“D’jango Unchained” belle, Kerry Washington, stars as Olivia Pope in this seductive thriller about the slips and cover ups of Washington’s most affluent elite. Pope heads a crisis management firm, Pope & Associates, with a team of lawyers, investigators, and a former C.I.A agent. Their jobs are to protect the public image of their clients, and to assure that their would-be scandals never see the light of day. Olivia’s extremely loyal staff includes Harrison Wright (Columbus Short), a suave lawyer, Quinn Perkins (Katie Lowes), the newbie with a dark past, Huck (Guillermo Diaz), a former C.I.A agent turned hacker with a penchant for blood, and Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield), Pope’s lead investigator.
Their client list includes a millionaire’s son accused of rape, a secretly gay decorated war hero under investigation for murdering his girlfriend, and the grandest client of all- President Fitzgerald Grant III (Tony Goldwyn). He is known as “Fitz” by Olivia and he is her former boss who presents a conflict of interest for her and her practice.
“Scandal” flip-flops from present to past and back again to show how Pope joins the presidential race, and saves Fitz’s election. During the race, Olivia and a married Fitz begin – what could be described as the most scandalous plot of the show – a sexual tryst that lasts well into the White House where Olivia’s guilt forces her resignation as the Communications Director. When Amanda Tanner (Liza Weil), a White House intern, threatens to speak to the press about her affair and alleged pregnancy with the president, Pope must once again do damage control to save his presidency. But where is his wife you ask? Why she’s turning a blind eye to his entire infidelities – so long as she remains the First Lady.
One can certainly not deny the abundance of juicy drama meticulously raveled into each character. The most important being Fitz and Olivia’s hidden romance – nostalgically akin to that of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky – that if revealed, could prove catastrophic. As if this love triangle was not enough, the progression of each episode puts Fitz’s POTUS in constant threat from every angle by lying, calculating manipulators. Boy is it tough to be the president of the free world – not to say that Fitz didn’t bring this onto himself. But it really makes you wonder if Washington D.C. truly runs the way it’s portrayed on the show. More than likely it’s not but it surely sparks a revived interest in Politics. Scandal \was created by Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice) and airs on ABC on Thursdays at 10 pm.