Rising Secrets: The Other Women 2.2

This episode of Scandal continued to raise the bar for the show's fast paced and mystery driven style. We see in this episode many different situations that directly correlate with some of the issues that have been deeply embedded into the plot. Secrets begin to come out from many aspects of the show, just enough to spark curiosity but not enough to satisfy the urge to know whats going on. There is a good balance of crisis within the show that keeps the show versatile enough to keep viewers guessing at the unpredictable storyline.

A basic overview of the episode is Olivia is still having late night calls with President Grant, today's client is a well known pastor's wife who wants to keep scandalous way he died under wraps to protect his legacy, CIA photoshops a picture to influence war, and Quinn situation unravels a bit further.

The fact that Olivia and the President are still having late night calls clearly expresses the love between them is still there. Regardless of Olivia's scheme to get the President's Amanda Tanner scandal wiped aside by suggesting he have a baby with his wife, there are still clear signs that their relationship is far from over. The after hour calls suggest a top secret atmosphere, which presents the most compelling secret of the show...their relationship. With so much going on and the danger this relationship can bring about for public image, they continue on this rocky road. Does this show how powerful love is?

The main event for this show was the pastor's affair with another woman. A woman who was at first deemed as a prostitute turns out to be the pastor's mistress. Not only that but this woman has his child and has been around for fifteen years. The mistress demanded six million dollars from the wealthy pastor's wife or she would go public destroying his life work. Olivia was the negotiator between the two. The scenes were very compelling as the fast-paced, intense action switched between wife and mistress finishing each other's sentences. The cut ups were amazing, delivering a unique narrative from a different perspective.

As the climax was building up, the first lady came to speak in public with the pastor's wife. As she begin to break down, she asked the media and Olivia to leave. She related to what the pastor's wife was going through almost speaking on her own situation explaining she should still be there for her husband even if he was a cheater, that the mistress can never take her place and that she was his wife. This was a shot at Olivia who overheard the talk, the sense that even though Olivia was in love with the president didn't matter because she will just be a mistress at the end of the day. In the end, Olivia had a heart to heart with the mistress. This correlates because Olivia was speaking on her experiences, it was like this sub plot was another story for the bigger picture going on to make Olivia and First Lady step back and examine their own situations. After the talk, the mistress knew that money wouldn't replace the loss time and appreciation she really wanted. All she wanted was to come to the funeral. The wife refused at first, but gave in to letting her participate. There was a heartwarming feeling as the wife was made aware that she had a child with the pastor too and was just as hurt as she was. The two embraced showing people can rise above personal conflict for the good of others sometimes.

Other rising secrets to keep an eye on were Quinn's and David's situation. As far as David is concerned Olivia is behind the fact that the easy case was closed and now an autopsy was stopped on her behalf. David questions his bosses only to find out he will be relieved of his duties. Now David is really suspicious and has dedicated his time to look into Olivia. Quinn on the other hand may be our largest story as the Supreme Court Judge says Quinn has the power to shut down the whole government. As the secrets slowly come up, Scandal continues to intrigue our curiosity. Til' next time...

Hidden Motives: White Hats Off 2.1

When we last left off from the cliff hanging season finale of Scandal Quinn was being handcuffed. We start a fresh new season with intentions of learning about this interesting bind. Quinn or should we just call her Lindsey now, since that is her real name, is in court being charged of killing seven innocent people with a bomb. Well, that's a little more than I expected from the naive and shadowing Quinn, oops I mean Lindsey. It seems there had been an incident before Lindsey became apart of Olivia's team. It makes sense because in the previous episode when Olivia's team was being investigated, there was only a record of the name Quinn for two years prior.

Do we see Lindsey in a different light than we see Quinn even when they are the same person? I feel as if this changes her persona, not necessarily in the idea that her behavior is different but along the lines of her being seen as someone with more importance. This whole bizarre situation is even stranger due to the fact that Olivia is so strung out on trying to help her. Lindsey doesn't even know why Olivia cares so much. This reveals a much bigger problem in the story that Olivia is facing. Hidden motive! Somewhere along the plot there will be a twist that reveals something we didn't know about Olivia.

