QTNA: 10 Questions I Would Like Kerry Washingtonâs Memoir, Thicker Than Water to Answer
Kerry Washingtonâs memoir, Thicker Than Water, will be available to the masses on the 26th of September, and I have questions that need answers. Well, I would like to have answers.  I pre-ordered it in June when it was announced, and Iâll be receiving a second copy when I see her in Manchester in October (Kerry, you better not cancel this leg of the tour. I worry because weâre the only stop that still doesnât have a confirmed special guest). Before a million reviewers start leaking and the full-court press is unleashed this week, I thought it would be fun to post some of my own questions about Ms. Washington that I hope are answered in Thicker.  To be clear, I read the same excerpt on Oprah.com as the rest of yâall. And I wonât be reading any advanced reviews until mine own eyes have completed all 320 pages of Kerryâs words. I am really looking forward to reading it, and hope to recommend it to my Black women-only reading group.Â
As an actress, I have liked Kerry Washington since I watched Save the Last Dance in the early 2000s. And in each subsequent film Iâve watched that featured her, Iâve felt like Tony Goldwyn (but not as intense): Oh hey, itâs that really great actress and sheâs always giving something different. But I never explicitly sought after articles or interviews, preferring to casually enjoy her work instead.Â
That changed with Scandal. My dedication to the show hedged on its compelling narrative themes. But it was the compelling relationship between Kerryâs Olivia Pope and Tony Goldwynâs Fitzgerald Grant that created magic. It cast a spell that elicited from me reams of writing about Scandal between 2012-2018. In fact, the series changed the whole trajectory of Kerry Washingtonâs career (and my life, too ). It also brought significantly more eyes upon her. The first vehicle built around Kerry, Scandal gave her acting space to breathe, develop and shine. I also continued to watch the smattering of films she made during that era (Django Unchained, Peeples, Confirmation), and began reading interviews with her--both before and during Scandal. I began to notice the way in which the availability of information shifted, receded (or removed), and sometimes became opaque under a claim of âprivacyâ whilst also offering the veneer of accessibility from late 2013 onward. Granted, I do not run any obsequious fan accounts about Kerry, so I know there will be some who try to rattle off any number of things I âshould knowâ because they have inhaled every morsel of information and made its consumption and regurgitation their entire online personality. But I am also not a hater who consumes the actor's every move for the purpose of group chat gossip. I like knowing things about people I admire because I like to find points of connection, perspective, recognitionâŚand differences. I admire Kerry WashingtonâŚor what sheâs allowed me to see. The problem is, when I think about her, I think about a person who seems good and cares fiercely for her country, family, and other people. Sheâs well-regarded. Sheâs funny. Sheâs stylish. She has a great capacity for information. But.Â
She also seems secretive, and thatâs different from being private. I feel like I know of her, about her. But who is she, really? That lack of clarity is partly by design, of course, due to her profession. Still, I hope Thicker Than Water answers the soul of that question: Who is Kerry Washington?Â
It is with that central question in mind that I pose the following questions. These are MY questions. I am not here to represent anyoneâs fandom. I know, too, that I donât have a ârightâ to have any of these questions answered. Iâm not delulu (as the kids say). Iâm being as honest as I can with my own curiosities about Kerry, as both an actress and a human.Â
These are my questions. I am not here to represent a fandom. Letâs get into the QTNA of it all.
Q1: What childhood scars still itch even into adulthood?
In a recent interview, Kerry mentioned that her therapist has read her book. Samesies! When I finished the pre-copyedited draft of my first book, I started connecting some childhood dots to a few of my ongoing challenges. I asked my therapist to read it so that we could be on the same page in our sessions. It is for this reason that I wonder if Kerryâs reading back of her own writing was revelatory to her in ways she was not able to consciously unlock before. Are there things still there under the surface, the ghosts of which still tingle and itch sometimes no matter how much therapy she has had? Falling back into patterns is easy; undoing them takes so much self-awareness and intentionality.Â
Secondly, I ask the question based on the excerpt from Thicker that was chosen to appear on Oprah.com. Beautifully conveyed with a stark honesty I had never seen from Kerry, the selection chosen is one that gives us a sliver into the dysfunctions of the Washingtonâs marriage. Ones that were quite literally disruptive to 7-year-old Kerry. Aristotle famously said, âGive me the child until [s]he is 7 and I will show you the [wo]man.â The theory of the first 7 years of a childâs life has been debated in Psychology. However, anecdotally, I can tell you that both my wife and I carry deeply impactful memories of our selves at age 7, the threads of which still linger. So, why is that memory offered as the amuse bouche to the drawing back of the curtains of Kerry Washingtonâs life which Thicker Than Water promises (or âher truthâ as Kerry calls it)? Does the excerpt set a foundation for the grown up Kerry we now see? For me, the excerpt made me wonder if young Kerryâs (confessed) determination to be the living embodiment of the pleasing, âgoodâ thing that bonded her parents together was the start of a perfectionism that would be hard to shake. Control issues that would find her guarding a carefully curated image that avoids like the plague the possibility of being seen as âproblematicâ for a stance, an opinion, a view? Or it could be that I donât know what the hell Iâm talking about. That is entirely possible. Â
Q2: Did you experience any body dysmorphia issues during your first pregnancy? Was your second pregnancy different?
This is a difficult and very personal question. I know. It is based on two things: 1) the unusual language Kerry used to refer to her changing body during that time; and 2) the fact that she mentioned, prior to Scandal, she struggled with an eating disorder.Â
During Kerryâs first pregnancy (2013-2014), I donât recall her using the word âpregnantâ. She would say things like how the âconditionâ, âorientationâ, or âphysicalityâ of her body changed when discussing how she approached acting during that time. I donât recall her talking about it in personable ways. It felt like if she didnât have to acknowledge what our eyes could plainly see, she would not have. Kerry appeared much more comfortable with her second pregnancy (2017). Listen, I have never been pregnant. In fact, I am terrified of it, which is why I wonder what it must be like for someone who has struggled with an eating disorder (which can cause body dysmorphia issues). How did Kerry come to embrace such a purposeful but very disrupting change to her body?  I have been around a fair number of pregnant women, so I know itâs not all âmiracle of lifeâ stuff. The typical pregnancy narratives out there from celebrities donât typically discuss this unless we can relate it back to inequalities in maternal health care. Even if they do, Iâm asking for Kerry Washingtonâs perspective. I could be entirely wrong, but Iâd still like to know was the changing of her body hard for her. Iâd love to know how she felt after her first child was born, and what motherhood feels like for her.Â
A related thing about which I am curious: Did she have any fertility issues and struggle with getting pregnant? And why did she wait until after it was beyond obvious during her Saturday Night Live appearance in early November 2013 to officially confirm she was pregnant? What fear was the fear behind this late decision?Â
Q3: What makes you sad, insecure, or sometimes need to retreat into yourself?
Kerry seems like a high-energy, joyful, positive person. Sheâs commented that as an Aquarius, she loves all sorts of people. I can see that. As an introverted Cancerian, I appreciate high-energy peopleâŚin doses. Every talk show appearance, red carpet interview, and social media content are all carefully presenting a woman who is very together. I say this because sometimes Kerry speaks in therapy language even when sheâs trying to be sincere about overcoming battles. Of course, the image one projects (me, too) is always only partially trueâwhatever the industry.  Kerry is a person and most of us do not have it all together, no matter how much we present it as such, or how much we sweep aside the less salubrious, more complicated parts of ourselves. Itâs that stuff that Iâm interested in. Where are her edges? Negativity may be ânoiseâ (as Kerryâs Twitter banner displays), but it also gives positivity its meaning. I also recall a saying that happy people are usually the most fucked up ones. Now, Iâm not accusing Ms. `Washington of being uniquely fucked up, because we all are in some ways. The always âonâ facade is typically a way of hiding (just one of the tools) the things we donât think we can show. Is she a trainwreck in the mornings and a bitch in the afternoon? Please, I just want to know something realâŚabout Kerry, not just about her parents and her career.Â
Q4: In what ways, are you like your character Olivia Pope?Â
On an episode of Unpacking the Toolbox podcast, Kerryâs co-stars/friends, Guillermo Diaz, and Katie Lowes, said that out of everyone in the cast, Kerry is the most like her character (Olivia Pope). Would Kerry say this is accurate or fair? If so, what characteristics does she have in common with Olivia? Please spare me surface-level, obfuscating comparisons such as âWe look alike :)â or âWeâre both passionate about democracy!â Somehow, I donât think thatâs what Katie and Guillermo meant. I donât presume anything untoward. I also understand why actors in long-running shows are usually at pains to separate the actor from the character, especially when that characterâs messy humanity is on display for everyone to judge. But, again, give me something of substance here.Â
Q5: In what ways do you draw on your Jamaican heritage? How are you imparting that to your children along with their Nigerian Igbo heritage? And who are your fatherâs people?
Kerry has been very vocal about her motherâs Jamaican heritage. She has been vocal about immigration, sharing that her maternal grandparents came to America via Ellis Island. Â In the summer of 2023, she was in Jamaica to film a special about dance forms from around the world. As a Jamaican myself, I would like something more concrete about her Jamaican background. She often mentions her Jamaican heritage, but in what ways is it important to her? How does she call on that heritage as part of her identity? How is she (or not) imparting that sense of culture to her children alongside their Igbo heritage? Lastly, Iâm less certain of her fatherâs origins (presumably in the American South). Iâd like to know more about that.Â
Q6: Why was Hollywood the calling? Did you feel like changing course? If so, when and what put you back on the path towards who youâve become?
This question is about Kerryâs early experiences in Hollywood. In an old interview (hopefully, I didnât hallucinate this), she mentioned being told early on to lose 30 pounds and fix her teeth, at which she scoffed. Despite the contemporary irony juxtaposed against the past demand, where did she get the strength of determination and belief in herself to push past what those assholes could not see? As plucky as she seems, everyone has low moments when they are pushing for a dream. Whatâs one of hers from those early years?
