Olivia and the gang are back, this time representing a classic case in America. The "he said she said" scenario of rape. The client Olivia chose to represent is Travis, a wealthy and privileged white male. I had a vibe this this guy was guilty from the beginning, he is overly conceited and also missed his date in court. It seems as if Olivia is taking a risk by representing this client. Olivia demonstrates her cunning ability to protect her clients. Telling Travis's latest fling to escort a hidden Harrison out, this way the media will flock that way while Olivia and Travis make off undetected. Olivia Pope stays on top of her game and looking sharp as ever. Here in this episode we see the sad realities of the Judicial system as we learn that the jury has already condemned Travis guilty before the evidence is brought up. Olivia explains that the truth is no longer important, only perceptions of what people think. How many times has this happened in real life, how many times has someone been wrongly persecuted based on pre-conceived perceptions. The importance of public image is stressed here and it will be the only way to help change the direction of the case.Miscommunication happens to be a large theme carried throughout this episode. Not just with us as the viewers, it is a show's job to keep us guessing, but there was a lot of miscommunication between different characters in the show. When Travis's victim, Helen, refuses to except money for a settlement, it puts Olivia's team in a bind. If not for money, then the only possible motive would be for the truth. Clearly Travis isn't telling Olivia everything. Once again, Quinn displays her rookie tendencies by asking what happens if we lose. This is interesting considering Olivia has won every case so far, and of course this ruffled a few feathers. Olivia responds in a snappy fashion we don't quit and what else would you expect from her.
While there is obvious miscommunication with Travis and Olivia's team, we continue to find a more twisting sequence of events of miscommunication. Amanda has mysteries phone calls whom Olivia suspects is the nosey reporter. Cyrus has a tape of the President's affair with Amanda a declares Olivia is blackmailing him no matter how much the President denies it. The First Lady invites Olivia to a White House event, without telling the President. Olivia comes looking quite nice. The First Lady is so nice that she offers the President a dance with Olivia. By now it is clear the President has genuine feelings for Olivia by his reckless behavior during the dance. The President asks Olivia to meet him in "their spot". Cyrus stops Olivia from making her way to the special spot, calling her out on the tape and saying the President set her up. Cyrus continues to meet the President at the spot only to tell the him that Olivia set him up and she was not coming. This clearly puts Cyrus in a position to be behind all of this, but I want to take the time to look at this situation.
This form of miscommunication happens in everyday life and is very threatening in the building of relationships. As we can see both Olivia and The President got the wrong message from a third party communicator. From looking from the situation from the outside we can see that both Olivia and the President wished to reconcile their differences, but since they were communicated indirectly they both got the wrong message that may cause them to hate each other. This happens everyday in relationships of all different kinds. Think for example, you send a important e-mail to a friend expressing your want to catch up soon, but the e-mail never reaches the friend. Now even though your friend never got the message you would think they are ignoring you creating an unnecessary tension. Here the failed e-mail would be the third party interrupting the message. This situation between Olivia and the President reminded me of this and how important it is to understand different angles of communication so that you don't lose a good friend over nothing.
Well, now the President and Olivia believe they both tried to set each other up and will probably come at each other with no remorse. The miscommunication between Travis was the fact he rape a woman in the past, and now her friend was out to get him hence so desperately accusing him of rape. Olivia uses this information to get Travis to beat the case, but there is a little discomfort knowing he got away with a past crime even if he is innocent now. Miscommunication, well why did the First Lady invite Olivia? Clearly she knew it would make her husband feel better, not good. Wait there is one more piece of information being withheld, Amanda is pregnant. In this episode, you can see how important communication is and how devastating it can be. i'm sure we all can relate.
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