Last week's midseason premiere of Scandal was outstanding, but last night's episode proved that the whole cast at the top of their game is always going to outdo just one of them on show.
"Where's the Black Lady?" was written by Raamla Mohamed and directed by Debbie Allen. And it was an absolute beauty. The Scandal of old has returned.
Proceedings got underway in the Oval Office, with a group of Secret Service agents, who had betrayed their Commander and Chief, barged their way in and immediately revealed who was behind the kidnapping of Olivia Pope. This was the dream beginning, because knowing immediately who was responsible certainly made me sit up and pay attention instead of spending the hour slumped back trying to guess what the hell was happening.
The strong start wasn't wasted, with my hopes from last week's episode coming to fruition. The kick in the guts has worked. Cut to the next scene with Fitz and Mellie for once working together instead of against each other. Though the intimacy wasn't entirely genuine, it made for fantastic television, with Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young in their prime throughout the hour.
Season 4 has featured some unusually long running guest arcs, but their rather benign positions were finally shifted up a gear or two. Elizabeth and Andrew were at last connected in some way, with Portia de Rossi producing her best performance in her time in the role of Elizabeth. Having the character actually become useful provided that platform, with Guillermo Diaz also putting in a strong performance as Huck. Huck and Elizabeth became intimate in all the wrong ways, but their scenes were beautifully executed.
Another long running guest star on Scandal is Brian Letscher as Tom Larsen. Incarcerated for Jerry's murder last year, I thought we had seen the end of Larsen on the series, but his role was used to great effect to give Fitz some perspective and direction in his search for Olivia. It also spurred Fitz to bring Jake into the loop, which brought Quinn and Huck into the search.
Not to be outdone is one of the best actors on television, Jeff Perry, who performed like the Cyrus of old, before his rather tedious story arc last year. Cyrus was shocked to come to the realization that he had been left out of the loop regarding Fitz's decision to wage war on West Angola. He wasn't alone, with Abby also being left out of the loop. It's a rare event for Mellie to become privy to important information before Fitz's own right hand man.
That leaves the woman herself, Olivia. The breadcrumbs she is dropping are proving highly useful, with the creative team using their brains to come up with a few untried ideas, such as the reflection in the glass. Ensuring the character remains strong in the face of adversity is also paying huge dividends - the case in point being Olivia convincing her babysitter, Ian, to leverage her as an asset on the open market. This was a twist I never saw coming, but more importantly, it will legitimately extend Olivia's time away, hopefully reducing the feeling of it being overused or dragged out. Kerry Washington was on point too, producing an outstanding set of scenes throughout the hour.
Don't forget the title drop! A close friend of Olivia's neighbor noticed the latter had been missing and forced her way into OPA demanding to see Olivia. Fortunately Quinn connected the dots between Olivia's abduction and the missing neighbour, leading to Olivia's ring and an explanation of how the kidnapping was executed. Jake and David chimed in to execute a search warrant on the now empty aircraft hangar where Olivia was held, but they were too late.
Though the intimacy was contrived, Fitz and Mellie showed signs of coming to terms with the latter's infidelity. It was Mellie who provided another big break in Fitz's search, as she slept with Andrew once again to smuggle his cellphones out of his office and into Elizabeth's hands, which made their way to Huck.
The hour ended just as strongly as it had begun, and set the scene for what's shaping up to be an awesome February sweeps for Scandal. Olivia's kidnapper, Ian, contacted Fitz to reveal his plan to sell Olivia to the highest bidder. While staring at devastating headlines on the war he had just ordered on West Angola, Fitz now has to decide what Olivia is worth, or to trust his people to rescue her in time.
It's so good to see Scandal finally ramping things up and producing quality storylines and episodes while fully utilizing a brilliant cast. The first two episodes of 2015 have made mincemeat of all but a couple of episodes in the first half of the season. Long may it continue!
Thanks for reading! Next week's installment looks to be a goodie, judging by the promo and press release. Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below, and follow Scandal's ratings on my TV ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com/scandal.
