Scandal: Secrets and Lies

Scandal was inspired by Judy Smith, the real-life Washington fixer who discreetly solved messy situations for many, including Monica Lewinsky and Paula Deen.

Similarly, Judy’s on-screen persona Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) never discusses her clients. Olivia is a high-powered public relations executive, who works behind the scenes to manage crises and figure out ways to spin into advantage scandals and problems which could otherwise destroy entire political careers, ways to have things blow over or just go away. It’s a great idea for a network show, a “case-of-the-week” style procedural.

Olivia is a strong, complex female character. There are endless cases because we’re in Washington, DC, where scandal is rife. Stakes are high because she works at the highest levels within the political power system. That premise itself, plus the personal lives of Olivia and the people who work for her, were enough for a show. The Olivia Pope and Associates staff all have interesting, complex backstories; they are all, essentially, wounded birds who Olivia took in and nursed back to life, and they remain incredibly loyal to her. There is also the

!1 component that while Olivia can manage everybody else’s personal lives, her own personal life is a mess. That was going to be the internal struggle.

Then, showrunner Shonda Rhimes made the bold, audacious, provocative story choice of: What if Olivia Pope were having an affair with the President of the

United States? Olivia’s romance with President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) is a story tentacle that has become the centerpiece of the entire show: love triangles, scandal, conspiracy, the taboo relationship that is also the gift that keeps on giving. I love how Rhimes commits to her bold ideas. So, it wasn’t as if this was ever going to be in the background. It’s front and center. The heat and tension between Olivia and Fitz is palpable; Washington and Goldwyn have great chemistry.

Their affair is also not what we expect it’s going to be. One might assume that as

Fitz is married, he cheated on his wife and she has no idea what’s going on.

Later, we realize that his wife Mellie (Bellamy Young) knows all about it. There are all sorts of extenuating circumstances that led to it—and we start to understand that Olivia is not a homewrecker for Fitz, Mellie is not a victim and Fitz is not a philanderer. We begin to comprehend the complexity of the love triangle.

What’s also smart about this particular story element, which is introduced in the

!2 pilot, is that—and this is universal—as soon as there exists a secret or taboo, we need to manage it. Our characters have to keep it quiet and contained while everybody’s still trying to do their jobs. And this is a great story tentacle.

In Fitz’s case, he’s trying to run the country and is also the leader of the free world. In Olivia’s case, she’s managing huge, high-stakes political scandals. And it isn’t until several seasons into Scandal that the secret about their affair is at last revealed to the public. Even then, it doesn’t play out in the way we expect. What

Rhimes does, because she’s wise and a great storyteller who truly connects with her audience and their expectations, is not to give the audience what they want

—but to give them what they need. So, she draws out the taboo relationship for as long as possible. Only in Season 5 does Olivia finally admit to the media that she is the President’s mistress. It’s almost like the end of the movie Iron Man, when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) admits he is indeed the eponymous hero.

Revealing his identity in the first movie was a bold move I didn’t expect, and avoided the trope. We’ve seen it many times: the hero who’s wearing a flimsy disguise, or maybe his/her voice is slightly different, yet nobody figures out their identity. I love that the writers dispense with it right away in the first Iron Man.

In Scandal, Rhimes again makes the choice that is the opposite of the audience’s

!3 expectations: In this case, the slow burn. We sit and watch, expecting this love affair to blow up and be exposed, but because Olivia is adept at covering things up, she’s able to extend and hide it for as long as possible. By the time the giant bombshell drops and it’s revealed to the public, it has a lot more gravitas to it.

We’re thoroughly invested in all the characters and I think it was another smart decision. And that one story choice to create the affair ends up defining the whole show. Rhimes recognized that it would be much stronger—and a great story tentacle—to step away from the source material for the show. Olivia’s fictionalized affair with the President fuels more scandal, secrets and lies and sustains the show for a long period of time.

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