S07.E10: The People vs Olivia Pope

[thewhiteowl]

Fitz sets up Olivia for an intervention. Cyrus tells Mellie about Olivia and Jake's extracurricular activities.

[WhosThatGirl]

My favorite part of this episode was watching Quinn and Rowan sing Britney Spears to the baby and with dance moves while Charlie looked confused. 

That’s how I look every week Charlie.

[ForeverAlone]

I was glad Mellie clapped back at Jake for his comment that Olivia killed Bashad because she couldn't keep her legs closed. I just kept thinking about how often Fitz's dick caused him to make way too many poor decisions, including using the military to go to war to get his girlfriend back.

Olivia screwed Jake for fun and Jake screwed Olivia to get a promotion.

I like bitch boss Mellie. 

[Bama]

I know it won't happen but if they end this show with Olivia imprisoned/disgraced/dead, it will all have been worth it.

But it will end with Olitz fucking making jam in fucking Vermont, I just know it.

[WhosThatGirl]

20 minutes ago, Bama said:

I know it won't happen but if they end this show with Olivia imprisoned/disgraced/dead, it will all have been worth it.

But it will end with Olitz fucking making jam in fucking Vermont, I just know it.

I know. Olivia and Fitz are endgame and that is the worst. Olivia will get her happy ending. 

[Guest]

I liked the ending- Olivia screwing everyone and Jake and Mellie screwing her. A redemption arc this early would have been too predictable, yet I’m sure it’s coming. I hope it isn’t though.

At least it was an interesting episode this week.

[Kaiju Ballet]

4 hours ago, WhosThatGirl said:

My favorite part of this episode was watching Quinn and Rowan sing Britney Spears to the baby and with dance moves while Charlie looked confused. 

 

1 hour ago, deaja said:

I liked the ending- Olivia screwing everyone and Jake and Mellie screwing her.

Thanks for reminding me, the entire episode wasn't a wash. Those were the only two bits of it that I liked. Oh, and Rowan/Eli was actually tolerable this episode.

Soooo.....Huck is only conditioned to treat Command as omnipotent when it's Olivia's dad? And B-613 really goes to whoever Jake wants to serve, since he's basically all of B-613 in an empty pool? He's apparently all of the NSA, too, it seems.

And the gang doesn't decide to go to Olivia's apartment when it's clear that she's not showing up at the press briefing? They go through that entire intervention nonsense only to realize that they really can't force her to do anything? That was the very definition of "We didn't think this through....."

[misgabi13]

Olivia should be in jail!!!!

[PrincessTT]

2 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

Olivia should be in jail!!!!

Pretty much all the characters on this show should be in jail.

I would love to see the series end with every single one of them paying for their many crimes.

[Guest]

I was also glad that the show finally remembered Mellie is not an innocent puppy whose sole desire is to serve her country. Her bad deeds have been glossed over the past two seasons. Her hands are almost as dirty as the rest of them.

[Good Queen Jane]

So who here thought Olivia was really going to resign? Anyone? Not much of a twist, show.

[Empress1]

10 hours ago, WhosThatGirl said:

My favorite part of this episode was watching Quinn and Rowan sing Britney Spears to the baby and with dance moves while Charlie looked confused. 

That’s how I look every week Charlie.

I was cracking up. That "What in the world ..." look was excellent. And Joe Morton and Katie Lowes looked like they were having fun being so goofy.

1 hour ago, PrincessTT said:

Pretty much all the characters on this show should be in jail.

I would love to see the series end with every single one of them paying for their many crimes.

Literally all of them. Olivia wasn't wrong when she said all of them had gotten their hands dirty. Remember her cracking up when she realized all her friends were murderers (this was before she'd killed anyone) a few seasons ago?

Olivia wasn't fooling me. I liked that Mellie and Jake fucked her over. I'm actually looking forward to Quinn confronting her next week.

[JudgeyMcJudgyPants]

It’s pretty bad when Rowan scenes are the best parts of an episode.

