Maybe I’ve really adapted to the 10 episode arc of BBC shows. Or the 16 to 20 episode arcs of Korean shows. Whatever it is, it always seems as if my favorite American shows go on just a season too long. Especially if they become super successful like Scandal did.
Somewhere along the line I stopped caring about the main characters. That’s what is important to me while watching a show. That and a good storyline.
The gladiators are a fractured bunch
No forever Scooby Doo gang here. Huck is no longer a cuddly bear in need of love. He’s just a sicko with very real problems. And totally unredeemable now. He’s a killing machine. It seemed like in would be cool to have a trained assassin in my crew back when Scandal first started. Now, not so much. I can’t see how they are gonna rein in that beast.
Being #TeamJake is a losing cause considering he, too, is a murderer and has a bunch of deep psychological problems. Because I so deeply disliked Olivia and Fitz’s relationship, I kept the blinders on regarding Jake, even after he killed James. Now they’re off. He’s never going to win Olivia’s heart. He’s just a stand-in. Always the B guy, never the A-team. Jake is now a terrible option for Olivia considering he actually knows where her murderous dad is currently. He’s frenemies with Fitz and stalks spies on her under the guise of making sure she is safe.
Olivia has no good dating options. And even if she did, she’d only use him up and then run back to Fitz. **SPOILER**: The new hottie they just hooked her up with, yeah, he’s a keeper for all of us viewers but not Olivia Pope. She’s had presidential power. She’s got nowhere else to go in dating world. Is she still good at her job? Hard to tell. Even if her love life was a hot mess, at least I could count on her being awesome at her career.
Harrison and his smooth/fast-talking, good-looking self is dead. It’s not like we could afford to lose smart eye candy. I have a feeling new hottie Olivia is about to enjoy is his replacement.
Cyrus without James is just an old, tired, bitter evil ass.
David half-joining the gladiators was cool for all of the hot second that he did before going back to his mostly strait-laced ways. Working for the president is a minus.
The best thing I saw all season was Desmond Stephen returning to help a gladiator in need. If only he could have stayed.
Abby, I guess I like her better now that she’s confronted her demon ex-hubby, but I miss her as a gladiator. Also a minus working for the White House and not fitting in there.
And these new people? The Vice Prez, Portia De Rossi (I didn’t even bother to learn the character’s name) I don’t like them and I don’t care about them. Well, I did like the Veep being in love with Mellie until we learned it was only a nasty ploy. Mellie’s backstory finally made me feel sympathetic towards her. I was hoping she would find someone who truly loves her and was in her corner. Oh well.
I used to love ya
Even the things that I used to enjoy, like Papa Pope’s dramatic rapid-fire monologues, are getting on my last nerve. He’s standing by a pond fishing rattling off his soliloquy and I simply wished Jake would knock him into the pond and just yell, “For the love of humanity SHUT UP!” Someone, anyone, please tell Papa Pope to just stop talking. It’s not cute anymore how you love to hear yourself talk.
The stories, the people and situations that need fixing. This was good stuff the first couple of seasons. Now they just seem like one more thing that I used to love.
On the fence
I see how the show went toward relevant current events with the kidnapping of Olivia and the shooting of a young black male shooting by cops. I like the idea of it, but…it felt like something was lacking. With ISIS and Chechnya bidding on Olivia —how incredible. Oh wait…people bidding on a black woman. This reminds me of something that happened before….
Maybe I’ve just reached the same level of disgruntlement that I eventually did with Revenge, Grey’s Anatomy and other of my former must-see TV. All my friends seem to still be into it so I wanted to give it one more chance by watching the last five episodes. None of them elicited excitement or a smile from me — except when Stephen’s return was revealed. It’s time to let it go and keep my happy memories of a stellar show.
PS: Olivia’s hair is laid and lovely. But did the terrorist kidnappers fly in a black haircare expert to their little lair before they handed her over to the highest bidder? When I was flat ironing and relaxing my hair (even with weave) I couldn’t go a night without my satin or silk scarf to keep mine bouncing and behaving like that. Please can a sista get the hair secrets?
Pinkpodster Ponders 
I don’t watch much television but there’s a new one here now on the BBC, Poldark, I hope you get to see it!
I’ve heard that show is good. Not sure if it is on Hulu or Netflix. but you know America, ugh! For some reason we feel the need to remake certain British shows instead of airing the original. With the exception of The Office, that usually doesn’t bode well for a show because the remakes never seem to do the original justice. I think the American version of Poldark was cancelled already.
One of the things about this new series of Poldark is that it’s filmed where the writer set it, so it’s visually stunning never mind the story . I read the whole series of books many years ago and watched the first bbc version soon after ☺