory

(edited)

I do think the episode was quite clever.  I dont understand the show's insistence that Olivia and Fitz are some sort of OTP.  Fitz is a selfish egotistical ass in any reality and I just don't understand why Olivia would even give him the time of day.

i liked the Mellie and Cyrus pairing.  I find something weirdly fascinating about the relationship.  I just wish the show didn't insist on writing Mellie as a bitter shrew.  

I also like that the show remembered that Quinn is an alias but that Lindsay Dwyer might not have been better off anyway.   Even with all the bullshit and murders Quinn may be better off. 

Edited by Chaos Theory
  • Love 5
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Fairlily26

Fairlily26

Enjoyed seeing Olivia marry Fitz, saw it coming as soon as she opened the door. LOVED her wedding gown, hair, and veil. And Im not big on "cupcake" dresses, but hers was extremely well made.

Back tomorrow with more notes.

  • Love 3
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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

I don't know how I feel about this. It's a good idea. What if episodes are always interesting but I've never liked the Fitz and Olivia pairing so I'm not sure how I feel about it. Eh. Cyrus and Mellie was fun though. 

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NeenerNeener

NeenerNeener

(edited)

So what I took away from that is that everyone would have lead more boring, but overall happier, lives if they hadn't fixed that original election for Fitz. Fitz's son and James would still be alive, Abby & David would still be together, Quinn would be a desperate attention whore from reality tv and Cyrus and Mellie would be married and planning a White House run with no Michael or Tom or jail in sight yet. And Olivia had fewer regrets and a whiter hat/cleaner soul, even though being married to Fitz bored her to tears.

Another example of "May you live in interesting times" being a Chinese curse.

Edited by NeenerNeener
  • Love 13
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slade3

slade3

I didn't love it, and I feel a little annoyed that another episode has been wasted on things that didn't move the story forward. I don't know what event in the "what if" scenario made Olivia decide she wants to focus on getting Cyrus out of jail. Are we to take from this that she's now ready to wear the white hat again? Or was it because she thinks working together with Fitz will bring them back together for a happily ever after? Because if that was all the goal was for the episode, Olivia could have reached that decision another way.

"What if" scenarios bother me, mainly because there's rarely an explanation for why the character  - in this case, Olivia - sees certain things happening to other people while she isn't in the room with them. A "what if" scenario should include things that are in the back of the person's mind already, I would think. Like, if your boyfriend is traveling a lot for work with a female coworker; if you're in this position to imagine a "what if" AU, you would probably imagine your boyfriend married to his coworker, not your college roommate he hardly knows.

So I kept wondering why Olivia's "what if" scenario included a moment when Lindsey/Quinn almost gives Fitz a blowjob. I know Lindsey being on "The Grant Report" was to trigger Fitz into realizing his path sucks, which leads to him nearly accepting a blowjob from Lindsey, which leads to him returning home for the talk with his wife, but that was a weird way to come to that. 

"The Liberty Report" has never had to invite a Bachelor contestant onto the show, and I think it would be more likely that a network exec would force a female host of a political show to do something like that, if at all, so it rang so untrue and convoluted to me from the start. And in Olivia's reality, the person who spends the most time with Fitz is Abby, and there's a closeness between them that Olivia has noticed (in 5x17, Thwack) that bothers her. I would think her mind would cook up a scenario in which Abby showed up at the set to tell Fitz something for Olivia, or Fitz visited the office while Abby was there alone, and they almost got it on.

Marcus's importance in Liv's life made no sense to me. I don't remember The Lawn Chair that well, so maybe there was something in his first episode that implied she was aware of him back in the day? Otherwise, the decision to rig the election doesn't have anything to do with him so why would he be in her subconscious? Fitz's jealousy would have made more sense directed at Stephen or Harrison. I'm sorry they couldn't get the actors for the 100th episode, but I would have believed it if Fitz just mentioned one of them by name "How's Stephen?" New viewers wouldn't know who he was talking about, but it was the 100th episode and loyal fans should be the focus. If it was just about having Cornelius Smith in the episode, he could have opened the episode with Olivia and Fitz instead of Jake...

Since that scene in the oval was ridiculous. Having Jake say their lives would have been worse if they hadn't rigged the election was stupid, especially since I doubt Jake believes that. They needed a line to trigger the "What if" stuff and having Marcus walk into a room and say "Hey, how's Huck?" could have done that.

Speaking of Jake and Huck: I liked Huck in this world. It was cute that he loved reality TV and was drawn to Lindsey. That was a nice touch. The moment when he's watching the show with Liv and Abby sitting behind him stuffing envelopes made me nostalgic for early Scandal.