And Olivia is horrible but she’s not wrong.  Everyone else is horrible too.  

Is it just me or have Kerry Washington’s teeth gotten bigger?  I’m sorry but they’re very distracting.

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, JudgeyMcJudgyPants said:

Is it just me or have Kerry Washington’s teeth gotten bigger?  I’m sorry but they’re very distracting.

It looks to me like she's lost weight, including in the face, which makes her teeth stand out more.   That top lip was working overtime last night though. 

[TV Diva Queen]

3 hours ago, PrincessTT said:

Pretty much all the characters on this show should be in jail.

I would love to see the series end with every single one of them paying for their many crimes.

Ala Seinfeld.

[Fairlily26]

1 hour ago, Ohwell said:

It looks to me like she's lost weight, including in the face, which makes her teeth stand out more.   That top lip was working overtime last night though. 

I just watched Mr and Mrs Smith and Kerry was a supporting actress in it. Her cheeks are fuller and she looks so much healthier.

I really think she would benefit from being 10 to 15 pounds heavier.

Her face looks very gaunt.

[Guest]

I think her face looks different, but I figured it was just that she's not pregnant like she was a couple of seasons. I didn't realize until this morning that there are only 2 episodes left.  So I think any redemption arc attempts would be beyond ridiculous. 

Is Marcus the only non-murderer of the main cast?  I know his hands aren't clean, but he hasn't murdered, correct?  Maybe David and Abby?  

[Ohwell]

I thought I read somewhere that this last season was 18 episodes, so there are 8 episodes left.

37 minutes ago, Fairlily26 said:

I just watched Mr and Mrs Smith and Kerry was a supporting actress in it. Her cheeks are fuller and she looks so much healthier.

I really think she would benefit from being 10 to 15 pounds heavier.

Her face looks very gaunt.

Yeah I think she could stand to gain some weight. 

Plus, she has a smallish frame and I've always thought that her clothes were wearing her, instead of the other way around.

[TigerLynx]

Am I really supposed to believe Jake wouldn't kill Cyrus?  If he is as bad as he's supposed to be, he would have.  For a bunch of murderers, these people are fucking spineless when it comes to killing.  How did they manage to rack up so many bodies when they are all so against killing?  {face palm}  If the writers didn't want to have to deal with the consequences, they shouldn't have made almost all of their characters murderers.

When Mellie was pointing out the double standard applied to her screwing around, and Fitz's, I wish Jake had said, "Yes, it's a double standard, but Fitz should have been held to a higher standard.  Everyone shouldn't want to get to sink to his level.  They should want to be better than him.  They should want to be a better president than he was."

I think it's funny that technically Liv didn't kill Quinn.  Quinn is still alive, and Rowan was the one who was going to kill Quinn.  If these lying cheating idiot killers didn't think Quinn was dead, would they care that Liv had Rashid killed?

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

If the writers didn't want to have to deal with the consequences, they shouldn't have made almost all of their characters murderers.

Truth.  :)

[Fairlily26]

22 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

Am I really supposed to believe Jake wouldn't kill Cyrus?  If he is as bad as he's supposed to be, he would have.  For a bunch of murderers, these people are fucking spineless when it comes to killing.  How did they manage to rack up so many bodies when they are all so against killing?  {face palm}  If the writers didn't want to have to deal with the consequences, they shouldn't have made almost all of their characters murderers.

When Mellie was pointing out the double standard applied to her screwing around, and Fitz's, I wish Jake had said, "Yes, it's a double standard, but Fitz should have been held to a higher standard.  Everyone shouldn't want to get to sink to his level.  They should want to be better than him.  They should want to be a better president than he was."

I think it's funny that technically Liv didn't kill Quinn.  Quinn is still alive, and Rowan was the one who was going to kill Quinn.  If these lying cheating idiot killers didn't think Quinn was dead, would they care that Liv had Rashid killed?

The fact that Jake killed Cyrus husband, is enough for us to believe he would kill Cyrus too! 

