Scandal Meme: Episodes [1/7]
↳ Episode 1x06 - “The Trail”
Scandal Cast Video Table Read
Everyone enjoy!
More #ScandalTakeOver photo moments outside the Good Morning America studios 5.14.13. (Photos by Gladiator Brenda!)
#ScandalTakeOver photo moments outside the Good Morning America studios 5.14. 13. (Photos by Gladiator Brenda!)
“Dad?”
That was certainly the single word that got the biggest gasps, screams and OMGs. When Kerry Washington uttered those words to Joe Morton, who in this episode finale got a name - Rowan - the entire audience collectively lost their mind. It was fantastic! I can only imagine it was similar to what it felt like to be in a theater in 1980 when Darth Vader uttered those famous five words to Luke Skywalker. We were all jubilant and perhaps the slightest bit embarrassed because the entire SCANDAL cast was right there in front of us. It was a live table read of the season 2 finale, scripted by none other than series creator Shonda Rhimes (also on stage). I was in the fifth row, so when I screamed I was no more than forty feet from Bellamy, Jeff, Tony, Kerry, Guillermo, Katie, Darby, and Josh (Columbus Short wasn’t present for the event.)
Some people showed up thinking we were going to see the broadcast finale and then have a panel. They wanted the music and quick edits, the action and set pieces. I was up for anything. It turned out to be one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen. Shonda Rhimes admitted it was an experiment, an effort for them to share with fans how dynamic their table reads were. This one had the benefit of the actors knowing what was coming. Typically, the actors read the scripts for the FIRST TIME at the table read. So much of the casts’ joy after the final line was read was in seeing us have the same reactions they did.This is my second time this season seeing the cast on a panel, though the first time was more traditional. We watched an episode and then the cast came out and answered some questions. Also the audience was about a fourth the size of this one and there was no press there.
It was funny. I think that was the most surprising aspect of the table read. We all know these characters so well and the actors are more than aware of their characters quirks, so when Jake turned out to be hiding in Olivia’s apartment in Act IV, instead of that being scary, Scott Foley gave a sheepish shrug, because yeah, Jake is kind of a stalker. What wasn’t a surprise was the skill level in the writing. Yes, the dialog popped, but the stage directions were fascinating too. They were full of portent and humor, personality and tone.
We applauded after every one of Cyrus’ speeches because Jeff Perry gives his all. Every time. I felt like he really might have a heart attack right there on the stage. That’s not to say he’s alone in that venture, he just so forceful. Guillermo Diaz is far more quiet, but no less impressive. Kerry Washington remarked how beautiful it was for the rest of the cast to watch Guillermo, who is happy and lively turn into Huck on set. We got to see a smidge of that. It was beautiful indeed.After every emotional sequence I noticed the actors reaching over and rubbing their co-workers back, patting a knee, if they were physically too far away (they were in two staggered rows on the stage facing the audience, instead of sitting around an actual table), they would clap or toss a quiet word or look - always supporting. Even though the episode was in the can and had aired on the east coast, full commitment and full support. How rare.I am dying to see what made it into the final cut. To see Jake in his dress whites having a scotch, ready to meet his fate. The look on Olivia’s fate when she is the one confronted by a wall of reporters. But I don’t feel at all cheated having not seen the produced version first. In one take, live, these actors were like the best theater troupe/radio cast ever.
I still felt the soaring possibility of Olivia’s master plan to get herself into the White House. I also knew by its very utterance it would never happen. It’s like when you see the wedding dress on a soap before the bride comes down the aisle. I still was aghast when Cyrus dropped the Verna bomb and then gave Fitz the sex tape. The Olitz chemistry was perhaps even more palpable. I felt the dread as Huck couldn’t torture Billy, knowing that Quinn would.
Afterward, after we gave the cast and the writers standing ovations, there was a panel. The panel was revealing - like when Shonda Rhimes said that when they came back for Season 2 she didn’t know who Quinn would be. Or that originally they were going to have Huck be the one who killed Verna. And that the Presidential assassination came to them later. Bellamy Young was only supposed to be in three episodes, because Shonda really wanted “to write a Presidential divorce.” Now I wonder if we’ll ever see one… Apparently, though none of the cast is aware of what is coming down the pike for their characters Joe Morton knew all along that he was going to be Olivia’s father. Even Kerry didn’t know!