In another interview (or the same?) Kerry mentioned giving herself a year to become a working actor in Hollywood. This is after her post-University travels to India to study Yoga. I want to know more about the jump from Yoga to Hollywood. What was that internal calling, or was it a casual, young adventurous thing she thought she would try? Did the move to Hollywood occur during a highly ambivalent part of her life? If so, how did that feel as a Black woman, since those women are often under pressure to take up a more guaranteed profession than the arts?
Q7: What did you find most challenging about working on Scandalâboth as an actress and as a person? What nonsense did you and your castmates get up to behind the scenes?Â
Kerry has been very grateful for landing a show like Scandal and for the fine company of actors with whom she got to work. Great, but can she tell us the non-PR stuff? Iâm not talking about back-bitingâI donât care. Iâm always interested in the process for actors and all the changes they go through when working on a long-term project.  American TV shows have 16-24 episode commitments every year. That has got to dominate a personâs life! What are some specific ways it impacted Kerryâs life? Actors have talked about how unrelenting the TV schedule is, including Shondaâs reflections in her 2015 book about the incessant demand to âlay trackâ (write) so that the train that is the TV show doesnât run off course. I already know that Kerry has borrowed from Ellen Pompeo, the advice to approach being #1 on the call sheet of a TV show the way an athlete would approach her dedicated sport. The point here is that Iâm not seeking more information on enduring the schedule. Iâm interested in how she kept the motivation and rationale for her character over such a long period. What did she do when she had disagreements about things Olivia was written to do? Would she have done anything differently? What was the thing that Olivia did that she found hardest to justify? Who was that one guest star who gave her nothing when they acted together (alluded to in Unpacking the Toolbox, episode 107)?  And finally, can she stop playing diplomat and just say that Tony is the better kisser? Â
Q8: IDTAMPL was weird. What was the fear behind that, and how do you now define âpersonal lifeâ?
For the uninitiated, or those with short-term memories, the acronym IDTAMPL stands for I Donât Talk About My Personal Life. Kerry adopted this saying whenever she was interviewed after her marriage to Nnamdi Asomugha was announced on the 3rd of July 2013. Occurring on the brink of the holiday weekend, the news dropped like a bomb in the Scandal fandom. Even outside the fandom. Many were flummoxed, including me. On the 4th of July, I attended a celebration in London with a fellow American who is a big-time Philadelphia Eagles (Nnamdiâs former team) football fan, including the gossip surrounding the team.  As soon as she opened her door to me, she said, âYour girl married Nnamdi?!â She consumed more football than Scandal at the time. Suffice it to say, I have left out the accurate number of question marks and exclamations in her voice. Her face, too, was full of them.Â
Listen, we used to be a proper country. Many celebrities, with and without talent, have lost the art of mystique, preferring instead to cultivate the marketing skill of capturing attention and selling it to us as actual talent.Â
I am thankful for those celebrities who maintain the mystique of a bygone era. Intrigue me, but donât shut the door completely. The latter is what it felt like Kerry did after it was announced that she was married. Prior to the announcement, I donât recall the media being that interested in Kerryâs dating life. It was not a topic that came up. Nor did Kerry ever let on that she was dating, let alone that she had been involved with Asomugha for three years (according to Kerryâs timeline of their meeting in 2009 when she did the Broadway play, Race). I have no qualms with celebrities who donât make their partners part of their public image, or the ones who wed outside the limelight (Margot Robbie, Chris Evans (recently)). What I donât like is when they pretend that they didnât volunteer the information in the first place. Kerryâs team announced the marriage, even giving PR-friendly People Online titbits from âa source close to the coupleâ about Kerryâs âregularâ looking wedding dress (I kid you not. The source called the unseen dress âregularâ). We even learned that the âsecret weddingâ (every publication used that phrase so itâs deliberate) took place in the potato-producing state of Hailey, Idaho in the last week of June. These things were volunteered.Â
But once Kerry emerged back on red carpets and public events that summer, she trotted out a new PR line when asked follow-up questions about her wedding, husband, or newly married life: âI donât talk about my personal lifeâ.  After literal years of not mentioning a romantic life, when her very public engagement to David Moscow ended in 2007, it was Kerry who let the public know: 1) She was hiding a boyfriend (shoutout to Pusha T); and 2) Surprise! Iâs married now (shoutout to Shug Avery)âŚbut donât ask me anything about it! Donât even ask me for a picture with the two of us together to go with your marriage announcement headlines. Thatâs what photoshop is for. Figure it out!
Iâm being facetious, but, girl...
BFFR. Donât piss on my leg and tell me itâs raining. We didnât ask, but she definitely told us. And when folks followed up on that telling, Kerry closed up tighter than a sphincter with a âdo not enter sign. That whole era was awkward. Can we acknowledge that, at least?
Lest you think, âYouâre being way harsh, Taiâ, Iâm not. What I sense is that there was some fear Kerry harboured behind revealing her coupling with Nnamdi. What was the source of the fear that led to the IDTAMPL shutdown? Was it because she did not want her personal narrative to be overshadowed by her relationship status? And what inspired her to begin relaxing that⌠a little? Like, she waited until her second child was born in 2017 to start allowing articles to describe her as âa mother of threeâ, revealing Nnamdiâs daughter from a previous relationship, which she had not acknowledged before. Was it simply time that allowed her to all but retire the IDTAMPL line? Or were there key turning points that led to slow revelations? And can we agree that the reluctance to talk about a âpersonalâ life is specifically related to her husband (mostly) and children (I support her keeping them off social media)? Words mean things. Oneâs parents are part of oneâs personal life, but Kerry has no qualms about performing her relationship with them on social media. I mean, the excerpt she chose for us to read busts-open like a ripe papaya their whole past marital dysfunction, and her motherâs contemplating being unalive. LikeâŚare such matters not not both personal and private? With all of that in mind, what has prompted this rethinking? How does Kerry now define âpersonal lifeâ?
Q9: What is your most enduring memory from your time in India? Would you go back if you havenât already?
On more than one occasion, Kerry has referenced her time spent in India. Besides the fact that she chose to travel to the subcontinent after graduation from George Washington University, we donât know that much about that period (and that she studied Yoga whilst there). Kerry graduated from GW in 1999 (?). I spent five months in the southern states of India in the first half of 2000. Iâm not sure if her trip crossed over into the new millennium, but itâs kind of cool to think about us both being in that vast country at the same time. I would love to know what are some of Kerryâs outstanding memories? What did she love about that place? What does she not miss? Did she visit a favourite place, or discover a dish she continues to enjoy? Does she, like me, share Indian heritage as part of her Jamaican identity?
Looking back, did travelling abroad at such a formative age, shape her coming of age in any way? I would welcome any memories or anecdotes from that time in her life.Â
Q: Beyond âmutual respectâ for each other, why are you at your most playful around Tony Goldwyn?
I cannot be sure, but it is likely that Kerry has come across online theories and conspiracies that are both outlandish and semi-reasonable based on visuals alone. Whenever fans (to be clear, I am âfansâ) are treated to her interactions with Tony Goldwyn, it feels like a hit of sugar injected directly into our veins. Their power has a hold on us.Â
It is not simply fans seeing in Kerry and Tony a nostalgia for Olivia and Fitz. Both entities are a force unto themselves. Most donât confuse one for the other, if they have a shred of media literacy. Even people who hated Olivia and Fitz as a couple can acknowledge that there is a je ne sais quoi between Kerry and Tony. Their chemistry has its own fans; itâs palpable.  I know that Kerry knows that the Kerry x Tony appearances are gold because she leverages them on social media. Sheâs leveraging it right now for her book tour. Itâs no accident that the Washington, D.C. tour stop with Tony Goldwyn as the special guest was the first to quickly sell out dates were announced. People are coming to that tour stop for the cerise sur la gateau which is the Kerry x Tony bond. Iâm not cynical enough (or blind enough) to believe that their interactions are simply good âPRsâ for both their images (as some have alleged). No, there is an energy, an authenticity that crackles and fizzes between them, even when they are simply standing next to each other.
Hell, itâs there when one of them simply talks about the absent other. Fair enough that chemistry works in mysterious ways that canât be manufactured.  But when Kerry is in the vicinity of Tony Goldwyn, there is also Physics at play. There is inertia in their body language to familiarity and comfortability with each other in ways that speak to a shared intimacy.  I mean that in the sense of closeness and rapport. Kerry and Tony are clearly very close. Beyond the âmutual respectâ they say they have for each other, there is something about who Kerry is when she is around Tony that is different than when she is around others. She doesnât have that with her other Scandal co-stars with whom she has remained friends. Other than her passionate and on-point political advocacy, her time spent with Tony Goldwyn lends a cozy texture to her personality that is more easily felt than described. Itâs like popping the bubble of perfectionism and letting out a giant exhale. Me, I exhale when they are together. Am I trippin, or is there something about Tony Goldwyn that effortlessly extracts this playfulness in her, and can she feel it, too?
Bonus Question (A la Inside The Actors Studio):  What is your favourite curse word? What sound do you love? What sound do you hate? What scares you? What makes you cry? What petty thing have you had it with? What did you finally embrace only after you were in your forties?
