ABC’s ‘Scandal’ season 3, episode 7 review: Bellamy Young shines, and who is alive?

There are some things about “Scandal” that can at times be frustrating, and one of them is the amount of time that it can take occasionally to tell some of their stories. Early on during “Everything’s Coming Up Mellie,” we started to think that this was going to be one of those episodes. However, we learned a little later that this was far from the case.

During the episode, there were some major revelations that came out about James losing his job, and about Olivia getting the rest of her Gladiators recruited for the cause of trying to figure out what really happened in that operation, this episode was instead by and large all about Mellie, and the journey that she has been on past and present. (There’s another shocker coming, but we’ll get to that pretty soon.)

Let’s get to the most controversial part of this first, as it was revealed that she was raped at some point in the past, and by Fitz’s own father, no less. We’re getting somewhat irritated with the number of shows that are using this in their storytelling these days; it’s almost starting to feel like almost every single drama out there has a character who has gone through something like this, and that is almost eye-gouging. We do at least understand that this event gives us some context as to what Mellie has really gone through in support of her husband. There were actually some pretty sweet moments that actually came out through this, as we saw Fitz actually stand up for his wife for a change. Isn’t that a nice little thought? Well, it was … but it doesn’t cancel out anything else that we saw transpire. Also, what about Mellie finding out she was pregnant after Fitz’s father slept with her? That was too much like a daytime soap opera, and the worst part of the episode.

Now, we return to that other shocker: Of course, Olivia’s mother is still alive! but, for whatever reason, she is being kept from actually spending time with her daughter. You know that this is going to erupt into chaos soon enough, and it is really just a question of when. (We’ll be on close watch for that.)

Overall, this was an eventful episode, and that is without Quinn finding her way into a certain organization. Was it a little too much? Both in substance and in execution, but at least the show is never boring. It at least has that going for it. Grade: C+.

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Photo: ABC