Liv finds being “America’s mistress” more difficult than she initially anticipated… Watch a sneak peek of tonight’s Scandal, airing at 9:00pm ET|PT on ABC.
In the aftermath of Liv confirming her affair with Fitz, the White House and Mellie struggled with the best way through the media storm.
Last week’s Scandal (“Paris is Burning“) began with Abby rushing to stop Fitz and Mellie’s interview reassuring the world about their marriage. Abby actually ended up having the secret service descend on the room and remove Fitz, but it was too late. Liv had revealed the affair to the world, yet there was video of Fitz/Mellie pledging their love…which was true?
Fitz was pretty happy; now he and Liv could proceed with the truth, come out in the open, and move forward together. Yet, Mellie was an obstacle; she had no intention of doing an interview, telling the truth, and then slinking off. Who could Mellie call on for help? Lucky for her, Cyrus was on-board for negotiating the terms of Mellie’s participation. According to Cy, she needed to “think like a champion, think like a warrior”…and Warrior Mellie wanted the Oval. In order to agree to an amicable divorce, she wanted Fitz’s full support in her bid for the presidency—interviews, campaign stops, photo ops, funding. And until Mellie was president, Fitzlivia/Olitz would remain under-wraps (marriage while Fitz was in office wasn’t even a possibility).
With Liv’s encouragement, Fitz agreed. And yet, when Mellie learned she got all her requests, it wasn’t enough. She wanted “more” and it was Cyrus’ (the monster, not the softy) job to get it for her. Cy went straight to Fitz and appealed for “more”—Fitz needed to stay in the marriage with Mellie, at least until the end of his term. What did Liv think? Well, after a conversation with Mellie (in her closet, searching for her hooch), Liv didn’t really enjoy the idea of stepping into the role of First Lady and putting her life aside. Olitz could wait 18 months…
Fitz reached out to Mellie, thanked her for her support over the years, apologized for abandoning her, and promised to support her bid for president. They both agreed to do the interview…and then Cyrus struck. When Cy appealed to Fitz to forgive him and take him back as Chief of Staff, Fitz categorically refused (“you do not work here anymore.”). And as revenge, Cyrus convinced Mellie and Fitz was just playing her, again. In the end, Mellie refused to do the interview and left the White House with Cy in tow.
In this midst of this, Abby confronted Liv about the lies. If Liv had told the truth, none of this would have happened. When would Liv realize Abby could handle business? She could do this job; didn’t she learn from the best in the business? Abby put all her skills to work and did exactly what Liv would have done…she fixed things by throwing Liv right under the bus. Liv would be the villain, and as it happened, Fitz sat and watched Liv choose him and protect him.
As far as Jake (and eventually OPA) was concerned, Liv didn’t need help. All they needed to do was sit back, drink vodka, respect Liv’s decision not to lie, and watch the world end. While they watched the news, Jake noticed something in the news crawler…apparently the Louvre Museum (Paris) was burning. This triggered something with him because the next thing we knew, Jake was visiting Papa Pope (EEEP!) in prison. The Louvre is on fire…Lazarus One…And Nero fiddled while Rome burned… what does this mean?!
In tonight’s episode “Dog-Whistle Politics”, written by Mark Fish and directed by Zetna Fuentes:
HOW FAR IS FITZ WILLING TO GO?—Eager to get answers, Jake unexpectedly crosses paths with someone he thought he’d never see again. Meanwhile, Huck and Quinn recruit a familiar face to help smooth over the media storm surrounding Olivia, and Fitz quickly finds out the true cost of mercy when he discovers not everyone fully supports his actions. (via ABC)
How far is Fitz willing to go for Liv? I think he’ll go pretty far…I mean there were several points in the last 4 seasons where he planned to step down from the presidency. If not for Liv’s insistence, I really think he would have. Thoughts?
Take a look at two clips from the upcoming show. In the first video, Fitz is very upset. He’s angry with the way Abby through Liv under the bus and how the media has run away with the story, speculating about Liv’s promiscuity. In the second clip, Liv tries to calm Fitz down by assuring him that she’s willingly taking the heat to protect him.
No one is safe from Fitz’s rage in this #Scandal sneak peek. https://t.co/shXdztK5oH
— Scandal (@ScandalABC) October 12, 2015
The #Scandal follows Liv from the White House to her home in this sneak peek! https://t.co/xr1nNYd4PN — Scandal (@ScandalABC) October 14, 2015
Poor Olivia! Last week when she talked about this possibility I think we all wondered if she could really take the pressure of being “America’s mistress.” Liv is incredibly strong, but being constantly denigrated in the media and stalked by the paparazi is enough to grate on even the most determined of individuals. I don’t want for Liv to eventually resent Fitz.
In any event, it looks like Fitz won’t be sitting on his hands for long anyway…
Check out 12 photo stills from “Dog-Whistle Politics”, which show us how Liv, OPA, and Mellie are dealing with the aftermath of the scandal. Mellie is quite popular, with Cyrus’ intervention. Jake is also doing his own investigation into “Lazarus One” and “Paris burning”…whatever that means!
The new Scandal is airing at 9:00pm ET|PT on ABC; tune in and meet me over on twitter to live tweet it all!
