Despite the facts that:
- The script calls for some character to USE. DOGTRAINER. VOICE! about once every three minutes to move the plot along.
- A pro gun-control, immigration-reform Republican president has a gay chief of staff and a black mistress. She’s the one who compares herself to Sally Hemings. (Yeah that could all happen.)
- The sexually smoldery/repressed FLOTUS tolerates the affair because as much as she hates playing second fiddle, she craves the power to barge into the Oval Office at will even more.
- At least one character per episode will tell the other characters and the audience “I’m a monster” or “I’m incredibly good at what I do” right before they do something stupid.
- Tony Goldwyn, as the prez, ascended to office due to voter fraud which everybody in his administration knows about, but nobody else outside it does. (Does that sound like the Washington you know?)
- Every one of the “good guys” has murdered somebody by Season 4.X (my current location)
- Torture is treated even more cavalierly than it is in “24,” i.e., everybody does it. Nobody questions it. It’s a plot and sometimes a humor device.
- The talented but taciturn Joe Morton is required to jump around and do a very, very humiliating”Chris Rock on crank” imitation.
- Just about every other character in this series is pathetically miscast, save for the talented, gorgeous Ms. Washington. She’s perfect. She’s ground zero of my binge-obsession.
I wouldn’t call the writing great, like the interwoven, overlapping dialogue from “West Wing.” Many of the performances feel forced. The actors are all talents but often, you can see them struggle to deliver their lines with authenticity. Most plots are supposed to be “ripped from the headlines” but they utilize the same device–i.e., somebody dies, so it’s a perfect time to introduce new immigration, poverty, gun-control legislation, advanced by a Republican POTUS whose agenda resides somewhere left of Bernie Sanders. Coming to his aid, right after she tells the most powerful man on the planet to go #### himself, the stunningly poised and uber-fashionable Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, swoops in.
Bingeing despite the “Despites”
So what makes it so binge-worthy? For one, this handsome interracial couple have PG-13 but still incredibly hot sex. They have sex that the mere hint of would have sent klansmen in 20 states into a knot-twisting frenzy. Mr. Goldwyn’s and Ms. Washington’s chemistry is palpable, undeniable. For a guy who once took a black girl out to a movie in Center City and got stares and whispers, the two of them in each other’s arms is both erotic and subversive. Ms. Rhimes also has a workwomanlike way of creating what appears to be an impossible dilemma, then somehow Olivia Pope puts on her stylish white hat and rides in like the Lone Ranger in drag to save the day. I don’t think it’s supposed to be seen as “real.” It’s an alternate reality, where Republicans are inclusive, generous, kind and socially aware. It’s a vehicle–Kerry Washington’s vehicle and I hope she rides it for all it’s worth. Shonda Rhimes is arguably the most successful showrunner in TV today. She knows her audience. Surprisingly, despite the despites, I’m one of them.
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