‘Scandal’ Recap – What The Heck Just Happened?
In perhaps one of the most shocking turn of events so far this season, fans of the hit ABC show Scandal had their fears confirmed as the mystery organization made its power and reach dreadfully apparent.
Spoiler Warning: If you haven’t seen the latest episode of Scandal that aired on April 20, 2017, let this be your warning that there are some major spoilers here.
Olivia (Kerry Washington) and party had teamed up to get Cyrus (Jeff Perry) out of prison so he could take over as the next President of the United States. Mellie (Bellamy Young) was about to concede, but Lizzie North (Portia de Rossi) convinced her to stand her ground and not back down.
But, Ms. Elizabeth North was actually doing the bidding of the mystery organization, and that ended up very badly for her. The mystery woman (Zoe Perry), hearing that Mellie had declined their assistance, went after Lizzie with a golf club. Faster than you can say 40 whacks, Lizzie was beaten to death by the mystery woman, who then stepped in as Mellie’s new Chief of Staff.
What this means in the long run is anyone’s guess. Mellie is still POTUS, and the crazy lady with the pony tail has made her point that Mellie needs to stay in line. However, Fitz and Olivia are back together, even if Fitz is keeping a literal skeleton in the closet.
Shonda Rhimes Speaks Out
Say it again; Elizabeth is dead. And nobody saw it coming. Well, except for maybe showrunner and exec producer, Shonda Rhimes. In a statement concerning the shocking death, she issued a statement about how hard it was to write Portia de Rossi’s exit.
“I have been a fan of Portia’s for years and it was an honor to have her join our Scandal family. Portia infused Liz North with a smart powerful vulnerable soul while also making the humor sing — and that brought all of us in the writers room a lot of joy. If I could keep her forever, I would — but kidnapping is illegal. Besides, I am incredibly impressed with the vision she has for her creative future. I wish her all the best.”
Portia, for her part, had begun her own business last year, starting in the field of art curation and publishing. Once she realized how much time this business would take to make it work, she contacted Shonda Rhimes about the possibility of stepping her role back a bit. The possibility of Portia leaving the show was also raised. According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Portia said that Shonda was gracious and incredibly supportive of her choice in a new career.
” Quite honestly, I just thought, I’m 44 years old and I thought that I have a chance to start something completely new that could be a 20-25 year career or more that didn’t involve — I won’t say acting at all — but quite as much acting as I have been doing this past 20 years. I just wanted to try something different and Shonda and Betsy [Beers] were completely supportive of it.”
Portia also spoke about how difficult it was to shoot her death scene because it had to be done in reverse and in slow motion. The actual acting wasn’t difficult for her, but the strange way that the scene was shot provided some challenges. She was also grateful that there wasn’t a table read for the episode, because seeing how it affected her friends and castmates would have made her a mess.
Social media was also in full force after the episode aired. Portia’s wife Ellen chimed in, mentioning she was grateful that Portia Bear was sitting right next to her.
I’m proud of my wife for her epic performance on #Scandal. I will miss Lizzie Bear, but I’m glad Portia Bear is sitting right next to me.
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) April 21, 2017
Other fans also expressed their dismay at the surprise killing.
This is the 2nd week in a row #Scandal left me shook. 2nd half of 5B was so bad. S6 has me losing my mind. pic.twitter.com/5pNF4gITyn
— m (fan account) (@xruntheworldx) April 21, 2017
[Featured Image by Greg Allen/AP Images]
