Buy Scandal: Dirty Little Secrets
Solid follow-up to the strong pilot. The episode specific plot revolves around a famous Washington, DC, madam that may be forced to release her client list to the US Attorney’s office and one politician in particular that could cause a big problem for the President if he’s outed in a prostitution sting. Henry Ian Cusick, from Lost, is one of the supporting characters on the show and the episode kind of deals with the subject matter in a really interesting way by having him actually be a client himself. This leads to some great discussions about the nature of prostitution, etc. It isn’t a social justice class, but it’s done with wit and some genuine incisiveness. Everyone continues to be really great in their respective roles and the episode has a twist I genuinely didn’t see coming. Guest star Megan Gallagher does a great job in the climactic scenes of the episode. And Bellamy Young is introduced as the First Lady and she’s a pitch perfect Laura Bush manqué. This is how you do procedural/serial television. Recommended. 3 ½ stars.
tl;dr – second episode both advances the season-long story arc and contains a wonderful story of the week; shows usually can’t balance both, but this one does. 3 ½ stars.