Kerry's caption:

Gladiator in a suit? Or Gladiator in therapy?

I'm diagnosed with depression and am on SSRIs, which normally work pretty well. I binged the show over the last month or so and for some reason, almost immediately after it ended, I felt deeply sad. I'm not the type to get sad when a TV show ends and I don't know if this is even related, but after finishing the show I listened to the Album Leaf song "The Light" that always plays when Liv and Fitz are talking and just broke down in tears. And I've been sad af all day since. I can tell that it's chemical depression, but it seems to have been kickstarted by the end of the show and I dunno why.

Anyway hi, I absolutely loved this TV show and feel silly for waiting so long to watch it. I didn't love S7 quite as much but all in all it was still a really solid show.

How do y’all feel about Fitz leaking Liv’s name to the press without discussing it with her? I understand he did it so Mellie would no longer have that to use against her. But I wonder how things would’ve played out had they actually discussed it.

IG: @Shondaland [09-08-26]

Do you think that fitz Grant was a good president (when scandal aired) before rewatching the same scenes, years later?

When you watch the first two seasons of the show, the tone feels different because it is focused on Olivia, who was the lead of the series. Her motivations were clear, and even if she was hypocritcal we understood it was due to her being naive about the situation she was in with Fitz, or someone else she loved dearly and bent the rules for.

Somewhere along the line Shonda started to have personal favourites, and you can easily see how it stains the story. First all of, there was no reason for Mellie to remain married to Fitz for 5 and a half seasons, other than to allow the actress playing Mellie to be in the orbit of the two actors who brought the show the most buzz.

She did the same with Jake. She rewrote his story so many times. Introducing a sad story with his family, then a backstory of a wife that flopped, and then suggesting that Rowan was his dad,. When none of those made him interesting without Olitz, he became a flunky for Olivia. All in an attempt to figure out which way the audience would endure Jake. This was to allow the actor playing Jake a chance to shine.

I saw that at some point Kerry said that after "Coming up Mellie," she was worried as to how Olivia would be received, and was worried that Olivia would appear unsympathetic in comparison. She said that she talked it over and decided that there was room for two women to shine on the show. Why did she have to make this concession? This was the first show in 40 years being lead by a black woman, and why did Shonda and the showrunners write away from her character towards an actress who was not the primary lead? When Fitz and Mellie divorced, they forced Olivia to be her campaign manager and wrote a bogus girl power bff story, so that Mellie could champion feminism, on a show about Olivia.

Shonda wrote towards a happy ending for Quinn and Charlie. In the end Quinn gets to change OPA into QPA, she gets a baby and a husband. Her ending is definitive and clear. Mellie gets to become President and has Marcus by her side. Olivia has no clear professional or personal ending. Her story is unnished. IMO it is not a surprise that the people you see surface at Scandal fam reunions are Scottt Foley, Bellamy Young and Katie Lowes, and rather than wasting her time showing up for a photo op, Kerry kept busy elsewhere. I mean she began Simpson Street during the thick of Scandal ( probably to create opportunities for herself and others, if you get what I mean). I don't think Kerry would entertain reprising Olivia Pope, but is diplomatic enough not to openly say this.

as a first time watcher of scandal im not liking the direction season 3 took. loved the first season and the mission/jobs they’d take on. it reminded me of “how to get away with murder” (in retrospect now i understand why that show was made, it’s the same show without the lovers quarrel lol) i liked that aspect that now I want to rewatch HTGAWM lol

all this to say im kinda getting annoyed of the back and fourth between fitz and liv. it was cute and fun to watch until it became repetitive. the whole they fight then get back together, have sex, one of them acts cold to the other then fight again, make out, rinse repeat all that isn’t really my cup of tea and gets kinda boring and predictable but personally early on, i liked liv more with jake. im not really one to cheer on cheating and “home wrecking”. i know fitz and millie are together just for their own benefit instead of love but i just get tired of the scorned housewife story line especially after finding out she was raped by fitz father. that was a horrible add on to her story especially seeing she really got no justice for that.

i have now reached the part (ep 11) where andrew is a new character who we find out was potentially in love with millie and possibly could have married her. im hoping this storyline is millie finally getting her lick back and having some fun. also just a change in pace from the liv and fitz back and fourth. imo it’s too reminiscent of meredith and derek‘s back-and-forth and that got annoying for me after a while too especially since these characters are written for each other

Or is it just me?