Even if Bravo were to resurrect Inside The Actors Studio [LINK], Kerry Washington will never have the chance to be interviewed by James Lipton because he passed away in 2020. A venerable institution himself, Liptonâs sincere and earnestly pointed manner of asking questions gave actors the opportunity to embark on a journey of both self and art in the space of an hour, in front of a live audience of actors-in-training.  Through this show, the audience could learn more about their favourite actor, and all the ways in which the personal intersects with their art, and much more. My favourite part was always the quick-fire round near the end when Lipton would ask the small, quotidian questions that are the true stuff of life. You know, the anti-Hollywood shit. Though itâs a cheat, it is in that vein that the bonus questions above are designed.  A few are taken from James Lipton, and others added by me.Â
Those are all of the questionsâŚuntil I read Kerryâs tome.Â
Perfect-seeming people are boring and untrustworthy. But is the perception entirely a fiction created by the celebrity or us?Â
ââŚ[Sheâs] clearly a beautiful, intelligent, multi-talented, quietly formidable woman with a Jesus-like heart. From what we can tell, she is highly respected among her peers. Well, thatâs who weâve made her out to be. We choose to see those things in her because thatâs whatâs on public offer. Because of that, itâs so easy to turn KW into some Magical Negress archetype imprisoned on a pedestal in our minds. We believe Kerry is clean. Kerry walks on water. Kerry makes the fishes and the loaves. As her fans⌠we mythologize her, and others like her, because we have this deep-seated human need to create heroes for ourselves. We need to believe that there are people less fallible than we are: that if we believe in their perfection, it might take us a little closer towards that ideal⌠Kerry doesnât walk on water. Sheâs not perfect. The reason I know is because sheâs flesh and bone and blood, just like you and me.â (Me, 2013)
It's true: the perception is a little but her, a little bit us (me). However, I canât say that Iâve seen a lot of evidence of the proverbial âflesh and bone and bloodâ. That perception seems poised to change on the 26th of September with Thicker Than Waterâs release.Â
I was surprised (in a good way) to see Kerry reference this early âneedâ she placed on herself to be âgoodâ as a point of connection for her parents, whose marriage was in trouble. I was also sad because I know what that means. I did that to myself at age 12, and itâs been hard to completely abandon. But the admission intrigued me, and I hope there is more of that kind of self-revelation in the book as the timeline approaches the Kerry we see today.  Above all else, my wish for Thicker Than Water, is this: to offer me insight and greater clarity about a woman whose public persona, for the last ten years, has been highly visible, yet persistently opaque.
I get it. To exist publicly as a Black woman in the 21st Century is to navigate a high-wire act. Perception is always on the mind, especially in Kerryâs industry. If you share too much, people have a problem; not enough, people have a problem. Nothing you share is impervious to being twisted into the most ungenerous or scandalous interpretation. We have watched Queen Mother, Beyonce, in the last decade become more deliberate about what she shares with the public. But even she feels like less of a question mark than Kerry Washington. Beyonce has, at least, given us glimpses into her personal life and thoughts via documentaries, BTS photos, and the intimacy of confession in her artâthe parts that are beautiful, fucked up, or ambivalent. This is not me pitting two bad bitches against each other. It is me offering an example of another Black woman who has told us that she battles perfectionism, and who has found a way to let us in (or feel like it), through her art, whilst making her boundaries clear.Â
Thicker Than Water will be a part of Kerryâs artistic self. It is a product of memory and polished fiction; narratives carefully organized and swaddled in beautiful prose (based on the excerpt) that promises to take the reader on a journey. As someone who recently published a book that is small in its number of pages, but big in its revelations of things unspoken and unshared, I know that writing is an intimate act of exploring oneâs mind and interiority; of the past and its pertinence with the present. What your mouth cannot say, your fingers will. It is my most profound hope that Thicker Than Water allows me to feel a sense of connection with flesh and blood and bone Kerry Washington. And I hope for her the book accomplishes a giant exhale of whatever she wants to release into the world. Whether or not I will personally be satisfied by the book... stay tuned.
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Is Rowan Trying to Bring Olivia Back to the Light, or Irrevocably Shutter Her in Darkness? #Scandal
Let me start by saying that I have a well-known history of not seeing it for Rowan, since 301. I didnât even wanna write this because it seems boringly obvious to me (and other folks who see through this manâs behaviour), and I just want it to be over. Iâm tired, even more than Olivia seems to be. I never bought into the idea back then that this man was trying to help save his daughter from destruction and danger brought about by Fitz. That he was going to extraordinary lengths, and showing âtough loveâ like a strong, black father.Â
The short version: Rowan is an abusive person. He has been an abusive person since we met him through Jake. Abusers always need the abused more than the abused need them. Without an object to play games with, the abuser doesnât really exist. His âgamesâ have gotten more and more intense over the seasons, switching tactics and acts like the shapeshifter he is. Rowan is trying to complete the process of eliminating Oliviaâs chewy centre (her soul, her humanity) by eradicating ties to those for whom she has the greatest vulnerability. Except him. Fitz and Quinn have been used tactically this way. The ultimate point is for Olivia to have nothing and no one but Rowan (âYou never choose one of them over meâ (407); âIf I have to choose between [my father] and you [Fitz]; you will loseâ (611). Rowan sees Olivia as his only connection to humanity. Jake is just another âsonâ he created. Olivia is â[his], [his] child, the thing [he] madeâ (310). Everyone needs someone. Rowanâs soul is lost. He canât have a genuine relationship with anyone. So heâs compelling Olivia, through control, manipulation and domination, to be that someone instead of working for it.Â
Alright, this is going to be my last message. Liv's love for Fitz isn't a weakness. I didn't say that. But Fitz is her weakness - if a villain wanted to control her, they would hurt Fitz. And Liv is Fitz's weakness. It's not a bad thing, it just is. My only problem is that the writers chose to maker her weakness a character like him, because it's a theme we see repeated over and over again. I really admire your eloquence. Thank you for replying to my messages! xxx
Ok, since we are writing our good-byes, lol, this will be mine. Itâs a long oneâŚ
I like words. I like them so much, sometimes I think itâs important for the discussion that we define key terminology we are using. I do not do it to be patronizing or facetious. It seems we have a miscommunication over the word âweaknessâ.
Hereâs your direct quote from your last message to me:
ââŚIt just seems sort of disempowering to me to make her weakness a white republican politician, as if âeven Olivia pope falls on her knees for this perfect white man.â Iâm sorry. But I guess thatâs just because again, I just donât see enough positive or mature traits in Fitz (to me, heâs just a whiny child a lot of the time, but I accept that you feel differently).ââ flymetothelostmoon
According to my interpretation, you are saying that having a black woman be âweakâ for a âperfectâ (donât know how you arrived at that deduction) white man is disempowering. The very thing for which she appears to be âweakâ in your eyes IS her love for Fitz. You then go on in your current argument to state that others try to exploit Olivia via Fitz. The only way that is possible is through love. Therefore, you are indeed accusing that Oliviaâs love for Fitz is a âweaknessâ. Speaking of whichâŚ
Weakness (n):
the state or condition of lacking strength.
âthe countryâs weakness in international dealingsâ
synonyms:
frailty, feebleness, enfeeblement, fragility, delicacy; More
a quality or feature regarded as a disadvantage or fault.
âyou must recognize your productâs strengths and weaknessesâ
a person or thing that one is unable to resist or likes excessively.
âyouâre his one weaknessâhe should never have met youâ
 So in every which way, âweaknessâ is not a word people use favourably. It is not a word by which people want to identify themselves. Iâm going to quote what I said last night in a follow-up q&a:
âI have a problem in general with how some people view âweaknessâ. The root of the issue is that we see and value âstrengthâ in really narrow, masculinist terms. Therefore anything that falls outside those narrow confines is seen as âweaknessâ. It becomes a kind of feminized trait to be eradicated, especially if you wanna get your grown woman on. Itâs ridiculous. We are all made vulnerable by someone, or somethingâŚâ
You could just as easily say that Mellie is made âweakâ by the supposed love she has for Fitz. That Fitz is made âweakâ by his love for Olivia. That Olivia is made âweakâ by her familial love for her father. I think the better word to use when we are talking about Olivia and her love for Fitzgerald is âvulnerabilityâ, which means open to attack, harm, or manipulation. All of that is true. But is the vulnerable party at fault, or is it the motherfuckers who try to take advantage of the vulnerability?
From where I am sitting, itâs the latter. Vaginas are open to attack, harm or manipulation by their very existence on a human woman. You wouldnât call having a vagina a weakness, would you? Yet the possession of one was the basis on which Oliviaâs father, Jake, Cyrus and god-knows-who-else manipulated Olivia in S2Â B with that misogynistic ass seduction story line. You see, her father thought Olivia was just Fitzâs favourite concubine, and that if evidence could be shown to Fitz that Olivia slept with another man, then surely he would reject her. Literally, that was the premise and it did not work because Fitz is not that kind of asshole. So, again, loving someone isnât a âweaknessâ so much as it is can make you vulnerable, ceding a sense of control.
So here we have the perfect storm of Ms. Pope being at the intersection of blackness and femaleness, wrapped in the inherent imperfection of humanity. Actually, I guess this discussion is about the impression that Olivia is made âweakâ by the writer because she doesnât love the right person. Â Fitzâs good and bad qualities are not the point at all, so we can agree to disagree on him as a love interest. Â This discussion is about Oliviaâs choice in love interest. But you do say that a black woman loving a character âlike [Fitz]â is a theme we see over and over again. What is that exactly? Black women who genuinely desire a white male love interest (as opposed to being in love with whiteness as means of salvation from black self-hatredâitself promulgated by racism)? A pulled-together black woman being in love with someone others regard as a fuck boy? Black women whose projection of perfection belies a more complicated being underneath? What is it that we see ârepeated over and over againâ? By the way, are you totes OK with the problematic relationship of Olivia and Jake?
The core issue of our discussion from tonight and today is an insistence that there is a type of man to whom our black anti heroine  would be most suited. A suitable boy, if you will. Or perhaps, you wish for our heroine not to be made vulnerable in any way by romantic love at all. Perhaps, then Olivia could exist as some feminist fantasy trope instead of a woman who wants and is going after everything. And Iâm saying that as a feminist who rejects the paternalism of grown women telling other grown women how to behave in order to further the cause of equality. Similarly with my own folkâblack folkâI reject the notion of embodying some Christian respectability (cultivated as a direct response to the de-humanization of racism) as the antidote to racism. Because then I donât get to be fucked up and human in my own way.  Reading Olivia as âdisempoweredâ by the love she chooses tells me that you donât see Oliviaâs full being as a character, but rather her archetype. You seem to judge Fitz in the same way: a representation of white perfection, which is a way of seeing that is absolutely dismissive to the point of caricature.