Lindsey may be in big trouble! The case points all the fingers at her. She is accused of sending a bomb in a package to her boyfriend. He cheated on her after six months with another girl. In response to this, Lindsey threatened to kill him. It was not looking too good for Lindsey. Olivia's team showed many signs of concern and uncertainty towards Lindsey's case. In the past the team displayed signs of uncertainty before, but this was like no case before. None of them really expected to win and wondered why Olivia would try to choose this battle. David is doing all he can to make sure Lindsey pays for the crime he believes she has done, and goes as far as asking the judge for the death penalty. Lindsey, scared for her life, fired Olivia and takes a plea with a new lawyer.

When Olivia is informed of being fired she begged Lindsey to trust her. Lindsey agreed to let Olivia represent her, but it has to strike others how Olivia is so confident when everything is this bad? Once again, there are hidden factors the show alludes to. This raises the mystery of Olivia, making her an even more intriguing person than she was.

In the meantime, Olivia helps out a congressman make a sex tape work for his campaign, once again satisfying another client. Before the actual decision on Lindsey's fate is made in court, Olivia makes a conspicuous phone call telling someone they were going to lose the case. When the verdict was to be made the judge said that there was not enough evidence to prosecute her because the evidence was circumstantial. Lindsey, or Quinn, beat the case. David is angry because he knew that he had enough to win the case. He later explains how he doesn't know how she did it, but is aware Olivia was behind it. We begin to see the magnitude Olivia's power has. Her own teammates do not understand how they won. Before the show ends, there is a scene showing Olivia and Huck being responsible for changing Lindsey Identity to Quinn and protecting her. There is definitely a motive the viewer can not yet see!

Quinn!: Grant For The People Episode 7

The moment I have been waiting for has finally came! Throughout my coverage of the first season of Scandal I questioned Quinn's role within the series. Let's take this time to back track and see how Quinn has developed as a character. In the first episode, Quinn came off as a spunky girl who had it going on when she encountered Harrison. After Harrison explained there was no way shape or form this was a blind date and that this was an interview for Olivia Pope, we see Quinn fall into her naive role in the organization. All through the season Quinn followed the steps of Olivia, looking like an intern. She questioned a lot of the operations and was generally left in confusion. As this seemly oblivious Quinn made her journey through the episodes, I only wanted to know one thing. What was her point?

Her character was the first person to be seen when the show had started, there was no way I would believe that she would play such an insignificant role within the show. Up until this point, I was beginning to lose faith in Quinn's relevance in Scandal's enticing plot. I should have had more faith, because as the season finale arrives Quinn's mysterious role begins to be revealed.

Quinn finds Gideon with scissors in his neck, as she tries to do what she can to save him he dies. Instead of calling the police Quinn calls Olivia and the gang, that's interesting. What's more interesting is the fact that Quinn is not who we think she is and she is not allowed to be identified by the police, therefore they must erase any evidence of her tampering within the situation. Who is Quinn? Nobody seems to know what is going on but Olivia. This leads into a lot more speculation. Why was this revealed this late in the season, that tends to lead me to believe that this situation may be bigger than anything that has happened so far.

Meanwhile, Billy goes on national television to tell the world he is resigning because of his devastation of the president's affair with his so-called girlfriend Amanda Tanner. The episode then begins to cater to the problem of President Grant trying to figure out a way to get out of this mess. This only leads to President Grant accepting the fact that there might not be a way out and losing his presidency but gaining Olivia's love. Olivia, confused by obvious emotions over the President, chooses business over personal agenda and comes up with a plan to clear his name. When I finally found out why Billy went through all of this trouble to create this scandal on the President I thought it was stupid. He sacrificed his freedom and good name just to get President Grant out of office and have the Vice President take over the position. Honestly, if he was going to go through all of that and end up murdering a man I would of hoped it would've been for a stronger reason. Another disappointment came from how the scandal was solved. The First Lady would claim it was her on the sex tape and America is just suppose to believe them, I guess when the Vice President backed up their story and said Billy's accusations were false it built more credibility. Still, it seemed to simple of a solution for such a large scale problem that took all season to build up.

The real story in the season finale is Quinn. Through her mystery and randomness in the show, she left a space of confusion to the viewer wanting to know what she had to do with anything. David brings Quinn back to Olivia handcuffed. Clearly she is not an ordinary person, because David could have took her to prison but brought her back to Olivia.  In the most interesting point of it all is when Olivia asks Quinn if she should tell them who she is or should I just do it. This tells us that Quinn knew her role this whole time. That's the missing piece the viewers weren't getting and Scandal did a great job covering that up. Can't wait to start season two next week!