I was like are we just gonna gloss over the fact that he killed James AND Cyrus knows this?!

[Empress1]

59 minutes ago, deaja said:

I think her face looks different, but I figured it was just that she's not pregnant like she was a couple of seasons. I didn't realize until this morning that there are only 2 episodes left.  So I think any redemption arc attempts would be beyond ridiculous. 

Is Marcus the only non-murderer of the main cast?  I know his hands aren't clean, but he hasn't murdered, correct?  Maybe David and Abby?  

Wait, there are only two episodes left?! Maybe Olitz won't end up making jam after all.

Marcus hasn't killed anyone. He did participate in OPA's cover-up of the murder of the mayor's wife, with whom he was having an affair, but I think he eventually owned up to all that publicly. Abby's hands are dirtier than Marcus's. She went dark for a while when she was Fitz's chief of staff and got in bed with that super PAC. She didn't kill anyone directly but her involvement with them got people killed and she initially let Cyrus take the fall for Vargas's assassination. I think David's hands are clean but I could be wrong. I mostly remember David for his failed relationships. 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

Wait, there are only two episodes left?! Maybe Olitz won't end up making jam after all.

Marcus hasn't killed anyone. He did participate in OPA's cover-up of the murder of the mayor's wife, with whom he was having an affair, but I think he eventually owned up to all that publicly. Abby's hands are dirtier than Marcus's. She went dark for a while when she was Fitz's chief of staff and got in bed with that super PAC. She didn't kill anyone directly but her involvement with them got people killed and she initially let Cyrus take the fall for Vargas's assassination. I think David's hands are clean but I could be wrong. I mostly remember David for his failed relationships. 

It would appear I was wrong about this. I shouldn't listen to my co-worker apparently. Sorry!

[thewhiteowl]

Even when this show tries to be oh so dramatic, I still find the funny. First LOL moment, Jake backing down from Cyrus!?! Please ladies, don't fight, you're both monsters. Cyrus has been above all, looking out for Cyrus. Jake is a ruthless killer. So Jake blinks first? LOL, good one, Shonda. Cy is a weenie little tattle-tale, running to Mellie.  Good timing, tho.

Second LOL moment, Liv's little speech of remorse. The only ones that could possibly buy that shit were the ones that absolutely wanted to buy it. Couldn't admit she was wrong, hello, red flag. How exactly were they planning to enforce this anyway?  Guess they thought they wouldn't have to. LOL

Love badass Mellie.

[WhosThatGirl]

I don’t really like anyone on this show anymore. Except for Charlie, who yes is crazy and killed people too but I feel like at least he’s self aware about it. Unlike some others on this show.

[misgabi13]

7 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I thought I read somewhere that this last season was 18 episodes, so there are 8 episodes left.

IMDB shows a total of 18 episodes for this year so that would mean there are 8 left.

[Anela]

19 hours ago, Bama said:

I know it won't happen but if they end this show with Olivia imprisoned/disgraced/dead, it will all have been worth it.

But it will end with Olitz fucking making jam in fucking Vermont, I just know it.

I think they should all be disgraced/imprisoned. Olivia was right, and said what people have been saying here for ages: they're all killers. How they think they deserve their freedom, but can threaten to take hers away, is both disgusting and laughable. Not that Liv isn't a monster. Shonda couldn't resist tearing her down. 

I loved Mellie's comment about Fitz spilling his DNA all over the White House. Like someone else said, he started a war just to get Liv back. Quinn's "We're better than that." LMAO. No, you aren't. 

[Mama No Life]

I don't think Olivia had sex with Jake for fun.  She had sex with him to make sure he was on her team and would stay compliant.

I don't ever need to see her sashaying down the hallway at the White House again.   SR may think she looks strong but she looks absurd.  Her hair is too big and her face is too thin....not a good look esp when she snarls.  

[RHJunkie]

I feel obligated to see the series through and that's the only reason I'm still watching because it certainly isn't for the writing. 

