S06.E13: The Box

[thewhiteowl]

Quote

As the future of the country hangs in the balance, Olivia and Fitz are at odds with Rowan, and Jake employs surprising tactics to manipulate the Mystery Woman.

[Guest]

Fitz: "Are we this incompetent?"

Me: "Yes. Duh."

[TigerLynx]

I doubt the intent of the writers was for me to be laughing the entire episode, but I started cackling when the morons had to have Cyrus tell them they could lie to their prisoner to get information.  {face palm}

Then it turns out all they had to do was have Rowan and Jake kill people to resolve the crisis.  How horrible.  {another face palm}

What was the point of this lame SL?  It seems the evil people are idiots to.

[WhosThatGirl]

Um.. yeah. What was this entire season about? God.

[Artsda]

So this dumb plot is finally over? Can Cyrus be President now?

[Guest]

"They were going to elect a man who just got out of jail instead of you!" Maybe because the man wasn't in jail for a legitimate reason?

This show does continue to break ground- I don't think I've ever seen a dinosaur tooth used as a murder weapon. So props for that, I guess?

[WhosThatGirl]

I mean.. the hell? When they started killing everyone it's really like "what have we been doing for the last 12 episodes?" 

[Complexity]

Sometimes I wonder if we're being punked with this show.

[weathered1]

Showing that every bit of this entire season could've been averted with the actions undertaken in about 45 seconds . . . well, if their intent was to show that these 13 episodes have been a waste of time for the viewers: mission accomplished, show. 

Edited May 5, 2017 by weathered1

[Happytobehere]

First time I ever fell asleep during the show.  It speaks volumes for what Shonda is presenting us.  What happened to this show supposedly being the tale of a powerful and intelligent black woman wkith actual skills.  Olivia has been diminished to prop Mellie, hell, even Poppa Pope is being lowered to prop Fitz.  What would we poor black people do without Shonda representing for us like this.

[PsychoDrone]

This season was a bad episode of Scandal spread out over 13 episodes.  Problem(s) introduced in the first half, angsting over what to do over most of last half, and finally, in the last bit, solution presents itself.  The final solution comes as an "a-ha" moment that should have been tried in the beginning.  But, that would be too easy and drama/filler is added to pad out the show.

This shadowy cabal was a joke.  Rowan, with B613, was way more menacing.  You never saw him getting his hands dirty until these idiots came on the scene.  Their actions were more comical than scary.  The guy's actions with the drone was pretty sinister, but the rest (shooting the guy in the museum, woman clubbing Portia, them being so hands-on) was just too over-the-top.

Well, Mellie is president and everything is right with the world.  Don't like that the show had Mellie giving in at the end and Olivia had to talk her off the ledge with her inspiring speech.  But, what would Scandal be without a Shonda monologue?

[Anela]

Why didn't he just do that in the first place?? 

[WhosThatGirl]

I mean..look, I understand that this season was largely character focused episodes because KWs was pregnant but none of it made any sort of sense, not when it was happening, and not the fact that it lead to this anti climax ending that leaves probably most viewers- and so far, from everyone I've seen on this forum- say "what did we just waste 12 episodes watching?" The  storyline never made any sense.  All it did was waste time because they had no idea how to deal with KWS pregnancy, even though last time they just hid her behind desks and purses. I don't know.  And considering most of those episodes were a lot of repeated footage- how many times did we see ELECTION NIGHT?- so that we could get different viewpoints on the same situation. It was the worst season ever.  

[Emma9]

Am I being far too morbid in thinking that picking up a shipping box with an 11-pound brick sliding around inside it would feel a heck of a lot different than picking up a shipping box with an 11-pound human head inside it? Or was it padded somehow to distribute the weight more evenly and I just couldn't tell?

Also, Luna Vargas got shuffled out before any of this episode's actual discussions took place. So apparently these morons did think it was a swell idea to keep her completely out of the loop regarding exactly what they were getting her into.

 

Quote

Fitz: "Are we this incompetent?"

Me: "Yes. Duh."

The first sensible thing he's ever said.

 

Quote

"They were going to elect a man who just got out of jail instead of you!" Maybe because the man wasn't in jail for a legitimate reason?

And maybe because Olivia herself, two episodes ago, organized a campaign to repair his image and get him elected because otherwise Mellie would be taking unfair advantage of him getting framed?

Something which, incidentally, Mellie decided to do anyway because someone was pulling her strings, almost like a...what's that word I'm thinking of? Starts with a 'p'? It can't be 'puppet', because Olivia says Mellie's never been one of those. And Olivia is always right.

