I’m obsessed with the current 2016 presidential election. I watch the debates and Showtime’s The Circus, follow the delegate counts and switch between FOX News and MSNBC every Tuesday night as primary results roll in. So Scandal is giving me everything I want as season 5 goes 100 percent into the political campaign.
Olivia and OPA are working for Mellie, Liz, Fitz and the White House are behind Susan, Cyrus has Vargas and now even Jake and Papa Pope are connected to someone running for president as their plans are finally revealed. Scandal is now all about the presidential race and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Republican Debate Prep
Sally Langston is moderating the first Republican presidential debate between Vice President Susan Ross, Senator Mellie Grant and crazy rich person Hollis Doyle. They all prepare for the big day in different ways.
Olivia is now officially running Mellie’s campaign with the help of OPA. The goal is to make her less of an elitist know-it-all with resting bitch face, which isn’t easy because that’s who Mellie is. A debacle at Gettysburger only confirms that Mellie can’t relate to the common man.
Susan prepares with everyone in the White House. Liz wants her to go public with David Rosen to humanize her, but there’s a big problem. David vents to Abby about sleeping with two women, not revealing names, and Abby lets it slip to Susan, unaware that she’s one of the two women.
Susan confronts David who denies it and agrees to go public. More importantly, he finally breaks up with Liz because he genuinely loves Susan. However, Susan still doesn’t trust him and breaks up with David just before the debate, even after he tells her that he was sleeping with someone else. Liz is a good friend to her, but it’s only a matter of time before Susan learns the whole truth.
Hollis, on the other hand, just shoots a gun to cook some bacon while the press watches. Scandal is going to have to keep up that level of ridiculousness just to top what Donald Trump is actually doing.
The episode ends right as the debate is about to begin, so we’ll have to wait until next week to see the crazy mudslinging.
The Democratic Race
Cyrus is now running Frankie Vargas’ presidential campaign, but he’s not running unopposed. Olivia’s former fiance, Florida Senator Edison Davis, enters the race on the Democratic side.
Cyrus also has some stiff competition from the candidate’s charismatic brother Alex (played by Danny Pino). Alex is ruthless and has run all his brother’s other campaigns. He digs up dirt on Susan Ross and tries to make a deal to give it to Olivia in exchange for dirt on Edison.
Olivia Gets Dirty
Quinn is still looking into Jake’s new bride-to-be and finally discovers the big secret. Jake and Papa Pope are using Vanessa’s sizeable bank accounts to fund Edison’s Super PAC, financing his campaign. Olivia tries to warn Edison about how dangerous her dad is, but Edison already knows and he’s OK teaming up with Papa Pope if it helps him become president.
Olivia orchestrates a sexy bathroom rendezvous with Jake to tell him what she learned, vowing that “I will win.” To do that, Olivia agrees to Alex’s deal, giving him dirt on Edison in exchange for a mystery folder about something very bad Susan Ross has done. You can throw that White Hat into the fireplace, because no one is going to emerge from this campaign with clean hands.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
