The Scandal Scene That People Think Went Too Far
"Scandal" started out so strong, didn't it? The show followed Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and her team of "Gladiators" who cleaned up the messes made by powerful figures on the political stage, the corporate sector, and in the entertainment spotlight. It was genuinely gripping to see how Pope swept things under the rug, forcing audiences to confront the immoral actions of the main cast as they kept a horde of secrets from the public eye. Throw in Olivia's scandalous affair with the president, and it made for brilliant television. But after a while, the Shonda Rhimes show pushed the drama further than anyone expected, including overly violent storylines and shocking plot twists about Olivia's personal life.
It was moments like Rowan/Eli Pope (Joe Morton) being revealed as the head of a covert agency, B613, that started to push the series out of the realm of believability. His job was to coordinate assassinations that were made to look like suicides as well as torturing targets to protect various people in power. Essentially, B613 was the violent version of Olivia Pope's company. But some fans really weren't happy with a specific plotline in "Scandal" Season 4, which threatened the safety of the world as well as upending Olivia's life for some time.
A season 4 plotline got a little unbelievable
In Season 4, the slimy Vice President Andrew Nichols wanted the U.S. to go to war with West Angola, a country in Africa, for reasons that aren't wholly clear. It seems like it's a combination of showing he has power over President Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn) as well as the money that would be made over another major conflict. And to pressure the president into plunging the country into another bloody war, Nichols has Olivia kidnapped, promising that she'll be killed if Grant doesn't follow the orders of his vice president.
Oh, and just to make things worse, it's revealed that a bunch of Secret Service agents who are all loyal to the VP are keeping an eye on Fitz to make sure he doesn't step out of line. They may as well just cry Hail Hydra at this point. Needless to say, audiences weren't particularly keen — it just seemed too far-fetched, even for a sensationalized drama like "Scandal."
As user s4bb472acb put it for Buzzfeed, "How can a country go to war just because the president's girlfriend is kidnapped? Were there no other sensible people around that would've put a stop to it? They just included it for the drama...useless."
They've got a point. Surely an army general or a military adviser would've pulled the president up on his exact reasons for trying to plunge the U.S. into another war? Apparently not.