Last night was the premiere of Scandal starring Kerry Washington as fixer, Olivia Pope. When we first meet Pope she’s in an elevator with one of her associates, discussing a strategy for the meeting she’s about to have with a group of Russian mob bosses. Pope manages to intimidate the mobsters with threats that include a flight delay at Dulles, TSA trouble at every major airport all over the world, and then negotiates a 50% discount on the ransom money, leaving with her hair and white trench coat still flawless.
Pope makes it clear that she relies on her intuition to determine her next move. She’s not just a fixer, she is officially on super hero status. In fact, the only thing that could make Pope any flyer, would be an invisible plane and a golden lasso.
At the end of the day, a bloodied man stumbles into her office. He’s a right-wing, war veteran accused of murdering his girlfriend, or “best friend” as he describes her. Since when do guys have BFF’s? Anyway, he insists he’s innocent but his fingerprints are all over the gun. While her team gets to work, Pope receives a call. It seems the President has gotten himself into a messy situation. An aide says she had an affair with him. She even claims the President bought her a dog. This is serious.
Before she opened her own firm, Pope worked for the president, knows his character, and is on friendly terms with the First Lady. She is determined not to let some office aide slander the President’s reputation. Pope confronts the aide and “unofficially” tells her to pack her dog and scram! Unfortunately, the mistress is so stressed she ends up in the hospital.
Every super hero has kryptonite and Pope is no exception. It turns out the president isn’t just the leader of the free world-he’s a smooth operator. We’re talking a real player. And we all know that intuition, spidey senses, and lassos don’t work on them. When Pope questions him, he reminds her that she left him. Breaking News: Pope is the scandal! She says what any woman under a player’s spell would say: “I wanted you to be a better man. I believed in you. Don’t touch me!”
Oh, but he does. He touch her and kisses her. Then he delivers the blow: “I love you.” She’s about to be rendered useless, when they are interrupted and found tangled in a kiss. Powers restored, Pope convinces the accused client to solidify his alibi and come out of the closet. Then she encourages her associate to pop the question to his girlfriend. Love is in the air, but it doesn’t end with sunshine and smiles. Pope is still ticked about that kryptonite incident. She sends word to the Commander-In-Chief that when his mistress wakes up, she’s taking her on as a client. This is going to be good.
Scandal airs on Thursday’s at 10 p.m. on ABC. For style and beauty tips from this episode, click here.
Photo Source: ABC.com
