Scandal

Scandal (2012-2018) is a movie I watched as it aired on television. The storyline initially follows Olivia Pope as she works as a secret cover-up agency for the national government and often for the president directly. As the show matures the focus shifts from the crafty agency to a relationship between the president and Olivia. They both have demons in their closet that as they unravel shows why their brilliance and character is what it is. This series was created by Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy) and stars Kerry Washington (Django), Darby Stanchfield (Waitress), Guillermo Díaz (Half Baked), Tony Goldwyn (Ghost) and Joe Morton (Terminator 2). The storyline for this the first couple seasons was actually really, really good. Then the storyline started getting a bit too crazy, outside the box and unrealistic. When the series shifted to a love story with tragedy after tragedy and away from Olivia and her agency saving the world and various lives the entire show started falling apart. It's really too bad because the original premise was very good. The show really started to run it's course after season four and was on life support after that. It's amazing it lasted as long as it did. I would score this series a 6-6.5/10.

If shonda rhymes knows how to do anything it's create a show that is utterly ridiculous and unrealistic in every way but very entertaining.

As a medical professional I think greys is the best and worst show. I love the characters but the medical stuff frustrates me. But still I allow myself to switch off and enjoy the show.

And I think that's what you also need to do with Scandal. If you have an intelligent bone in your body you have to switch off your brain and suspend total belief. This show is so ridiculous in so many ways. But who doesn't love some political drama, lots of cliffhangers, mysteries and plot twists.

I'll admit it is better in the first few seasons and just gets to preposterous levels by about season 6. The utterly horrible and treasonous acts committed by employees of the White House are insane I'm so glad that it's not unrealistic as it would be just plain scary if our world leaders acted this way.

Nevertheless it had me hooked after about 3-4 episodes and I binge watched the entire series in a few weeks.

I'd label this one a guilty pleasure. Don't watch if you can't switch off your brain as it will only leaving you saying wtf a lot!!!!

Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) runs a firm of political fixers in D.C. Her group of loyal associates are gladiators. She has a troubled secret relationship with President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn). He has a political convenient marriage to Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young). Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) is the calculating Chief of Staff and David Rosen (Joshua Malina) is the Assistant US Attorney. Olivia hires Quinn Perkins (Katie Lowes). Troubled Huck (Guillermo Díaz) and Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield) are two of the associates. Olivia's scheming father (Joe Morton) runs the mysterious shadow government organization B613. Grant assigns Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) to guard Olivia in mid second season.

For a time, Shonda Rhimes owned a night of network television. Grey's is the gold and this is the silver programming. It burned hot for a couple of seasons with overblown plots, and overwrought melodrama. The love triangle is the pinnacle. It definitely burned bright for a time but it burned itself out. By the fifth season, the convoluted story twists and ties itself into a knot. The biggest dead end is Fitz's presidency ending. Even the white hot romantic triangle fades into nothingness. The acting is usually big and over the top. Kerry Washington does a lot of near cry acting with her quivering lips. When a story twists and turns this much, it will almost always go out of control. The last few seasons are simply this show stalling and running in place. Shondaland has an expiry date.

I was a big fan of this show in its opening season and most the way through season 4. It was clever, with some good writing, interesting characters, and good plot twists. Then something happened and it turned into a soap opera. Rather than being an interesting show with some big moments, it turned into every scene being a yelling feast. I love an intense interaction, but when it's every dialogue in every scene...it's gets old. It's like they turned the volume up to 11 and left it there for 2 seasons. Characters became ridiculous and inconsistent, writing got predictable. Every character intensely flip flops back and forth, usually multiple times an episode. I'm trying to finish the show just to see how they resolve everything but it's basically just suffering through episodes that are mostly unwatchable. Sad to see it fall so far from its first seasons

Like most other reviews, first two seasons of this show was great, then it completely fell of the grid. Every episode is of Olivia Pope, a vile excuse for a human being. She's hypocritical, devious, arrogant, self-righteous, annoying and throws a temper tantrum whenever she doesn't get her way. She bends the rules as they benefit her regardless of who she hurts or kills in the process. Thank God this is a terrible drama, because our country would have no hope if it ran even a tenth of the way this show portrays. The other supporting actors save the show in my opinion, because Kerry Washington is very annoying in this role. Other reviewers speak of her over- enunciating, talking slowly and raising her voice to make her point, i.e. get her way. I think a fun drinking game would also be to have to take a shot each time one of the characters (mainly Pope) says "Look at me." Pause. Then again, slower and exaggerated, "Look. At. Me."