Edited May 5, 2017 by Emma9

[ForeverAlone]

Holy crap! I can barely watch this show anymore without cringing from second hand embarrassment. Maybe I need to start drinking wine to get through these episodes. Everything is so ridiculous and over the top these days.

[Dee]

David's hissed "Am I twitchy now?!" had me in tears.

[slade3]

6 hours ago, Emma9 said:

And maybe because Olivia herself, two episodes ago, organized a campaign to repair his image and get him elected because otherwise Mellie would be taking unfair advantage of him getting framed?

This! I couldn't believe the things the writers had Olivia saying last night. I understand they wanted to throw in the "nasty woman" reference, but these people are professional writers; they should know one should never use real-life events in their fiction at the expense of character/plot consistency. They should have scrapped that whole scene between Mellie and Olivia and found a different way to use "nasty woman." Even having Rowan go on his rant about Fitz not knowing what it's like to be Rowan, only to have him answer Fitz's question once the rant was over, was ridiculous. I hate when the writers insert themselves into the characters' monologues, especially when the message doesn't move the scene forward.

Despite my frustration, I enjoyed the episode. I enjoyed Jake's scenes with Ponytail, and also enjoyed David's "Am I twitchy now?" This could be a good show, but it's just too messy.

Everyone's asking the million-dollar question, which is "Why didn't they just shoot Peus and Ponytail in the first place?" All of this convoluted storytelling for 10 - 11 episodes made no sense if it doesn't add up to something else next week. Why did they need Jennifer Fields? Why did they need Rowan to kill Vargas if they were just going to frame it on another guy? Why did they involve Abby and Huck? Why were they threatening to behead Olivia? And so on.

I don't believe the threat is over. There has to be someone else behind all this. From the promo,

Spoiler

we see Abby gets her own box in the mail and looks horrified. I hope it isn't Leo's head. We also see Huck and Quinn walk into a bar and pull out their guns as someone else pulls a gun on them. Hoping this has to do with Peus, and not some new random threat.

Edited May 5, 2017 by slade3

[Spartan Girl]

I enjoyed watching David punch that bitch in the face. 

[Mama No Life]

At least Zoe Perry is dead.

She is god awful annoying.

That's all I got.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, slade3 said:

This! I couldn't believe the things the writers had Olivia saying last night. I understand they wanted to throw in the "nasty woman" reference, but these people are professional writers; they should know one should never use real-life events in their fiction at the expense of character/plot consistency. They should have scrapped that whole scene between Mellie and Olivia and found a different way to use "nasty woman." Even having Rowan go on his rant about Fitz not knowing what it's like to be Rowan, only to have him answer Fitz's question once the rant was over, was ridiculous. I hate when the writers insert themselves into the characters' monologues, especially when the message doesn't move the scene forward.

This. Totally this.  They tried drawing real life parallels in places where they didn't exist. Liv was the one spearheading getting Cyrus to be elected by the electoral college- so she was, in effect, the person she was arguing against last night.  

[Evagirl]

9 hours ago, Happytobehere said:

What would we poor black people do without Shonda representing for us like this.

You crack me up!  LOL!

[Evagirl]

I loved the concept of Scandal when it first started.  The idea of OPM fixing crazy stuff politicians/wives/husbands had gotten themselves into.  Then it went off the rails.  I almost stopped watching when they killed James.  About the only decent person on the show.  But I hung in there.  I finally stopped watching altogether in the middle of the season where Olivia was kidnapped and Fitz was willing to go to war to save her at the expense of other Americans' sons, daughters, husbands, wives.  Nobody's cootie-cat (which is what we used to call it back in the day) it that good!

So, while I was on hiatus from this silly show I didn't bother to read recaps or anything.  Then this year I decided to check in and see what was going on.  A lot had happened while I was away.  The show had become some sort of weird alternative-Scandal.  It's really a comedy show masquerading as a drama.

Joe Morton is playing Poppa Pope so over the top that you can't help but laugh.  Eeny meeny minie moe, who will Jake kill on tonight's show?  

[Ohwell]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I enjoyed watching David punch that bitch in the face. 

That was priceless.  Even better was Rowan gutting her like a fish.

[slade3]

13 minutes ago, Evagirl said:

But I hung in there.  I finally stopped watching altogether in the middle of the season where Olivia was kidnapped and Fitz was willing to go to war to save her at the expense of other Americans' sons, daughters, husbands, wives.