After reading an interview about the episode yesterday, I was confused by what Scott Foley said about Jake's role in it: “So Jake is not as evolved as he is now, but his motivation and the actions that he takes in this episode are what people have wanted him to do for a long time. It’s really satisfying.” Jake was barely in the episode and that scene with Fitz at the bar wasn't satisfying at all. Maybe he had a different scene that was cut. I admit, as an Olake shipper, this was an extremely disappointing episode for me.

For me, I think Cyrus's "What if" life was most satisfying because it really did show how different he would be without Fitz in his life. Because Fitz was supportive of Cyrus & James. Without Fitz and Olivia and his work in the White House, I definitely believe Cyrus would have stayed in the closet.

Marrying Mellie made little sense to me. I think Cyrus could have been married to a different woman and still come to the decision to run Mellie's campaign because he and Mellie get together to drink and talk about life before the election. It would have been more satisfying to me if Mellie had been happily dating a very mature, attractive man and that one note of unhappiness comes into her life the moment she decides to run for president since it really does seems as if being president makes people miserable.

Overall, I feel disappointed. I'm frustrated that we have 10 episodes under our belts over a 12 week period and we're no closer to understanding what the hell is going on. At least, I'm not. I still have no idea what anyone's true motivations are and I'm sick of wondering who Olivia can't trust.

I was pretty excited about the release date news for the new Shondaland show, but after last night's episode, I've decided to pass on it.

  • Love 6
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TigerLynx

TigerLynx

I found some of the episode amusing, although mostly boring.  One thing I do not buy for one single second is the "If this is what we have to do to win, we don't want it this way" crap they were trying to sell.

  • Love 3
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Guest

Guest

The good? I enjoyed the episode for what it was. It was enjoyable, didn't make me hate any one, and I even laughed a few times (Lindsay D., you like to torture guys, don't you? was an obvious joke, but still funny.)

The bad? It didn't move the plot line forward and at times didn't make much sense.

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txhorns79

txhorns79

I felt very much like this episode was kind of a middle finger to the audience members who are tired of the crazy.  It was kind of a "You don't like crazy?  Here's what the show would be like if things weren't crazy!  Enjoy your boring mess.  *Mic drop*"

  • Love 8
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Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory

(edited)

There are a lot of things I like about this show. The Olivia and Fitz romance is not one of them.  This "what if?"' Was both clever and yet exasperating but then it fits with how Ovila might view people and events.  She would need to see Mellie as a shrew that Fitz never loved so stealing him not being her fault.  I thought the Lindsay Dwyer stuff was the most interesting stuff however.  Instead of giving her a happy life instead of quite literally blowing it up her life would have been empty without purpose.  That is how Olivia would need to view it for conscience sake.  

Edited by Chaos Theory
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Oblique Angle

Oblique Angle

Harrison apparently dropped off the face of the earth if Fitz didn't become president, hah, hah.

Liv seemed so much more laid back and authentic in her alternate reality. Except for the part where she stayed with that idiot Fitz.

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This "what if?"' Was both clever and yet exasperating but then it fits with how Ovila might view people and events.  She would need to see Mellie as a shrewd hat Fitz never loved so stealing him not recalling her fault.  I thought the Lindsay Dwyer stuff was the most interesting stuff however.  Instead of giving her a happy life instead Of quite literally blowing it up her life would have been empty without purpose.  That is how Olivia would need to view it for conscience sake.

Yep. It was all about Olivia self-justifying her sketchy decisions. Which I guess makes sense she's the star of the show but at one point one would hope she'd see things more objectively.

  • Love 3
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byrd

byrd

This episode was all the place for me, but I did enjoy it.  Fitz and Olivia marrying is what I always wanted., only because the love was forbidden.  We always want what we can't have. I can see this happening because a storyline can be written around this turbulent marriage.  They are both powerful people and the scenerios that could come out of this would be awesome..The rest of it was just totally bizzare , but I do miss my early days Scandal...

  • Love 3
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cali1981

cali1981

I feared that this alternate reality episode would be a total disaster but it was actually pretty good and downright hilarious at times.  What the f*%k was that thing that alter-Huck had on his head?  If he was walking through the woods with that rug, some hunter might have taken a shot at him thinking he was a very tall furry beastie.  Katie Lowes was great as the horny Bachelor contestant and Fitz had all he could to do to keep from singing the number from Hamilton, "I don't know how to say no to this. Tell me how to say no to this" I might have liked that since Tony Goldwyn has a very good singing voice (he was in the 2010 revival of Promises, Promises on Broadway).  Cyrus was, as always, Cyrus and Mellie, as always, was a moron.  Real shockers there.  So a potential major train wreck turned out pretty well on balance.

