SCANDAL – “Over A Cliff” – The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Eric McCandless) KERRY WASHINGTON
After the previous episode spinning the wheels to an excessive degree, I hadn’t much hope that this episode of Scandal would deliver on any measure. It is the penultimate episode with only a single one remaining for the 7 season series and yet I still had no idea on where it would go and if it would actually amount to anything satisfying. Well, now that this episode is out of the way, I see where the finale will be heading and I have to say it’s the only route that makes sense and I’m kinda surprised the show managed to come up with it after fumbling on and off for so long. The underlying evil that had persisted in Scandal for so long was B613 and yet there was never a time it was fully defeated, someone always taking the place of the last person to run it. Olivia’s goal of this episode is to fully end that cycle and destroy B613 forever.
It was slightly humorous to see Quinn, Huck, and Abby all bring up events that occurred in the past due to B613 and how much of it contradicts with the way things are today. Jake killed James, the only person Cyrus ever seemed to truly love. Yet, now Jake and Cyrus are working together and act as if that’s something that never happened. Quinn and Huck have been giving Olivia lectures on not going to desperate measures in order to get what she wants when they had both done pretty heinous things during their tenure at B613. That’s also the rub that they get themselves into: if Olivia wants to expose B613 and let the truth finally go public, it would implicate them all equally as that organization touched each of their lives. It could result in Olivia, Mellie, Fitz, and QPA to all go to prison by the end of things, but Olivia is sick of doing the wrong things and lying, it’s time to stand in the sun like she always desired.
SCANDAL – “Standing in the Sun” – The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Mitch Haaseth) KERRY WASHINGTON
That’s another good callback in this episode, where Jake pays one of his creepy ass visits to Olivia’s apartment where he breaks in and then sits in the darkness for her to get home. He hands her a vial of sand that he had taken from the beach of the island they escaped to at the end of Season 3. It was much simpler times back then, even though equally crazy shit was happening like Rowan killing Fitz’s son in order for him to win the election. Jake gives one last offer to Olivia to just lie and give Mellie all the blame and Olivia will be free from all harm in the future. Olivia still stands firm on not wanting to continue the life she had been living when she was on top of the world and rejects Jake’s offer, instead owning all her secrets in her interrogation with the prosecutor. It is here that she has to gather Mellie, Fitz, and QPA together and explain that she is going to go forward with her plans and it’s up to them if they want to continue to run from their past sins or stand in the sun with her.
Ultimately, everyone decides to side with Olivia and prepares to potentially give up their lives in order to rebuild the Republic that has been corrupted for so long, ensuring that Jake and Cyrus will never be able to ascend to their goals and destroying B613 forever. Speaking of destroying B613, Jake even pays a visit to Rowan and almost kills him in his crazed state after being told that despite him believing himself to be Command, Rowan is the one true Command. It’s a true statement as Rowan had tried to pass the torch to Jake and Olivia, but neither could do with the power what Rowan accomplished. Rowan was and always will be power, while Jake and Olivia always chased after that idea, but could never truly nail it down. While Olivia opted to embrace the light instead, Jake is heading further down the path of darkness and had he pulled the trigger on Rowan as an assertion of his power, he would’ve truly been lost.
SCANDAL – “Standing in the Sun” – The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Giovanni Rufino) GUILLERMO DIAZ, KATIE LOWES, DARBY STANCHFIELD, KERRY WASHINGTON
“Standing In The Sun” was the calm before the storm. The episode ends with QPA convincing Sally Langston to inform the public of B613 through her television show, bringing the first instance of Olivia’s plan into action. What will follow next is for Olivia, Fitz, Mellie, and QPA to all come forward and give their accounts of just how much B613 has been behind and what to do about it now. I’m not sure how Cyrus and Jake will counter this attack, unless they attempt to get some more blood on their hands, but the stage has definitely been set for a exciting conclusion to the Scandal series.
Standing In The Sun – 4 out of 5
