Scandal Review: The Box (Season 6 Episode 13)
This is one of those episodes that will forever exist by its fan-given nickname. For me, Scandal Season 6 Episode 13, “The Box,” will forever be called “How Eli Got His Groove Back.”
The episode picks up right where Scandal Season 6 Episode 12, “Mercy,” left off. No one has left the White House, Luna Vargas is stunned by her new position as Mellie’s Vice President, and Mellie can now do what she wants because she’s out from under Peus’ thumb.
A brief moment of jubilation is soured by the presence of nine drones over major American cities and a call from Peus demanding that he get “his president” back.
SCANDAL – “The Box” – (ABC/Richard Cartwright)
BELLAMY YOUNG
Mellie’s reaction to this request, is to give Peus what he wants, to the point where she is willing to get in a car herself and go to wherever Peus decides they should meet.
Let’s get something straight: Mellie is what Peus wants. Mellie is of more use to Peus alive than dead. They could have come up with something that used Mellie as a mechanism, but they didn’t because they don’t want to be seen as negotiating with terrorists.
It wouldn’t right to offer her up to Peus, and I see how they’re protecting her and the continued free leadership of the United States, but there was a glaring opening there.
The best thing that comes out of this plot is a great Mellie and Olivia scene where Olivia actually uses the term “nasty woman” to describe a woman with power, and I think this kind of talk is exactly what Mellie needs to shake off Peus and get ready for the transition.
BELLAMY YOUNG, KERRY WASHINGTON
As excited as I am for an all-female ticket, this is the first episode of Scandal I’ve walked away from without feeling a tightness in my chest.
It feels so weird to see the Peus and Samantha (or Grace) plot come to a close. While I am glad they are forever out of the Gladiator’s hair, it also feels a bit too soon. Their spectacular deaths, ultimately orchestrated by Eli Pope, have the tone of the final scene in a season, not the final scene in an episode.
But, I also understand that Scandal is probably shooting towards an inaugural address for the last shot of the series, and therefore, these ends needed to be resolved now.
The thing about this ending, is that it redeems Eli Pope. I used to be scared of him, but this season I saw a broken Eli Pope, which made me fear Peus more.
What really got me was the mechanism that Peus used to keep Eli Pope under control. Every few days Peus would send Eli Pope a box, the box would be the same size, and weigh about nine to eleven pounds in hand. When Eli opened the box, he’d find a brick.
This probably says more about me, but from the moment we saw the size and shape of the box, I had the feeling that there were severed heads in there. I didn’t expect the bricks, but when Eli started talking to Fitz about how a brick weighs about the same as a human head I started to understand the fear.
TONY GOLDWYN, BELLAMY YOUNG
When Eli finally puts his anger aside and works with Fitz, they are able to take down both Peus and Samantha and in the most spectacular fashion.
It feels so fitting that Samantha is killed with a dinosaur tooth. This bone is older than she is, from a creature who lives years ago, but who’s skeleton (and teeth) have survived to present day and this moment.
Although we don’t see the gruesome clean-up of this murder, there is a box sitting by the skeleton with a little bit of blood dripping from it, and it doesn’t take much to realize who’s head is in it, and Eli Pope talking to the dinosaur.
That ending frame feels poetic, because the dinosaur and Eli are a lot alike. They’re predators who have been knocked down, torn apart, and rebuilt. It feels like Papa Pope is back in the house, and I can’t wait to see how that factors into the end of the season.
What did you think of this episode of Scandal? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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Scandal airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.