History Series / SCANDAL

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: James is shot and killed]]

** As noted on Twitter, the final scene of "First Lady Sings the Blues" with [[spoiler: Olivia and Russell]] in bed and she puts a gun to his head, is very similar to a scene between EddieMurphy and Jasmine Guy in Film/HarlemNights.

* DoubleEntendre: ''Scandal'' refers to the crises that OPA and also the ones that the Grant administration embroiled in.

** Mellie, but only during her quest for/reign as First Lady. Not only did she [[spoiler: rig the election]], but before that, she faked a miscarriage to win the female vote for the Grant campaign. Then, as the unhappy First Lady, she made attempts to expand her power by demanding to be included in security meetings and stating her opinion on issues, which would force Fitz in a tough spot. Her and Fitz’s marriage also suffered as a result of her power struggle and the only reason she ever fought for Fitz’s love again was because she blamed Olivia for not keeping Fitz happy and him sleeping with Amanda Tanner as a consequence. To top it all off, while she’s campaigning as Senator of Virginia, she gives [[spoiler: Rowan the names of the jurors on the B613 case, leading to the death of all 16 jurors, in exchange for hiding Fitz's involvement in Operation Remington and the photos of their extramarital affairs (though she didn’t know what the names would be used for when she provided them).]] In season 5, she announced she would be running for president, with no evil plans, as of yet.

** Andrew also. He broke up with Mellie, so that he could remain on the Grant ticket as VP, which perhaps isn’t as bad, given that Olivia convinced him that Mellie wouldn’t want him if he wasn’t on the ticket. But his ambition definitely got to the best of him when [[spoiler: he had Olivia kidnapped so that Fitz could declare war in West Angola.]]

!!! Tropes found in ''Scandal'':

** Largely averted in Olivia's case with both Fitz and Jake. This was because Shonda Rhimes wanted to make the fact that Olivia and Fitz were an interracial couple as minimal as possible.
** In-universe, however, when she and Fitz go public, the fact that Olivia is black and Fitz is white is only a problem for the media/general public. The interracial aspect of their relationship isn't conspicuously stated by the media, but rather they use Dog-Whistle Politics to imply that Olivia is a "sassy, well-spoken" black woman who likes to get with powerful, particularly ''white'', men. The show further indicates that there is more outrage that Fitz slept with a black woman than one of his own race when Olivia is hit with racist and sexist comments.

** Fitz has Jake go undercover as an average guy interested in Olivia, but having Jake sleep with Olivia and fall in love with her wasn't a part of his plan.
** Virtually the same happens to Elizabeth, although David sleeping with Susan ''was'' part of her scheme.

** Mellie is an expert at forging Fitz's signature.

** Mellie, but only during her quest for/reign as First Lady. Not only did she [[spoiler: rig the election]], but before that, she faked a miscarriage to win the female vote for the Grant campaign. Then, as the unhappy First Lady, she made attempts to expand her power by demanding to be included in security meetings and stating her opinion on issues, which would force Fitz in a tough spot. Her and Fitz’s marriage also suffered as a result of her power struggle and the only reason she ever fought for Fitz’s love again was because she blamed Olivia for not keeping Fitz happy and him sleeping with Amanda Tanner as a consequence. To top it all off, while she’s campaigning as Senator of Virginia, she gives [[spoiler: Rowan the names of the jurors on the B613 case, leading to the death of all 16 jurors, in exchange for Rowan not leaking photos of her and Fitz’s extramarital affairs, and for not leaking Fitz's involvement in Remington(though she didn’t know what the names would be used for when she provided them).]] In season 5, she announced she would be running for president, with no evil plans, as of yet.
** Cyrus. He was also a part of [[spoiler: election rigging so that Fitz could win the presidency, which would effectively make him Chief of Staff.]] And in Season 5, he approaches Fitz about [[DoNotGoGentle leaving office with a bang]], but Fitz isn't interested. So, he scouts for a potential candidate for the next election, Francisco Vargas, and even puts the poor guy in a life-or-death situation so that he could gain some political capital for when he runs for president (which he also convinces Francisco into doing by lying).

