Scandal’s season 5 finale kicks off with Jake Ballard calmly poisoning his new father-in-law. Now, if you watch enough Scandal, you’ll start to become numb to murder. In fact, murder will start to seem like an obvious option. I can’t count the number of times I’ve yelled at the screen, “Just kill him already!” Especially as it…

It’s not all mistresses and murder with Scandal. While the soapy political drama frequently takes us deep into the world of make-believe, Scandal is also known for its plucked-straight-from-the-headlines plotlines that tap directly into the zeitgeist, the most noteworthy of which may have been the Ferguson, Mo.-inspired “Lawn Chair” episode. Indeed, in the midst of all the over-the-top…

Scandal’s presidential election is in full swing, and the candidates drop like flies in this episode, which is appropriately titled, “Trump Card.”  On the Republican Side Billionaire bigot Hollis Doyle is leading the Republican field, and Olivia Pope and Abby Whelan have agreed to a cease-fire so they can team up to take Hollis down, but…

Remember a couple of episodes ago when Olivia Pope belittled Abby Whelan, Abby exacted revenge and as a result, Olivia bashed Andrew Nichols’ head in with a chair? Well, Olivia and Abby are now engaged in a gladiator-vs.-gladiator death match as they try to deliver a win for their candidates, Sen. Mellie Grant and Vice President…

Some of my favorite Scandal episodes are the ones in which we dig into the back stories of the characters and find out how they came to be the sick, sordid individuals they are now—like when we found out that Cyrus Beene was once married to a woman, or that Huck had a wife and…

Remember last season when Olivia Pope was kidnapped and put up for sale on a global auction block (during Black History Month, no less)? President Fitz Grant had selected his old friend, Andrew Nichols, to be his vice president, but as it turned out, Andrew had designs on Fitz’s wife and his job. So Andrew had Olivia…

This week’s Scandal picks up in the middle of the first Republican presidential debate, with Hollis Doyle serving us his best Donald Trump impersonation—an all-you-can-eat buffet of deep-fried racism and sexism. Sen. Mellie Grant holds her own, but Vice President Susan Ross, still reeling from her breakup with Attorney General David Rosen, performs so poorly that President…

Scandal’s presidential campaign is in full swing, and this week, all of the candidates are gearing up for their first debate, which will be hosted by Sally Langston on The Liberty Report.  Billionaire narcissist Hollis Doyle, aka “the Texas Truthteller”: He’s the Donald Trump of Scandal’s presidential race, which is brilliant. Hollis is just going to tell it like…

This week’s episode of Scandal was one of those episodes during which the majority of time was simply spent positioning characters for what’s to come in future episodes. Here’s a quick recap of where everyone landed. Olivia is on to Jake. While Olivia Pope has dessert at her father’s house with Jake Ballard and his new fiancee, Vanessa,…