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reggiejax

reggiejax

(edited)
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I also like that the show remembered that Quinn is an alias but that Lindsay Dwyer might not have been better off anyway.   Even with all the bullshit and murders Quinn may be better off. 

I don't know about better off, but this episode really highlighted just how paper thin a character Quinn really is. She is whatever the writers need her to be at any given time. How else do you explain how easy it was to slot her into the most ridiculous "what if?" scenario? But she has always been like that. Even way back in the early seasons when it was revealed she was in fact Lindsay Dwyer, they never really gave her much of a backstory other than being Lindsay Dwyer, a woman who needed to be framed for a bombing, but Liv rescued. And after that they just went ahead and made her Huck's torturer apprentice,  because why not? 

I understand why Columbus Short was not going to appear on this episode, but would it have killed them to at least make mention of Harrison? Instead they basically just had Marcus take his place completely.

Still it was interesting to compare and contrast the different timelines of the Scandal Extended Universe.

Things I noticed:

1) Liv can't dance in either timeline.

2) Fitz and Mellie's kids are even more forgotten about in the alternate timeline.

3) In the alternate timeline, Mellie can announce a White House run despite having even less of a public profile.

4) So many people get to live in the alternate timeline.

5) And best of all, apparently Papa Pope only meddles in Liv's life if she is in or near the Oval.

Seriously, those last two differences make the alternate timeline the superior timeline by a wide margin.

Edited by reggiejax
  • Love 9
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Anela

Anela

I didn't mind this so much. Liv looked gorgeous! In her gown, and with her beautiful hair in curls. 

I'd totally forgotten that Quinn was a fake name. They've had so much wrapped up in the B-whatever it was, that I'd forgotten they were supposed to be normal people, caught up in bad circumstances themselves, at times, and trying to help others. 

  • Love 2
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txhorns79

txhorns79

Quote

What the f*%k was that thing that alter-Huck had on his head?  If he was walking through the woods with that rug, some hunter might have taken a shot at him thinking he was a very tall furry beastie. 

I think the writers seem unable to distinguish between Huck's social awkwardness and someone who is "special."  I also don't believe for a moment Olivia would have allowed him to escort her down the aisle looking like that.  Who wants wedding pictures with someone who looks like bathing is a challenge? 

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3) In the alternate timeline, Mellie can announce a White House run despite having even less of a public profile.

I'm trying to figure out who would even be her base of support?  In the alternate timeline, she's the wife of a former Governor and failed Presidential candidate.  It's essentially like if Ann Romney suddenly declared herself to be running for President.  It makes little sense.      

  • Love 12
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KaveDweller

KaveDweller

6 hours ago, reggiejax said:

2) Fitz and Mellie's kids are even more forgotten about in the alternate timeline.

Which is sad, cause a major difference in the alternate universe should be that the son is still alive.

I may be forgetting something but why was Quinn a reality star if Fitz was never president? I know Olivia is the one that had her change her name, but wouldn't she still have been arrested for murder for blowing up that building? What did that have to do with the election?

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byrd

byrd

3 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I think the writers seem unable to distinguish between Huck's social awkwardness and someone who is "special."  I also don't believe for a moment Olivia would have allowed him to escort her down the aisle looking like that.  Who wants wedding pictures with someone who looks like bathing is a challenge? 

I'm trying to figure out who would even be her base of support?  In the alternate timeline, she's the wife of a former Governor and failed Presidential candidate.  It's essentially like if Ann Romney suddenly declared herself to be running for President.  It makes little sense.      

Olivia loves hulk and will take him on any shape, form or fashion . He is very loyal to her. I have always loved their relationship. 

  • Love 1
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Layne

Layne

41 minutes ago, byrd said:

Olivia loves hulk and will take him on any shape, form or fashion . He is very loyal to her. I have always loved their relationship. 

Hulk lol

  • Love 2
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Layne

Layne

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

I may be forgetting something but why was Quinn a reality star if Fitz was never president? I know Olivia is the one that had her change her name, but wouldn't she still have been arrested for murder for blowing up that building? What did that have to do with the election?

The building that blew up housed Cytron, Lindsey's boyfriend Jesse's company, which Hollis used to rig the election. Hollis blew up the company and framed Lindsey because Jesse got greedy and demanded more $ to stay quiet. Olivia felt guilty, saved Lindsey and gave her a new identity (Quinn Perkins). If they'd never rigged the national election, Hollis would never have blown up Cytron and Lindsey D. would still be chillin in Cali. 