** David when Susan found out that he's been cheating on her with Liz North and only began sleeping with her to begin with to convince her to do what Liz wants. Though, the move has since led him to [[spoiler: grow genuine feelings for her]].

** [[spoiler: Russel]] in "Baby It's Ccld Outside." [[spoiler: He had started Lazarus One to get B6-13 back to before Rowan "lost his way." Jake finds out and shoots him in the head, mostly since Russel had killed Jake's wife.]]
** [[spoiler: Andrew Nichols]] in "Thwack." [[spoiler: He recovered from his Huck-induced stoke enough to start talking about kidnapping Olivia to start a war. After insulting Olivia one too many times, she kills him with a chair. Rather violently.]]

** Olivia too. [[spoiler: Fixing an election]] is pretty dark, but she was the most reluctant and was the only one who didn't do it for power. [[spoiler: She also killed someone, although it is more or less [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as it was in a life-or-death situation.]] But as of season five, Olivia is seemingly going down the darker path, having [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide driven Susan's secret baby daddy to suicide]] to get him to publicize that he is Casey's actual father, effectively tearing a family apart,]] though Olivia eventually learns that it's wrong. But it doesn't end there, as in the subsequent episode "Thwack!", [[spoiler: she bludgeons Andrew's to death with a chair while experiencing PTSD when he taunts her]]. Also arguably justified because the PTSD was from [[spoiler: when he had her kidnapped, so perhaps his death was [[BestServedCold revenge]]]].

** Mellie, but only during her quest for/reign as First Lady. Not only did she [[spoiler: rig the election]], but before that, she faked a miscarriage to win the female vote for the Grant campaign. Then, as the unhappy First Lady, she made attempts to expand her power by demanding to be included in security meetings and stating her opinion on issues, which would force Fitz in a tough spot. Her and Fitz’s marriage also suffered as a result of her power struggle and the only reason she ever fought for Fitz’s love again was because she blamed Olivia for not keeping Fitz happy and him sleeping with Amanda Tanner as a consequence. To top it all off, while she’s campaigning as Senator of Virginia, she gives [[spoiler: Rowan the names of the jurors on the B613 case, leading to the death of all 16 jurors, in exchange for Rowan not leaking photos of her and Fitz’s extramarital affairs (though she didn’t know what the names would be used for when she provided them).]] In season 5, she announced she would be running for president, with no evil plans, as of yet.

** Fitz in the third season finale. [[spoiler: He's determined to lose his reelection, learns that his wife was raped by his father, his son dies, he finds out that his death was a murder and the love of his life leaves him to live on an island with another man.]] The only thing that comes out good from the fiasco is that he does wins the election in the end and that was only out of sympathy.

** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] by Jake, who used to be against B613, but then [[spoiler: became the ''head'' of the organization and killed at least three people while in the position]]. And it happens again, between season four and five, as in the former, [[spoiler: he figured out who killed Fitz's son, tried to rescue Olivia and encouraged shutting down B613]]. But in season five, he crosses over to the dark side again, having [[spoiler: killed the head of the NSA's husband so he could take her role and works for Rowan Pope again.]]

** Implied to be happening with Olivia. It starts in "The Miseducation of Susan Ross," in which she scares Susan's husband into [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide killing himself]] when he refuses to publicly disclose that he is her daughter's real father]]. She quickly realizes this is wrong, but the White Hat is officially set on fire when she [[spoiler: pounds Andrew's face with a chair, killing him.]]