After the panel was the reception in the ATAS lobby. I told myself I would just partake of the mini-dessert bar and call it a night, but there were all just so close. Just hanging around, chatting with reporters, fans and industry folks all the while tweeting on their phones (at this point the West coast broadcast was going on). I started snapping pics and before you know it, well this happened:
Anyhoo, it was a night this #Scandalobsessed fan won’t soon forget. Now, I have to go watch the ‘real’ episode. Character observations, plot turns and conspiracy theories can be found there. Thanks for reading!
“Scandal” stats Guillermo Diaz and Katie Lowes tell Zap2It about their hopes for their characters in Season 3, as well as reflect on the growing relationship between the two during Season 2.
Sure, the Season 2 finale of“Scandal” was all about that final reveal with Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope and her peculiar parentage, but there were some key moments for a pair of characters who have grown into an interesting combination throughout the season, as well: Guillermo Diaz’s Huck and Katie Lowes’ Quinn.
Throughout Season 2, Huck took Quinn under his wing, teaching her his ways and, as last night’s shocking moment with that drill, inadvertently may have created a monster. Zap2Itcaught up with both Diaz and Lowes on the red carpet at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on Thursday (May 16) for a cast reading of the finale, where Lowes gushed about working with Diaz.
“Whatever it is, we just really like working together and we have good chemistry and I couldn’t love Guillermo Diaz more,” she says. “He’s my work husband, that’s what I call him.”
Lowes adds that Huckleberry Quinn fans tend to have one question when they see her. “That’s the number one thing I get out on the street,” she says. “‘Are [Quinn] and Huck gonna get together sexually? Are they having a relationship?’”
Diaz, whose character was put through quite the ringer this season, has high hopes for Huck’s continued progress, come Season 3. “I would like to see him trying to get better,” he explains. “Like, in the beginning [of Season 2,] you kind of saw him going to meetings — AA meeting for alcohol, [because] there’s no meetings for torture — but I’d love to see him really continue to try and be a better man and stop killing people and see where that goes. Maybe find another love interest. That would be kind of cool.”
One of Diaz’s favorite moments for Huck this season was episode 19, entitled “Seven-Fifty-Two,” during which the audience learned of the character’s past, including the reveal of a family he’d been forced to abandon.
“When I first read it, I remember we didn’t get the script ‘til the day we sat down ti read it, and I remember crying so much and I kept thinking, ‘Oh my god, I have to stop crying.’ Everybody was crying,” Diaz reveals. “I couldn’t believe that Shonda [Rhimes, series creator] fit all that backstory in one script. Shooting that episode, I was doing happy Huck, I was doing crazy torturing Huck, sad homeless Huck — my emotions were up and down. It was a really intense, really difficult episode to shoot, but so worth it.”
Knowing that the character has a family out there, somewhere, Diaz says he’s hopeful that the show will find time to touch on it in the future. “I mean, I don’t see why Shonda wouldn’t bring back Jasika Nicole (“Fringe”), who played by wife … It would be such an interesting episode. I think she will, I hope she does.”
This being “Scandal,” we’re almost certain Huck’s wife will return — in the most shocking fashion possible, of course.
“Scandal” returns to ABC this fall for Season 3 on Thursdays at 10 p.m.
Carson sits down with one of the stars of the political thriller, “Scandal.” This is Guillermo Diaz on Last Call.
“What is your favourite scene with Kerry Washington? Do you have a favourite scene from Scandal thus far?”
It was a great scene.
The dearly departed Osborne said something to Olivia before he went to that great sunset that I think will play out in the next season.
She is important because she is the gatekeeper of important people. He had a file on her because of who she represented. The powerful people of the world whose secrets she guarded carefully as she fixed their problems. And Olivia threatened back to him she has people that are above his pay grade that could handle him with just a call.
So that black file. Olivia being exposed isn’t just a personal crisis, or a mere mistress being exposed, it is literally a threat to the entirety of the Republic.
