Olivia Pope is Back…?
Olivia Pope or rather, “Julia Baker” was back on our TV screens last night. The last time we saw her, she was on a private jet heading off to parts unknown with the dangerously sexy (emphasis on dangerous) Captain Jake Ballard. Those two kids finally got to stand (or make out on a cabana) under the sun together. It was a lovely scene cut too short with the arrival of the news of Harrison’s (Captain Gingham) death. Naturally Olivia decided to head back to DC to plan his funeral because he has “no one” except OPA. Jake was not on board with this but Jake just wants to be with Olivia so, off to DC they went. While Olivia was living a life of red wine fueled tranquility with her killer boo, the rest of Pope & associates found themselves having to figure out what to do with their lives because she was the glue that held them together.
Huck is now channeling his inner One Hour Photo Robin Williams as Randy, a computer repair guy. Abby is doing her best Olivia Pope impersonation as the White House Press Secretary (even though neither Fitz nor Cyrus have even bothered to learn her real name) and Quinn is just still…alive I guess? But to her credit, she did use her B613 talents to find Olivia so she is not completely useless. Speaking of the White House, Fitz has become a bit of a tyrant and by tyrant, I mean he is reaching across party lines to get things done including, getting his Equal Pay Act passed. His Republican cronies are not super fans of Fitz 2.0 and it’s up to Cyrus to defend his boss from the new RNC head “Lizzie Bear” played by Portia de Rossi and her Miami Vice hair. Speaking of hair, Cyrus, we need to talk about the new hair do because I’m pretty sure there is a better way for you to cope with James’ death.
While Fitz’s coping mechanism has been to pour his soul into his new term as President, Mellie is wallowing in her grief and I have to admit, “pajamas and Uggs wearing Mellie” is almost as enjoyable as “drunk Mellie”. There was no happy reunion between Olivia and her former associates. Huck wants nothing to do with her unless she is back for good and Abby had the nerve to blame her for Harrison’s death. One of my issues with Season 3 Olivia was the way she allowed the peasants on this show to talk to her, so I was pleasantly surprised when Olivia ripped into Abby for even daring to blame her for Captain Gingham’s death. Can we get more of this Olivia please?
I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who was surprised that Eli was sort of glad to see his daughter, although in typical Eli Pope fashion he had to ruin it by asking her “who told you to leave the island?” This is not “Lost” bro calm down! Olivia did ask her father if he was the one that had Harrison killed which he denied but we all know the truth Eli and I bet Olivia does too. It seems the show might be going back to it’s original case of the week formula. Olivia gets a call from the aide to a senator who might have killed a fellow senator because he tried to rape her. Only it wasn’t the senator he tried to rape, it was her aide and senator rapist wasn’t actually dead so that means there will be a he said/she said mess when he regains consciousness. And since Fitz has appointed David Rosen as the new Attorney General, chances are he will be up in the mix when it comes to prosecuting this case. No romantic, un-break my heart, “one minute” intense Olitz reunion unless you count the scene in the final montage where Fitz and Olivia walk past each other in the senate and their fingers almost touch! That’s real love right there [end sarcasm]
This episode gets a 6 out of 10 for me. Last season was a confused mess and I hope some the fan complaints were heard by the TPTB aka Shonda Rhimes. Some of the changes I would love to see in this new season include an assertive Olivia Pope, no “Huckleberry Quinn” because no one asked for that. I could do without the Olitz and Olake love triangle and would actually love to see Olivia in a committed relationship with Jake especially after finding out how he gets down in the sack! Aye dios mio!
written by Lady Sith
*picture from US Weekly