I am here to confess that my interpretation of the finale melted away all the frustrations I had accumulated over the past few seasons. In retrospect, I understand Scandal clearly now. While the show did change its format from being a pseudo-procedural in the beginning, I now understand why we moved away from that innate fixing into a more convoluted format like the chaotic spy darkness we endured. It overstayed its welcome for me as it took over so much of the story, but looking back I will rationalize it by saying that the chaos was intended to mirror how much more in-depth we were exploring Olivia’s own identity crisis. Could it have been condensed? YES.
I acknowledge I should’ve given much more thought to what this show was titled over the years when I felt like I couldn’t figure out what the show wanted to be about. A scandal has a sell-by date, it begins and it ends, it’s a cycle. And that is exactly what I now feel I should have realized when I was frustrated with what was on screen and the expectations I had for Olivia- including what I wanted to see and hear from her. The entire point of the series is to traverse the scandalous chapter of her life with her, her identity crisis as one of the main catalysts, the presidential love affair shouldering the other half. The minute the scandal is put to rest is the minute the show needs to end, which it did, and we rationally do not have a need to see her life past this point.
When we first meet Olivia we meet her as the fixer extraordinaire, and when we leave her she is done cleaning up other people’s messes, we’ve come full circle. It’s no longer an integral part of her identity because that desire to fix, to be rooted in an identity of being needed is no longer an integral part of the life she is going to live from this point forward. We also meet Olivia at a point in which the scandal/crisis she finds herself in has already been set in motion- the affair with Fitz compounds her search for an identity rooted in herself. Fitz to me is the catalyst for this identity crisis in Olivia’s life, and the path she sets off on begins when she meets and falls in love with him.
Fitz is mainly the only character with which we can associate both love & power in this series, which appears to be Olivia’s internal conflict as time passes and we explore her desires. His power is a natural one as a straight, WASP male, however working for him is what sets Olivia on her own path of success as it establishes her as an accomplished campaign fixer and subsequently makes her a household name. Mellie notes this about Fitz earlier in S7 when she is advising Marcus and how Fitz is the golden ticket to success. Initially I didn’t like Fitz being reduced to such a transactional nature, which I know I criticized in previous pieces I wrote; however, this is what “All roads lead to Fitz” is about.
I always say that the way for more inclusivity in our society is for white men in power to make the room and share their power in empowering people who are disempowered. Wooh that’s a lotta powers. This is essentially the core of Fitz’s character. His foundation is an extension of this characteristic as well and works as a double entendre as a foundation is something to build on top of and which he considers his life’s work. It’s tongue in cheek or what have you to think of Fitz equating his life’s work with his foundation- a nod to his own legacy of being the conduit to power for people who didn’t have their own access. All roads lead to Fitz.
I know that a lot of people feel like the Olitz ending was underwhelming but in my humble opinion nothing could be further from the truth. The cast members always said that the minute Olitz got together the show would be over and they were correct. The show transpires over the span of time in which they’re embroiled in a scandal, true to the very end as well with the outing of B613.
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