I stopped watching then, too. I returned for season 5, but gave it up again when Olivia left the White House - not because I wanted her with Fitz, but because it was the 900th time they broke up and it felt like I was watching a show written by 10th graders. Unfortunately, I can no longer see what Olivia offers that makes Jake and Fitz keep coming back for more. And before anyone asks, I keep watching because I still have hope she will change and become season 1 Olivia again, and I like Scott Foley too much to stop watching him on TV.

 

18 minutes ago, Evagirl said:

Joe Morton is playing Poppa Pope so over the top that you can't help but laugh.  Eeny meeny minie moe, who will Jake kill on tonight's show?

I loved Joe Morton on the TV show Eureka, but I don't like Rowan, or the way Joe Morton plays him. 

10 hours ago, Happytobehere said:

What happened to this show supposedly being the tale of a powerful and intelligent black woman wkith actual skills.  Olivia has been diminished to prop Mellie, hell, even Poppa Pope is being lowered to prop Fitz.  What would we poor black people do without Shonda representing for us like this.

I love seeing positive depictions of Black women on my screen, but not Jada Pinkett-Smith's Nurse Hawthorne kind of positive (which was Mary-Sue to the point that you wondered if the show was a sequel to Touched by an Angel); I like my characters flawed and morally ambiguous, so I thought Scandal/Olivia was the perfect show for me when it started. What made her a positive character for me was, as you wrote, her power and intelligence, but also her confidence and unapologetic view on sex. As each season passes, I become more and more baffled. I have no idea what Shonda and her team are doing to Olivia. To me, Rowan has always been awful, and I'd like some confirmation that he's mentally ill, but with Olivia, I just don't want to believe that Shonda thinks she's presenting a tolerable character. I know KW has said Olivia is not a role model. I don't want (or need) her to be. I just don't want her to be a wishy washy abusive monster.

[slade3]

9 hours ago, Emma9 said:

Am I being far too morbid in thinking that picking up a shipping box with an 11-pound brick sliding around inside it would feel a heck of a lot different than picking up a shipping box with an 11-pound human head inside it? Or was it padded somehow to distribute the weight more evenly and I just couldn't tell?

My question is, why did Rowan keep opening the boxes? Whenever one arrived, why didn't he just call Olivia to make sure she was alright? (I posted this on reddit as well in case someone sees it there and thinks I'm repeating someone else.)

This scenario with the boxes would have made much more sense in season 4, when Olivia was actually kidnapped and they had no idea whether she was okay. Here, Olivia was jut a phone call away. And if she didn't answer, he could have said it was urgent. Only a couple of episodes ago, Olivia left Luna Vargas and a film crew just before they were going to do an interview, because Rowan called Olivia to his office. She would have answered the phone. This is a big reason I'm still leaning toward Rowan being behind all of this. It would be incredibly convoluted and ridiculous, but it would explain his theatrical reactions each time the boxes arrived. 

Did Fitz explain how he knew about the boxes? I haven't rewatched the episode, soI don't remember the last part of their convo. I just remember Fitz finishing Rowan's sentence as if he had experienced getting boxes like that before.

Also,

Spoiler

we see Abby get that box in next week's promo. I originally thought it might be Leo's head, but I remembered that Rowan's scene ended with a box on his work table oozing blood. I assume that was Ponytail's head in there. Is it possible Rowan sends Ponytail's head to Abby? If so, why?

[Primetimer]

Or will he be able to track down the members of the shadowy cabal before they detonate explosive drones over nine major U.S. cities? Kim's got questions!

View the full article

[Guest]

Fitz immediately treating Cyrus like he was his CoS again drove home how stupid the whole plotline of Cyrus leaving the White House was. He and Fitz made a great team, so for him to leave to work for the opposition party  and then to actually become their VP candidate was dumb.  I know it was shown here to push Abby out, but still so ridiculous.  

[mwell345]

Add me to the list of people that laugh out loud during this show.

Since when was Fitz worried about "shredding" the Constitution?  He killed a Supreme Court Justice, sent the Military to some place to save precious Olivia.....and now he's worried about the Constitution?  Well, I guess better late than never.

Joe Morton is so over the top, he's just ridiculous.  But thankfully, we won't have that Zoe person chewing any left over scenery anymore.

(Question - does Fitz know Papa had his son killed?) 

I laughed out loud (well, through most of the show) but during Abby's scenes where she was begging Cyrus to bring her in the loop.   No one has any time for you Abby, get over yourself.  And in a White House full of generals, advisors, a President, a President-Elect, Cabinet members, Olivia the Great, Jake (I don't even know what he does anymore except kill people, and yet there he is in the Situtation Room -  might as well give Huck a cabinet position), ......Cyrus has to point out the obvious more than once. 

