scandalfan101:

I know that Scandal’s trademark is leaving the viewer with more questions than answers at the end of every episode, however, I be having some questions that need answering:

1. Who was the person in Liv’s apartment when she came across Jake’s Best Buy wall?

2. If Billy Chambers was the mole, what was his motivation for selling secrets to Kashfari terrorists? The man for all intents and purposes was a fanatical patriot, so why was he betraying his country in such a way?

3. Why was Jake’s mission to break up Olitz? They hadn’t been together for ten months when he introduced himself to Olivia!

4. Why did Rowan ask if Jake had “taken care of it?” referring to CIA Director Osbourne, if Billy had been the one to kill him, and set him up?

5. Why did Jake look so surprised when he spied Fitz hugging Olivia at the hospital, if his mission had always been to split them up? Presumingly he already knew that they had a relationship?

6. What was the point of Harrison randomly slamming a chair across the room in anger? Why was this scene left in, when so many other relevant scenes were cut?

7. What was the point of showing a newer, stronger, more determined Fitz, if he was just going to go back to Mellie, like a lapdog?

8. What was the point of showing both Olivia and Fitz’s character growth if they were just going to default to the people from episode 107?

9. How can Olivia be worrying about waiting for Fitz for four more years, then decide 24 hours later that she’d rather be with her Gladiators than him? What was her pain in 215 about when she read Will Caldwell for being with a woman who will never leave her husband? What was that whole “Stolen Moments” speech about when she continuously turns around and defeats Fitz’s attempts to have them be together?

10. Does Shonda Rhimes not want the audience to like Fitz? I’ve noticed a growing number of people hating on him spectacularly since his character assassination began.

11. If we are to believe Bellamy Young that Mellie is deeply in love with Fitz, can we have better proof of this? Can we have the on-screen dialogue and actions that prove the actors’ words?

11b. Can the audience have proof of Mellie’s political savvy and intelligence please? It’s not enough to just keep saying that she’s a political animal, we need proof! Forging Fitz’s reinstatement letter, lying about a miscarriage that never was, going on national TV and blowing up the illusion of her marriage, to what end? What was she hoping to achieve, other than forcing Fitz out in the open with Olivia? Inducing her baby four weeks early in order to manipulate Fitz into stopping the divorce talk? How was that going to do anything other than make Fitz despise her even more, and chase him into Olivia’s arms, once again? How are all these actions proof of her political intelligence?
Also, she basically told the relatives of the people being held hostage in Kashfar, that the administration were willing to negotiate with terrorists!

12. Why was Olivia looking so happy when she was walking out of her apartment, after supposedly breaking up with Fitz for the tenth time? Are we to believe that her decision was like a weight lifted off her shoulder, after we’d witnessed her absolute misery without him? On several occasions now?

13. How could Fitz get away with telling the press that his marriage is none of their business when Mellie had clearly made it their business the night before?

14. What was the point of John Barrowman’s character? He didn’t actually do anything all episode other than shade and be shaded by Mellie, in 221.

15. When Billy was arrested, how was he walking so well after Quinn drilling him for answers? Literally? Wouldn’t he just tell the police what Quinn did to him?

16. Why did the cabal decide to meet in the White House Kitchen? Don’t they have live-in staff who may have wandered in?

17. Why does Liv continually listen to Cyrus, when she’s acknowledged herself that Cyrus does not want her and Fitz together? Why is Cyrus so important to her when it’s clear hat he’d toss her aside if he felt she was threatening Fitz’s presidency?

18. Who within OPA actually knows about Fitz and Olivia apart from Huck and Harrison?

19. What was Quinn’s reaction to learning that Fitz had called Liv from his hospital bed, after he woke up in episode 210? Did Liv tell her who it was seeing as Quinn was there at the time, and would have obviously asked the question?

20. How did Fitz manage to get sober so easily after presumably spending the last ten months as a functioning alcoholic?

22. Why does James get more story than Harrison? Where was he in episode 222? He barely said two words all episode.

23. Is Shonda Rhimes attempting to write the story that she originally had in mind for this show with the introduction of Olivia’s powerful father?

These are just my top questions, there’s plenty more where they came from, feel free to add others…..

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Tony Goldwyn is turning 53 today, so we are celebrating him as the man that brings us Fitzgerald Grant on “Scandal.” ABC’s smash Thursday-night drama continued to grow in popularity this year thanks in part to Goldwyn’s riveting performances, and wrapped its second season last week.

Take a look at one of our favorite scenes from the show below, from the episode “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.” Fans of the torrid affair between Fitz and Liv will surely remember this moment where the president of the free world professes his undeniably passionate love to his mistress in the rose garden.

The Rose Garden scene is easily one of my favorite Olitz moments!

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Watch the video Shonda Rhimes and Kerry Washington: ‘We’re Just Having The Time Of Our Lives’ On ‘Scandal’ on Yahoo! Celebrity. “Scandal” creator Shonda Rhimes and star Kerry Washington chat about their ABC drama and why it

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[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Thursday’s season two finale, “White Hats Back On,” episode of Scandal.] Holy Scandal reveals, Batman!

During Thursday’s season two finale of ABC’s breakout hit Scandal, the Defiance team welcomed a shocking new member as Olivia was forced to make a heartbreaking decision about her relationship with Fitz. But welcoming the president into the scheming illuminati wasn’t Olivia’s biggest reveal. At the end of the hour, D.C.’s top fixer was revealed to be the president’s mistress, and was rudely escorted into a nearby limo to meet Rowan, the head of B613 and her father.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Scandal starKerry Washington to discuss the nature of Olivia’s relationship with her father, playing that scene opposite Joe Morton — an actor she’s been a fan of for years — and more.