I want you to be aware that the lens through which you are regarding Olivia convinces you that she is âdisempoweredâ (your word) through her choice in lover because that lover is white (you have emphasized his whiteness in every single response, so clearly thatâs a problem for you), yet perplexedly simultaneously âperfectâ and âselfish, immature and self-entitledâ (again, your words). You are reading the narrative as Olivia being in-love with the idea of perfection of whiteness (âeven Olivia Pope falls to her knees for this perfect white manâ). I think you have to dismiss a great deal of the narrative in order to arrive at that conclusion, so I reject it. Itâs too simplistic and doesnât work.
You know what would be actually disempowering? If, in order to be considered âstrongâ or âgreatâ, Olivia had to choose between the imperfect love that fulfills a great desire within her, and being a kick-ass business owner who restores order. If Olivia had to be judged in narrow masculinist terms of âstrengthâ and âpowerâ to be seen as powerful. If everything Oliviaâs brilliance and slayage loses their shine for the audience because she wears the battles scares of familial and romantic love. Now that is disempowering.
Before you cry âthe writers!â when you disagree with the parts of the narrative, question yourself on why you donât do that for aspects of the narrative you accept. Why is what you accept more valid for the writers to portray? Our readings are only as good as our eyesightâand those are limited.Â
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âWeakness is our strength; itâs what makes us human. Itâs where our compassion lies.â--FitzBAErald Grant
I recall tearing up when Fitz was bold enough to say the above quote during his town hall-style presidential debate with Reston (211). It solidified for me exactly who the character of Fitzgerald Grant was. I said, now that? Thatâs a man right there. I made myself a Stan card that day and never looked back. A Criminal, A Whore, An Idiot and A Liar gave us our first character focus on Fitz, and his fight for the presidency. Day 101 gives us our second in depth study of his character, and it is the beginning of his fight for a life not defined by the power and perils of the presidency. I have some thoughts I want to express about what Fitz said nine years ago and itâs relevance to current character journeys right now.Â
Hereâs what I want to focus on real quick:
Rowan framing Fitz as Oliviaâs weakness
Rowanâs lack of compassion and determination to breed the same out of Olivia
Olivia barely resembling a human right now
Back in S3 or S4, I had a series of back and forths with a poster #onhere about Fitz being weak, and about how Olivia was being dragged down by this supposed weakness. Much of what I said is still relevant, and some prescient (Part I, II, III, IV.).  I just did a deep dive on how the very idea of qualities like love/vulnerability/compassion/grace are perceived as âweakâ because they are associated with the feminine. And because we live in a culture that sees strength and power in the kind of masculinist terms that depend on dominating or obscuring that which is feminine. Patriarchal binaries see man as the ânot womanâ. Therefore, in these terms, the worse thing a man can be is like a woman. And for a woman to be seen as truly strong, she must adopt the kind of strength defined narrowly by masculinity. Blah, blah, blah. This is all relevant to what I say below, but, anywayâŚ
Rowan framing Fitz as Oliviaâs weakness
I am completely fine if I end up being wrong about the motivation behind Rowanâs appeal to Fitz to save Olivia from herself. I do not trust him, nor has he done anything to warrant my trust. Mere months ago Rowan wanted Fitz to run B6-13 as a check on Oliviaâs power. Besides the fact that we knew he intended to use Fitz as a way of running the organization himself, now Iâm supposed to believe that heâs distraught over the emotional effects this will have on Liv? The organization that Liv said nearly destroyed her life and that of her fatherâs, Rowan didnât give one fucking iota if it was gonna ruin Fitzâs life AND continue to be an obstacle to Olivia and Fitzâs relationship, ensuring Olivia as his âchampionâ. This requires Oliviaâs dedication Rowan as the primary male influence in her life. Didnât give a shit about that. But NOW he needs Fitzâs âweakâ ass to keep Olivia from destroying herself through B6-13.Â
Rowan has tried everything he possibly could to eliminate the love between Olitz: B6-13 prostitutes, shaming Olivia for not using Fitz in transactional ways to become what she now is: Chief of Staff (301); framing Oliviaâs mother as the murderer of Fitzâs child (318); playing a hell and high water chess game to get Olivia to seclude herself on an island, away from Fitz (S3); telling her that she must never choose any man over him (408); encouraging her to burn Fitz in the name of justice (419); insinuating himself into their relationship after it barely got started and compelling Olivia to âchooseâ him (506-507); directing her toward this White House path with the fucking ex-wife of the man she loves (5B); and letâs not forget the general chaos he has sewn in the girlâs life to keep her âfireâ burning. And I wonât bother getting into my S4 theory about Rowanâs involvement in Livâs kidnapping also being about destroying the idea of Fitz for Olivia. Spare me this kind of supposed love.Â
My point is this: after ALL of the above, Olivia and Fitz still love each other. Rowan knows this. He has the goddamn temerity to name Fitz as Oliviaâs weakness. It seems to me that the love Rowan has worked nearly a decade to destroy has stubbornly endured. How is that weak? Sounds like true strength to me. Sounds like something thatâs powerful to me. ButâŚ
Rowanâs lack of compassion and determination to breed the same out of Olivia
Not a review but a collection of scenes and my thoughts on them. The Scandal finale was boring- it was boring and predictable but I surprisingly enjoyed it for many reasons and it leads to a exciting and hopefully uplifting next season.
                                             Fitz
For starters Fitz; I have conversed with some people and it is amazing and complete irony how Fitz has escaped his âcreatorsâ âMellie, Cyrus, Olivia, Big Jerry. All of these people have said it once or every chance they get that they have âmadeâ Fitz and how they left because of him yet they all are clamoring to get back to him. This is one of the reasons why the Ex-Lady gang is united in blue and their Fitzless solidarity because for so long their life has revolved around Fitz (2x08- Mellie in the hospital asked Olivia: can she imagine life without him- what was she going to do- what were they going to do) and now without him holding them back and being their excuse for their setbacks and failures they have no choice but to find their place outside of his circle.âWinningâ for Olivia is not about Mellie, winning is for Olivia like she told Jake in the finale âI have not gone through what I have gone throughâŚâ just to give up now, Olivia has lost too much to lose this presidency, she needs all of this to have a meaning; otherwise she lost everything for nothing.
Which brings to Mellie Grant
How dare Mellie come to Fitz who actually did her a sold by agreeing to come on stage and talk about her; Olivia was shocked when Abby told her that Fitz was agreeing to everything and yet for Mellie it was not enough because he is not giving enough credit to herâŚugh Mellie got exactly what she wanted with Fitzâs presidency which is why I struggle with tolerating Mellie because her character arc at times is conflicting. Mellie condoned and supported the Olitz affair, she induced her labor to keep Fitz , she lied about defiance and Olivia and Cyrus when Fitz was broken, and then when the secret was out she still fought to keep Fitz making Olivia and Fitzâs life a living hell and now to add the cherry on top- Mellie has Fitzâs ex-girlfriend working for her and never once taking into consideration how Olivia is feeling because itâs all about Mellie.
Then Mellie talks about Fitzâs whiteness ugh boo boo a white woman still gets paid more than a black woman and secondly I thought Mellie came from old- money; I thought that was why Big Jerry picked Fitz to marry her and third Mellie went to Harvard and was top of her class so please Mellie, save me your violin. I honestly canât with Mellie and her self-righteousness as if she is truly inferior with her porcelain skin and big blue eyesâŚMellie is simply a âfeministâ now because it suits her needs.
Mellie than exclaimed she got here on her own unlike Fitz.
Uh Mellie, you had cuckoo OP literally doing your dirty work and destroyed a womenâs career (Susanâs) thereby making you the Republican Candiate- you did not get there on your own and you most certainly didnât earn itâŚit was handed to you by Olivia Pope so please have all the seats because you talk about Fitzâs entitlement yet you are the only one screaming from the mountain âI am owed and deservedâ, and because Mellie knows the exact buttons to push and hurt someone Mellie had to bring up Olivia escaping Fitz.
Let me remind you that Fitz has already read Oliviaâs medical file and saw the abortion so right now Fitz is hurting and taking a âLâ once again from MellieâŚsigh, boy I canât wait for karma to bite Mellieâs patsy ass because her white victimization is astonishing .
When Fitz preaches about serving his time in the White House he is speaking of truth and the irony of it all is that everyone is clamoring to get back into the White House prison- Olivia, Mellie, Cyrus. Â But the true joke and laugh will be on Mellie when she realizes that she is stuck and all along Fitz was warning her about the inevitable.
But while I hate what Mellie said and donât agree with her, it did lead to a more powerful moment of reflection and understanding on Fitzâs part.
                                                      Olitz.
The Olitz was scene was everything ! Iâm not sure how the âblueâs cluesâ gang deduced that Olitz is dead because if anything hope has never been more evident than in that scene. Fitz saw the file on Abbyâs desk (why in the hell would Abby leave that highly classified information just on her desk but Iâll digress) Fitz saw the file and he was in disbelief, shocked at what he has just found and read; he knew it couldnât be true, he knew it was a lie- that Olivia didnât actually have a abortion but itâs real and she did.
Oliviaâs abortion is her choice but I am happy that Fitz knows because it will lead to their reunion being a happy one, were all the cards are on the table.
*sidenote Olivia does not know that Fitz knows about the abortion but she feels that there is more to the story but what she canât exactly put her finger on.
But I want to commend Fitz for everything he is and everything he has done; babyâs hat has never been brighter and I can only imagine what will happen when Olivia finds out that Fitz knew and he forgave her- that he understood herâŚ..Iâm not ready for that moment.
I have said this before and I will say it again- Fitz is truly Oliviaâs light and he will slowly guide her home. Olitz has never been more promising and true; when Olivia walked into the White House and Abby tried desperately to stop her, afraid that Fitz will chew Olivia up and spit her out but at last he does nothing of the sort.
