Scandal (TV series)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

ABC's Scandal was a juridically/politically-themed drama, staring Kerry Washington.

She plays Olivia Carolyn Pope, a reputation-fixer who works for rich people needing to be saved from the latest scandal/accident/kidnapping that has befallen upon them. She oscilates between her usual incarnation, the ideal Guile Hero every Dude in Distress and Damsel in Distress who becomes her client dreams of, and the flawed, somehow manipulative master of Hannibal Lecture, Double Entendre and intimidation and cause of Innocent Bystander's Freak-Out she can become when she thinks she acts for the best, but misses the point. She usually does the right thing, and always is a really tough heroine, though she is hardly the kind to put Honor Before Reason.

Her team includes Stephen Finch, Harrison Wright, Abby Whelan, Huck With-No-Last-Name, and Quinn Perkins.

The series is notable for being written by Shonda Rhimes, like a certain well-known medical series, and being one of the few dramas featuring a black actress as the main character. It is also highly feminist in content, with numerous strong female characters and very little reliance on traditional characterization or storylines.

It aired on ABC from April 5, 2012, until April 19, 2018, for 124 episodes over seven seasons.

Tropes used in Scandal (TV series) include:
  • Anti-Hero: The whole cast, except perhaps Quinn, Abby even more so.
  • The Atoner: Olivia wants to do right by Amanda.
  • Awesomeness By Analysis: Olivia. On a metafictional level, this great thing.
  • Badass Adorable: Quinn eventually gets there.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Quinn, again.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: It takes six episodes, but First Lady Mellie Grant reveals herself as this, lying to the entire nation about a miscarriage to save her husband's campaign.
    • It is interesting, however, that the sheep part isn't unnatural for her, as she does have issues of her own, and seems to be more than a little Troubled but Cute.
  • Casanova Wannabe: Stephen, though he seems to have mostly settled down. He still has an interesting past.
  • Catch Phrase : Olivia has two : "Tell the president to", usually followed by something that will be roughly meaning "go screw himself" and " It's my name on that door " followed by something among the lines of a "we'll do what I decided".
  • Cool Old Guy: Cyrus starts out as one, but the trope is actually deconstructed as he proves himself to be Olivia's Arch Enemy.
    • The madam in episode 2 is morally ambiguous, but proves herself by the end.
  • The Cutie: Quinn and Huck.
  • Dating Catwoman: The beginning of Quinn's romantic relationship with Gideon, a cub reporter who seems on the verge of breaking the Amanda Tanner story.
  • Domestic Abuser: Abby's ex-husband, apparently.
  • The Determinator: Olivia : "It's my name on this door, and I don't give up".
  • Evil All Along : Billy and Cyrus.
  • The Fake Cutie: Cyrus.
  • Five-Man Band :
  • Gay Conservative: Sullivan St. James in episode 1. Cyrus Beene is revealed to be this in episode 4.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Olivia, Stephen, Huck, and probably Harrison.
  • Guile Hero: A good chunk of the cast.
  • Hero Antagonist: Amanda Tanner, at first. Mellie Grant may turn out to be one, as well as David Rosen.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Olivia, naturally, deals them out. Starting in episode four, Cyrus starts dishing them out to Fitz and Olivia.
  • He Knows Too Much - Gideon, when confronting Billy and revealing that he knows all about his plan.
  • Hey, It's That Guy! : Meredith, Castle's first ex-wife, now works in a reputation-fixer agency. How did she make the transition from the previous show business career ?
  • Hidden Depths: The entire team has secrets.
    • Olivia: Had an affair with President Grant during the campaign.
    • Abby: Likes Stephen Finch, and was the victim of a domestic abuser.
    • Harrison: Convicted of insider-trading.
    • Stephen: Was a hotshot lawyer, then had a breakdown in the middle of a trial.
    • Quinn: Her real name probably isn't Quinn, and she didn't exist in that identity until two years ago.
      • Confirmed in the season finale; not only is her name falsified, it's stated that agents from all corners of the US government have warrants for her real identity.
    • Huck: His dossier is apparently thicker than most spy novels, most of it is redacted, but he has CIA/espionage/military training as an assassin and Olivia trusts him to break a dictator's wife and children out of the embassy with only five minutes' leeway. He's also spent time homeless and suffering from PTSD, begging on the DC subway, which is when Olivia found him.
    • There's also the surprising and villainous depths to Cyrus Beene - he's a Gay Conservative, and married to a much-younger man.
