Scandal Review: Hardball (Season 6 Episode 2)

If you’ve ever read my Scandal reviews before, you know I love Mellie Grant. So obviously “Hardball” knocked it out of the park for me.

If you haven’t read my reviews before: welcome to your first one, I love Mellie Grant and bad puns.

Scandal has always done flashbacks with grace and finesse and the reveal of what happened on the campaign trail in “Hardball” is no different. Through glimpses into the past the audience runs the full gauntlet of Mellie and Marcus’ relationship, from their tentative and forbidden start, to Mellie feeling love for the first time, to it all going down in flames.

Mellie: I’m pretty sure it’s just love.

The amount of story that Shonda Rhimes manages to pack into a single episode is astounding. The audience is given this whirlwind romance in it’s entirety in the space of a single hour of television.

And your heart positively aches for Mellie and Marcus even though this is the first, and perhaps the last we’ve seen of them together romantically.

The love between Mellie and Marcus is something so pure, and in a way innocent, compared to what we normally see on Scandal. It’s utterly heartbreaking to see the absolute joy on Mellie’s face at finally experiencing these feelings for the first time, only to watch it fall apart beneath her later.

Olivia knows Mellie perhaps better than anyone, she knows that being president is what Mellie has wanted all her life. So she keeps her on course even though she knows how much it will hurt Mellie to make this sacrifice.

Of course in the end Olivia turns out to be right. Mellie nearly takes Cyrus’ VP offer because it means she’d get to be with Marcus again, but a walk around the Oval Office re-centers Mellie’s view of what she really wants.

Mellie: It hurt this much when you left Fitz?

Olivia: Yes.

Olivia tells Mellie that she cannot have both Marcus and the presidency. The audience knows the minute that Marcus asks her to choose between him and being President, he’s already lost. Mellie and Olivia are married to power, they know what they want and they know the sacrifices they have to make to get it.

Olivia’s rant at Quinn who’s panicking over having said yes to marrying Charlie applies to both herself and to Mellie. Neither woman can have normal and happy and it hurts like hell that they have to sacrifice love to get where they want to be.

Olivia: You are being offered normal, maybe even happy. The fact that you are questioning it is frankly annoying.

Scandal always does a good job of balancing and interweaving several plots, though Mellie and Marcus’ romance and Mellie coming to fully understand Olivia take center stage, the investigation into who killed Frankie Vargas has several moving parts that weave in and out of Olivia and Mellie’s story.

Cyrus offers Mellie Vice President on a unity ticket, a hand out and a step down that she wouldn’t even have given a second thought had it not been for Marcus.

Mellie:  If you think the only presidential candidate left in this election is going to get down on her knees and be a good little girl for you, the man who tried to to murder his way into the oval. Honey, you better think again.

Both Cyrus and Jake have appeared in the first two episodes of this season, but their scenes have been scarce and brief. My money’s still on Cyrus, but Jake is giving me increasingly creepy vibes.

Who do you think killed the President Elect? Do you think we’ll find out before the end of the season or should we settle in for the long ride?

OTHER THOUGHTS:

• The conversation between Olivia and FBI Director, Angela Webster about the casual racism they encounter in their day to day lives is a subtle yet flawless moment.
• Speaking of Angela Webster, isn’t it a little taboo for the FBI Director to go on a date with the President? Even if he is single and this is Scandal, that seems like it would be a bigger deal than it’s treated as in “Hardball.”
• Quinn and Charlie are so. damn. cute. He even asks if he should call her dad, you guys. I mean I know Quinn can’t even see her family anymore, but still, it’s sweet.
• Do you think we’ll see more of Mellie and Marcus in the future or are they done for good?
• Do you think Olivia is over Fitz?
• Abby is up to some shady stuff in the White House. Calling in Jake to do dirty work for her? Dirty work that she knows is wrong? Not cool, Red. I like it much better when Abby and Olivia are on the same side, someone repair this friendship stat.
• Best dressed of this episode easily goes to Abby, that dark pink/black ensemble looked incredible. Runner up goes to Mellie for that criminally cute baseball jersey.

What did you think of this episode of Scandal? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Scandal airs Thursday at 9/8c on ABC.

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