Why? Because she holds the secrets of numerous congressmen, senators, judges, and a President in her little head. And being exposed, put out there, means that they don’t just dig about her but they dig about her clients. Who works there? Who has she helped? Why did she help them?
That little black file is probably her nuclear option. So when shit hits the fan that little black file opens all of its secrets.
This is a very dangerous game.
This is precisely why Olitz is a problem for Rowan. Olivia Pope is truly the gatekeeper of important people and once she becomes First Lady everyone will be digging into her past to expose it all. She becomes a walking target! Everything she does will be analyze to a fault. (Even before she gets to that powerful position, it started now because the press has labeled her as “the President’s mistress.” She’s no longer that THE Olivia Pope that Quinn Perkins went all gaga for back in Sweet Baby when Harrison asked her to ask him who he works for. She’s no longer the woman that helped get Fitz elected and the head of DC’s top crisis management firm.)
That is precisely why that black file is her nuclear option. It threatens all the important people’s secrets and especially the secrecy behind B613. I think we’re going to see the very important people lobbying hard for Olivia Pope as FLOTUS or Olivia Pope the woman because she if not OPA will blow the lid on their dirty little secrets one by one.
This explains why Rowan kept insisting that he’ll handle her personally. I’m anticipating the moment when Harrison opens that black file and uses it wisely. It’s going to be the true game-changer! Oh if we thought the Cytron card was epic, that black file will trump it ALL times infinity. Solid observation, MiltonSong!
A lot of people are going to be antsy about her being exposed as his mistress. A lot of people. Remember Olivia was the same woman who called all those congressmen in during the Madame scandal and basically got them to heel with the shit she had on them. She holds all those men’s careers (during an election year) in her hands. So to be exposed as the mistress of the President not only freaks them out but terrifies them. Especially if they are the member of the opposite party.
The knowledge Olivia has is her greatest asset. It is her greatest claim to fame.
Shit is going to get really bad.
Majority if not all of OPA’s clientele is going to lose their damn minds. Their vault is out in the open. (It’s just like you said her knowledge is her greatest asset.) Olivia knows far too much about the DC’s power players and the dark side of the moon. Shit just got too real with this reveal! The contents of that black folder is going to be explosive!
If you have not read Part I: Paternity Issues, please do. It’s a run-down of all the paternity themes throughout Scandal’s season 2B (episodes 214-222)
The name ‘Rowan’ is significant and symbolic. I don’t know how intentional the writers are with names, but I can’t help but think that the character of Rowan fits his namesake. Here are a couple notable things about the name/noun ‘Rowan’, and how they relate back to Olivia.
1) A ‘rowan’ is a type deciduous ash tree, or shrub (depending on type). It is the hardiest of the European trees. It even grows in the tundra of Norway. It also grows in Asia as well as North America, where it is sometimes referred to as the ‘mountain ash’ because it grows on mountain slopes. Wherever it grows, it needs very little soil and water to survive. It’s a resilient survivor.
So Olivia comes from good stock, because I would use the above words to describe her. I do suspect she has survived some serious abandonment in the past, most likely by her father, Rowan, given that he has been involved with the CIA and B613 for a long time. Those people don’t have families. If this is so, it also explains why Fitz’s abandonment of her upon finding out about Defiance cut her so deeply: “You left me all alone.”
2) In fiction, a ‘rowan’ has alleged magical and supernatural properties. Hmmm, where have we heard words like that used before? In 217, Mellie tells Fitz the real reason why he’s been so butt hurt for 10 months:
“It’s because you’ve found that your precious Olivia doesn’t have the secrets of the universe tucked between her magical thighs. That she is just a person, like everybody else.”
But in 222, Fitz doesn’t seem to think Olivia’s just a person like everybody else. He thinks she’s made of supernatural stuff, and that she can do anything, even come up with a plan that will make America love his black mistress over his white, soon-to-be -ex-wife:
“Olivia Pope, use your superpowers.”
Ok, I’m reaching, but that was fun, no?
