Round Two: Scandal

Scandal: Season 1, Episode 2 “Dirty Little Secrets” (C+)

In its second week, this show isn’t proving to be any more accessible than it was in its first outing. The characters are proving rather impenetrable, and not one of them is becoming any more likeable than they were to start. Olivia doesn’t try to get anyone to like her, Stephen sleeps with prostitutes, Abby can’t get over the fact that Stephen sleeps with prostitutes, Huck is awfully gruff and unfriendly, and Quinn just seems plain incompetent. Quinn did impress by identifying the reporter sniffing around Amanda’s hospital room, but she managed to undo her productive work by immediately losing track of her charge and then standing visibly dumbfounded when she heard Olivia admit that she believed Amanda’s story. It seems that Olivia’s business is inseparable from the White House, and it would be nice if the smartest woman in Washington was a little subtler than openly holding hands with the president in the Oval Office. The president’s first Supreme Court nominee being on the madam’s list was quite convenient, though the reason for it turned out to be a major bombshell: his wife was actually a prostitute, and the judge never even knew! I’m not sure how likely it is that a man in such a high position of power could be so incredibly oblivious for such a long time. The high-minded discussion about past presidents with the current president standing on the presidential seal was more than a bit lofty, and I think this show could do well to take itself less seriously sometimes.