If you were one of those people who gave up on “Scandal” on a, ‘I need a break from this emotional roller coaster,’ bender, here’s a recap on the first three episodes of “Scandal.” It’s time to play catch up.
Scandal season six kicked off a week after the Trump administration took over the White House with a power transition of its own. Starting out, we’re smack dab in the height of a presidential candidate’s campaign: election night. Looking at the electoral map, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Mellie was going to lose– there was no way California was going to go red in a 2017 campaign, fictional or not.
However, I was taken aback when Frankie Vargas, the Democratic candidate and the ‘P’ to Cyrus Beene’s ‘VP,’ was fatally shot in the midst of his acceptance speech. Which, of course, came after Mellie made a phone call and robotically conceded to Vargus as Olivia literally made cue cards on demand.
Now picture this: you’ve got a dying Vargas who is headed straight to his grave, a struggling President Fitz who doesn’t know whether to make Cyrus or Mellie the new president, and a reluctant Mellie who is feeling the low of her loss. Not to mention, Poppa Pope planted the idea that Cyrus put a hit on Vargus in order to secure his path to the Oval Office.
Cue the mobilizing gladiators looking for any and all evidence pointing toward Cyrus. Though this time Huck, Charlie and Quinn fall short by the time Fitz has to make his call. There’s no concrete evidence to convict Cyrus.
Ultimately, Olivia looks like an obsessed crazy person, while Cyrus looks like the textbook definition of grief. Fast forward to the second episode when Olivia is still on her Cyrus Beene crusade and serious evidence is finally accumulated. All along, Mellie and Olivia issues arise: evidently Marcus, the political activist guy and previous gladiator, and Mellie were/are in love and Olivia had a hand in breaking them up.
Skip to the third episode where Cyrus’ role in Frankie’s death is proven and acted upon. By the close of the episode, Cyrus’ side piece Tom, the ex-secret service agent who killed Fitz’ son and left Mellie in her bathrobe and Uggs for episodes on end, was the crazy nut who shot Frankie point blank mid-speech.
To make matters worse, Tom did it with the goal to make Cyrus president, though it wasn’t technically on Cyrus’ orders. Long story short, Cyrus was taken away in hand-cuffs by David Rosen.
Have you combusted yet? If not, tune in next Thursday night at 9 p.m to see what Shonda Rhimes has in store for us.