** A large part of Season Two's backstory involves one including [[spoiler:Olivia, First Lady Mellie Grant, Chief of Staff Cyrus Beene, Hollis Doyle, and Supreme Court Justice Verna Thornton. All five of these people were part of Fitzgerald Grant's election campaign, and all worked together on an election rigging conspiracy for various personal reasons: Hollis for the business connections, Mellie to be First Lady, Cyrus to be the President's adviser, and Verna Thornton to get on the Supreme Court. Olivia did it for Fitz. Hollis Doyle got a company called Cytron to rig several voting machines in a small county in Ohio named Defiance; the machines gave two-thirds of the vote to Fitz no matter how the county actually voted. Quinn/Lindsay Dwyer's framing was related to this conspiracy because her boyfriend, who had been Doyle's contact at Cytron, was a liability and had to be taken out, and Lindsay made the perfect patsy. Olivia, however, could not bear to see Lindsay's life be destroyed over something she felt was her mistake, so she arranged for Huck to abduct Linsday and give her a new life as Quinn.]]
** A second conspiracy is revealed in the first half of Season Four. [[spoiler: It involves getting Fitz to get America involved in a war in West Angola. Two teenage girls are killed to hide the conspiracy, bringing in OPA's involvement. The plan includes blowing up the Vice President's limo and forcing Cyrus to resign as Chief of Staff. When these do not work, Olivia is kidnapped. Vice President Andrew Nichols asks Fitz how far he would go to get back something he loved, ending with "how you likin' that war now, sir?"]]

* CannotKeepASecret:
** Olivia doesn't have the reputation of being some gossiper, but one time, she did out-and-out tell Fitz that [[spoiler: Mellie was raped]] not long before Olivia herself found out, even though Mellie didn't want Fitz to know.
** And in another time, she confesses to Mellie that [[spoiler: Jerry IV was killed Rowan]]. Why she told her—whether it was because of guilt or to twist the knife—was never specified.

* BlondesAreEvil: Elizabeth North.

* CareerVersusMan: Mellie gave up her career as a lawyer to, as Cyrus puts it, hold Fitz's hand, wipe his nose, hug him and tell him he's great.

** [[spoiler: Who kidnapped Olivia?]]

* [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent President Target]]: Painfully Fitz. He's been [[spoiler: the victim of election-rigging done without his own knowledge [[CorruptPolitician by his staff]], another conspiracy where they kidnapped the woman he loved, ''another'' conspiracy where his son was assassinated because [[ItAmusedMe the killer felt like it]] and an assassination attempt. Along with that, add a few politicians from the Democrats and his own party that are gunning for him and the occasional blackmail.]]

* IAmTheNoun: David: "I am the law!"

** Elizabeth North. She conspired to have [[spoiler: the president would declare war in West Angola because of the good press it would deliver to the Republican Party. Then, as the VP's Chief of Staff, she had David Rosen sleep with VP Susan Ross so that he could convince her to run for president, which would in turn make her Chief of Staff.]]

* AmoralAttorney: Averted by David, who for a while, was the sole moral compass of the show. He's declared multiple times that he stands with justice and the law and was the only one besides James who had a problem with the fact that [[spoiler: the presidential election was ''rigged'']].

** Every recurring gay man in the show has instances of infidelity. Even Cyrus, despite being a balding, fat, ugly old man somehow manages to have a string of studly male prostitutes at his beck and call.

--->'''Mellie''': ''You're'' gonna need the hooch! All the hideously long days and nights you're about to spend hosting ridiculous galas and balls, standing by his side, your teeth smeared with Vaseline so your smile stays wide and bright like you're some kind of wax figure--Ah! Yes! Trust me. This stuff ''(gesturing to the hooch)'' is the only that gets you through the lady-munching, the curating, the tedious cause you have to come up with and then pretend to care about--do you like to decorate, Olivia? Come wintertime, do you find little snowflake ornaments and golden pine cones just ''adorable''? I hope you do because those 111 Christmas trees don't just design themselves!
--->'''Olivia''': ''(moments later)'' I don't want any [hooch]. Thanks.

* GildedCage:
** Mellie considers the White House a prison (when you're First Lady, at least) and Olivia starts to think so too when she was about to marry Fitz and again when he forced her to move in and made her the First Lady.