Sure Olivia you say you came to the White House for Mellie and Jake but the way you are looking at Fitz right now, tells me otherwise. Olivia is mixing business and pleasure- mostly pleasure, seeing Fitz is just a treat for all that hard gladiating she is doing right now. All interactions between Olivia and Fitz have been due to Olivia seeking Fitz and not the other way around which is why when the moment comes where Olivia is healthy and ready she will have to go to Fitz wherever he may be.
*side note can we laugh and chuckle at how Olivia and now Fitz have shut the doors on their sides faces.
I love how Olivia walks to the Presidential seal in order to keep distance from Fitz, expecting a fight or exchange of words. Â For the sesame street crew come close so that I can draw some dots in order for you to follow the lines. Olivia could have called Fitz and told him on the phone that Mellie better yet herself was picking Jake as her VP, but Olivia is petty and wanted to make Fitz jealous and get a response out of him so she came to the WH and did him a âfavorâ since she felt âshe owed him this muchâ but Fitz doesnât give Olivia the response she wanted. What Olivia wanted was for Fitz to shout out at her, or to put it in layman terms Olivia wants Fitz to care. Which is why when Huck asked how it went with the President Olivia responded with âGood. Fine. It was fine.â Olivia is desperate for Fitzâs attention because it was always the one thing in life she was sure of but Fitz being understanding and accepting is confusing and painful for Olivia. Fitz is growing and moving on with his life and he has left Olivia all alone again; I wonder if Olivia feels abandoned by Fitz (Yes, she left him but Olivia often speaks the opposite of what she feels, when she pushes Fitz away she typically expects him to pull her closer and the fact that Fitz has respected her wishes is frightening for her)
These ochokers are talking about how much Olivia loves Jake yet every interaction between them is forced upon by Jake himself. Olitzâs interactions have been due to Olivia seeking Fitz- not the other way around. Olivia came to the oval because she wanted an excuse to see him whereas joke has to assemble everyone to make Olivia go and see him. Olivia entering the White House was a choice, she was expecting and hoping that by telling Fitz that she was making Jake, Mellieâs VP he would be petty and make a few remarks about her still playing her games, but Fitz looks at Olivia and ask her to sit down with him which shocks her.
 I just want to appreciate this moment for what it is worth.
The look of ease on Fitzâs face as he smiles at Olivia with clarity and understanding. Fitz tells Olivia he misses her and everyone including Oliviaâs lips begin to tremble because some were expecting Fitz to yell and shout but he does the opposite, he sits and stares at Olivia as if she is Christmas Morning. Olivia is clearly affected by what Fitz is saying and doing and it is everything she wants to hear and yet itâs not. But Fitz has to tell Olivia the truth, he misses her- not the sexual intimacy but he deeply misses his best friend. Fitz misses talking to Olivia and listening to her and so he ask Olivia does she feel that he listens to her enough and Olivia smiles and makes a joke saying âwhenâ and sadly this is the first time I recall Olivia making a real joke this entire 5b season.
Fitz smiles at Olivia sadly and he tells her in so many words that he understands why Olivia wanted to be free.
The true beauty of Olitz is that they are able to read each other so well that Olivia knows that there is more to this story just like Fitz knows when Olivia says âsheâs fineâ she is never actually âfineâ- for the âBlueâs Clues gangâ this is what it means to love, you donât ignore your partners feelings and say âsheâs fineâ after murdering a man, you donât down play their call for help and then expect them to save you- that is not love, that is not even lust, what that is a parasitic relationship.
There is something organic in how Olivia and Fitz managed to find love in a world incapable such feeling;Olivia was never supposed to fall in love with Fitz but he slipped through cracks of her wall and found his home.
Fitz tells Olivia what Mellie said and asked her if she believes and feels this way too, that he is âControlling, manipulative, and narcissistic.â Olivia doesnât want to comment and get in between him and Mellie which cause Fitzâs eyebrow to arch and Olivia to laugh at her own words because she has always been in between Fitz and Mellie; she is actually between them right now, but Fitz apologizes anyways to Olivia for everything he has done to cause her to run from him.
Fitz has grown and developed into not just a great President but a man who Olivia can depend to be her strength when she is weak. Fitz is becoming the man everyone always knew he would become but he is more than what anyone imagined. Fitzâs self-assurance is powerful; everyone is struggling to find their place and purpose in life and for a man who only has 5 months left in his term, his future would be the bleakest yet itâs the contrary, Fitzâs future has never been brighter. Fitz is power, not the White House, not the people taking orders from him but Fitz is the true sign of power and the beauty of it all is that nobody sees it. Everyone is struggling and trying to find their place and who they are -Mellie, Cyrus, Abby, and Olivia. They all assume power is the key to freedom when in truth freedom is not obtained through physical conquering- freedom and purpose is not this elusive symbol that is only obtained through âconqueringâ. Freedom is when the heart and soul are no longer captive to those who put them captivity.
Once Fitz said he was sorry, Olivia is frozen, emotionally stunned by this beautiful man sitting across from her apologizing, for what she is not exactly sure. Olivia actually felt something. It wasnât Olivia being the campaign manager or Fitz being the President; for the first time in a long time they had âone minuteâ where it is just them as they always desired it to be.
Unequivocal sadness fills the space as these two individuals so desperately in love with one another seem incapable of having the life they desperately deserve and earn.
There is this moment of reflection and understanding that fills the silence between. As their music cues Olivia is looking at Fitz and seeing him for all his worth- this is the man she fell in love with. Â After everything they have said and done to one another, Fitz did not take her breath away he actually filled her lungs with air; sheâs been suffocating- drowning and this moment with Fitz however short it may be gave Olivia not what she asked for but what she desperately needed.
Fitz is absorbing Olivia, taking her all in- seeing the beauty in her imperfections. Fitz is not commenting on her hair or her exterior appearance, you can see clearly that Fitz is looking directly into her soul and seeing her for all of her Worth and Olivia is looking at Fitz and seeing him for ALL of his Worth There is this moment of appreciation silently exchanged between these two souls and your heart canât help but become heavy as you think about âwhat ifâ
This scene is so similar to the day they first met- where these two broken souls found their kindred spirit in the other.
The thing about true love is that it is never orchestrated, it happens accidentally, in a instant these two atoms crashed together,in a moment that will forever change their trajectory on life and love because it wasnât until they became one that they saw the future embedded into the iris of their eyes.
I know people are disappointed that Olitz didnât have this fight where they fight and argue and Olivia is able to blame Fitz again, but this is truly refreshing and key to not only Olitzâs progression but Olivia and Fitzâs separate journey. Fitzâs growth is commendable, and it is amazing how so many felt he was the weak one yet he is the definition of strength and power. Fitz is the only character that has looked at himself and wanted to change the outcome- how Fitz understands Olivia even when she doesnât understand herself is the truest depiction of love. Love is when you love a person not when they are at their best but when they are at their lowest. While that moment was for Olivia it was also for him; that was Fitzâs closing his own red door- by not placing blame on Olivia but himself for what happened to them and their future.
Fitz tells Olivia he is changing his speech and Olivia quickly says âgoodâ but she wasnât really listening, what Fitz has just said and the way he looked at her has her head spinning and so she canât help but ask âwhyâ and Fitz says simply âbecause she asked me tooâ
Olivia makes an âhmpfâ sound not because she is angry but quite the opposite. All it took for Fitz to change his mind was to be asked, to have her come to him and actually talk. The sound you are hearing from Olivia is the sound of regret and remorse because something so simple as asking could have saved her and him a lifetime of heartbreak. We all know what Olivia is thinking at this very moment âWhat if I had asked himâŚâ can you imagine how different their life would have been had Olivia came to Fitz and asked and Fitz heard Oliviaâs speak. This moment is all too real and all too painful and so Olivia quickly gathers her purse to take her leave before she breaks but before she could walk out Fitz tells her âhe supports her choice- not that she needs itâÂ
                                                Â
                                              Joke
I donât talk about irrelevant people but Bastard deserves some recognition for being the WORLDâS BIGGEST TOOLâŚ
I have a problem with scandal at times; everyone and their mama be trying to run and chase Fitz and talk about him being âprivilegedâ yet you have a serial killer running away slipping heart attack concoctions and this bitch ass canât save his fricking self but has to get his sestra to save him who weighs 100lb wetâŚ
Yall jokers stay talking about Fitz being a coward yet I havenât seen Fitz coward from Rowan better yet he told Rowan that he is exactly where he left him- pulling strings so please have all the seats because Jake is the definition of worthless and hopeless.
When Olivia âsavedâ joke from dad, joke somehow took it that they were back to âstanding in the sunâ but funny the minute they walked out of the door their hands partedâŚhmmmâŚsounds more like Olivia was trying one up Rowan than actually save joke but in case you are still attempting to justify olake and Olivia âsavingâ joke because she âlovesâ him , then please explain to me what the hell that final scene between them was.
Jake thought Olivia saved him and they were going to run away and be normal people for instance Jake was going to get a job working at âGettysburgerâ and Olivia would be working at the local gas station; you know âStanding in The Sunâ so while Olivia was working on Mellieâs campaign; Jake was on craigslist looking for shacks on sale because heâs going to be on tight budget after him and Vanessa get an annulmentâŚ
*sidenote-where the fuck is Jakeâs wife? And why isnât his irrelevant ass not âmourningâ with his wife- damn Jake is just terrible at everything he does- terrible side piece, terrible spy, terrible brother, terrible captain, and now a terrible husband.
You know when you look back at what Olivia said in the church to Jake it all still rings true- more so now than ever before.
OLIVIA: Do you honestly not know by now? Iâm in love with Fitz. I donât love you, Jake. I love him. When Iâm with you, all I think about is him. Fitz is who I choose. Heâs who I will always choose. You are just a lesser version of him. A sad reminder of the man I truly deserve. If I couldnât make it work with him, why the hell would you think I could make it work with you?
