While on hiatus for the winter break, we’ve only got a brief amount of time to prepare before we start to watch the final episodes of Scandal’s last season.
There’s no new episode of Scandal tonight, Nov. 23, but we’ve got a lot to chew on in the meantime.
Let me start with the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed Scandal season 6. Not only did I love to watch Mellie’s climb to the White House (well, Mellie and Olivia’s joint run), but I also appreciated the short-lived but enjoyable presence of the “villain,” Samantha Ruland. Her story ultimately didn’t feel that powerful, but her performance made her a standout character among a roomful of folks who deliver powerful monologues on a weekly basis.
What Zoe Perry’s character made most clear, however, was that Scandal needed to wrap itself up soon. It reminded us that the only person powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Olivia … is Olivia, herself.
So far, season 7 has kept us guessing as to just how far Olivia will go to maintain her power in the White House and as Command. In the winter finale, we saw her own ego cloud her judgment with Quinn’s life on the table. Excuse me, Quinn and her baby.
As she called her father’s bluff and her father called hers, I’m willing to call both their bluffs and say that Quinn is still alive. On one hand, it’s Scandal’s final season, and this could make it a truly unforgettable departure. But at the same time, that’s a very heavy cross for both Olivia and her fans to bear.
If she’s responsible for the death of Quinn and Quinn’s unborn baby, it would be all the more difficult to root for Olivia in the end. Within recent memory, that means Luna, President Rashad and Yasmin all died because of Olivia. If you add Quinn to that, it’s a little too much. Olivia won’t be the hero anymore.
Next: Scandal season 7, episode 7 recap
And once Olivia’s no longer a gladiator, that opens a can of worms that will be impossible to recover from in the x-amount of episodes we have left. At the very least, it opens the door to a rather unsatisfying ending.
Scandal returns on Jan. 18 for the rest of its final season.