Scandal: A Few Good Women Review

While this episode may have been one of Scandal’s less eventful hours, the last 5 minutes of the show set you up for next week’s hopefully thrilling finale.

There were three major storylines that we followed throughout the episode: The gladiators’ case about the rape of a naval soldier, Russell being tortured by Huck and Quinn, and the one we are most eager to figure out…Operation Foxtail.                                                              

Russell:

Watching Huck get off on watching Quinn graphically remove Russell’s finger nails… unfortunately, nothing new there. I still do miss old Quinn and old Huck for that matter, but by the dark, malicious glaze in their eyes… I think the “old” them is gone forever. Luckily Jake came in and broke the sadistic trance Huck was in to share a beer with, Russell.  

Wait, what?

Yeah, they decided to talk about the good ‘ol days with Papa Pope, mocking him and laughing at the things he said and the way he spoke, something I tend to do while watching Scandal. Once again, Shonda Rhimes likes to give these untouchable, militaristic characters some sort of humanity, making us feel horrible for liking them or even relating to them. However, Rhimes has never been shy to make her viewers uncomfortable. In fact… it’s her specialty. Whether it is dehumanizing characters or controversial topics… she will take it there if she has to.

The Gladiators: 

The gladiators were joined by Abby this week as they took on a case brought to their attention by the vice president. A naval soldier, Amy Martin, accused her head officer of raping her. The news went wild, especially when the president decided not to take a stand on it at all, saying it wasn’t his place to impose on military matters. He did, after talking with Liv on the phone (shocker) and their little love theme silently swelling in the background after Liv tried to persuade the him to help her. 

While their conversation didn’t seem too promising, Abby soon would save the day with Navy logs in hand, requested by the president. Fitz is really starting to take a few steps back and let the ladies of Scandal start to take control of not only matters like this, but of the country all together. However, Mellie was the real show stopper of the night when she didn’t wait for the president’s help on this. She owned her speech in Springfield, taking a firm stand against the terrible and criminal way the military handles matters of sexual assault. Every week, Bellamy Young shines a Mellie as she rocks those presidential airs as she starts her campaigning for Senate. Not only was her speech a showstopper of the night, but also a revelation we have been waiting for was surprisingly linked to Mellie.  

That’s right peoples… Foxtail: 

Scenes are rapidly cutting and shifting in the final minutes of the show. We are going from realizing the lawyer Olivia and gladiators have been working with on the sexual assault case wasn’t a real lawyer, to seeing him release Russell from his bounds, and watching Mellie being brought in to meet a huge donor to her campaign. But, hold up… 

Is that…Papa Pope?

Yes, yes it is. But not only that. We find out in these final seconds that operation Foxtail is indeed… Mellie. I never thought I would see Papa Pope and Mellie in the same room together, but I’m sure that’s exactly how Rhimes wanted us to feel. She is a master of pairing characters together you would never think could ever be linked. Sure, Mellie doesn’t know who this man is or what she is about to get herself into, but we will soon enough. 

Of course, we know now that Mellie’s code name is Foxtail, but the operation part of it all is still unknown. Next week’s finale, however, is sure wrap a few storylines up and leave a whole new set of ones open. 

Is it Thursday yet?