TV REVIEW: Scandal Goes Out with a Whimper in “The Price of a Free and Fair Election”

By Chelsea Hensley

Before Scandal’s finale aired I considered all the “shocking” things that could happen to make this into a truly surprising finale. On this list were various things including Cyrus getting arrested, Sally winning the election or Stephen (remember Stephen?) coming back from wherever it was he went. So of course Fitz won the election, Cyrus is free as a bird, and Henry Ian Cusick is doing a show on the CW.  Basically “The Price of a Free and Fair Election” was a pretty lacking finale, paling in comparison to previous season-enders because by the end of the hour it felt like nothing of importance, nothing that would really stick, had happened.

Within the first five minutes the bomb at the funeral went off but didn’t kill anyone, and Sally and Leo even took advantage of the explosion to catapult themselves ahead in the polls. But because Scandal can’t exist without the White House and the Oval Office, and Olivia’s free access to both, Sally’s win was unlikely from the start and only grew more unlikely as everyone became so sure it was guaranteed.

All shows have certain lines they can’t cross in order to remain true to their premise, and there’s nothing wrong with knowing there are some characters who are never going to leave and some circumstances that will never change, at least not with another season coming. Other shows have worked around this in the past, taking advantage of the perceived safety of certain characters to make big moves even bigger. This tactic was what made the last season finale and Olivia being outed as Fitz’s mistress, so electrifying. Some shows still manage to make this work even without shaking things up, turning in other directions for chills and thrills instead of relying on cheap and obviously temporary maneuvers to create short-term drama.

(ABC/Ron Tom)
KERRY WASHINGTON, SCOTT FOLEY

There’s nothing wrong with short-term drama either, and Scandal’s made it a habit to burn through plots rather than letting them simmer to a high-tension boil, but Olivia taking off in a plane at the episode’s end felt…meh. It’s nice to her season-long doubts leading her here, but it’s not like she can stay gone. Even though it’s her centrality to recent events (being Fitz’s mistress, her parents’ daughter, etc) that made her pack up her life, shut down OPA and board that plane with Jake, it’s also what makes Scandal’s world go ’round so there’s no expectation that Olivia will stay gone. And since Scandal‘s allergic to consequences, it’s unlikely anything will really come of her guilty realization that she’s the reason a lot of bad things have happened, including the murder of Gerry Jr.

Killing Gerry off was a surprising move if only because watching teenagers cough up blood is inherently alarming, but since we only met Gerry for the first time awhile ago the effect wasn’t as strong as it could be. Though Gerry’s disdain for Fitz and Reston t-shirt were hilarious, I wasn’t all that interested in him, and when he collapsed, I was mainly annoyed that one of the kids had to suffer when Fitz could be doing it instead. Coasting off of Olivia’s admission to Fitz that Gerry raped Mellie, and Mellie and Fitz’s subsequent tepid reconnection, the product of that rape being killed with a stolen strain of meningitis was probably meant to pack more of a punch than it did. But for Scandal Gerry functioned as more of a plot device than right up until his murder paving the way for Fitz to be reelected.

Part of the disconnect in this finale was how everything that could be considered somewhat exciting happened off-screen, relayed to us via Scandal‘s camera shutter sound effects and snapshots. Maya getting arrested, Adnan being shot, Gerry dying in the hospital (I take that back I actually liked us being informed of Gerry’s death via press conference with the rest of fictional America), and though I despise Scandal as Alias, it would be nice to actually see some of the things that are driving this show along happening in real-time. But then the finale wouldn’t have been able to throw out the fairly predictable twist of Rowan not being the reformed father he seemed to be.

(ABC/Ron Tom)
JON TENNEY, TONY GOLDWYN

After recovering from Maya’s attack, Rowan made good on his promise not to hurt Fitz directly, gave a teary Olivia what she wanted in getting him elected again (by killing Gerry), had B613 reinstated and put Maya in the hole. It was a good episode for Rowan, who gets points just for being so productive. Harrison being the one to put this all together and realize Rowan’s treachery felt a little too easy, but that just made it possible for Tom to pull a gun on him and maybe kill him.

And in a sudden deviation from his plots being one hundred percent awful, Huck was reunited with his family. Since Kim and Javi have been languishing in Scandal storyline purgatory since season two, it’s nice to see them again, and in a finale that was pretty much all doom and gloom, they were a much-needed bright spot even though I’m worried they’ll be dragged into Huck and Quinn’s torture-happy sex thing next fall.

If the purpose of a season finale is to get viewers hyped for next season, then I guess Scandal did just enough of that. It would take a lot for people to tune out of this show though, and despite my many complaints I’m still invested enough to know I’ll be watching again next season even if I will be watching a lot of the same things over again.

Stray Observations

• Rowan: “Oh to be young, gifted and black.”
• Mellie: “Olivia Pope can’t do anything right.” I mean really. For story purposes, Mellie’s rape had to come out sometime, but when there are plenty of ways to have had Mellie to share it on her own, leaving it to Olivia when she had no right to reveal something so personal, is a  sloppy and uncreative way of doing so. To add insult to injury the revelation quickly became all about Fitz, Olivia and how they couldn’t be together in Vermont (with that godforsaken jam) now that Fitz knows Mellie was raped by his father.
• Scandal really is a neverending cycle. Now David’s back on this thing about taking down the Grant administration, and while that would be great, it’s unlikely that will go any better than it has for the past three seasons.

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