Scandal premiere whet my appetite for more

I was a big fan of The West Wing. Loved the politics, those super-smart walk-and-rapid-fire-talk scenes, the surprising glimpses of doubt from characters who acted as though they were 100 percent certain of everything, the compromises that good people had to make in order to get things done. Adored the setting, Washington, D.C., as the weighty epicenter of political power that doubles as a gossipy hotbed of scandal, particularly with the advent of the internet, cell phone photos and, in recent years, of errant Tweets sent by elected officials. (Paging Congressman Weiner …)

So when I learned that Shonda “Grey’s Anatomy“ Rhimes had created a drama about a Washington-based “fixer” — a lawyer who had worked for the president but now has her own firm where she helps clients out of jams — my interest was more than piqued. With Kerry Washington at the helm as the fearless Olivia Pope, who has a merry band of “gladiators in suits” who worship her, Scandal’s pilot episode provided more than enough material to tempt me into coming back for more.

The political elements in the two cases Pope’s firm worked on in this initial episode felt contemporary.

The first story featured a decorated military hero who fled his fiance’s home after he discovered her bloody body. This prominent conservative speaker, who had his eyes on running for elected office, wanted Pope’s firm to help him before the police detained him for questioning. In under 24 hours, Pope’s tribe of super-human investigators uncovered the truth (faster than House’s diagnostic team): The guy didn’t do it, despite circumstantial evidence to the contrary, but he didn’t want to use the one piece of evidence bolstering his alibi because it would out him as a gay man. (Who killed the woman? Not Pope’s concern. The dead woman wasn’t her client.)

From this we learned three things about Scandal: 1) Pope’s associates have almost unreal connections and pull (plus they’re unafraid to blackmail and bargain to get their way … wonder if they know The Good Wife’s Kalinda?) 2) They flourish under a tight deadline 3) Pope is interested in more than just getting the goods for her clients, she wants to do “right” by them. She had moral nobility that trumps just getting a paycheck. Pope persuaded the man to come out of the closet, exonerate himself from the murder charge and be a role model for other soldiers.

The other case proved far more interesting as it served as a more than just an investigative procedural story because it involved Pope’s “always right” gut being wrong, her judgment clouded by misguided loyalty and lust, presidential lust. Pope initially believed her former employer, President Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant (Tony Goldwyn) when he said he didn’t have sex with that woman, Amanda Tanner, professing that his marriage was strong and that he needed Pope to shut Tanner down. She did indeed shut Tanner down with such extreme ferocity that I imagined that the likes of Monica Lewinsky would have physically shuddered had they been watching. Only after Tanner tried to commit suicide did Pope learn that Fitz had lied to her face and her gut was totally wrong.

Why had she believed Fitz, fallen for his lies? Because she used to sleep with him too. In fact, the presidential letch made the moves on Pope in the Oval Office after she confronted him with the truth, because Olivia Pope and her people always get to the truth, or so we’re supposed to believe. Based on the previews for upcoming episodes, this infraction, lying to Pope, will cost President Letch because if there’s one thing you don’t do is make Olivia Pope look like a fool.

For all its soapiness, Scandal was a blast to watch, particularly when it demonstrated, right from the get-go, that the imperious Pope — who “doesn’t believe in crying” though she herself teared up on numerous occasions — can be manipulated into making the wrong choices.

With Jeff Perry as a key presidential advisor (Grey’s Anatomy’s Thatcher Grey), Josh Malina (The West Wing’s Will Bailey) as a sarcastic U.S. attorney and Henry Ian Cusick (Lost’s Desmond) as Olivia’s work sidekick lending acting support to Washington’s smart, take-no-prisoners Pope, I’m hoping that the writers keep the stories within the realm of believability and continue to depict Pope as a flawed character who, despite her facade, has feet of clay like everybody else.

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Apr 06, 2012 @ 11:56 EST5EDT