#scolise

Last season, in the episode “Liar’s Poker”, we were treated to one of Scola’s best episodes. When two of Vargas’ men attempted to use Elise as leverage to get him released via collar bomb, he sat with her for nearly the entire time it was around her neck (save for when everyone was ordered to evacuate the building), comforting her and telling her embarrassing stories about himself to calm her down. This episode was also the beginning of the Scola x Elise (or Scolise, as I’ve seen it referred to before) ship, particularly when Scola offered to take her out for a drink once she was freed. 

In terms of setting up the foundation for a ship, “Liar’s Poker” did everything right. Scola and Elise developed a genuine personal connection, we saw just how much he was willing to risk just to make her feel comfortable, and the door was opened for them to continue pursuing a relationship (i.e. his offer to take her out for drinks). As viewers, we were left with the impression that the show intended to put them together somehow. 

Unfortunately, that’s more or less where the good work they did ends. After “Liar’s Poker”, Scola and Elise didn’t share a genuine personal moment again. The closest we got to seeing more of Scolise was when he brought her coffee in “Checks and Balances” and when they exchanged a look at the press conference in “Straight Flush”. However, those moments lose some of their significance when you look at the bigger picture. When Scola brought Elise coffee, it was when he and Tiff bought breakfast for the team and not something special he decided to do just for Elise. And when they exchanged a look at the press conference, Elise also exchanged the exact same look with Maggie. Unless we’re also shipping Maggie and Elise, that moment doesn’t really work as any sort of indication of romantic feelings between Elise and Scola. On top of all that, it was Maggie and Jubal, not Scola, who took care of Elise and made sure she got the help she needed when she was having trouble dealing with her PTSD. 

Of course, the door was initially left open for the writers to pursue a Scolise relationship when she returned to the JOC in the beginning of season four. Instead, the opposite has happened. So far, Elise and Scola have yet to have an actual conversation this season. The closest thing we’ve gotten to a Scolise crumb was when he sat next to her in “Trauma”, but in the grand scheme of things, and especially considering the complete lack of development otherwise, that barely even counts as a crumb. It isn’t even certain as to whether they actually went out for those drinks or not. We can infer that he probably took her out, but as it was never mentioned again after “Liar’s Poker”, there’s no way to know for sure. 

It should be obvious by my username that I’m a Scollace shipper. However, Scolise used to be my favorite ship, especially in the early days of season three. But when it became apparent that the writers were giving up on them, and when they started exploring the friendship between Tiff and Scola more, I gave up on Scolise becoming canon. 

The sad truth of the matter is that the writers took what could have been a beautiful pairing and neglected them to the point where they lost the majority of their potential. 

To be clear, I’m not saying that the writers should give us a deep, romantic Scolise scene in every single episode or anything like that. Personally, I don’t like it when relationships are constantly pushed in the audience’s faces, especially since romance shouldn’t be the forefront of a crime drama show. However, it’s one thing to be stingy with how much development you give a ship, but it’s quite another to neglect that development entirely. And as it stands now, the writers have definitely gone the second route so far. A ship can only survive off of one meaningful moment or episode for so long.