But hey - Fitz and Olivia found time to share a drink and hold hands....what crisis?

[WhosThatGirl]

I mean look I hope that the killing of those two idiots is the end of this storyline, but what if it isn't? It was a really lame ending to a really lame storyline, but still.. super lame ending when they just end up killing both bad guys. Its just.. this was such a time waster season because they didn't know what to do and it shows.  I mean look I've seen shows write themselves into awful corners and do terrible things to avoid explanations or deal with the problem they created but this season of Scandal was something even more terrible than writing a plot into a corner, I have no idea what they even created this season. 

Edited May 5, 2017 by WhosThatGirl

[Layne]

28 minutes ago, mwell345 said:

(Question - does Fitz know Papa had his son killed?) 

Yes, as does Mellie, and now everyone else (including Marcus) since Rowan announced it to the whole room last episode! No shame, that guy. 

[Dee]

Maya Pope has been awfully quiet lately....

[Evagirl]

Does anybody know what the plan for Fitz is once the new president is sworn in?  Do you think they'll kill his character off?  I think they should.  This in-the-sack then not-in-the-sack with Olivia is stupid.  They're both single now so what's stopping them from hooking up legally?  This star-crossed-but-can't-be-together-lovers line has worn very thin.  Fitz is still easy on the eyes though - LOL!

[rebeccalj]

6 hours ago, Mama No Life said:

At least Zoe Perry is dead.

She is god awful annoying.

That's all I got.

I could not agree more.  I hated her mom's voice and I hate hers as well. 

[Mindthinkr]

Are these the same writers now as when I began this show? (Rhetorical)

[TigerLynx]

There are no words to express how annoyed I will be if this SL isn't over.  However, if it is over, then it has been one of the dumbest most pointless SLs in history.  On top of the idiotic "you won't want the presidency if you get it this way" nonsense, because yes these people were willing to take the presidency any way they could get it.  There was also the "even though I told you you shouldn't take the presidency a few weeks ago, today I am telling you you have to take it for all women kind" speech that I guess was supposed to be empowering.  Followed by Cyrus, Rowan, and Jake suddenly being somewhat competent again.  Ending with killing the bad guys being a way to solve the problem.  To bad, no one thought of that sooner - oh wait, several dozen people on this forum suggested doing just that weeks ago.

[Layne]

55 minutes ago, Evagirl said:

Does anybody know what the plan for Fitz is once the new president is sworn in?  Do you think they'll kill his character off?  I think they should. 

I wish they would. 

[mwell345]

1 hour ago, Evagirl said:

Does anybody know what the plan for Fitz is once the new president is sworn in?  Do you think they'll kill his character off?  

Could we be so lucky?

2 hours ago, Layne said:

Yes, as does Mellie, and now everyone else (including Marcus) since Rowan announced it to the whole room last episode! No shame, that guy. 

An yet Fitz sits down with him, pours him a drink and they chat away like they're best buds.   I get that he felt like he needed Rowan to get to the bad guys, but - how could he even stand to be in the same room with the person that killed his SON??????  That's quite a stretch...oh, but this is Scandal.  Never mind.

[reggiejax]

Honestly, at this point, I am actively rooting for Scandal to pull a Pam Ewing and render Season 6 to being just Olivia's dream. The opening scene of season 7 should be Liv waking up to a world where Mellie won the election, cleanly. Just as Shonda clearly wanted to portray, and should have.

No organization that is evil-er than B613, no annoying Zoey Perry, no Huck inexplicably surviving a professional hit, no pathetic attempt to redeem Papa Pope as somehow not being so evil. And best of all, Frankie Vargas lives. Yeah, he loses the election, but he lives and hopefully gets as far away from these idiots as possible.

[PumpkinPK]

If all it took to stop the baddies was to kill Peus and the annoying woman, why didn't they just do that long ago?  They had plenty of chances.

[PumpkinPK]

4 hours ago, WhosThatGirl said:

I mean look I hope that the killing of those two idiots is the end of this storyline, but what if it isn't? 

Well at least we don't have to see or hear that grating actress again.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, PumpkinPK said:

If all it took to stop the baddies was to kill Peus and the annoying woman, why didn't they just do that long ago?  They had plenty of chances.

Because they only had enough material for one episode and had to stretch it into 13.

[Ohwell]

Watching Rowan and those boxes, all I could think about was Brad Pitt crying "What's in the box?" in Se7en.

[reggiejax]

This episode for sure marks the end of me giving a shit about Abby.

