What's it about?
Everyone has a secret...and Olivia Pope has dedicated her life to protecting and defending the public images of the nation's elite and keeping those secrets under wraps. Revered and feared at the same time, Olivia, a former communications director to the President of the United States, left the White house to open her own prominent crisis management firm. She is hoping to start a new chapter in her life - both professionally and personally - but she can't seem to completely cut ties with her past. Slowly it becomes apparent that her dysfunctional staff, who specialize in fixing other people's lives, can't quite fix the ones closest at hand - their own.
You should watch if...
• you're a Shonda Rhimes fanatic, and have watched anything she's created, from GREY'S ANATOMY to PRIVATE PRACTICE to OFF THE MAP.
• you've always wondered who helps the 1% hide their dirty little secrets.
• you like a splash of faux-Aaron Sorkin in your soapy procedural.
So, how was it?
As someone who has watched GREY'S ANATOMY from its inception to the present day, through all the ups and downs, the bombs and the shootings and the Ghost-Dennys (*shudder*), I was hopeful that Shonda Rhimes could make another hit. PRIVATE PRACTICE never garnered my interest, and I never got past the pilot of the woefully bad OFF THE MAP. So I was hoping that SCANDAL might be her second true hit. Sadly, Shonda Rhimes continues to prove herself the M. Night Shyamalan of television (starts with one genuine, critically-acclaimed, runaway hit, then creates a series of increasingly stinky bombs). SCANDAL is just another step on Ms. Rhimes' path to try to recreate the GREY'S lightning-in-a-bottle phenomenon, and failing spectacularly.
There was a lot to like about the premise of SCANDAL: political intrigue, dirty little secrets, Kerry Washington (who I saw deliver a terrific performance in David Mamet's RACE on Broadway) in a leading role, and everyone's favorite Scottish man (Henry Ian Cusick - or Desmond from LOST) in a supporting role. Unfortunately, these factors, while sounding good on paper, don't add up to much on screen.
The first thing that will strike any new viewer is the dialogue. It is Aaron-Sorkin-fast without any of the Aaron-Sorkin-wit. (For those unfamiliar with the name, Sorkin wrote such television and movie hits as THE WEST WING, SPORTS NIGHT, THE SOCIAL NETWORK and MONEYBALL -- he's particularly famous for his lightning-quick and insanely witty repartee.) The opening scene is a nauseatingly quick conversation between two people in a bar that clearly wants to recreate the atmosphere of Sorkin-dramas -- but either the writer isn't as good at dialogue as Sorkin, or the actors aren't as adept at handling such verbal dexterity, or, most likely, both. The scene screams insincerity and the only thing you'll be thinking is "NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT!"
That artificial pace is kept up through the entire hour, as though the writers think if the characters talk fast, everyone will automatically assume they're smart. Unfortunately, the speedy dialogue doesn't cover up the fact that the characters are all, at least thus far, one-dimensional caricatures without any distinguishing traits. I could not tell you the names of any of the people in Olivia's office, but I could tell you that there's the naive new girl, the loud-mouthed and progressive redhead, the quietly nerdy tech guy, the suave Scottish player, and the cynical black dude. There was zero character development in the supporting character field, so I have no reason to care about what happens to these people. The only defining characteristic of these characters is that they are incredibly emotionally stunted. At one point in the premiere, Suave Scottish Man has to call Olivia to give him a pep talk before he proposes to his girlfriend. Seriously? He clearly A) has the emotional maturity of a teenager, B) shouldn't be getting married if he needs someone to talk him into it, and C) doesn't have any friends outside of the office if the only person he can think to call at such a time is his BOSS. Seriously?!
We are introduced to Olivia's office through the eyes of "Naive New Girl" (I'll call her NNG from now on). This gives Olivia (and the writers) a lame excuse for a ham-handed, exposition-heavy walk-through of her process. Honestly, I would have much rather just watched her handle her client rather than constantly have scenes of the investigation intercut with scenes of Olivia very deliberately explaining to NNG what she's about to do. Come on, writers, it's called "SHOW, DON'T TELL." It's one of the first things any aspiring writer learns!
The plots themselves are lifted directly from a mid-nineties soap opera. There's a president who's (SPOILER ALERT) secretly a (*gasp!*) disgusting philanderer and a war hero who's (SPOILER ALERT) secretly (*gasp!*) gay. Maybe these storylines would have felt ground-breaking and shocking a couple of decades ago, but they just felt tired and transparent last night. If anyone honestly didn't see the revelations about either of those characters coming after several heavy-handed hints, then...I guess this show was written for you.
And then there's Olivia herself. Shonda Rhimes so clearly and desperately wanted to create another powerful, unapologetic, strong female character to match the likes of Dr. Bailey or Cristina Yang. Unfortunately, Olivia is so strong that she's just a one-note, flawless robot of a woman. I kept waiting for signs of vulnerability to make this character human, but sadly, when they came, they were completely due to her feelings for a man. It's depressing that in this season of great female-centric comedies, this show couldn't come up with a complex leading female character without making her only flaw a weakness for cheating, lying men.
Rating:
* Atrocious. I will never watch this show again. Ever.
I was originally planning on giving this show two stars, but as I wrote my review, I talked myself down to one. There's really nothing redeeming about this pilot. The cardboard characters, the tired plots, the groan-inducing dialogue...they're all sub-par. I have too many shows on my plate already to give this one another chance. Maybe sometime this summer once most of the shows are off the air and my Hulu queue is empty, maybe I'll watch the second episode. Maybe. But probably not.
Your turn, Fellow Addicts! Did SCANDAL hook you in? Or turn you off? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
(For the complete rundown of when all the new shows are premiering, check out my 2012 Midseason TV Preview.)
No comments:
Post a Comment