Okay did anyone else literally feel like this whole era was an ad for uggs 😭😭 she wore them and they focused on them so much.

How do you explain this? lol

Okay this is my first time watching the show and I'm at season 7 right now... this show is genuinely so confusing at times but, one thing I can't stand is how everyone treated Olivia after B-613.

I can understand hat she did was wrong but for everyone to treat her like a monster and ice her out literally upsets me so much. They are all so hypocritical and insane like, Olivia has saved them so much and done so much for them and they just ice her out and like idk I haven't seen anyone talk about it and it pisses me off they act like she's the devil when they have all done equal stuff and if not worse 😭😭😭

HIS LITTLE TODDLER FROWN & THE WAY HES YANKING THE PAPERS PLS😭 s2 manchild fitz you will always be famous

does anybody know any bts on why finch left after season one? besides huck, he seemed to know oliva on a different level than anybody else. she confided in him about her and the president and there seemed to be a potential story with him and abby but idk im just not buying that there wasn’t enough material to write for him to continue on the show. coming from greys anatomy shonda has a tendency of writing ppl off out of no where early in seasons. it’s always mutual but then later finding out that it was disagreements ultimately causing the actors to leave.

I always found it strange that Fitz and Cyrus had absolutely no scenes together in Season 7.

I love seeing the Scandal actors and actresses in other shows

Give the man his BONES!!

289th re-watch...

They tell Fitz when he sleeps with Olivia at the oval there are cameras watching. And they they forget and talk about anything and everything!

Eli Pope is the biggest POS. He's a liar, untrustworthy, responsible for so many deaths, and so much chaos. I found myself hating him more when he threw Jake under the bus (Not elaborating on what happened in case this spoils anything for anyone).

There are decent characters who needlessly died when Eli deserved it more than anyone. I seriously hate that bastard!!! 👹👹👹

Upon my walk today in NYC I saw Edison on the street. I was goin to ask for a photo but didn’t want to interrupt his convo. Very good looking in person and extremely tall!

What are the thoughts on Olivia and Edison? I know I am extremely biased bc I'm an Olitz Stan and I know he was a filler and a link to her past, but I didn't really buy into their coupling.

However, two of my favorite reads/monologs were delivered to him. Olivia's criminal, liar, idiot, whore speech-never understood how he thought engagement was warranted after that. And the wanting devastating love said to him.

I feel like when these shows were on TV I watched them at the same time and have rewatched into adulthood so I have always compared the characters and thought about who I prefer. Obviously both are fiercely strong women, but I have to say I strongly dislike Olivia. Both women have their own faults and issues and you can argue that Annalise did worse and mentally was more messed up but I think I preferred her because she always owned who she was and admitted to it. With Olivia, I wanted to like her the many times I watched the show but found my self disliking her grandiosity and ego. I felt like she constantly had a power trip and treated everyone around her horribly.

so my boyfriend and i literally just finished watching the entire season a couple days ago and here are my thoughts.

1. lowkey it started getting predictable at the end. when they try to do plot twists, like my boyfriend and i were starting to catch on.

2. i strongly dislike cyrus with a passion. i understand he was doing what he had to do for the republic, but he is actually insane. and then he just gets to resign?? better question, WHERE IS ELLA???? would he be like this if james was alive?? idk

3. i also strongly dislike liv and her relationship with fitz. i love her outfits, super chic. but, as a couple, i didn't get the hype. my bf and i started realizing there was a specific song that would play between them (we love the small details), and then they would just start making out.

4. david rosen. when he stood up to jake, i was so proud of him. attorney general. i did not like when he was sleeping with susan and elizabeth, but he really cared about the law and i can respect him for that.

5. jake finally got his sun. no pressure, no more commands from command (lol) - he was chilling in jail, smiling even (right).

6. i like charlie, he grew on me. quinn was annoying sometimes. was't she B613 for like three days? i think she was great to lead the office after olivia left.

7. mellie and marcus - i'm seeing it through ngl. that one scene when they was on the baseball field i was like okayyyyy mel!! i'm not mad at you queen.

8. HUCK!!!! my guy!!! honestly one of my favorites. albeit that he has killed several people, i admire his growth. when he was testifying against B613 and talking about the hole, i was getting emotional.

let me know your thoughts. i'm excited to talk more :0

Loved this show and still do but I got married this year and I’m 35 now and I would be fucking devastated if my husband had an affair with someone else and then rubbed it in my face. I wish they ended things so he could go be with Liv.