I'm gonna be mad if this doesn't all end with Olivia in prison or daed but that's unlikely to happen. She'll somehow get some happy ending. Not that the rest of them should judge since they're all murderers and horrible people as well but I guess not crossing the line of hurting one of their own is the line in the sand for them that if cross, goes too far. But even in the hypocrisy, I still find Olivia more offensive than the others. There was remorse in their actions while Olivia is too obsessed with her power. Her manipulation of Huck and Jake this episode despite her circumstances of being made to face her demons has only confirmed for me that there's no way that this character can be redeemed in my eyes. And Olivia has been complicit for much of the others misgivings as well so even before her first kill and ruthlessness, she wasn't at all innocent. Off with her head and let's be done with this. 

[Haleth]

6 hours ago, RHJunkie said:

I'm gonna be mad if this doesn't all end with Olivia in prison or daed but that's unlikely to happen. She'll somehow get some happy ending.

I can see it now.  She'll wake up and it's the morning before they rigged the election.  Everything from the last 7 seasons was a dream.  After realizing the havoc that will ensue, Olivia decides to not go ahead with faulty election machine and Fitz loses.  They are all sad but redeemed from the terrible things that would have happened.  Everyone goes their own way.  The end.

Just to return to topic, loved the music in this episode and loved Quinn and Rowan dancing with the baby.

Edited February 3, 2018 by Haleth

[Eyes High]

On 2/1/2018 at 10:16 PM, WhosThatGirl said:

My favorite part of this episode was watching Quinn and Rowan sing Britney Spears to the baby and with dance moves while Charlie looked confused. 

That’s how I look every week Charlie.

I also sing Britney Spears to my baby, who loves it. #noshame That scene was super cute.

Bellamy Young looks great in that shade of blue.

[Oblique Angle]

How did Liv step out of the shower with her hair bone straight like that? Whatever, spare me the allusions to the curative power of Fitz's penis.

Olivia's intervention outfit was fierce though.

No way should Huck have been in on that witch trial. He's the most bloodthirsty gladiator of them all, and St. Quinn the holy mother of assassins is a close second.

"...but she won't make a fool of me." Um, remember "bitch baby," Cyrus?

So it's all Millie's fault. Riiiight, Jake. It takes a lot of guts to call the first woman POTUS a basic heaux to her face. At least she got to clap back later.

These fools had met Olivia before, right? Why would they trust her after everything's she's done to gain and hold onto her power?

Olivia is straight up insane. They're going to have to kill her and I'd be okay with it.

[Black Knight]

14 hours ago, Haleth said:

I can see it now.  She'll wake up and it's the morning before they rigged the election.  Everything from the last 7 seasons was a dream.  After realizing the havoc that will ensue, Olivia decides to not go ahead with faulty election machine and Fitz loses.  They are all sad but redeemed from the terrible things that would have happened.  Everyone goes their own way.  The end.

Didn't the show already do a what-if episode, the point of which was to show that things wouldn't have gone any better that way? I remember nothing about it except that Mellie and Cyrus were married in that alternate reality.

I rolled my eyes at Jake's claim to Mellie, because that's not what it was either. Olivia didn't want anyone besides her having any influence over Mellie. Like Cyrus said, Mellie became overly dependent on Olivia.

[WhosThatGirl]

Actually, the what if episode showed that Fitz and Olivia would have been super duper happy together! Mellie even made a big speech about Liv having saved him by not agreeing to rig the election.

[Marley]

I’m actually kind of embarrassed for KW at this point. Her acting got even worse this episode and I know they think she seems badass strutting down the halls of the White House but she actually looks idiotic.

Also why would Mellie trust Jake? 

I ff most of Vermont. 

All these ppl suck. And I can’t believe there is still 8 episodes left. I can’t stop watching because I’m too deep at this point lol but this show is so stupid.

[WhosThatGirl]

19 minutes ago, Marley said:

I’m actually kind of embarrassed for KW at this point. Her acting got even worse this episode and I know they think she seems badass strutting down the halls of the White House but she actually looks idiotic.