Good luck becoming Vice President, Jake. Youâll need it.
Every moment between Olivia and Jake is a âsadâ reminder of âthe man she truly deservesâ â the âbe here momentâ and now Jake wants to make jam and live in a house he found off Craigslist with Olivia with their 3 average childrenâŚand then Vulva lips wants to be a âjv baseball coachâ when Fitz has already said he wants to be a soccer dad. My goodness Jake is trying to duplicate Fitz and Oliviaâs relationship and Olivia is not having it at all.
This has nothing to do with Fitz but Olivia does not want to be married and have a boring life with Jake, if Olivia knew what she wanted out of life donât you think she would have done it with the man she truly deservesâŚOlivia isnât looking for love and marriage right now when girl doesnât even know what it means to love and sadly Jake is so far up his own ass that he doesnât even know Olivia, he truly thinks that Olivia wants to go run away with him and play house. This serves a purpose, Jake is not looking at Olivia nor is he listening to herâŚ.takes deep breathâŚ.boy Jake is really making Olivia appreciate Fitzâs more with his child-like antics.
I really appreciate Shonda recreating these fabricated moment between Olivia and Jake because all it does is remind Olivia of the real truth, that Jacob Ballard will always be a poor manâs Fitzgerald Grant, a painful reminder that he will never live up to Fitzâs incredibly high barâŚ.I mean look at this.
 pic @katrinapavela
Fitz took their dream and made it a possibility- somewhere only they know (notice how Abby looked at Fitz questioningly when he said he might go to Vermont. Abby doesnât know the significance behind Vermont but she is aware that it has special meaning for Fitz to smile at the idea) Olivia herself has dreamed of Vermont, Vermont was her dream but a life with joke would be a nightmare and worse âmediocrity is not an optionâ for Olivia.
And second of all Pete Harris, Olivia Pope is not about to redo your childhood- this isnât the âButterfly Effectâ you donât get to recreate your childhood and pretend it never happened. I am so sick and tired of Jake being completely worthless, this man has been asking to be saved since season 3 and this pansy still canât save himself; him and Olivia are two sides of the same coin both do the same shit and expect different results. Jake; Olivia is not your sister and your mother â and Olivia, Jake is not an extension of you.
 Before Jake could continue on not selling Olivia- she shuts him up done telling him âshe is running a presidential raceâ which means Jake, she isnât trying to be some poor housewife in the suburbs; Olivia wants her own life and like she told Jake before â if she couldnât make it work with the better man than how does he expect it to work between them,
But let us break down that scene because Jake was surprisingly speaking some truth, not a lot but enough to make a valid statement. Jake wants âto be normalâ with Olivia and tells Olivia that being normal and living the life she want is the true sign of power, and Jake is completely right but Olivia ainât having it and finally super spy was able to put two and two together and see that Olivia wasnât saving him after all she was saving her presidency and that he has now gone from dadâs bitch to his sisterâs bitchâŚwell, you better start practicing show dog because that is all you will be ornamental and never functional.
And to add insult to injury Olivia then throws his tie at him and demands that he put it on and get out on stage and perform like he has been doing his whole life.
I think itâs refreshing to be honest to see Olivia actually owning up to this person she has now become, instead of being indecisive but of course while Olivia thinks she is really doing something this was Rowanâs plan all along.
I am so tired of Rowan and Jake. Olivia will never be free as long as this man is alive, but we are going to have a long break but I am excited about the next seasons endless possibility for numerous reasons .
I will be posting a one shot off how Olivia finds out about the abortion later on today or tomorrowâŚuntil next time XOXO
Parts of this are hilarious. Iâm sure you know which parts đ. I agree that the Olitz scene was an opening, and not a closing of their future path. Iâm not sure I agree with all of your assessment, but I share the overall tone of where it could go. I think for Fitz, it brought him some peace for himself, and Iâm happy for him. I pray that Oliviaâs path to the light will bring her much needed reflection, once sheâs brave enough to go there. Sheâs been such a coward this back half.
I tweeted that though I hated to admit it, What Joke said about real power is true. However, he is too much of a coward to realize it. Cowards always posture to hide the insecurity inside:
â˘Mellie (didnât I call this back in S2 that she was too afraid of a life w/o Fitz?);
â˘Joke (all that proclamation of sexual prowess, and tough guys swagger actually shows him to still be that boy in the porch);
â˘and now Olivia. Itâs no wonder sheâs been sticking to these people like glue this season.
Abby got caught up for a second, but pulled it back. She knows who she is. Olivia doesnât.
The contrast between Olivia and Fitz is incredible. What irony that the person who left in order to be free is the one who is trapped in a prison of her own making and had become worse off inside when she thought leaving Fitz behind would make her more powerful. I pray she finds her own light soon because I canât take much more of her going down this path to destruction.
Also, this: âFreedom is when the heart and soul are no longer captive to those who put them captivityââŚis really good and VERY true. Itâs funny because Olivia told Mellie to write that she had the power the whole time and that she didnât need some man to give that to her (511). But, like so many things with Olivia, she speaks truth to others that she cannot realize for herself.
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Hollis Doyle is a disgusting piece of trash. A relic. A man, like many other white men, who have had a free run at prosperity and opportunity. For whom discrimination and injustice are as foreign to them as the Muslim immigrants that they want to ban from our country. And now that they donât have a free run, theyâre lashing out. To be honest, I canât believe it took him explicitly expressing his racism for you all to start asking these damn questions. He ends every speech with âDare to be great again.â Huh? What? Should we return to slavery? Jim Crow? In todayâs America, my gay friends can get married. In todayâs America, I can vote. 50 years ago⌠In Hollis Doyleâs lifetime⌠That wasnât the case. In todayâs America, my parents donât have to recruit a white couple who worked alongside them at the cereal plant to apply for a mortgage because banks wouldnât lend to folks with brown skin. In todayâs America, we have the Brandon Bill, which means I may not have to tell my future son that he could be murdered by law enforcement just for asking why he was pulled over. Black lives do matter because young black people are under attack. Immigrants, too. The fact that Doyle insists on saying âall lives matterâ when talking about this movement really pisses me off. Itâs like walking up into someone elseâs funeral and screaming, âWhy are you not crying for my daddy? Heâs dead, too.â Well, yes, he is. And that is sad. But that is not the topic of the conversation. Go stand over there and let the adults talk. Hollis Doyle is a thug. A punk. And the people who support him are thugs or punks. Or they condone his behavior. They are not Americans. The idea that this country belongs to one kind of person is the least American idea that anyone has ever had. In fact, it is the opposite of the ideals of this nation. Nothing needs to be restored. Nothing needs to be made great again. We are a better nation than we were 20 years ago. Than we were 50 years ago. Than we were 100 years ago. Than we were at our founding. That is the point of America. We are a country where we are always greater than our past. I am proud to live in a nation where a black man has a legitimate shot at the White House. Thatâs American greatness.
The Madness of Queen Livđ¸đž (#Scandal 517 Reflections)
A/N: Iâm proud of this one. I wonât apologize for length. I said what I said. I hope you enjoy it.Â
Boy, do I love it when writer Zahir McGhee is paired up with the talents of actor/director, Tony Goldwyn, especially for an intensely Olivia Pope-focused episode such as this one. âThwack!â (517) did an excellent job of making me extremely tense, elevating my heart rate and causing me anxiety. An even better follow-up to the much loved âThe Miseducation of Susan Rossâ from last week, âThwack!â disappointed me only in the sense that the horrible white man whose death Iâve been rooting for was not Andrews, but I praise Jesus for the elimination of all turds. He had it coming, so
spare me your hypocritically convenient sense of morality about the murder of a âdisabledâ man.
We donât want no devils in the house. We want the Lord. Dassssit! Besides, as over-the-top as this show can be, itâs emotional resonance is spot on. Neither you nor I have any assurance that we canât be driven to the point of murder, given the right (errâŚwrong?) circumstances.
Besides the twice thwacking of Andrew (failed handjob and sound of the chair bashing his head), throughout the episode there was a foreboding pulsation of imminent danger building from the start, something that would require confrontation, if for nothing else, it would relieve this viewer from the physiological onslaught of anxiety. It occurred to me that we were made to feel similar to what Olivia Pope was feeling as her descent into madness culminated in a do-or-die moment of sanity. @Spectaclesinscript, in her review, has already done a laudable job of summarizing the historical context, within the show, of how Olivia arrived at the point of murdering the man we know as her kidnapper, Andrew Nichols. @musesoftheminds has also done a good recap of important scenes and relationships. So as not to repeat most of that, what I will focus on are the following: specific moments wherein Olivia sees red, so to speak, and their connection to loss and powerlessness; various threats to Oliviaâs crumbling sense of identity; conspiracy theory clues of Rowanâs involvement with Andrewâs resurgence and Oliviaâs kidnapping; the level of white victimology that repeatedly ignores and obscures black pain in service of white privilege; and the contrasting manifestations of âhomeâ and âfamilyâ.
I'm reblogging just because I can. Girl, you put your foot in this one and it is cooking. Not to mention the foot to ass of those anti-fans and SR haters. Luuuved it. xoxo
Scandal Season 4 Theory thatâs Probably Wrong, but Still Entertaining to Me:
Iâve discussed some of these ideas with a few people and thought Iâd just write them down. Yes, Iâm well aware that this is written with Olitz lenses. Itâs just me thinking, and most of it is probably wrong (which Iâm used to), but here goesâŚ
I mentioned the other day that I have been enjoying season four, up until Whereâs the Black Lady (411), and had, thereafter been increasingly unsure of where the narrative is going. I actually love 411, but it was the first episode that required me to suspend belief about how the kidnapping of Olivia Pope was orchestrated. It does not sit comfortably with me that Andrew Nichols was the architect of this cabal. No, maâam. And though I could (and did) create an argument for Oliviaâs vehement rejection of Fitz upon her return, in No More Blood (413). But, frankly, it never curled all the way over for me. Not genuinely so. Lastly, I have struggled with post-kidnapping pivot back to the trite B6-13 story line, and re-centering Rowan in Oliviaâs life.
