Buy Scandal: A Criminal, a Whore, an Idiot & a Liar
Lot to love about this episode. We once again get lengthy flashbacks to the campaign and we finally get the full story on Defiance and how it all came to be. Barry Bostwick is really wonderful in a guest role as Fitz’s father; that relationship is as complicated as you’d expect it to be and Goldwyn is really good in the way he makes you feel Fitz’s complex and troubled emotions about his father. Washington is really good in the flashbacks; she makes us really feel the emotional damage that led to Defiance. There’s a great moment toward the end with Kate Burton that was surprising and interesting. And the scene in which the title comes into play is a real stunner; I’ll tell you again that I can’t believe a network show had the nerve to have a main character this dark and morally compromised. The season premiere was called White Hat’s Off and that’s been the theme of this season. Olivia, it turns out, isn’t quite the morally upright hero we might have initially thought and the show is better for it. Highly recommended. 4 stars.
tl;dr – the season’s main conspiracy is finally revealed in full and the performances are even better than usual in this slower, but still emotionally grueling episode. 4 stars.