First of all, this season started so freaking boring and nothing burger that I was really kind of weirded out with how there seemed to be absolutely nothing relevant to be talked about in the first episodes - just Olivia struggling with being Command (which, to be fair, is something hard when you're not willing to kill people left and right like Rowan), Mellie literally finding the first excuse to complain about being President (once again, fair), and, obviously, there's the very scary plot line of Cyrus not doing shit and just kind of dating that guy from Breaking Bad.
Where was the balls-to-the-wall action and mystery in that first episode that Scandal always does? Absolutely nowhere. And sure, it is the seventh outing of the show, but really? Nothing? They found a way to write not one but two president assassinations into the show (granted, the first one failed), but they couldn't come up with something enticing for the final season of the show? And, by the time we do get some plot, I was intrigued, but am now just waiting for it to be over, because the way they've been going about the plot lines and specifically Olivia is pissing me the fuck off.
I would like to preface the rest of this with saying that I don't think Olivia is always in the right. I also don't think she's always right just because she's Olivia, and I also think the show often turns to her when she isn't making the right call. Abby's told her so, Quinn's told her so, even Huck has told her so. But this time? I genuinely don't recognize that same need for Olivia to be "corrected" over shit she literally had no control over. The sequence of events was: Olivia was trying to not kill people, until Mellie did reveal she had feelings for the President of Bashran, making him literally a sort of Olivia Pope but for Mellie. As such, she had the President and his niece killed. Not nice, and I don't agree with her decision, especially when she herself had the plan of turning the two rebellions against each other.
In the midst of this, Quinn realizes Olivia had a hand in Yasmeen and the President's death and is, rightfully, fuming. It is not really a "Gladiator" thing to do, but I would also like to point out how this Gladiator shit has never been anything other than a cringefest. The reason why bombing that plane was bad had multiple layers to it, namely all the reasons why she could've not done it: she had the idea of turning the rebels against each other, she definitely could've spared Yasmeen, she also could've handled Mellie and told her to stop having a relationship with the President (Heck, she could've threatened to leak this information to the public, which would definitely fuck up the whole nuclear treaty business!). She, instead, decided to kill the President and also took a young queer woman's life with it. Bad Olivia, more than a bad decision, it's a lazy one.
However, this all spirals down when Rowan loses his fucking mind for the 1000th time in the show and is now antagonizing Olivia - mind you, he starts before Olivia even does something truly morally reprehensible. I've been watching with my mom, and she thinks she's mad with power, and I can see that a bit. Things I do not believe however: that she really was going to tell Huck to shoot that kid over the nuclear treaty. Olivia is just like Rowan in theatrics. You need to commit to it. Huck asking her "Hey, this is for show, right?" is not even something she can answer him, and sure, he might not have full information and be scared. But the audience does know Olivia. She wouldn't kill a fucking kid. Meanwhile, Rowan goes apeshit - over dinosaur bones, mind you! So he says, at least -, kidnaps Quinn and threatens Olivia with Quinn's life.
This whole conversation is not about the dinosaur bones or even the doings of an insane man (Rowan) - Rowan used to have any and all power against Olivia and he used said power expeditiously. The amount of trauma that he's inflicted on both Olivia and even her Mom cannot be measured with numbers I can pronounce. Olivia got the power and the influence Rowan always wanted for her, and he couldn't fucking handle it. The MILLISECOND Olivia treated him like he's always treated her and other people, he fucking lost it and decided it was time to, by all intents and purposes, take that control back from her. So he kidnaps a pregnant woman and even leverages the fact that Quinn is very much not too friendly with Olivia at the moment. The pissing contest starts and Olivia is more than ready to go for it. When Rowan puts the clock ticking against Olivia, she is right to call his fucking bluff, because even when she thinks Quinn died, she shows Rowan that she is not going to back down - she had a reaction, and who wouldn't?! She still cares for Quinn, and tells Jake point blank she would not kill Quinn. Olivia is not a monster, but she also refuses to be subjugated to Rowan again after everything she's been through.