PHOTOS: The Couples of Shondaland: ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Private Practice,’ ‘Scandal’

The Hollywood Reporter: Olivia gets a very Star Wars reveal: Rowan is her father!
Kerry Washington: Looking back, Joe and Shonda were so excited to see me so excited because they knew where [the story] was going. I’m really excited to see how it unfolds.

THR: We don’t know much about Olivia’s upbringing. How did you play the scene considering that the nature of their relationship is so unclear?
Washington: When we were playing the scene, we kept asking [director] Tom Verica and Shonda what their dynamic was and even they didn’t know. It was like a crazy game in acting class where every time I’d get into the car, we would each make a bold choice about the relationship, but we didn’t tell each other what it was. When they were editing the episode, they had 20 different ways to play that scene — if not more — just based on the intonation of how we said those words to each other. We played it a lot of different ways. It was really fascinating to see which of those acting choices they went with because I do think it says something about the relationship between the two of them, but not with any clarity or definitive specificity.

THR: What were some of the ways you played it?
Washington: There were some ways that I did it that were much more “Oh, thank God, I’m happy to see you” or “Oh, I love you so much; I thought you were dead.” The one that aired has some anger to it that’s really interesting. I wonder what Shonda sees in it and what audiences will see in it. It’s a really layered response, and it’s not a simple one; it’s a really complicated exchange.

STORY: ‘Scandal’ Case Study: Shonda Rhimes on Season 3, Olivia and Fitz’s Future

THR: Olivia’s identity as Fitz’s “mistress” has been revealed, but we don’t know who leaked it. Theories?
Washington: We were theorizing the other day at work about who could have done that. People have such vastly different theories about it. Every time we think of somebody who it could be — “Oh, well maybe it was Mellie” — there are reasons why it wouldn’t be Mellie. Or maybe it was Billy before he gets sent away. But there are two reasons why that isn’t right, either. It’s really tricky. Even when you think you know, there’s always this one-two punch where you thought you saw something coming but then they one-up your expectation.

THR: Might the fact that her identity as the president’s mistress went public change her decision about Olivia and Fitz’s romantic future?
Washington: That’s part of what makes her relationship so complex is that she’s always felt torn, she’s always felt complicated feelings of both “I wish this never happened” and “Thank God I met someone that I love this much.” That will continue to have the complexity that it has. Maybe the stakes are higher in terms of how that plays out because everybody knows now. Internally, it’s not all that different. Externally, how that’s navigated is different. It’s an enormous cliffhanger right up there with “Who Is Quinn Perkins?”

THR: Mellie takes Fitz back and avoids the race issue coming up when Olivia’s identity as Fitz’s mistress is revealed. How might she use this to her advantage?
Washington: One of the things that upset me so much when we did the table read and even watching the finale was that Olivia has worked so hard on this plan and how it’s all going to unfold, and because she gets caught up in the moment of wanting to prove to the first lady that there’s a plan, Fitz shows her my hand. The thing about your strategy that makes it work is that it’s your strategy and other people don’t know about it. But in that hospital room, Fitz shows her Olivia’s hand completely so she can now build a counter-strategy, whereas if she didn’t have that information, she wouldn’t have been able to.

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THR: Fitz is welcomed into the Defiance fold. How will Olivia work to protect him now that she’s aware that he killed Verna?
Washington: I have no idea (laughs). She has a pretty big crisis of her own on her hands now, so I don’t know. I feel like her world just got turned upside down, but it’s hard to imagine her extricating herself from it completely.

THR: Gov. Reston (Tom Amandes) is back and was working with Billy to prove Fitz rigged the election that cost him the presidency. How much of the election rigging is he aware of?
Washington: I think he’s been fully briefed [about the election rigging], but I don’t know. I’m sure that Billy held on to some information for leverage, so we’ll have to see.

THR: David proves that he does indeed wear the white hat — getting his job back when he gives the Cytron card to Cyrus and giving Olivia the smoking gun to have Billy arrested. Can we expect him to continue working with OPA now or could we see him return to being a foe?
Washington: There are no simple relationships on this show, so I can’t imagine that their relationship will be lovey-dovey and easygoing now. They’ve always had history and they now have more history than ever before. It’s not going to be simple.

THR: Rowan tosses Jake into the hole where Huck was held. Will Olivia seek him out again?
Washington: Isn’t that crazy? When I read that, half of my heart was really broken because I didn’t want that to happen to Jake, and the other half was so excited because he’s not dead and may not go away. We all love Jake so much, and Scott Foley is such a great member of our cast. It’s definitely nice to leave things open-ended. I specifically said to Shonda at the end of season one, “That elevator door closed and we never saw anything happen,” and she just smiled. It was because we all love working with Matty so much, and we were looking for hope and, yeah, that’s where they were going all along.

THR: Looking at season three, would you like to see a focus on Fitz’s re-election? It’s one thing that we’ve only seen thus far in flashbacks.
Washington: It would be really exciting because I feel like we’ve had some elections where there’s been record-breaking numbers of voter turnout in this country, and it would be really fun for people to feel more invested in and familiar with the process than ever before. It would be really exciting, not only for us, but for audiences to go there. If not season three, then hopefully eventually.

What do you want to see in season three? 

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