Scandal: The Miseducation of Susan Ross Review

The truth was the biggest loser in last night's Scandal. Read our review...

This Scandal review contains spoilers.

Scandal: Season 5, Episode 16

Deception vs. the truth: Two concepts constantly debated, especially during a presidential election. Well, no one was interested in the truth in last night’s Scandal

We saw a new side of Olivia; a side I don’t really wish to see all that much. It became clear to me the kind of mindset she was in when she agreed to rig Fitz’s election all those years ago. Does Olivia even actually believe Mellie is the best candidate, or is she just making herself believe that? Greed fed Olivia through most of the episode, even to the point of tracking down a man from Susan Ross’ pass that may have destroyed her campaign.

When Olivia finds out Casey, Susan Ross’s daughter, has a different father than Susan claims, Liv barely hesitates to tear her down. It didn’t take Huck too long to realize that what Liv was doing wasn’t right and him and Quinn brought in the president for a little wake up call.

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Who would have thought Fitz would be the go to figure of morality?

Well, it wasn’t really his pep talk that did it for Liv. But it was when the man who was truly Casey’s father apparently killed himself after Olivia tortured him with threats to keep him in prison longer. While shocked, she quickly moved on from her remorse and made a pact with Fitz to attempt an honest campaign.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

With the death of Susan’s past lover, I guess Fitz’s little pep talk to Susan was unnecessary. However, it was a sweet moment as Fitz’s character continues to grow into a more honest person. We shall see just how long this lasts, but Susan is proving to be a strong contender in this campaign and if Fitz has to share some of his past failures with her in order to prove the worthiness of honesty, then so be it. It wouldn’t hurt the viewers to see a more selfless side of Fitz, especially as we come to the end of his presidency.

Mellie may have been one of the most honest candidates of the night, even though she fought it relentlessly. While Marcus worked with her to appear more of an authentic candidate, she wanted to solely focus on the issues at hand. However, her reading “mean tweets” on Jimmy Kimmel Live may have enlightened Shondaland voters to a more relaxed and honest Mellie. Even Marcus, who has hated her since the beginning, may have warmed up to her a bit more even though I doubt, in reality, that Marcus would even come close to voting for a Republican candidate.

However, this is a fake election and the political parties are even more idealistic than we know them to be. While Vargas appeared to be the honest Democrat, he still let his brother play dirty and outed the secret information Olivia gave him on Edison in exchange for Susan Ross information. Though the rumors were true, Papa Pope quickly nipped them in the bud, making the Vargas campaign look unprofessional and conniving.

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I guess you can’t expect too much with Cyrus on their side and after Vargas’ brother’s slip-up, it looks like Cyrus will be getting more control as campaign manager.

Overall, for an episode that started off with a heated debate, I expected the rest of the episode to carry that same exhilaration. But, when the preview for next week’s adrenaline-charged episode came on, I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long for Scandal to put the punch back into TGIT.

Until next time!

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Rating:

2.5 out of 5