* GirlsNeedRoleModels: And, boy, does ''Scandal'' have them. To start with, Olivia is a successful black woman who runs a crisis management firm and was formerly the White House Communications Director. Other strong female roles include [=VPs=] Sally Langston and Susan Ross, both of which in-universe hold the highest position in the US government to date; former Press Secretary-turned Chief of Staff Abby Whelan; and ex-First Lady, ex-Senator and current candidate for the Oval ([[ForegoneConclusion who will likely win]] considering she's the only main character in the race and has been wanting to be POTUS since even before she entered the White House) Mellie Grant.

** [[spoiler: Olivia in the fifth season, when she starts getting dirty to help Mellie win the election. She gave Alex Vargas dirt on Edison Davis because he’s working with her father, in exchange for dirt on Susan Ross, whose daughter, Kasey, is actually the daughter of a man in prison. But it doesn’t end there; she is on the brink of tearing Susan’s family apart by threatening Kasey’s real father to come out with the truth, or else she would plant incriminating evidence that would get him back into jail—so scary, he ends up ''killing himself''. It’s not until Fitz intervenes that she [[HeelRealization realizes what she's become]].]]

* VillainWithAGoodPublicity:

* VoteEarlyVoteOften: A major plot point. [[spoiler: Cyrus, Mellie, Olivia, Verna and Hollis all collaborate to fix the election in Fitz's favor by hacking the control cards on voting machines.]]

* AbortedArc: [[spoiler: Olivia's abortion.]] [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as it has been considerably recent since the episode in which she underwent the procedure, but in-universe, it's been well-over six months with no word about it. Shonda Rhimes also stated that she's been debating whether or not to bring it up because she doesn't know if it ''needs'' to be brought up because of how personal it is.

** "Everything's Coming Up Mellie" reveals lots and lots of secrets: [[spoiler: Cyrus used to have [[TheBeard a beard]]. [[{{Pun}} And facial hair, too!]] Big Jerry raped Mellie and might be the real father of Fitz's son. Charlie tricks Quinn into killing a lead, recruiting her into B6-13. Sally Langston's husband is gay and interested in James. Fitz finds out Olivia's father runs B6-13. Olivia's mother is still alive.]]

** The aptly titled episode "Thwack!": [[spoiler: The reporter Fitz had a thing with, Lillian Forester, is covering ex-VP Andrew Nichols' tell-all on West Angola. Abby betrays Olivia by instead offering Andrew to tell about his affair with Mellie, thus compromising her campaign to keep Fitz from taking the blame for ever make Andrew his running mate in the first place. Experiencing PTSD, Olivia viciously murders Andrew. She goes to her father's house who warmly welcomes her home.]]

Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''Scandal'' is a juridically/politically-themed drama.

* PreppyName: Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III. Every part of his name was taken from another president's.

** Mellie gives two memorable ones to Fitz in "Snake in the Garden" about his poor parenting skills and again in "Get Out of Jail, Free" about all of the things she's done for him.

** Olivia delivers a ''blistering'' one in season four to a couple who tried to {{blackmail}} the president over [[spoiler:a sex tape of his daughter]]. It doubles as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome both for the content of the speech and because they are ''immediately'' cowed into doing her bidding.

** Huck enters one after he was tortured.

* ExactWords: [[spoiler: Eli Pope promised he wouldn't touch a hair on Fitz's head. He didn't, interestingly enough. He kept his word. But Fitz's ''son''....well, ''he'' was not included in that deal.]]

** [[spoiler: Jake]] got stabbed some ten or twenty times all over his body and is at first assumed to be dead, but Huck somehow manages to resuscitate him with one hit to the gut.

** In the early seasons, Mellie came off somewhat antagonistic because of her manipulative and spiteful nature and being a barrier to Fitz and Olivia being together (Bellamy Young has even been told by fans that Mellie is the character they [[LoveToHate love to hate]]!). However, season 5 does tell us that many of the immoral things Mellie has done were for Fitz and that she was in fact grateful that Olivia was there to satisfy Fitz because she sure as hell didn't want to. While Fitz had his eyes on Olivia, she was able to gain some dignity as something other than just a wife and mother.

* TheScream: Can be heard when Huck, [[spoiler: Quinn]] or Charlie is torturing the victim.