I have to admit. Although I’ve been watching all of the shows in Shondaland this season, I hadn’t quite become smitten with them yet. Now, after last night’s episode, my love affair with the wondrous journey through Shondaland has been renewed! I think my jaw dropped at eight o’clock TGIT standard time and didn’t close until 10:59 pm. Yes, I spent three hours staring at the television, mouth agape, wondering how Mama Shonda manages to pull me back in week after week. Here’s What Shonda Taught Me (WSTM) Week 4 recap:
This week’s lesson: You can’t turn back the hands of time, but you can change the future.
Last week’s cliffhanger of sorts on Grey’s Anatomy left me with the “well I’ll be damned” feeling. Callie brings her new boo, Penny to Meredith’s house for a dinner party. Penny is the doctor who has Derek’s blood on her hands (almost literally) because she “allowed” Derek to die due to her negligence. So we have Meredith staring Penny in the eye like “you’ve gotta be kidding me” and Penny staring Meredith in the eye like “I should’ve just ordered pizza and stayed home”. Meanwhile, I’m like, “Ooooh!”
This episode of Grey’s Anatomy is almost entirely spent at Meredith’s house for the most awkward dinner party ever, as the news of who Penny is strikes all of the guests. Meredith struggles with being a great dinner host and a grieving widow who happens to be sitting near the person who aided her husband’s death. The emotional turmoil that this dinner delivered made me wonder who would sit through something like that, but of course, this is a Shondaland dinner party—stranger things have happened. The rest of the episode is spent with unspoken apologies, grief, anger and drunkenness. And to add fuel to the fire, Penny tells the GA docs that she’ll be considering an offer to WORK at Gray Sloan hospital alongside the crew. Say whaaaat? And Meredith, being the epitome of composure and greater good encourages this decision. Again, my mouth was WIDE open.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Grey’s Anatomy without a trip to the hospital. Maggie makes a trip to the hospital, not to save a life or heal a patient. Nope, this time it’s to heal herself. See, her overindulgence in lust with the intern who finally gave her some “special attention” has caused a UTI and an unsettling fear that she may be plagued with a host of other sexually transmitted ailments. Great job, Maggie *sigh*. I bet you Meredith, Penny and Maggie spent a great deal of time wishing that they could turn back the hands of time.
Scandal was a whirlwind of emotions that literally made the leading lady Olivia Pope wish that she could turn back the hands of time. The episode was spent trying to find an angle to renew the innocence of Ms. Pope during the aftermath of her adulterous affair with President Grant. Fitz wants so badly to rescue his mistress-slash-love of his life from the slanderous scrutiny of the American people, but he also has to battle the newfound threat of his impeachment. Mellie, his wife and newly inaugurated senator, has turned her back on their marriage and her belief in him as a President. She’s serving on the committee that has unanimously decided to investigate whether or not he should be investigated for “impeachable offenses”.
The Gladiators are to Olivia’s rescue, trying to determine the best strategy for turning “Olivia the side chick” “Olivia the remorseful mistress”. And who’s better to turn things around in a sneaky, political kinda way than good ol’ Leo Borgen. In a TV appearance, which discusses the antique Grant-family heirloom that graces Olivia’s hand instead of the First Lady’s hand, Olivia makes us fall in love with her version of the story and how she wish she hadn’t met Fitz—only to avoid the tainted love that she has for him. I was compelled by her monologue and then disturbed by how compelled I was. Go figure.
Finally, Cyrus, old-bittersweet-hate in his heart-but you gotta love him- Cyrus is summoned to the White House by President Grant. This monologue probably had to be the most in-depth “Cyrus actually has a heart” scene I’ve ever seen on Scandal. And I loved it. From his stares and gestures to the articulation of every detail of his loyalty to President Grant, Cyrus deserved one a slow clap. Was his loyalty a little creepy? Yes! But was his loyalty itself remarkable? Yes! In the end, Cyrus and Fitz reunite in the White House and Cyrus gets the better deal—Liz North has to be fired and he gets a new carpet. Cyrus for the win!
How to Get Away with Murder was full of unsolved murders (duh!). Annalise is spinning on all cylinders trying to solve cases, avoid the euthanasia of her “mister’s” wife, keep a team of vulnerable and confused interns together and keep her goons (Frank and Bonnie) in check. Talk about wearing multiple hats!
The case of the killed parents is still going and the two adopted children of the deceased are still the prime suspects. Annalise is trying to get them off the hook with every trick in the book, but the prosecutor (who by the way is really getting under my skin) is not making it easy. On top of that, Asher, the mole who happens to be oblivious to the truth about who killed Annalise’s husband Sam, spends the whole episode trying to make a decision: rat on Annalise and participate in wearing a wire to catch her conversations (with immunity of course) or steer clear of the case altogether—at least until he’s sure about his suspicions. In the end, we still don’t know what Asher is going to do.
Meanwhile, Wes is creeping around trying to find Rebecca and tagging along with her brother Levi or “Eggs 911” to figure out what happened to her. On the other end, Levi is on a quest to help Michaela achieve an orgasm—by any means necessary. Boy is he a busy guy. Wes is also distancing himself from the rest of the interns and especially Annalise. Annalise takes notice of his absenteeism and her “goons” are on the case to keep him at a safe distance of “adult matters”. Just when Wes think he has a break in the case to find Rebecca, Frank has created a speed bump, ultimately making Wes feel like a failure who’s slowly going crazy.
Bonnie’s backstory comes to the front as we learn that she was molested as a child by her father (I still haven’t figured out why Annalise has the tapes of the lewd act). We also see that she’s down for the crew with her loyalty and willingness to lie, cheat and kill. She’s trying to convince her loverboy Asher to let his contempt and suspicion of Annalise slide, but her failure to do so has her questioning her ability to competently work for Annalise. By the end of the episode, we see Bonnie with a ridiculous amount of blood on her clothes—alluding to the idea that she had a hand in someone’s murder or attempted murder. Could this be foreshadowing the crime against Annalise?
Stay tuned for next week’s recap!
