Scandal Review: Lost Girls (Season 7 Episode 4)

Here we go again! Fitz is back in town and ready to throw a wrench into Olivia’s daily routine of being Command, and serving as Mellie’s Chief of Staff on Scandal Season 7 Episode 4, “Lost Girls.”

When I look at this episode as a whole, I find myself really frustrated with Olivia. She’s crossing a line where she’s turning petty and a bit vindictive.

She’s shutting out people who used to be her friends, and it’s getting to the point where it feels like the power she’s consolidated in her office, is going to start leaking like a sieve. Especially, if Fitz and her father keep bombarding her with this odd tag-team pairing that seems destined to fail. Honestly, since when do these two like each other?

Let’s start with the obvious here. Olivia Pope isn’t stupid, if Fitz and her father are going to come into town to try to lay a trap for her, she will smell it.

We can’t forget that Olivia runs the spies that can find things out, and that’s exactly what she does. By the end of the episode, Olivia and Jake discover that Eli visited Fitz in Vermont on Scandal Season 7 Episode 3 “Day 101.”

Plus, does it seem odd to anyone that she has agents investigating her father, but not a possible coup? That doesn’t seem like a great allocation of resources to me.

The main thing I take away from this mind game that Eli and Fitz are about to start playing is that Olivia doesn’t like being handled. While I applaud her for exercising her power, defining boundaries, and doing many things that I think are healthy, she’s also being a bit petty.

While this is going on Olivia talks to everyone about Fitz, except Fitz. This infuriates me to no end because for the last several seasons, I just want this couple to make up their mind and stop kissing on the White House lawn before he boards a helicopter!

It’s no wonder when they finally get face-to-face again; they start kissing because the tension has been building the entire episode. When it actually happens, I just have to shake my head and say: here we go again!

We also have to talk about Mellie and Olivia this episode, because Mellie’s chemistry with Rashad is a huge factor in this episode. Scandal Season 7 Episode 4 “Lost Girls” is very much a will-they, won’t-they episode, sprinkled with politics.

For Mellie, her love triangle is with President Rashad and Marcus who’s back in town. (Although, Olivia won’t let Marcus see Mellie, so basically, that part of this triangle is a non-starter.)

I think Mellie deserves happiness, but she’s also being held to a standard that is higher than the forty-four men who preceded her.

While it is clear that Rashad’s country isn’t politically stable, the coup feels really oddly timed to give Mellie permission to be with someone she’s interested in.

Mellie does point out that she’s a single President on Scandal Season 7 Episode 2 “Pressing the Flesh,” and the public has never had to deal with that before. Of course, the men she’s going to be meeting are going to be heads of state, so even though she knows it’s a conflict she can’t help but look for companionship.

Mellie’s desire to save Rashad’s country and restore him to power does show exactly how a romantic relationship could cloud her judgment when making a decision.

This doesn’t make her better or worse than anyone who came before her because I am going to point out again, that Fitz almost went to war when Olivia was kidnapped. If Mellie has feelings for Rashad, it only makes sense that she would want to see him safe and happy.

At the same time, I disagree with Olivia’s statement that Mellie is never alone when she makes her decisions. This being the last season of Scandal, we won’t see the long view of how she’ll be remembered, but she is a single female President. If she thinks below her waist there will be people who attack her for it.

Also, while Olivia may prepare the briefs and help Mellie make the decisions, in the end, Mellie is going to be the one blamed for anything that goes wrong! Despite Olivia trying to keep Mellie’s spirits up by saying she’s not alone, there is a lot on Mellie’s shoulders. It’s not on Olivia’s.

Mellie is the one who the history books recognize and she’s the one who in broad cursory reviews in high school history classes, will be judged based on how she acts. And if you don’t believe that, let’s just think back to everyday conversations and tell me the last time a Chief of Staff was blamed for a terrible decision?

Stray Thoughts:

• Cyrus and Fenton are adorable, but I also am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe this is just my experience with Shondaland shows, but I feel like nothing good ever happens without something equally bad happening.
• Buying the Cezanne was $20 was a brilliant move.
• I love Marcus’ description of Vermont and Fitz. “Cold. White.” is a very accurate description of both things.
• The scene where Cyrus and Mellie talking about guys they like is adorable. I need to see more of a President and Vice President friendship. Being the VP on Scandal has never ended well in the past.
• The case that Fitz brings Olivia is really interesting and does hit a lot of cultural points that are very relevant. I really like how the writers have embedded these perspectives into the scripts. They’re really pulling all the punches this 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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