Scandal (TV Series) Snake in the Garden (2013) User Reviews

Scandal : Snake in the Garden

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 24 June 2015]

Snake in the Garden is a clever title for this episode as it not only relates to Olivia's client's (returning "snake oil corrupt" businessman, Hollis Doyle (as always, Gregg Henry has that rascal persona on speed dial when needs to summon it up for the right part)) "kidnapped" daughter, but also in regards to the supposed mole, CIA Director Grayden Osbourne (character actor Kurt Fuller), implicated by Olivia to Jake. As always, there's more than what appears, especially as it concerns who the mole might actually be. The show loves to throw the swerve. You think you are getting a high fast ball, but it nose dives to the plate as you miss swinging upward. Jake might seem like the ideal catch for Olivia who is needing to move on from Fitz, but the show enjoys painting a picture only to reveal something else entirely. The ongoing storyline within the show involves Huck "training" (maybe, "mentoring" is better) Quinn the "rules of the road" in how to spy…and find peace when her own father won't talk to her. Taking on "the devil", even though his involvement in the bombing of her boyfriend's company is understood, leaves Quinn dealing with Hollis' being accepted as a client not too well. Seeing Hollis actually emotional for his daughter after Olivia's team receive her ear, with the ransom demand for 20 million figured to be just hoax, is quite a stunner. Gregg is not at his best as an agonizing father…prior to this, as a cynical father who has paid out his ass for this girl during her bouts with drugs, a rotten boyfriend, and partying instead of finishing college, Henry is much more believable. Anyway, I think this episode suffers for this predictable storyline because the show has done such a splendid job of producing plot twists you don't see coming. Best scene could involve Mellie getting her (finally) moment of vindication by the show's writers as she has been viewed, for the most part, over its tenure as a cipher by informing Fitz that he's a crappy father whose (teenage) children want nothing to do with him (and that Mellie is looked at as a bad mother, only for her to provide examples of how she knows about their feelings while he isn't about to win a Father of the Year award anytime soon). Calling him out for being just like his father (the man he hates) is especially a moment where Mellie turns the tables on Fitz, particularly pointing out his alcoholism. Olivia appears to be interested in Jake but that could be to her detriment…he seems to be anything but trustworthy. Osbourne's fate at the end is heartbreaking…that Cy will hear none of it, coldly turning him away, is tragic. The day-to-day operations of the Presidency can prove rather thankless as Osbourne's insistence of his innocence fall on deaf ears despite the duty he has served in the CIA.

boring

[jodi-44528 · 5/10 · 14 November 2019]

I knew the kidnapping was fake from the first clip of her 'video'. There was no suspense, no worry for this girl. Olivia was too quick to believe. In several episodes, it seems like she should have better common sense and more suspicions of people, instead of taking so many at face value.

I have tried to get into this show, but there are a lot of holes in the character development.

I have it on as background noise, and that's about all it is.