“Scandal” is hands-down absolutely one of the better TV series of the last five years. It has intrigue, action, and plenty of drama. The same creative mind that brought us the hit show “Grey’s Anatomy” Shonda Rhimes, also created “Scandal”. The show revolves around the gorgeous and talented Olivia Pope. She was once the president’s media consultant and girlfriend and is now trying desperately to move on from all of that by opening her own crisis-management company. Somehow, however, it’s impossible to shake her past. Her talented staff includes a crazy guy with mad hacking skills named Huck, and Quinn Perkins, the lady with the complicated history. As the company moves forward it’s crystal clear that Olivia and her team’s specialty is cleaning up other people’s lives, in spite of the fact that they can’t clean up their own.
Somehow, however, it’s impossible to shake her past. Her talented staff includes a crazy guy with mad hacking skills named Huck, and Quinn Perkins, the lady with the complicated history. As the company moves forward it’s crystal clear that Olivia and her team’s specialty is cleaning up other people’s lives, in spite of the fact that they can’t clean up their own to save their lives. The cast of the show is filled with amazing acting talent, starting with Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, Joe Morton as her evil father Rowan aka Eli Pope, Tony Goldwyn as President Fitzgerald Grant, Bellamy Young as his wife Mellie Grant, Scott Foley as Jake Ballard, Katie Lowes as Olivia’s right-hand woman Quinn Perkins, and Guillermo Diaz as crazy as a fox Huck.
Rounding out the cast are Darby Stanchfield as White House staffer Abby Whelan, Joshua Malina as Attorney General David Rosen, and Jeff Perry as the White House gay Chief of Staff. And, adding a nice touch of class and beauty mixed with just a little bit of treachery is the Australian-born wife of Ellen Degeneres, Portia de Rossi as Elizbeth North.Now, although all of the seasons of this show from day number one have been crazy exciting and chock full of twists and turns, we think that Season 5 is the absolute best so far. So, we put together a few reasons why that is and here they are:
1. For starters, there’s the presidential race at the center of Season 5.
Inquiring fans naturally want to know who actually wins the election. We’re already well aware that it won’t be the show ‘s candidate character who seems suspiciously Trump-inspired, Hollis Doyle, played by Gregg Henry. And, why is that? That’s because of the fact that the President’s ex, Mellie, was the winner of the Republican primary. And the race is going to be a tough one between Mellie and her opponent. He is Frankie Vargas played by Ricardo Chavira, the candidate for the Democratic party. Unfortunately, we never find out the answer to that burning question until the first episode of Season 6. But, we do get to see a ton of deliciously underhanded politicking in the process.
2. The fascinating political intrigue that is so scandalous in Scandal Season 5 is definitely not the only reason why millions tuned in every week during the season.
The underlying romantic drama may be even more of a reason. Namely, the amazing sexual tension between Marcus and Mellie is exceptionally hot. And, the real love of Olivia’s life, Jake Ballard, has gotten married again. What’s up with that? Well, of course, it turns out that the wedding was just another intricate part of Olivia’s despicable father Rowan’s nasty agenda to control, well, everything. That’s his primary goal and has always been his only focus no matter who he has to use, torture, or kill, in the process. And, when Olivia tries to stop the wedding because of her burning love for Jake and the fact that they truly belong together, her father threatens to kill Jake if he doesn’t go thru with the “I do’s”. So, Olivia never tells Jake how she feels and lets him believe that she doesn’t care about him anymore when the fact is that she loves him enough to let him go rather than lose him at her father’s hand. Rowan is definitely not a candidate for father of the year!
3. Scandal Season 5 is Olivia Pope’s breakout season for that “I don’t need a man to be fulfilled” attitude.
Sure, the romantic entanglements that she plays an integral part in have been, and always will be one of the biggest parts of Scandal. And, since Jakes new marriage is a sham, perhaps she’ll end up living happily ever after with him someday, but then again, maybe not. Season 5 offered some of the very best Olivia and Jake scenes and we thought for sure they were finally a couple, but we were wrong, at least for this season.
4. We will always be fans of the Olivia/Fitz love affair.
During the 21 episodes that made up Scandal Season 5, Fitz and Olivia get back together and she moves into the White House only to break up later after Olivia realizes it will never work between them and gets a secret abortion. Fitz doesn’t get that little bit of important information until season’s end.
5. One of the most intense storylines in Scandal Season 5 involved Olivia’s kidnapping, which was actually a sinister plot aimed at getting President Grant to order an invasion into another country.
As it turns out, the entire thing was arranged by Andrew Nichols, the ex-Vice President. Later, the former VP use the information to blackmail the President. So, Olivia makes an attempt at paying him off, however, that doesn’t work. So, in one of the most action-packed and brutal scenes of Scandal Season 5, Olivia picks up a chair and literally beats him to death with it as payback for terrorizing and tormenting her. Unfortunately, the murder weighs heavily on Olivia’s conscience and she continues to struggle with it. He may have had it coming, but murder? This series of events definitely is one of the major reasons why Scandal Season 5 is the show’s best season ever.
However, looking forward to Season 6, we may be changing that assessment very soon as it promises to be more exciting than any season so far. And frankly, the only thing that could be more satisfying for fans than watching that smarmy, cheating, lying, treacherous VP die at Olivia’s hand would be to see Rowan get his come-up-ins from Jake and Olivia. Or, maybe Huck? So, here’s to what was an amazing Scandal Season 5 and what promises to be an even better Season 6!
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