Also why would Mellie trust Jake? 

I ff most of Vermont. 

All these ppl suck. And I can’t believe there is still 8 episodes left. I can’t stop watching because I’m too deep at this point lol but this show is so stupid.

Yeah. I cringed during a lot of this episode did to kW/Olivia. During the scene when Jake came back to her apartment and was like “why the hell we you in Vermont and not answering my calls?” And I know Olivia was supposed to be drunk-or was she? Maybe it just seemed she was not supposed to be drunk but he seemed it- but it made me cringe that whole scene. I felt embarrassed during that scene. 

Also.. her facial expressions are so bad. Whenever the camera is on her, it’s so overly acted in her expressions.

And the thing is I like KW. She seems fun and intelligent, but this show and the character of Olivia Pope are so embarrassing.

[watch2much]

I can't believe there's so many episodes left to endure.  I do cut down the time by fast forwarding thru the sex scenes--who cares about that....I get it she's so powerful she has men at her beck and call. 

can't believe what used to be must see tv has become a chore.

[thewhiteowl]

10 hours ago, WhosThatGirl said:

Yeah. I cringed during a lot of this episode did to kW/Olivia. During the scene when Jake came back to her apartment and was like “why the hell we you in Vermont and not answering my calls?” And I know Olivia was supposed to be drunk-or was she? Maybe it just seemed she was not supposed to be drunk but he seemed it- but it made me cringe that whole scene. I felt embarrassed during that scene. 

Also.. her facial expressions are so bad. Whenever the camera is on her, it’s so overly acted in her expressions.

And the thing is I like KW. She seems fun and intelligent, but this show and the character of Olivia Pope are so embarrassing.

Agree, seems KW is taking the Joe Morton school of scenery chewing but needs more lessons. Joe sometimes can pull it off, he has the gravitas but other times he's just screaming at a toy dinosaur.

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, thewhiteowl said:

Agree, seems KW is taking the Joe Morton school of scenery chewing but needs more lessons. Joe sometimes can pull it off, he has the gravitas but other times he's just screaming at a toy dinosaur.

Joe Morton/Rowan knows he's acting like a fool and sometimes you can tell he's enjoying it and even laughing at himself.  Olivia doesn't have that self-awareness.  She actually thinks she's a badass when she chews the scenery.

[J-Man]

Quote

I’m actually kind of embarrassed for KW at this point. Her acting got even worse this episode and I know they think she seems badass strutting down the halls of the White House but she actually looks idiotic.

Maybe she can blame the director -- Oh, wait-- Kerry directed this episode!

[Black Knight]

@WhosThatGirl, thanks for reminding me of more about the what-if episode!

I suspect that what has happened to KW is what happens to some actors who play one character for too long. It gets harder for them to act the part in an organic manner, and instead devolve into tics and such. And in fairness to KW, the writing doesn't help matters, because the character hasn't made sense for a long time. Yes, she could try to rise above, but if I cannot make sense of Olivia as written I can't really blame her for not being able to make sense of it either. There's been no true arc in recent years; they just write her however is convenient for driving the current plot forward. I think the last true arc she had, which really at its end should have been the end of the show as well, was when she finally became publicly known as Fitz's significant other and their relationship was able to play out. At the end of it she had left him, and gone back to OPA, and been content.

The last couple of seasons have had her backtracking constantly on her choices, having at least a couple of principles one minute and then none at all the next, while bouncing between men and OPA and "the Oval." There isn't any more real story to tell; they're just filling airtime and looking to do 7 seasons, which they have. And they'll likely cap it all off by forcing an Olitz ending to make the stans happy.

[KaveDweller]

I have a potential dumb question.....

Rowan is keep Quinn at his house to "protect" her. But when was her life ever in danger? He was the one who abducted her and threatened Olivia about. But Olivia never wanted her dead, she wanted to stop Rowan from killing her. 

