ABC’s ‘Scandal’ season 4, episode 14 video: Olivia Pope’s struggle, Ferguson comparisons, and more

Thursday night’s new episode of “Scandal” is quite possibly going to be quite possibly the most emotional one that we’ve seen to date, and after watching the sneak peek below, it is basically easy to understand why.

Before we say anything else, let’s just get to describing what exactly is going on here: Olivia Pope is seemingly called in to handle a very difficult situation involving the police department only blocks away from the White House. After a suspected shoplifting, a white police officer killed a young black man in the street. We’re not trying to sensationalize this by comparing the events of a scripted TV show to what actually happened in Ferguson, but we would be completely ignorant to ignore that history served as a most likely inspiration to this story.

As if trying to keep this death from becoming a nationwide story was hard enough for Olivia, the boy’s father arrives on the side, desperate to get revenge on the officer who killed his son. By the time the sneak peek ends, it feels almost obvious that this is going to become national news. Olivia has to prepare for that, and for any potential outcry that could follow it.

While we know that there will be the potential for so many other storylines to take place in this episode, there is a part of us that would like to see “The Lawn Chair” unfold almost entirely from the street and the scene of the shooting. This is the sort of story that merits that sort of attention, and Shonda Rhimes and the writers have the potential to do some powerful things here.

Want do you think is going to be coming up on Thursday night’s new episode of “Scandal”? Share right away with a comment, and head over here to get some other preview scoop for this installment. Also, be sure to sign up right now if you are interested in scoring some other major TV news on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)