Take Three: Scandal

Scandal: Season 1, Episode 3 “Hell Hath No Fury” (C+)

After two weeks of introducing a bevy of characters and not delving too deep into any of them, this show makes a conscious choice in this hour to abandon some of its more mentioned players – namely Stephen and Abby – for the moment, at least, and to return to fresh face Quinn as the newbie in the operation. I enjoyed that Guillermo Diaz got a chance to show some personality as Huck, helping Quinn to unwind her reporter friend since she clearly had no clue how to do it. Olivia is smart to help him by giving him something from her other case, since now he’ll be loyal to her and won’t be tempted to get revenge on her, as I’m sure many of her previous enemies have. Michael Cassidy, best known as Zack from “The O.C.,” was rather smoothly seedy as the rapist innocent of one charge but guilty of another, and it was quite interesting to see Olivia encourage his mother not to let him slide as she had done so many times in the past. I recognized Curtis Armstrong, who plays despicable attorney Peter Goldman on “The Closer,” as the similarly eccentric defense lawyer unhappy with the opposition’s demands. The president continues to play an extremely active role on this show, and he’s done well to alienate everyone in his life, as Cyrus is now lying to him and his own wife appears to be fully aware of one of his indiscretions. Amanda’s big bombshell – she’s pregnant! – doesn’t answer the question of who she was talking to on the phone, or who is trying to blackmail the president. This certainly has become quite the scandal.