Season Six Premiere of SCANDAL

In a word...AMAZING!!! This show continues to kill it.

Episode 2 was a sizzler and most of its appeal can be summed up in two words...Bellamy Young. Can we just give this woman an Emmy already? Young has created the most delicious, three-dimensional villainness in the character of Mellie Grant and every moment she has onscreen is mesmerizing. Shonda Rhimes is a genius.

Some really brilliant writing and the out of sequence storytelling regarding the deconstruction of Cyrus Beene made ep 3 appointment television. Jeff Perry's effective scenery chewing as Cyrus was a big plus as well...I hope this isn't the end of Cyrus because this show would not be the same without Jeff Perry.

I've somehow missed the season opener, but saw the second episode and I agree that Bellamy is fantastic.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Ep 4..."The Belt"...Shonda Rhimes is a genius...I thought last week was the last we were going to see of Cyrus (Jeff Perry)...the imaginative script writing that is keeping Cyrus on the canvas can't be ignored. Nice to see some seemingly forgotten characters like Elizabeth North (Portia di Rossi) center stage and glad that Huck (Guillermo Diaz) might finally be getting some. Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) sleeping with the director of the FBI? I'm pretty sure that will end the next time they have sex and he calls her Olivia in the throes of passion. Can't believe Abby (Darby Stanchfield) did what she did and am shocked she didn't lose her job.

I thought the character of Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) had been shoved permanently on the back burner but ep 5 proved me wrong. Once again, with little or no effort, Olivia has destroyed another political marriage and feigning complete ignorance about it. Had no idea that Vanessa had turned into a drunk but loved that scene when Mellie put her in check. Sally Langston (Kate Burton) is a trip...loved her denouncing Cyrus on national television as a murderer...Sally, have you forgotten that we watched you murder your own husband a season or two ago?

I've always said Shonda Rhimes is a mad genius but she's really taken it to an all new level...every time we think we have the whole story, Rhimes stretches logic and credibility to its most intense level and still keeps what's going on just barely in the scope of realism. Ep 6 literally gave me the chills...I thought B613 was the be all and end all here, but the reveal that there are people who have their boots on Rowan Pope's neck too? Who are these people? How high does this go? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around who these people are, where their power comes from, on the other hand, if these people are so powerful, why do they need Eli's help with getting Mellie in the white house?

OK, ep 7...I'm speechless...I can't believe what I just saw...every time I think this show has stretched credibility and believability to its limit, I watch another episode. Pile onto this the fact that none of the questions I had at the end of ep 6 were answered either. Morbid curiosity will make me keep watching.

Per usual, ep 8 went nowhere I expected it to go, but that didn't make it any less brilliant. Shonda Rhimes is a mad genius, telling a very ugly and shocking story in carefully detailed layers, providing master classes in direction and continuity, not to mention Emmy-worthy work from the severely underrated Darby Stanchfield...bravo. Shonda, we're not worthy.

Ep 10 was a bit of an enigma, though entertaining as usual. I liked the idea of a peek at the characters lives if Fitz had never become president but I couldn't figure out what it had to do with what's going on with the show now...it felt like a stalling technique on Shonda's part because she doesn't know where to go with the current story yet.

Ep 10...business as usual...wow...freaking brilliant...the story at hand once again took center stage and made some startling progression without revealing the nagging question still at hand..."who are these people?" There was some brilliant acting, as usual, by Bellamy Young and Jeff Perry...Perry nailed how Cyrus' stint in jail has left permanent internal scars that will never heal and his reaction to Olivia showing up at his door rang completely true. And I also loved that we were reminded of something during this episode that we had kind of been losing focus of...the love between Fitz and Olivia, as toxic as it might be, is still at the core of this show. Shonda, we're not worthy.

Ep 11 provided a quick fix to the previous season that just seemed a little simplistic to me, especially because said resolution was provided without an answer to the question that has been nagging us for the past month or so..."Who are these people?" They've had all the power up to this point and this week they are finally dispatched off so conveniently? Some sloppy writing here, you really let the ball go here, Shonda.

Ok, I'm not going to lie, ep 13 scared the bejesus out of me...I'm amazed that they have apparently brought this current story to what appears to be a conclusion without ever coming out and explaining who these people were. The other thing that stood out for me as I watched was watching the evolution of the relationship between Olivia and Mellie...can't believe these are the same two women plotting to buy Fitz the White House during the first season.

Ep 14 brought about mixed emotions...this is the first episode in awhile that really felt like Shonda was at the helm. Despite my previous post regarding the evolution of Mellie and Olivia's relationship, will miss her at Olivia Pope & Associates. I thought Olivia was better as her own woman with her own business, can't see her happy too long manipulating Mellie, but the reveal at the end was FABULOUS!!!!!