BUT
If Rowan is connected to the kidnapping, then all three categories of my dissatisfaction begin to make sense.
The Logistics:
How could Andrew, the VP, have the entire Secret Service replaced? How does he know ex-Special OPs guys like Ian? Sure, Andrew had motive to have Fitz trussed up by the proverbial balls for the tenure of his presidency, but why was he so adamant that Olivia remain unharmed (411)? Andrew has absolutely no investment in her physical well-being, nor do I think he was just being kind-hearted all of a sudden. How could Rowan, a man that has claimed to have done everything in his life for Olivia (407), refuse to lift a finger when Jake came to him for help(413)? He said he had no daughter. Six episodes later, heâs a papa whoâs proud of his âgirlâ because she stopped âshiningâ Fitzâs shoes and is âstanding on [her] ownâ (419)?
But then I remember that Rowan knows Special Ops and Black Ops guys. After all, he ordered Fitz to shoot down a commercial airplane in a Black Ops mission (307). Rowan had already infiltrated Secret Service with B6-13 agents (Tom) in order to keep abreast of White House goings-ons (312). So, replacing the entire team: easy. Â And the only person who has ever proffered Oliviaâs physical safety to the detriment of her psychological, and emotional well-being, is Rowan. But why? How could he do that to his daughter?
Actually, this is exactly the kind of thing heâs perpetrated against Olivia for ears. All done to toughen her up into some kind of steely, strong black woman archetype, that is only ever subservient one thing: his black patriarchal authority. This is the man who let his 12 year old believe her mother was dead, while he locked that mother away in isolation for her crime, and never let her see any evidence of her daughterâs development. Not even a fucking news clipping (not until she chewed through her own wrists (308)). Â He never let that daughter come back home; he sent her away (301). Sure, she received the finest education and learned a bunch of languages that have come in handy, but she is not OK. Rowan is the guy who, when Olivia was set to see Fitz again after a painful 10 month breakup (post-defiance), had his double agent, Jake Ballard, conveniently intervene in his daughterâs life. Why? To occupy her mind before she was set to see Fitz as Ellaâs christening. I guess he didnât plan on them fucking in a server closet. Woops. He sent his guy in to sleep with Olivia (405 admission), then had that evidence presented to Fitz. The purpose? A misogynistic belief that Fitz sees Olivia as his property, and since the property has been âdefiledâ (310) by another man, Fitz would no longer care for that property. Russell is yet another toy for Olivia to play with, and another means for extracting information in order to stay ahead of her. Rowan is also the guy who allowed his daughterâs name to be leaked by his own B6-13 agent, Tom, (301), when he obviously had the power to quash it. Why? Because it would conveniently allow him to get Olivia away from that âdisappointingâ (310) Fitzgerald Grant. He insisted that she would get on that plane âcome hell or high waterâ (301). Seventeen episodes later, Olivia was checkmated into doing so (318). Bonus points for allowing her to think it was of her own volition. Lastly, Rowan is the guy who killed Fitzâs son for a dual purpose. Doing so gave his daughter another achievement under her belt because Fitz won; and it droveâwhat he hoped would beâa permanent wedge between them. âWhat love could survive thatâ (405), he said, as he built a rationale for the framing of Jake Ballard for his (Rowanâs) own crime.
In light of all of that, kidnapping and war actually fit perfectly with Rowanâs MO.
The NOlitz MO:
If Rowan is involved in this kidnapping, it means he forced Fitz into a catch-22, lose-lose situation.Â
Option 1) Not go to war, and Olivia would die. Fitz would forever be blamed & feel guilty for Oliviaâs death (though Rowan would never have actually let Olivia die, just let Fitz think so). Fitz may have even taken his own life over it, and we know he is capable of such an attempt (401). If he attempted to do it after the simultaneous loss of his son and disappearance of Olivia, why would he not complete the job if he had to live in a world where he was made responsible for her death? If so, problem solved anyway, as Rowan sees Fitzâs unconditional love for Olivia, and her loyalty and dedication to him, as a threat to his paternal authority. If Fitz takes himself out, Rowan has his daughter back. Why do I feel like Rowan let that assassination attempt by Verna and Becky ride? Â
Option 2: Fitz goes to war for Olivia, thereby sending thousands of innocent people to their deaths. For three years, Fitz continues to be exploited into actions that make him a wildly unpopular President. Andrew would get to distance himself from Fitzâs administration in some way, without suffering blowback. It would also put him in good standing to usurp Fitzâs position for the next re-election. Olivia stays away from Fitz. But Rowan underestimated his daughter, and her ability to get herself out of tough situations. And, of course, he underestimated the strength of the Olitzâ relationship, and their ability to work as a teamâeven when they have no way of communicating directly with one another (411). They understand how the other person works. All major progress made in 411 was because of Olivia and Fitz.
Knowing Olivia, she would hate that Fitz went to war, sending thousands in harmâs way just for her (413). And she did. Fitz would (and did) claim that he did it for Olivia (413), just as Rowan claims he does everything for her (407,408). Olivia thinks Rowan is a terrible person and has done all the wrong things in her name (407). Rowan, then, makes Fitz into nothing but a man who is just like him: Â "All men are, in fact, just like your father" (419). The kidnapping and war story line paints Fitz as a terrible President, in her eyes. Â He falls in her estimation, and is no better than her father, who kills innocent people in the name of one: her.
Simultaneously, Olivia would also think of Fitz as a man who thinks she needs him to rescue her (something she vehemently rejects (308, 413)), and a disappointment, someone undeserving of the many ways in which sheâs laboured for him (her warped interpretation (413)). She sees him as weak, as the one who needs protecting (308). To protect him (and her, in many ways) after the kidnapping, she puts up a cold front to create distance. She is dangerous for him (a belief she evidences in her 410 dream), but also brings pain upon herself as well, due to her emotional attachment to him.
What I described above was meant to be the byproduct of kidnapping/war. The theories I painted above were meant to lead to an idealistic wedge between our two faves. In some ways the fight, and the subsequent ring toss, in 413 become somewhat of a performance.
I believed Oliviaâs anger, and her right to be angry over what happened to her, but, frankly, Fitz wasnât deserving of it. But who else was she going to take it out on? Itâs because he loves her that she was exploited and traumatized in this way. I maintain that it is the exploiterâs (Rowan, hypothetically) fault, not the fault of the persons (Olivia and Fitz) who love. I donât care how this narrative goes, I will never change my mind about that. Hard line.  A part of me watches that 413 scene, and I can almost see Olivia preparing herself to do something she did not want to do, but it was the only way to get Fitz to stay away from her. It was the only way to ensure there would be no more blood (the title of the episode). No more causing Olivia psychological and emotional distress in order to force her away from Fitz. Already reeling from ASD, Olivia inflicts trauma on herself via the argument she had with Fitz, including the tossing of the ring. And we later see that  in addition to the kidnapping suffering, she revisits that ring toss moment as a traumatic moment in her life (417). Think about it. Having tossed the ring at Fitz (which sent a powerful message of âoverâ to him), she doesnât leave it on the floor, or throw it out. She puts it somewhere safe. And in a panic, she runs to find it, as if her recovery is incomplete without it. They are never over (220).
Oliviaâs Distance and Coldness:Â
Olivia has been keeping her distance and acting cold because itâs the only way she can keep herself (and Fitz) safe, so long as her father is still alive and free. Until she can get justice. Remember that bringing Rowan to justice is what Olivia was trying to do before Rowan decided to leave (409). Shortly thereafter, the woman gets kidnapped (wouldnât be surprised if the plan was in place the moment she returned to DC. Rowan told her he didnât tell her she could leave (401)). This return to B6-13 and Rowan would make sense to me if Rowan is tied into the kidnapping. Otherwise, episodes 410-413 feel like a bizarre sweeps attempt.
Olivia has pushed everyone away. She wasnât returning Abbyâs calls (415), and the rebuilding of their friendship has been a pre-kidnapping, season 4 highlight. Instead of bringing Abby back into her personal confidences, sheâs kept her work-adjacent (415, 416, 418). I mean, Abby is the woman who was instrumental in bringing Olivia home (413).Â
Oliviaâs pre-kidnapping dick-in-a-box , Jake, has been sidelined to strictly B6-13 related business (418). Even that relationshipâthe one filled with convenienceâhas become too complicated for her. She has rebuffed his attempts to comfort her (414, 419). Â âJuliaâ was an identity of the past, so she invented an even more âuncomplicatedâ one, âAlexâ (419). Â Everyone is being kept at emotional armâs length. That makes her recovery that much more difficult, but maybe in Oliviaâs world she justifies it as necessary. She can only deal with work-related drama right now.Â
The Return to B6-13 Shenanigans:
I have been feeling like Olivia is steely, lacking any kind of warmth, and even more emotionally guarded that usual. Sheâs more aggressive and angry than sheâs ever been. Of course all of that makes sense. Look whatâs sheâs been throughâall alone. She killed a guy (410). She shot another, and then beat the shit out of him for the ways in which he tormented and hurt her (413). Olivia is still not quite herself, and why should she be. The ASD flashbacks attest to that. But itâs more than that.  The lack of painted, manicured nails is a small, but important, detail in this regard. As of 420, they remain unpainted. The missing warmth of which Olivia complained in 403âdespite admitting to having Jake (lol, heâs her pet)âis very real post-kidnapping. (Olitz angst music plays as she and Rowan talk about this absent pieceâthe emotional lacuna.) Post-kidnapping Olivia still has Jake, yet chooses not to bring him in close. Â
This is not a woman who reaches for personal help. For her career, sure. In some ways, Olivia canât make a full emotional recovery while instituting a Cold War with Fitz. That coldness and anger are taxing on the body and mind because they take work to maintain. But itâs a sacrifice to freedom and justice. Olivia cannot be the woman she wants to be, or command control of her life while Rowan remains free to inflict all manner of violence and abuse in her name. Â She cannot fully recover, or have anything with Fitz (the person who knows her best on an emotional level), while Rowan remains unpunished. He will destroy it. Â If the kidnapping is any indication, he will truly stop at nothing to make Olivia into the woman he thinks she should be. Whoever that woman is supposed to be, she isnât to be with someone Rowan finds threatening.