  • Love 2
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nilyank

nilyank

(edited)
9 hours ago, reggiejax said:

4) So many people get to live in the alternate timeline.

5) And best of all, apparently Papa Pope only meddles in Liv's life if she is in or near the Oval.

I was amused by his look of total disgust at the wedding about how Liv was wasting her life with Fitz.

I am curious why Liv didn't have Eli walk her down the aisle. She doesn't really know about B613 in the alternate universe and she was seen to have a regular relationship with him when she was dating Edison.

Speaking of which, why couldn't she have contacted him for help with her bill. He was a senator after all. He might have known someone in the Democratic party who could help her out.

The only thing that I did like about the alternate universe was that David and Abby got together and were still happy because there was no stupid Liv and protecting Fitz's stolen presidency.

Edited by nilyank
  • Love 2
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Layne

Layne

1 hour ago, nilyank said:

I am curious why Liv didn't have Eli walk her down the aisle. She doesn't really know about B613 in the alternate universe and she was seen to have a regular relationship with him when she was dating Edison.

Speaking of which, why couldn't she have contacted him for help with her bill. He was a senator after all. He might have known someone in the Democratic party who could help her out.

She found out about B6-13 while she was dating Edison, before they were even engaged. 

Good point about her not asking him for help getting the bill passed. Maybe he was still bitter about the break-up. 

  • Love 1
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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

The only movement in the plot was Liv saying "yes" to Fitz not wanting to give Mellie the presidency. 

Spoiler

Previews showed us that that moment doesn't move anything forward as next week Mellie is screaming about still fighting and the announcer was all who will be president and Rowan was like "if Mellie isn't the president, you will die" to Liv and my first thought was "eh. One I'm not worried, she's never going to die because no one does on this show and two of she really were to die would I care?"

So nothing happened. This episode was done for probably shipper reasons? I'm sure the Olivia Fitz fans loved seeing them together and hearing that Olivia was the best choice ever! when Mellie stated that Olivia saved him when she wouldn't rig the election. And I think that last scene was done to give the shippers some hope, because Shonda wants them to be OTP of this show. 

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Daisy

Daisy

I can't remember what made me stop watching this show... I just had enough, but i figured the 100th episode, a what if episode which i generally like at times...

I forgot about the Shonda modifer and why i stopped watching the show. (though i miss snarking w/y'all). It's v. obvious i haven't missed much. 

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KaveDweller

KaveDweller

On 4/14/2017 at 9:11 PM, Layne said:

The building that blew up housed Cytron, Lindsey's boyfriend Jesse's company, which Hollis used to rig the election. Hollis blew up the company and framed Lindsey because Jesse got greedy and demanded more $ to stay quiet. Olivia felt guilty, saved Lindsey and gave her a new identity (Quinn Perkins). If they'd never rigged the national election, Hollis would never have blown up Cytron and Lindsey D. would still be chillin in Cali. 

Thanks.  It has been a long time since all that happened, the details have gotten fuzzy for me.

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Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory

22 hours ago, dr pepper said:

Why isn't Alternate Huck with his family?

Because some things wouldn't change just because Olivia didn't steal an election.  Huck got in contact with his family because of Quinn and Charlie.  If Lindsay didn't become Quinn she wouldn't have met Charlie who wouldn't have given her the info on Huck's family out of spite. 

Huck probably would have continued on the path he was on with no reason to be anything else.  For better and worse Quinn has been almost as much a driving force for Huck as Olivia has.

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peter rob

peter rob

Scandal S06E10 - Seriously - the dumbest ep ever with ludicrous 'alternative' storylines.......

Couldn't watch beyond Cyrus and Mel on the couch. Apparently they later snogged.....vomit....stupid Mel.

Thought Mel was  remotely clever.

Just undid 6 seasons of reasonable character arcs, and established narrative. 

Now a seriously stupid Scandal-arse series. 

  • Love 2
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Aquarius97

Aquarius97

On 14/4/2017 at 4:12 AM, Karen885 said:

So in the Scandal world there was a presidential election in 2010 and again in 2016.  This show can't even get basic facts right.

Why do you assume that they were in 2016 in the Vargas/Mellie elections? If the Defiance's elections were in 2010, we should in 2018/2019 in Scandal universe. Scandal has never been a show of 1 season = 1 year in the show. There are seasons which take part in only a few months, and other which might reach two years

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