This perfectly explains all about Olivia Pope: Wherever it grows, it needs very little soil and water to survive. It’s a resilient survivor. It’s a great metaphor to best describe her. It took me back to that wide-eye Quinn Perkins moment when she said “THE Olivia Pope?!” Her name has that supernatural power behind it then and especially now. Great observation, Katrina!
The dearly departed Osborne said something to Olivia before he went to that great sunset that I think will play out in the next season.
She is important because she is the gatekeeper of important people. He had a file on her because of who she represented. The powerful people of the world whose secrets she guarded carefully as she fixed their problems. And Olivia threatened back to him she has people that are above his pay grade that could handle him with just a call.
So that black file. Olivia being exposed isn’t just a personal crisis, or a mere mistress being exposed, it is literally a threat to the entirety of the Republic.
Why? Because she holds the secrets of numerous congressmen, senators, judges, and a President in her little head. And being exposed, put out there, means that they don’t just dig about her but they dig about her clients. Who works there? Who has she helped? Why did she help them?
That little black file is probably her nuclear option. So when shit hits the fan that little black file opens all of its secrets.
This is a very dangerous game.
This is precisely why Olitz is a problem for Rowan. Olivia Pope is truly the gatekeeper of important people and once she becomes First Lady everyone will be digging into her past to expose it all. She becomes a walking target! Everything she does will be analyze to a fault. (Even before she gets to that powerful position, it started now because the press has labeled her as “the President’s mistress.” She’s no longer that THE Olivia Pope that Quinn Perkins went all gaga for back in Sweet Baby when Harrison asked her to ask him who he works for. She’s no longer the woman that helped get Fitz elected and the head of DC’s top crisis management firm.)
That is precisely why that black file is her nuclear option. It threatens all the important people’s secrets and especially the secrecy behind B613. I think we’re going to see the very important people lobbying hard for Olivia Pope as FLOTUS or Olivia Pope the woman because she if not OPA will blow the lid on their dirty little secrets one by one.
This explains why Rowan kept insisting that he’ll handle her personally. I’m anticipating the moment when Harrison opens that black file and uses it wisely. It’s going to be the true game-changer! Oh if we thought the Cytron card was epic, that black file will trump it ALL times infinity. Solid observation, MiltonSong!
Details about the Scandal: Complete Second Season DVD set.
Scandal is one of the few really big successes for TV in recent times, actually growing in audience as time has gone on.
The popular series from creator Shonda Rhimes stars Kerry Washington, and a DVD set might be the best way for folks like myself, who haven’t seen the show, to get caught up. Here are details about the Season 2 set:
Synopsis: Experience every breathless, jaw-dropping moment as Olivia Pope and her team of “gladiators in suits” turn up the heat and raise the stakes in “Scandal: The Complete Second Season.”
For Olivia Pope and Associates, cleaning up other people’s messes takes a shattering personal toll. Season Two blows the lid off Quinn’s identity, exposes Huck’s dark past, and uncovers Olivia’s darkest secret – something so shocking and enormous that it threatens the entire nation. From boardrooms to bedrooms, relive all 22 episodes of the explosive second season of “Scandal” including exclusive, never-before-seen bonus features with this riveting 5-disc set.
Talent/Cast: “Scandal” stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, Columbus Short as Harrison Wright, Guillermo Diaz as Huck, Darby Stanchfield as Abby Whelan, Katie Lowes as Quinn Perkins, Tony Goldwyn as President Fitzgerald Grant, Jeff Perry as Cyrus Beene, Bellamy Young as Mellie Grant and Joshua Malina as David Rosen.
Bonus Features: A Closer Look: President Grant’s Assassination Attempt – Get an inside peek at how one of Season Two’s most pivotal scenes was shot (pun intended).
Hanging with Huck – Spend the day with actor Guillermo Diaz and get to know the man behind the eclectic yet oddball character “Huck”.
Extended Episode – Delve deeper into the drama with an episode featuring additional moments too revealing for broadcast television.
Deleted Scenes – Discover more scandalous secrets through several never-before-seen moments from the hit series.
Outtakes – Fans will laugh out loud at these funny, unseen moments from the set of “Scandal.”
Pre-order your Season 2 DVD set through Amazon.com
Scandal Season 2 DVD is due out on Tuesday September 3rd!
