'Scandal' Tweet-cap: Do the Right Thing

Shonda Rhimes and the cast of Scandal have been warning us for awhile that the show would take a dramatic turn. Tony Goldwyn told us himself that Scandal would “switch gears,” that Rhimes would be “exploring new territory” in this latter part of the season.

Wow, was that an understatement.

The first half of this season was all high-stakes soap with exciting, if somewhat ludicrous plot twists, capped off with the most deus ex machina ending of all time. With Olivia safely back home from her kidnapping ordeal, we wondered if she’d get sucked into the love triangle with Fitz and Jake again, or perhaps be caught between her murderous father and her murderous mother.

Instead, we really do head into new territory, as Rhimes decides to Address A Big Issue of the Day — in this case, the boiling-point state of race relations in this country. This episode called back to Trayvon Martin in Florida, to Michael Brown in Ferguson, to Eric Garner in New York. It comes on the heels of widespread discussion about the movie Selma, and the portrayal of the Civil Rights movement.

It’s so easy to see Scandal as just a frothy soap, with steamy sex scenes and designer handbags and titillating storylines. But Rhimes and her writers (this one was penned by Zahir McGhee) proved that the show can be much, much more than that. It can be powerful and moving; it can make you think, and wonder, and debate. Scandal has always been a watercooler show — or in this day and age, a Twitter show. But this time, the conversation will be different.

A rundown of the episode…

A father’s stand

Olivia is still recovering from her ordeal, but pushes away a concerned Jake to go back to work. The D.C. police have called her in to handle a delicate situation: A young, 17-year-old black kid named Brandon Parker has been shot and killed by an officer, who thought Brandon was pulling a knife. Crowds are already gathering at the crime scene, and the D.C. police chief doesn’t want the situation escalating into a riot.

Unfortunately, things are already getting out of hand, and it gets worse when Brandon’s father, Clarence (the incredible Courtney B. Vance), shows up with a shotgun. He is outraged by his son’s killing and refuses to leave his body, even when Olivia promises to bring in the Attorney General to see to the investigation.

David Rosen, however, has more important stuff to do. He’s meeting with the president to talk about options for picking a new VP. Fitz is thinking Abernathy or Some Other Boring Old White Dude, but Cyrus dismisses them as “two scoops of vanilla.” Why not pick someone young and fresh, who could run in the next election?

Fitz admits that he promised Mellie his help in succeeding him, and doesn’t want to jeopardize her chances by bringing in a competitor. A perturbed Cy notes that it’s going to be an “uphill battle” to get Mellie elected.

Back at the crime scene, Olivia’s job gets a bit harder when activist Marcus Walker (a really great Cornelius Smith, Jr.) shows up to support Clarence and rally the crowd. Clarence defiantly sits in a lawn chair over his dead son’s body. “Stand up! Fight back! No more black men under attack!” they chant.

Olivia talks to the police officers on the scene, particular to Officer Newton, who shot Brandon. Newton is very remorseful, even tearful about killing a kid. Something isn’t adding up about all of this, so Liv has Huck and Quinn check security camera footage.

Back on the street, Marcus wants the cop’s name, but Olivia refuses. He doesn’t want justice, she says, just retribution. He agrees, but notes her high-priced handbag. “We’re living in the same city, Olivia, but this is the first time you’ve probably stepped on this block,” he says. “You’re not getting your black card validated today.”

17 going on 18

At the White House, Mellie is meeting with various supporters and runs into Sen. Susan Ross. In case you don’t remember, Susan was the candidate that Olivia helped elect instead of Abby’s slimy ex-husband. But Susan is as Susan as ever, going on and on about vaccinations for genital warts. Oh, Susan, don’t change.

In the Oval Office, Fitz watches a video uploaded by New Mexico governor Roselyn Mendez, who extends sympathy to Clarence Parker. She knows just how he feels, having grown up as the child of immigrants herself. Cyrus wants Fitz to consider Mendez for vice president — she’s a Republican, minority, and a woman. Fitz reluctantly agrees.

Back at the crime scene, Olivia brings Clarence a sandwich, but he’s in no mood to eat. He sadly recounts how he worked hard to raise Brandon right — ”Just get him to 18” was Clarence’s motto. And after all that, Brandon is still dead in the street.

Liv sees the police herding media away and knows what that means — they’re about to do whatever it takes to disperse the crowd. So, she joins in with them, and the police chief is forced to stand down.

She finds out there is surveillance footage of the arrest, and demands to get it from David. But when he refuses, Liv… breaks down! “I can’t fix this, David,” she pleads. “I have nothing left, no more tricks in my bag. It’s too much!”

This is an Olivia that David hasn’t seen, and it alarms him. She’s gone through a lot lately. She was put through a lot of fear and anxiety during her kidnapping. But as she notes:

Olivia gets her hands on the video, which shows that Brandon did try to pull something out of his pocket. She begs Clarence to check his body, and when they do, they find a knife underneath him. Oh no!

But Clarence refuses to believe what he has just seen. “He doesn’t carry a knife!” he yells, then points his shotgun at Olivia and Marcus, who back away. “He doesn’t carry a knife!”

I shall be released

At the White House, Fitz watches everything happen on TV, when an angry Cyrus storms in. Somebody leaked info about Mendez’s dirty dealings to the media, and now she’s out of the running for VP. It was totally Mellie!

Nope, it wasn’t. It was Fitz! He tells her that Mendez’s video was a power grab, and that he made a deal with Mellie that he will honor. Only… they still need a suitable VP candidate.

At OPA, Jake confronts Huck and Quinn about “letting” Olivia go to the crime scene — as if anyone “lets” Olivia do anything. They’re rewatching the surveillance footage when they spot something, or rather someone, in the back of Newton’s police car. Turns out that Newton had arrested another guy an hour before Brandon’s shooting — and that guy had a knife that was never checked into evidence.

When Olivia goes to the police station to confront Newton, the seemingly-mousy officer turns feral. “What is it with you people?!” he snarls.

Newton starts to rant about how he isn’t respected by black people, and that all he hears about is cops shooting innocent black kids when it’s really black people shooting each other. Brandon didn’t “respect me. He didn’t respect my badge,” Newton shouts.

When he’s done with his diatribe, Olivia and everyone else in the precinct can only look at each other, stunned and horrified.

Back at the White House, Fitz and Mellie bring in Susan Ross for a chat. They want to make her VP. She’s shocked and horrified, because if anything happened to Fitz, she’d be president — and the last thing Susan Ross wants is to be president.

They manage to convince her, though, after Fitz pretends like he actually wants to hear about her vaccination program. All hail the Genital Warts Vice President!

In a press conference, David announces that Officer Newton has been arrested and that the Justice Department would begin an investigation into the D.C. Police Department.

Olivia returns to Clarence, still sitting in his lawn chair, and gives him a piece of paper. It’s a cell phone receipt that Brandon was trying to pull out of his pocket before he was killed. No, Brandon wasn’t carrying a knife, just like his father knew so well.

Liv takes him away in a car, not to Clarence’s home, but to the home of another father who lost his son — to the White House. He meets Fitz, as Nina Simone’s “I Shall Be Released” plays over the scene.

And later, in her bed, Olivia lays alone. Somewhere else, in the street, Brandon Parker lays alone. She’s alive. He’s dead. But she could easily have been in a body bag herself, not that long ago.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.