Olivia didn't want Quinn to find out she blew up that plane, but now everyone on the show knows about that, so it doesn't matter anymore. Quinn's not going to actually go to the police or the media, because then Olivia could just report Quinn for all she's done. Was there someone else after Quinn that I'm missing?

[thewhiteowl]

@KaveDweller   I think Quinn had proof, like taping Liv admitting that she had it done.  Not positive.

[Black Knight]

Yes, Quinn taped the conversation she and Olivia had on the eve of Quinn's wedding, the conversation in which she accused Olivia of having murdered Rashad and his niece and Olivia admitted it. Quinn hid the recording where Abby found it, which is how the whole gang knows about Olivia.

As mentioned above, Olivia didn't actually choose to have Quinn killed - Rowan tricked her into thinking that he killed Quinn. But I think what we're supposed to take away from all this is that Olivia decided to let her father kill Quinn in order to keep Quinn from revealing that Olivia had Rashad and his niece killed. Since Olivia made that decision, Rowan and Quinn feel that her life is in danger if Olivia were to find out that she's alive. Quinn was firm that she wanted Olivia to pay for the murder of Rashad's niece. She could forgive Olivia for a lot, but not that, maybe because she saw Rashad's niece as being similar to herself as Lindsey Dwyer - someone who was innocent and had the bad luck to get caught up in something just because she knew the wrong people. So Olivia needs her dead.

(And that does stick in my craw among all Olivia's crimes - she could have let the niece run away with her girlfriend like she'd wanted. Maybe the rebel faction would've caught up with the niece, but still, at least the niece would've had a chance. All Olivia had to do was tell Quinn that the niece would've been safer on the run. And if Olivia had told Quinn that, Olivia probably wouldn't be in this fix, because I don't think Quinn cares about Rashad's murder, just his niece's.)

Although Quinn's own hands are quite bloody, it's not clear whether Olivia could actually turn her in for any of that. I don't think she has any actual evidence, other than what Huck might say, and the show's been pretty clear that Huck will never turn on Quinn in that fashion. Plus, wasn't all the crap Quinn did in service of Olivia/OPA? Quinn enjoyed being a torturer, but still, Olivia couldn't turn her in without implicating herself.

Please note, I'm not excusing any of them, even my favorites. I would be fine with a series finale where every single one of them ended up dead or in jail, with the possible exception of David and Marcus. Those two have conveniently closed their eyes to a fair amount, but off the top of my head, I don't recall them actually killing or torturing anyone.

[WhineandCheez]

The idea of all these people, including some very powerful, cooling their heels in an ostentatious Vermont house waiting for Liv is ridiculous.  And what is even more so, she says she's goona wuite and they're all, "Ok, then.  Whew...let's all go home now AND JUST LET HER GO WITHOUT REMOTELY QUITTING OR GIVING A PRESS CONFERENCE OR EVEN CALLING MELLIE??"

[TigerLynx]

On 2/5/2018 at 8:27 AM, WhineandCheez said:

The idea of all these people, including some very powerful, cooling their heels in an ostentatious Vermont house waiting for Liv is ridiculous.  And what is even more so, she says she's goona wuite and they're all, "Ok, then.  Whew...let's all go home now AND JUST LET HER GO WITHOUT REMOTELY QUITTING OR GIVING A PRESS CONFERENCE OR EVEN CALLING MELLIE??"

I'm still baffled as to what the point of the intervention was.  Was their plan to make Liv admit she had Quinn killed because Quinn knew Liv had Rashid killed, then Liv was supposed to quit her job, and go live happily ever after in Vermont with Fitz?  I guess having to live with Fitz would be punishment of a sort.

Are any of these people worried about Liv having information on the crimes they committed?

It seems the show has devolved into a bunch of criminals threatening to expose each others crimes.

[Pallas]

2 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

It seems the show has devolved into a bunch of criminals threatening to expose each others crimes.

They need a fixer. 

[Anela]

Does Jake know that Quinn is still alive? He can't think that the one dinosaur would cover everything in that house. Not Mr. Big Time serial killer and spy.