'Scandal' recap: 'The Lawn Chair'

What would Ferguson have looked like if there had beenan Olivia Pope there?

Thats the question tonights episode of Scandal asks us to contemplate. A 17-year-old black man is shot by a white cop. The claim is that the man, Brandon, was going for a knife. His body has sat on the street in view of his neighbors for an hour. It all sounds eerily familiar, until Olivia is called in by the cops to help them handle the optics. And until Brandons father comes out, shotgun in hand, and stands vigil over his sons body until the cops answer for what theyve done.

Hes joined by a local activist, Marcus Walker, a Georgetown-educated young man whos come back to his community to strengthen it and protect it. Hes aggressive, hes spiky, hes absolutely right, and he has Livs number. You dont want justice. You want anger. You want outrage. You want retribution, she accuses him. Youre right. I do. So should you, he tells her. Walker offers Liv a foil at the start of this episode, deflating the trademark Pope rant before it can gain steam. He challenges her on her relationship to Brandons death as a black woman. Liv has spent most of this show, that weve seen, moving in circles where the power and money dynamics were far more consequential than a racial dynamic. For about a week straight, i thought Iwas a goner. I lived in complete and total fear, she tells David Rosen. Imagine feeling like that every single day of your life.

Olivia is also deeply dedicated to doing the right thing, so when she sees the police gearing up to obstruct the press and prep a riot squad to disperse the protest, she crosses the picket line. The fact that they stand in groups and say things you do not like does not make them a mob, she tells the police chief. It makes them Americans. Once its clear the cops care more about protecting their image than protecting the law, Liv is over it.

A knife is discovered on Brandons body, seeming to validate the cops story. The magic of Pope and Associates spy-team discovers proof that the knife was planted. This moment, as all Pope and Associates investigations, is a bit of idealized workthe perfect evidence, the missing piece. Its a fantasy for what we want in realitythe video camera that shows us exactly what was going on, who did what, an objective eye by which we can judge events. In this case, it exonerates Brandon, and gives closure to his dad.

In the end the question is answered, because this is TV, much more neatly than in real life. Officer Newton, when confronted by Olivia and the full weight of the Justice Department as represented by David Rosen, goes on a deeply incriminating rant. He uses the phrase those people, bemoans black on black crime, and makes claims about not getting respect. His colleagues in the DC police look on aghast. The Justice Department opens an investigation. Officer Newton is charged with a slew of crimes (but none of them murderlets not strain the suspension of disbelief too much).

In our reality, this week the DOJ released its report on the findings in the investigation into the shooting death of Michael Brown. In the report they detail their reasons for clearing Officer Darren Wilson of civil rights violations in his actions. In a second report, the DOJ broadly condemned policing practice in the city of Ferguson, citing systemic issues in both the local court system and the police department that led to blatant disregard of the law and of the constitutional rights of the areas residents, and racial bias in law enforcement.

The Ferguson reports are essentially a mirror opposite of Scandals denouement. On TV its easier to have a singular villain, to have the cop responsible be a closet bigot. Theres only so much you can do in an hour of time, and addressing the ingrained biases and racism of our legal system isnt easily one of them. (Heck, five seasons isnt necessarily enoughjust ask The Wire.) Its also not as neatly solved. Theres no answer, no neat wrap-up to systemic injustice, no satisfying resolution. Theres just the daily questioning of why this is the way things are, how they can be better.

Scandal tonight did about as fulfilling a treatment of this issue as you could hope for from an hour of TV. Even the trademark monologues are graceful, balanced, and frankly, more than usually touching. Officer Newtons rant is at once a dog-whistle for a raging bigot without being a caricature of a racist cop. Clarence Parkers speech about his son touches heartbreakingly on so many things the parents of young black men worry about. Does this storyline wrap up neatly, and in a way that seems like an aspirational fantasyand is it sad that Ive tagged a just arrest as aspirational fantasy? Yes. But Rimes is better able to express her feelings about it, as shetweeted tonight about this conclusion: We had a great deal of debate about this ending. Whether to be hopeful or not. It was really hard. In the end we went with what fulfilling the dream SHOULD mean. The idea of possibility. And the despair we feel now.

View original post here:
'Scandal' recap: 'The Lawn Chair'