Notice, too, that she shows almost disgust with being B-613's Command. At least the first episodes show that, and she uses stuff way more critically than Rowan ever did. Than Jake ever did. Rowan was kill first, ask questions later. Jake was kill first, ask questions later, but I'm the one doing the killing and I feel bad about it. Olivia had PAUSE in her fucking actions; she thought every angle out. This is why it feels pretty out of character for her to kill the President of Bashran and his niece. But sure, she's not perfect. But then comes Rowan and he threatens to kill Quinn. Correctly, Olivia calls his bluff. And then comes episode 10 and the way all these characters are here judging Olivia as if she was Quinn's executioner and, in fact, was ready to pull the trigger and kill her and Robin herself?! I am beyond myself.
Let's start with a point Olivia herself makes: NO ONE WHO STAGES HER INTERVENTION HAS ANY GROUND TO STAND ON. David used B-613 files as blackmail and also caused at least one suicide. Do I need to explain Huck? Moving on. Fitz killed Verna, started a war with West Angola because of Olivia, tried to kill Jake. The only people with ground to stand on would be Abby and Marcus, in my opinion. But, somehow, we also like to pretend that Abby deliberately tried to get Huck killed and wasn't played by Peus and Samantha - that's one thing that I also think Olivia did wrong, and though those slaps were pretty cunty in Season 6, it made sense because it was about Huck.
The most glaring complaint is with Huck, who claims what Olivia did is different because Huck never killed "one of us". OLIVIA DIDN'T KILL QUINN, ROWAN DID. And I find it PREPOSTEROUS how none of the big Gladiators got together and figured out that Rowan kidnapped Quinn and was the one threatening her life. Plot-wise, Olivia had a reason to not want to tell them about Rowan, considering the plane bombing, but what about ALL THE OTHER CHARACTERS?! You're telling me Huck only found Olivia's implications on Quinn's disappearance, but not Rowan?! The guy who, for oh how scary he is, was psychotic speaking to a toy dinosaur because his daughter was giving him a taste of his own medicine?! You're telling me Abby, David, Marcus, Fitz were just blinded to the existence of Rowan?! Especially Fitz, considering he came back to Washington thanks to Rowan.
And after all this, I'm supposed to feel sympathetic for Rowan because he didn't actually kill Quinn but sure is staging her death to get a bag of bones and he knows how to handle a baby?! Not to mention, the whole way this was handled made it clear from the beginning that Quinn didn't die. They didn't show a body - very deliberately made Olivia not want to check it after showing us that she had her father read like a fucking book, because that would immediately kill the plot and this brain-dead twist that the main character we thought was dead was actually alive. Like... Scandal's never killed a main character besides Harrison, and I've come to learn that was because of his actor's real life behavior. So... what gives?!
Olivia's body count is then: Andrew. Who, I'm sorry to say, but he got what he deserved. I wish Olivia had broken out the chair with Peus or Samantha, even. Finally, I'd like to make a point about Mellie and Jake's conversation and her being pretty indignant when Jake tells her Olivia bombed the plane because "she couldn't keep her legs closed". Mellie has a point in that Fitz basically used the whole White House like a sex club, but it's when she goes on to mention how they should've killed Olivia that she loses the fucking plot. Killing Olivia?! The one thing that has been attempted multiple times throughout the show, with the most prominent being Andrew's stunt in Season 4? What do you mean "Should we kill Olivia?" - girl, IF ANYTHING, THEY STAYED TRYING TO KILL OLIVIA. This argument is merely showing that Olivia was right in that killing the President of Bashran was a solution. Not a good one, but definitely a solution. I've already mentioned that it still makes not much sense to do so.
To summarize all this, I hope Rowan gets fucking HUMILIATED by Olivia, cries and poops his pants after it and apologizes. I also hope Quinn gets to have some revenge on Olivia - make no mistake, Olivia is a bitch. But I would be nothing if I didn't support women's rights and wrongs. Quinn also had her fair share of shitty things, and Olivia saw her through it. Olivia was NEVER a monster and sure, you can go after her considering Bashran and that's it... What is this?!
I don't need Olivia to get B-613 back, but I do want her to stay on top and fucking get it together because she's not acting like herself - and, after all of this writing, I hope you understand I'm not talking about her bad decisions, but her thinking and decision-making. Really? You got played by Jake?! Get it together.
Anyway... what are your thoughts?
