Scandal Review: The Noise (Season 7 Episode 15)

There is something about Scandal Season 7 Episode 15 “The Noise” that feels like a case of déjà vu, and not in a good way.

Picking up right where Scandal Season 7 Episode 14 “The List” left off we get right into the special prosecutor, who is in Cyrus’s pocket, and the plot that involves framing Charlie.

The opening of “The Noise” gives us a very clear picture of the intentions of the episode. Charlie needs to sign a confession that implicates Mellie as the person who hijacked Air Force Two.

As much as this gets us straight to the point, it’s hard not to wonder if anyone in this series has learned anything from two previous Vice Presidents who tried to make a play for the Oval?

Let’s just sit back and consider that this is not out of the realm of possibility, of things that could happen to a sitting president in the Scandal universe.

Watching all the characters squabble over whether or not Cyrus might have been behind the hijacking of Air Force Two is a little painful to watch.

Proof is great! Proof is good. But there is an undercurrent of “we can’t trust Olivia Pope” in this entire scenario.

While this reasoning makes sense, because Olivia Pope is the axis on which this show has turned from the beginning, it’s hard to imagine other characters don’t have factors that influence their decision making.

The events of “The Noise” feel like they were a long time coming. There is no question that Cyrus has been gunning for power for a long time. Especially at the end of Season 5, when he engineered getting on Frankie Vargas’s Presidential ticket.

It also makes sense that Cyrus couldn’t make his move while Olivia was Chief of Staff. Olivia had Mellie’s ear since the campaign started, and Mellie even goes as far to admit that she misses Olivia.

The way that Cyrus presents his arguments to Quinn in this episode, as everyone being obsessed with Olivia Pope, seems less like a vendetta against Olivia and more of an accusation designed to further damage her credibility.

But the damage was done as far as Mellie was concerned, and the fact that Olivia’s friends don’t trust her anymore, just shows you how far she’s fallen. But there is a bit of redemption in this episode when Mellie goes to Olivia and asks her to kill Cyrus.

It’s a dark turn, and an ironic one. There is so much talk about Olivia and her team being a merry band of criminals in “The Noise,” and yet Mellie wants Olivia to assassinate her Vice President.

Need I remind you, Cyrus engineered the same outcome in the Scandal Season 6 Finale “Tick Tock/Transfer of Power”.

So, let’s ask this question: if Olivia does this, does that make Mellie better or worse than Cyrus?

Stray Thoughts:

• That’s no way to treat a white hat!
• Huck continues to be a giant teddy bear, and the moment he has with Olivia moment where he asks if Olivia’s back now is so sweet. Props to Guillermo Diaz for his performance. The way Huck confesses to Fitz about wanting the old Olivia back is also adorable.
• Trying to recap on a magnetic board at The Fitzgerald Grant Institute just doesn’t feel the same.
• Someone finally pointed out that Mellie Grant is a progressive Republican. This has been a point of the show’s creation, but I don’t think it’s ever been recognized in the dialogue.
• Mellie and Marcus are back together again!
• Why, Jake? Why? We thought we could trust you!

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

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Scandal airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.

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