ABC’s Scandal has still not gotten past the fictional inauguration of their next president. Granted, that isn’t that much different from how things are for liberals in the real world, but now it’s getting tiring. Wait, that’s not different from real life either. The show just keeps getting dragged down by real-world elements, and this episode sees a recycle of the term Hillary supporters embraced for themselves: “nasty woman” and of the claim that Hillary lost because of sexism.
In the May 4th episode “The Box,” Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and her team continue to work against mysterious forces who seek to control the White House. With Mellie (Bellamy Young) at the center as the first female President-Elect (in the show’s dreams), the politician begins to have doubts about what they’re doing. To give her some encouragement, Olivia takes a page out of the Democrat handbook and repurposes an awful line to be empowering.
Mellie: [ Sighs ] I heard about Rowan.Olivia: Mellie, I don't know what to say.
Mellie: They have killed so many people. If this goes on any longer, they will kill more. And the only reason they are doing it is to get what they want, which is me as their puppet.
Olivia: You are not going back to them.
Mellie: I have already called a car to the South Portico. It's over.
Olivia: It's not over.
Mellie: Olivia –
Olivia: It's not over! You have never been and never will be anyone's puppet. You are about to be the first female president of the United States. Do you have any idea how incredible that is? [ Sighs ] How impossible? They almost handed this job to a man who had been in prison over giving it to you. Why? Because a woman in power is a nasty woman... A woman who needs to be put in her place. That is what Peus and Samantha want to do. They don't give a crap about what you've sacrificed to get here -- every drop of blood, bead of sweat, and falling tear. They just want to turn you into a figurehead. And I will be damned if they turn the most powerful person in the world into some princess whose only power lies in a wave or a smile. This is not their White House. It's ours. And neither one of us is leaving without a fight. Trust.
I'm surprised that it took twelve episodes to make another Hillary Clinton reference. They must have been holding back to use probably one of the worst reclaimed campaign slogans to make a point about sexism. What's next, "nevertheless, she persisted?" Only in a blindingly-depraved world would anyone consider Hillary being a “nasty woman” a feminist rallying cry, and Scandal only gets worse by pretending it is.
Do something original for a change. And I wish I was just talking to the show.
