‘Scandal’ Premiere Flips the Tables, Olivia Pope Gets Handled

Usually in charge, Kerry Washington’s character finds herself getting fixed

ABC/Eric McCandless

ABC’s “Scandal” pulled a surprising series of twists on its Season 3 premiere episode.

(Spoiler alert: Don’t read this if you haven’t watched Thursday’s episode, “It’s Handled.”)

I’m not feeling too good about the direction “Scandal” took on Thursday’s episode and what it means for Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington).

It truly was quite a game changer and maybe a tribute to the woman that has done so much to fix others that all the people in Olivia’s life tried so hard to fix her, even if it means having an innocent person take the fall in her place.

See photos: 17 of Kerry Washington’s Most Killer ‘Scandal’ Looks

Entering into the premiere episode, there were two questions: How will Olivia handle the fact that she was named as the President’s mistress? And who leaked the information?

Everyone from her father to her gang of gladiators and President Grant (Tony Goldwyn) had an idea of how to get her out of the mess that she was in.

After hiding away from the media frenzy for a hot minute, Olivia convened a meeting with Fitz and his very angry wife, Mellie (Bellamy Young) in a top-secret bomb shelter (very fun secret destination intrigue surrounded the location choice, by the way). She thought they hatched a plan that would have Fitz admitting to having two sexual indiscretions with Olivia and Mellie playing the “stand by my man” card.

Also read: ‘Scandal’s’ Dan Bucatinsky Talks Show’s ‘Subversive’ Gay Relationship

But, Mellie is a loose cannon and never intended to stick with the plan. Instead, she and Cyrus (Jeff Perry) worked with Olivia’s gladiators to pin the affair with the President on an innocent woman.

That’s to be expected from Cyrus and Mellie, but there’s no way that the gladiators were acting in a fashion that Olivia would approve of. But, she was off her game and didn’t see Mellie’s deception coming.

And to top it all off, Mellie was the one who figured out that it was Fitz who leaked Olivia’s name in a bid to finally free himself of his double life. Well, she squashed that.

Also read: ‘Scandal’s’ Kerry Washington on Olivia Reclaiming the White Hat: ‘It’s a Conflict and It’s Exciting’ (Video)

In the end, Olivia has been blindsided from every direction. Will clearing the wrongly accused woman make up for that? We’ll have to see.

Everyone is allowed a bad day or two, but this clueless Olivia is troublesome for me. Not only that, but I doubt her employees’ integrity going forward, as well. To pin something on an innocent woman shows they haven’t learned very basic values from their matriarch and boss. Can they redeem themselves?

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