Because Olivia and Fitz have been a part for much of this season (and entirely so post-kidnapping), my instinct is to say that this Foxtail business will bring them together in the final hour to fight a mutual enemy: Rowan.  I just canât see Olivia burning Fitz, when, in my eyes, sheâs been protecting him all this time from her father. (It saddens me that Oliviaâs own father is actually her worst enemy, but he insists on running her life at all cost). B6-13, Rowan, and Foxtail need to come to a close. Olivia and this show cannot move forward so long as this narrative centers around those things. They loom too large and have too much authority. I donât want to watch that. I want to watch Olivia navigate new things in her life, not the same trite shit against which sheâs repeatedly been told sheâll lose.
So, thatâs what I thinkâs been happening this season. And if so, it ties most things together (there are always outstanding questions). It certainly makes the âjusticeâ theme of this season workable. Of course, Iâm fully prepared to be disappointed. Lol.
Itâs on my spirit to reblog this. Even though some of this no longer applies, and I might be crazy, I still canât believe Andrew was the mastermind of Oliviaâs kidnapping. Rowan was way too nonchalant. Idk, maybe Iâm crazy. But since the next episode looks to be revisiting some connection to the kidnapping, Iâll post this. As always, Iâm fine to be wrong.
Definitely worth reblogging. Some of it is more true now than you originally surmised. She has also reinstituted the Cold War again this season, but it's evolving since they appear to be (trying) to keep it real. đ
Do you think the Helen of Troy comparison also foreshadowed the fate of this triangle (Jake/Paris dies and Liv/Helen returns to Fitz/Menelaus)?
Ok, so this is part II of what I have to say about the Helen of Troy reference in 407:
The second thing Tomâs âHelen of Troyâ (really Helen of Sparta) comment establishes is an analogous comparison of Helen and Olivia to the men in their lives. (I invite experts on Greek Mythology and this story in particular to jump in because this is not my strong suit):
Rowan=Zeus, ruler of the gods (âShe didnât have a father, either. Her father was a god.â)
Fitz= King Menelaus, Helenâs husband
Paris=Jake, the man with whom Helen absconds to Troy
Because I donât know this story that well, I consulted Wikipedia for a run-down, including all the contradictions. There are so many accounts, itâs hard to distill it down. The marriage of Helen and Menelaus represents the end of the age of heroes. Zeus vows to end the race of men, but particularly the heroes. The Trojan war, which is caused by Helenâs elopement with Paris, becomes the means to the end that Zeus wants.
Letâs talk about Paris and how he came into Helenâs life. Paris goes to Sparta under the guise of a diplomatic mission, but his aim is to claim Helenâthe married woman. Paris, previously, had been appointed by Zeus to do a small job for him. Hollywood has often re-written Paris as the love of Helen life. Â The classical writers who have told this story in various ways, do not make it clear whether Paris is Helenâs seducer or abductor. In some paintings, Helen is depicted as being removed by force to go to Troy with Paris. In others, she is seen as willingly leaving behind Menelaus to go with Paris to Troy.
In Homerâs version of this tale, Helen is a somewhat wistful, sorrowful figure who is sorry for what she has caused, and comes to regret her choice in Parisâa man she comes to see as having a compromised characters. Instead, she desires to be reunited with Menelaus. When Troy is on fire, Helen is depicted as helpless, lonely, and desperate to find sanctuary. Helenâs choice ends up being made for her by fate because Paris dies in battle. Her ultimate destiny reunites her with Menelaus.
The relevance of this story to the one being portrayed on Scandal, are thus for me (feel free to chime in):
Rowan as Zeus:
  âThou shalt have no other gods before meââFirst Commandment of God, Deuteronomy 5:7
This is a covenant between God and the Israelites after he delivered them from slavery in Egypt. In exchange for that deliverance, the way that God had paved, the Israelites should not worship âfalse gods/idolsâ, but instead pay exclusive devotion to the God, Yahweh.  Very clearly not a request, but a demand, the disobeying of which removes Godâs protection . There is no choice here. Does this sound familiar?
First we have this conversation from season 3:
Rowan: âHow fascinating that you think thatâs your motherâs legacyâbeing out-spoken and braveâwhen everything youâve become, everything you are is clearly because of me.â
Olivia: âI think you mean in spite of you.â
Rowan: âTwo sides of the same coin, my dear.ââMore Cattle, Less Bull (305)
This is then followed by Rowanâs demand in Baby Made a Mess (407):
Rowan: âYou never, ever choose one of them over me, again. I wonât have it. Is that clear?â
What else is Rowan asking for but to be looked upon as a God who has delivered Olivia into the life that she now leads. The life that Rowan believes he, exclusively, made possible.
Fitz as Menelaus:
Zeus wants to end the age of heroes, the last of which is Menelaus, who marries Helen. Obviously, Olivia and Fitz are not married, but there is a commitment and loyalty there that has never waned (âI never left your sideâ (101)). Whatâs interesting about Menelaus is that he is portrayed as someone who is trying to protect Helen, go to war for her, even after she leaves him for Paris.Â
Jake as Paris:
The relationship between Helen and Paris is a contradictory one. Itâs one that is fraught with uncertainty and coercion. While that coercion is depicted as sometimes brutal, it could be also just psychological. In any case, their relationship is short-lived and Helen comes to regret her choice in Paris because she comes to see his is not the man she thought he was. His life, of course, ends in death. Where Jake will end up, we shall see.
We have to remember not to extrapolate, too closely, the intricate and contradictory story of Helen of Troy to that of Olivia Pope. I think that war thatâs coming now is a show-down and will come to a resolution. Weâve already been mired in a cold war for Oliviaâs affections for all of season three. We started with Fitz trying to âfreeâ Olivia; Rowan trying to control her by sending her away (again); and we end with Olivia, seeking refuge and absconding with Jake as DC is metaphorically on fire. If Olivia chooses a path that includes Fitz, remember that it is a choice, not her âfateâ. At least, that is my hope because Olivia seems to be her most authentic self with Fitzgerald.Â
I love greek mythology, symbolism/ subliminal messages. So this pleases me to think that the Scandal writers could have had the connection to these Greek characters in mind when they added Jake to the story. As opposed to it just being another triangle for the sake of having one.
Rowan being Zeus totally makes sense when you listen to his monologs.
The Helen of Troy analogy is still relevant. The fact that they gave Jake the middle name of Hamilton, gives me renewed hope for his death. I am so tired of the psycho-sexual triangle that is Rowan-Olivia-Jake. Like with B6-13 in S4,Â
Love love Greek Mythology so much. It's been decades since I read The Iliad and I suspect most only know a portion of the story from the Brad Pitt vehicle. There are so many huge classical themes (Fate, time, etc) in the epic poem that go beyond the Trojan War/Helen's abduction and the events that led up to it so it's hard for me to attempt an accurate comparison to Scandal. If I had to go anywhere I'd see Rowan as more like Agamemnon but that's another part of the story. Good start. #liberal arts education #can't help it
What do you think about Olake fans relating Nessun Dorma to the Olake "relationship" and where it could be headed?
Wait, seriously? Does anyone have a link to O[redacters] musings on that aria? I would like a good laugh, though I suspect Iâll feel more like đđŁđđđ. Man I wonder if they are seething over that gaslighting post. Iâve been writing about the torment of that nolashionship and Jakeâs tactics since 304, but what do I know. Itâs now at a point where it is completely and totally unavoidable. Yet, people are still making âsexy"đˇ gif sets of their genital interactions đ.
Bound to happen since Puccini's opera is about two suitors for Turandot's hand. They chose who they shipped as the one singing the aria ending with " I will win", completely missing the significance of it played over the 4 screens and ultimately Liv's subsequent use the of the line whispered to Jake. Frankly I was also captivated by the use of Aretha's rendition. I remember that performance at the Grammy's when I still watched those things.
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" Like the femme fatale, the homme fatal is a spy. But instead of baiting our lead with desire, the male version tends to use security to entrap the leading lady... (On âScandal,â Jake â a hunky secret agent â is similar, but Olivia Pope is in love with the President, who, as leader of the free world, is the one civilian qualified to woo a superhero.) Underneath the model exterior, these men are sent to monitor the protagonist and report back to her enemies. "
(source)
Thatâs exactly who Jake was: the l'homme fatal.Â
Also, I love this:
ââŚOlivia Pope is in love with the President, who, as leader of the free world, is the one civilian qualified to woo a superhero.â
Jake, you were under-qualified for the job as suitor to Olivia Pope. Too bad so many were blind. *yawn*
âThe label âhomme fatalâ has been used before, most prominently by Irina Aleksander in a 2008 piece for the New York Observer. At the time, Aleksander used it to describe a particular kind of faux-sensitive, emotionally abusive pickup artist thatâs now more commonly known as a âman-childâ or âfuckboy.â Aleksanderâs homme fatal imitates vulnerability to win womenâs trust, then bails as soon as he can. Seven years later, this archetype is well-known, but heâs no better at supporting women protagonists in fiction than he is women in real life.â
â In the femme fatale narrative, sheâs working for the heroâs adversary, cuckolding him with the enemy. In the homme fatal story, heâs working for not just any enemy, but the protagonistâs absent father (or father figure). In Scandal, Olivia Popeâs dad is the director of a secret agency and he repeatedly places men in her life to sabotage her, including one femme-style in a dark bar. Itâs a Freudian twist that blurs boyfriend and dad into an evil Rule-of-The-Father force bearing down on the hero. At very least it lends some variety to the tired superhero origin stories.â