Our trip through Shondaland was brief last night. Charlie Brown and his Halloween special interrupted our stop at Grey’s Anatomy. Nonetheless, Shonda Rhimes delivered two eyes-glued-to-the-TV shows during #TGIT and left me impatiently waiting for more. Let’s get right into the recap of What Shonda Taught Me Week 6.
Lesson: You can’t pee on me and tell me it’s raining!
Apparently, everybody wants to be free on Scandal, and some folks are willing to pay bigger prices than others. Mellie stole the show with her “snap in Z formation” read to Fitz about how he’s the reason she’s so screwed up. I’ve spent the last few seasons of the show really feeling sorry for Mellie. It seems like she just can’t catch a break. Last night, however, Mellie snatched her “break”, snatched Fitz’s “wig” and snatched Olivia’s “pride” all without putting a wrinkle in her pristine First Lady outfit. I was excited and even threw in a few Arsenio Hall dog pound “woots” (fist pump and all) because Mellie refused to be walked over or play second-string to Fitz’s weak quarterback moves. Go’on Mellie! Per usual, Mellie also got her face handed to her a few times from the Congressional hearing for Fitz’s impeachment, the jury mass murder and who Papa Pope really is. However, Mellie shakes it off and decides to make Olivia her “amazing grace”. Olivia is about to work for Mellie, whether she wants to or knows about it or not.
This episode we also got to see Papa Pope do some damage from behind bars (Suge Knight style) by taking out Jake’s wife, who we found out was hired to kill Papa Pope and using his “phone a friend” privilege to reach out to Olivia for help busting out of the joint. Now, the kicker part about this is that the new Gladiator, Marcus, also acts like a receptionist and answers, then screens the phone call. That was hilarious to me! I can’t recall ever seeing the phone at OPA ring, and someone, especially a Gladiator, answer it. But I digress.
Olivia refuses to talk to her father (I mean, I would too if I were her) and goes on about her business. Meanwhile, love (or something like that) is in the air, as everyone thinks the best way to avoid Fitz’s impeachment and Olivia’s derailment is for the two to get married.
Huh? Say what?
As I recall, Fitz is still married to Mellie. And not only is he still married to her (like we’re just awaiting our divorce to be settled) he hasn’t event filed for divorce because Mellie ain’t having it. So we go to this ultra-romantic scene on the balcony of the White House, laden with roses, candles and R&B music and Fitz decked out in his Sunday’s Best. He’s set the perfect scene for a proposal—the exact scene that most of us have been waiting on for years (literally). And we are robbed of the chance to swoon and blot the tears from our eyes. Why? Because he’s still married! Fitz has become the most arrogant man in America (aside from the privilege of being so because he’s the President). His audacity to propose to her infuriated me. I’m so glad she rejected it (and of course, he threw a hissy fit). After an on again/off again round of proposals, Olivia decides to accept Fitz’s proposal in an “Okay. Fine. I’ll do it” kinda way and then like traditional Scandal-fashion, she calls it off and creates the biggest U-turn ever to handle OPA business—for Mellie.
Gasp!
In other Scandal news, the VP wants to resign because she thinks she’d have to fill in for the President after impeachment. After a few wine coolers (yes, coolers) with David Rosen, she’s not so anxious to jump the gun and we see those pretty little ignorant gears start to turn. A plan perhaps?
Let’s head over to How to Get Away with Murder.
We’re back at the Law Offices of Annalise Keating. Is it just me, or does it seem like everybody is a suspect in Annalise’s shooting? Everyone has a reason to despise her. I mean, if she had a pet on the show, we might have to take it into a consideration as a suspect too! No one seems to like her, but everyone needs her.
We started off with the usual foreshadow/background of her injured and bloody body. If you remember, last episode, Bonnie was washing blood of her hands (literally) and she became an immediate person of interest to us. However, we started this episode with Frank’s melodramatic grief over Annalise’s injuries during her urgent trip to the ER. He quickly goes from “save her life!” to “I bet’not have blood on my suit!” making him a new person of interest. Of course, he wins me back over during a sultry love scene with his “boo thang” Laurel. Then he adds icing on the cake by taking her to meet his family. In my mind, I’m saying “I mean, being a goon and a possible murder suspect isn’t that bad”.
Meanwhile, Wes is still on the hunt for Rebecca. I mean, seriously Wes, think about who you work with on a regular basis. Why can’t he seem to chalk it up to “Welp. She’s probably dead. On to the next assignment.”? I spent the episode being both annoyed and frustrated with him. I’m hoping that Shonda writes a good ol’ tailwhoopin’ for him in the next episode. He’s long overdue. He spends the entire episode looking for Rebecca, barking at Annalise and avoiding his responsibility to the rest of the team. Annalise is the only one not annoyed by him. I’m also hoping that news breaks that she’s his mother, which is why she’s so privy to him. Otherwise, I’m impatiently waiting for her to go upside his pesky little head. Wes, however, is not having one bit of the lies or deception Annalise and her crew are throwing his way. He’s not giving up on finding some answers (thus the theme of my lesson for the week).
Asher has decided not to testify against Annalise (for real this time) and loses the relationship with his father as a consequence. The prosecutor is annoyed, but relentless in her pursuit to see Annalise suffer (new person of interest perhaps?). Michaela is hot in the pants and apparently needs to be validated by a man. Her drug dealing, snoop of a boyfriend (who, by the way was framed) is in jail and she’s got her eyes on Caleb, a suspect in a murder case. This chick needs to be rewired ASAP!
Connor and his hacker/lover are collaborating on breaking into computer systems (FBI-level systems by the way) to help Annalise solve some of her cases. What they don’t know is that they’re being spied on through their own computer’s web cam. It was at that very moment that I went to my computer and put a piece of black tape across my web cam’s lens. I was spooked.
Through it all, Annalise is still solving crimes and getting charges dismissed, totally unbothered by what’s going on around her—with the exception of Nate. Nate has a part of her heart that we’d assume was filled with smoke and chains. He notifies her that his wife has died (via the pills that Annalise provided her with) and he’s heartbroken. He blames everything on her and despises her for framing him and having him locked up during a time when his wife needed him the most. I, personally, was furious with Nate for blaming Annalise. Really Nate? You weren’t so concerned about spending QT with your wife when you were laid all up next to Annalise or putting her in “compromising positions” in the bedroom. Hmph! Annalise, however, is being pulled into his grief and offers peach cobbler as a way to get through to him. That must be some damn good peach cobbler!
So that’s my wrap up of What Shonda Taught Me. Come back and see me next week!
