Scandal Season 7 Episode 3 Review: Day 101

This Scandal review contains spoilers.

Scandal Season 7 Episode 3

During the first 100 days Mellie’s presidency, Fitz stays out of the limelight in Vermont where he takes up life as an ordinary citizen for the first time in years. Marcus joins the former POTUS to begin important work on the Fitzgerald Grant III Presidential Library.

What’s the former POTUS to do when he’s never had to fend for himself? Fitz was born an entitled, privileged, and smug opportunist who did what his father demanded of him. In Rutland, Vermont, he thought he could put on his big boy pants and it’d be business as usual. Civilian life didn’t begin well for him because he has always had a puppet master pulling his strings, and a staff taking care of his personal and household needs.

Does he think he’ll be missed? Does he think he made a difference while in office? His retirement home is far away from the glitz, glamour, and power of Washington, D.C. The silence seemed to be deafening, and a few trips to the local grocery store won’t break the monotony. He has something to prove to someone, anyone, maybe even himself.

What will his legacy be? What will he be remembered for – policy, progress, or an extramarital affair? One hundred days aren’t enough to reflect on eight years in office. What would his presidency have been without powerful maternal women and Cyrus ensuring he had more soft landings that not? Hopefully, the clear mountain air will somehow inspire him.

Halfway through his retirement, he was chomping at the bit to return to D.C. to lend his name and celebrity to his ex-wife, but she doesn’t need him. He’s having trouble being a civilian and lacks interpersonal communication skills unrelated to politics. Olivia and Mellie propping him up and wiping the corner of his mouth are glaring omissions in this next phase of his life. Fitz needs an audience and a cheering squad to lift him up and hang on his every word. The wildlife in Vermont won’t be bothered as they prepare for winter.

Rowan was the reason Fitz returned unannounced to Olivia’s apartment building last week. Unlike Fitz, Poppa Pope is accustomed to wielding power and feared that Olivia’s getting too big for her tailored suits. He wants to regain what he had and there’s no better pawn to use than his daughter’s ex-lover. With a father like Rowan, being an orphan might be a better prospect.

He returned to D.C. like a lovesick teenager to an Olivia who has seemed to have moved on, even after locking lips on The White House lawn before he helicoptered away. It was very telling that he expected her to be waiting at home, perhaps with a glass of wine, pining for him.