Curl Up In Scandal As Though It Were A Cashmere Blanket
Show: Scandal, which airs Thursday nights at 10 PM EST.
Plot: Crisis manager/"White Hat" Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) coolly shepherds the rich and powerful through the worst moments of their lives.
Soapy Intrigue: Olivia came to her consultancy from a job in the (ultimately successful) presidential campaign of Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn), in which capacity she worked very closely with the candidate, vagina-wise. Yes, they had an affair -- but they also seem to have genuinely fallen in love, which is what makes it all the more tragic that the very job she helped to put him in is the reason they can't be together. At the end of the show's first season, Grant's calculating wife Mellie (the fascinating Bellamy Young) created a distraction from scandal within her husband's administration by announcing that she was pregnant, forcing her essentially estranged husband from...you know, getting her pregnant. In the finale's other big shocker, Olivia's staff was shocked by the news that operative Quinn (Katie Lowes) has been living under an assumed name because she's a suspect in the bombing death of an ex-boyfriend and several other people he worked with; as Season 2 begins, she's on trial for capital murder (though she protests her innocence).
What It Will Remind You Of: It has the same sort of snappy dialogue and sexy sexiness as Grey's Anatomy, for which Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes is also responsible. In terms of plot and setting (and, often, enjoyable preposterousness), it's much more like The West Wing.
What's Best About It: Washington and Goldwyn's chemistry is off the charts incredible; when we see them together in flashback, getting down, it's about as hot as things can get on network TV, but they're magnetic even when they're just talking on the phone -- which, given their danger of having their relationship exposed, is probably as much interaction between them that we're likely to see for a while.
What's Worst About It: Why is Abby (Darby Stanchfield) such a C all the time? Also, as the world's most accommodating ADA, Joshua Malina's David Rosen sometimes strains credence. He kind of gives one the sense that, all things considered, he'd rather be on Olivia's team.
But If I Save It Until Friday, Don't I Risk Having Pop Culture Spoil It For Me? Eh, since it airs on Thursday, you're only holding it a day. Plus, the show hasn't reached a critical buzz level yet; you're probably okay.
Finally, And Most Importantly, Do the Female Leads Wear Cute Outfits? So cute that People Stylewatch's website partnered with Bluefly on this exclusive video about Olivia's look, which is right on point whether she's supporting a client in court or hanging out at home watching her ex and his wife tell a TV reporter that they're having a boy.