My jaw dropped to the floor when she asked Cyrus, with regards to her marginalization in the Fitz administration, "haven't I suffered enough?"

How she could ask that, in all seriousness, without even one iota of self-awareness, was amazing. The response in my mind was "maybe when you're hanging from a yardarm, then you've suffered enough, Abby. Maybe."

[Nalan]

11 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I enjoyed watching David punch that bitch in the face. 

Oh, indeed.  In an odd way, I appreciated the show trying to show that she did have a softer side (and that she was under Peus's thumb almost as much as Rowan was), but it was too little, too late.  I'm usually not for violence against a woman, but she herself had no qualms beating another woman (and a mother!) to death with a nine-iron two weeks ago, so . . . I'll let this one slide.

But was David really friends with Elizabeth?  His anger toward Samantha/Grace over her murder was a bit shocking, since I thought he'd hated her and wouldn't have cared about her getting killed.

Every main character was in the episode except for Quinn.  Where was she?  Taking an evening off with Charlie?

[DesertCyclist]

Can we please get back to regular old scandals now???

[Dowel Jones]

On 5/4/2017 at 6:58 PM, deaja said:

Fitz: "Are we this incompetent?"

Me: "Yes. Duh."

13 episodes in and I think you have encapsulated the season in two lines.

14 hours ago, mwell345 said:

....and now he's worried about the Constitution?

To be fair (in Scandalland anyway), they're in the White House.  The rules are different there.

So, the drones are close enough to street level to kill dozens of people when they explode.  Yet, they can't be taken out except by a squadron of jets or other drones with missile capabilities.  It wouldn't be possible for one Army unit with a LAAW or a Stinger (or modern day equivalent) to pop one off?  Of course not.  That would be much too efficient.  By the way, Fitz, since your legacy seems to be of the upmost concern in your pointy little head, it might be worth noting that, although the deaths of 85 people in one day from drone attacks certainly is horrible, it's about the same as the annual toll from traffic accidents in the US.  But, as Rowan pointed out, there's also the sex scandal to take into account for his legacy.

Did someone convince the Secret Service guy to take a bullet for Rowan's plan, or was he just the patsy?  Wait till his union steward finds out.

[MSterling]

My only "Oh my god!" moment of this season is realizing Counselor Troi was a general.

[Haleth]

20 hours ago, mwell345 said:

(Question - does Fitz know Papa had his son killed?) 

Hey, bygones.

That was terrible.  I kind of liked last week with the white hat gang getting the upper hand, but this made no sense.  So kill Peus and what'shername and it's over?  You mean they weren't agents of a foreign government?  These two, out of the blue, on their own, decided to hold the US government hostage?  Just for the heck of it?

As absurd as it was, Rowan killing the woman with the t rex tooth was kind of awesome.

15 hours ago, reggiejax said:

This episode for sure marks the end of me giving a shit about Abby.

My jaw dropped to the floor when she asked Cyrus, with regards to her marginalization in the Fitz administration, "haven't I suffered enough?"

How she could ask that, in all seriousness, without even one iota of self-awareness, was amazing. The response in my mind was "maybe when you're hanging from a yardarm, then you've suffered enough, Abby. Maybe."

Agree.  No sympathy for the woman whose thirst for power allowed this to happen.

1 hour ago, MSterling said:

My only "Oh my god!" moment of this season is realizing Counselor Troi was a general.

Shoot, I didn't realize that.

[PsychoDrone]

17 hours ago, reggiejax said:

Honestly, at this point, I am actively rooting for Scandal to pull a Pam Ewing and render Season 6 to being just Olivia's dream. The opening scene of season 7 should be Liv waking up to a world where Mellie won the election, cleanly. Just as Shonda clearly wanted to portray, and should have.

This!!  Actually, they should have went with the original idea with Mellie as president and moved on from there.  Who cares that Hillary lost?  Why should that have any bearing on a television show.  We just want to see compelling stories, in spite of what is happening in real life.

The first sign that this season was going to be ridiculous was when the election came down to California.  California?!?!?  Talk about unbelievable.  When was the last time that state went for a republican?  Reagan?  Or, has it been a battleground state to decide an election?  Maybe it has and I just don't know.  Regardless, from there the show went downhill and stupidity escalated.

[slade3]

15 hours ago, Nalan said:

But was David really friends with Elizabeth?  His anger toward Samantha/Grace over her murder was a bit shocking, since I thought he'd hated her and wouldn't have cared about her getting killed.

This bothered me, too. He was just standing on her "grave" in the previous episode, trashing her with Jake.