  • Idiot Ball: Quinn, when she dated a reporter that she got to know when he wanted information that she had. Her surprise after he died that he was still working on the case was especially baffling for someone who apparently has so many secrets herself.
    • Speaking of him, Gideon was hit with his BIG time in episode 6 - When confronting the person behind the majority of the shadyness in the story you're investigating, it's always best to do so in a public place or even to not let them know all that you know. But should you do both of these things DON'T TURN YOUR BACK TO THEM! It can only end one way.....
  • Innocent Bystander: Amanda Tanner.
  • Intrepid Reporter: Gideon. God help you if you get in the way of his scoop.
  • It's All About Me: Horribly demonstrated once.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique : The trope is deconstructed by Huck, who was forced to practize this. He uses it horribly.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Olivia.
  • Kick the Dog: Albeit accidental, as she thought Amanda was a manipulative Fake Cutie, when she reminded her rival (Amanda) of her mother's psychotic break and menaced to use it to end her career, the result was a really creepy Olivia.
    • Cyrus has plenty of those moments even before he proves to have been Evil All Along.
  • Kneecapping: Olivia, apparently, to Abby's abusive husband. With a tire iron. Yay!
  • Lady in Red: The president's wife, twice.
  • Manipulative Bastard : Olivia and most of her team live on the verge of this. Fitz refuses to be one, Cyrus is proud of being this, and Mellie Grant is probably one.
  • The McCoy: Quinn seems to be this.
  • Naïve Newcomer: Quinn, so very much
  • Never My Fault: Episode 3, with the rich guy.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Amanda Tanner. Olivia's third client (not counting the little girl herself and her earlier clients, which includes the president) when accused of murder.
  • Not So Stoic: Abby Whelan.
  • Obliviously Evil: Cyrus, probably.
  • Pet the Dog: Olivia asking the procurer not to fire his secretary, all her acts of kindness towards her clients and her other acquaintances, Fitz trying to avoid attacking the team Olivia.
    • Gideon being Adorkable by cooking to comfort Quinn, proving that their relationship is genuine.
  • Poisonous Friend: Cyrus, probably. The President to Olivia, sort of...
  • Politically-Incorrect Villain: Cyrus
  • The Quiet One: Huck.
  • Rags to Riches : Harison's Backstory.
  • Sacrificial Lion:
    • Amanda Tanner
    • Gideon Wallace
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them: Olivia : "We don't vote, we take her.".
  • Sequel Hook: Quinn's real identity and backstory are about to be revealed.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Huck reveals himself to be this, due to his CIA black-ops training. He and his other operatives were conditioned to torture enemies and eventually grew to like it. Huck wanted out and was trying to "get sober" while living homeless when Olivia found him.
  • Spoiled Sweet: Harshly averted.
  • Sympathetic Adulterer: President Fitzgerald Grant, perhaps. It's too early to say whether it may backfire.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: Olivia's team will bend the rules all over the place but will generally refuse to break the law. They do seem to make an exception as far as Huck's hacking is concerned. However, in the season one finale they can't Take a Third Option and have to make a choice whether to destroy evidence in order to protect Quinn
  • Treacherous Advisor: Cyrus, perhaps. He may have good intentions.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means:
    • Cyrus's speech to defend himself is full of this, which makes him either a Manipulative Bastard, either Obliviously Evil in acts.
    • Billy Chambers has his girlfriend sleep with the president and follows it up with blackmail and murder so the 'right' person can become president.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The show is based on the career of real life George H. W. Bush deputy press secretary/crisis manager Judy Smith, though obviously with plots far from the reality of the Bush 41 presidency meant to appeal to 2012 audiences looking for dramatic tension.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: ... enough of a good reputation to be president of the United States.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: It's a show about people's dirty secrets coming out so you get this a lot
    • Cyrus gives the President an epic one when he sees that the President is more worried about preparing a speech rather than preventing the coming scandal.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Quinn, which will perhaps lead to annoying side effects.
  • Woman in Black: Abby, quite often.
  • Woman in White: Olivia, frequently.
  • You Are Not Alone: Olivia, to Amanda.
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