Scandal Season 7 is a perfect homage to the possible alternative American reality where a woman can be the world’s most powerful person.
The power dressing, the power walk and the all-powerful Olivia Pope is exactly what the last season of Scandal needs. Americans might not be able to live the reality of having a woman president in the oval but that never stopped Shonda Rhimes (creator of the Series and a huge supporter of Clinton) from creating an alternative reality, where two women, together, are governing one of the most powerful countries in the world. You ask two? Yes! So, what if Olivia can’t be the president? She can be best Chief of Staff, one can ask for, and even the puppet master (If you ask me). Scandal showcases Olivia Pope in all her glory and this season is the final bow to the ultimate ‘fixer’. You will be reminded of the Season 1 Olivia, a lot many times. A lot remains same but with a few major changes. Oval is run by a women and President Fitz Gerald is nowhere in the picture. And it is now Olivia’s world and the dialogue, ‘you are in my envelope filed word’, explains it all. The mood is set for the season and it’s all going to be about Miss Olivia Pope, a total Kick-Ass.
The final season is a perfect homage to the possible alternative American reality where a woman can be the world’s most powerful person. You see a lot of focus shift this time to almost all women characters; Olivia Pope and Associates is now Quinn Perkins and Associates which might sound like a cup cake delivery service by baby sitter (well put by David) but that doesn’t stop Quinn from getting their first client whose father might be lost/kidnapped. Later we discover that he is an American Intelligence Agent and that he might be assassinated by his own agency, before he spills any secret to the enemies.
Papa Pope is unfortunately on the other side of the table and since Olivia has all the power, it makes her the new command of B6-13. This amount of power is enough to keep her father tamed but her dad does warn her of the reckoning that might come. Her father thinks she can’t handle all this power.
Papa Pope said one thing right though and even if Olivia might not agree, the audience might agree to Papa Pope’s words that she is nothing but a mirror image of him.
Democrat Greenwald (a new Character) seeds the idea of being the next president in Cyrus’s mind because he checks a lot of boxes. Cyrus does consider it initially because of the utter hostility given by Olivia. But soon turns down the idea, which we later get to understand that it was some sort of test for Cyrus.
Olivia feels that she won’t back down to anyone, at least not any man. You see Olivia being drunk in the strong cocktail of power, pride and panache. The show tries to redeem its biggest criticism this season where Olivia is an independent woman and is not defined by a man. But at the same time, the show is the biggest critique of its own ideology as it shows a powerful woman (aka Olivia) in bad light. It’s almost as if she has stopped caring, all of a sudden, since she is in a position of power. She seems completely inconsiderate and mean to people around her. Even though she might not let an American hero die, she also never allows the mother of her god child to urinate at her place. Well that’s a very ‘one-track way’ of putting a character. According to the show writers, women in power are cruel and hard.
Olivia just, keeps proving again and again that she is her father’s daughter. Olivia is so absorbed by the power that she is not even ready to listen to anyone and her idea ‘that she is always right even though it’s really exhausting’ is a tad-bit too much. Things get worse when she hits a rough patch with Mellie. But by the end of the episode, things get better when Mellie realises to back down and know her exact position.
Even though Olivia is way over her head, I love her dramatic monologue that starts something like “we have it all, the men outside the oval walls want to take it all away from us, because they are terrified and outraged, because they have come to the realisation that the centuries of misogyny and privilege and status quo is finally over. That is why you never listen to a man over me. Your success as president is my only agenda. I alone have your back, always……….”
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