History Series / SCANDAL

* ButNotTooBlack: Played straight with all of the black members of the show--Olivia, Harrison, Rowan and Marcus--even though [[ButNotTooWhite none of them are necessarily light-skinned either]].
* CaliforniaDoubling: California doubles as Washington, D.C.

-->'''Olivia''': It's handled / EARN ME!

* BigBad: Rowan, for Seasons 1-5. [[spoiler:Luna Vargas]] for Season 6, though it wasn't revealed until the finale. The Season 6 finale suggests that the BigBad for the final season will be [[spoiler:Olivia herself]].

* YouHave48Hours: To declare war on West Angola or [[spoiler: Olivia dies!]]

** Olivia herself sometimes, at least in the first season.

** In season 4, [[spoiler: Andrew Nichols and Elizabeth North. Andrew might have undergone a FaceHeelTurn after getting forced to break up with Mellie.]]

** 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 in with a chair, killing him.]]

* BigBad: Rowan.

** Olivia's family as well. [[spoiler: Her mom's a terrorist and her dad has done things that, well, he might as well also be considered a terrorist for.]]

Currently at its sixth season. Has a [[Characters/{{Scandal}} Character Page]] that could use a little love, Gladiators!

** Rowan's "I am very smary prey" speech is first given to Oliva in "Survival of the Fittest." It takes on new meaning when it is shown again in "Extinction." We find out [[spoiler: Rowan killed Frankie Vargas and framed Cyrus under orders from a mysterious group that threatened to kill his girlfriend Sandra and Olivia if he didn't. Also, the dead body of Sandra (whom Rowan had killed so she couldn't be leveraged against him) was hidden in the room the whole time.]]

* AbsenteeActor: After two guest appearances, Cornelius Smith Jr. joined the cast of Scandal in season 5. But he didn't appear in the first three episodes of the season.

** Leo Bergen made a surprise reappearance in Season 4 after the end of Season 3 and again in Season 5.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: Rowan's "I am very smary prey" speech is first given to Oliva in "Survival of the Fittest." It takes on new meaning when it is shown again in "Extinction." We find out [[spoiler: Rowan killed Frankie Vargas and framed Cyrus under orders from a mysterious group that threatened to kill his girlfriend Sandra and Olivia if he didn't. Also, the dead body of Sandra (whom Rowan had killed so she couldn't be leveraged against him) was hidden in the room the whole time.]]

* RashomonStyle: A flashback in Season 2's "Happy Birthday Mr. President" is expanded upon in a flashback in Season 3's "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang." [[spoiler: The first flashback has Olivia noticing an argument between Cyrus and James over the Inaugural Ball. The second flashback shows the argument from Cyrus' perspective, where James is angry Cyrus still sees him as a "dirty little secret."]]

** Olivia can lose her stoicism in cases involving infidelity.

* AssassinationAttempt

Currently at its fifth season. Has a [[Characters/{{Scandal}} Character Page]] that could use a little love, Gladiators!

* BecomingTheMask:
** David initially sleeps with Abby for information on Olivia, Quinn and Cytron, but ends up falling in love with her.
** Jake too falls in love with Olivia after being hired by Fitz to "befriend" her.

* AdvertisedExtra: Harrison in the first two seasons. He certainly got more than two lines per episode, but he didn't have any storylines of his own until season three when he got involved with Adnan Salif; up until then, his role in most episodes was either working on an OPA crisis or helping Olivia out.

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

* WomanInBlack: Abby, quite often.

* Foreshadowing:

* 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 women in positions of power 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.

The series is notable for being written by Shonda Rhimes, [[Series/GreysAnatomy like a certain well-known medical series]], and being one of the few dramas featuring a black actress as the main character. It is also highly feminist in content, with numerous strong female characters and very little reliance on traditional characterization or storylines. The cast is also very active on social media such as {{Twitter}} and {{Facebook}}, and participate in live-tweets, Instagram pictures, and podcasts about the series.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: David's attempt at being like Olivia Pope in season four by blackmailing a Senate judge into voting to make him Attorney General. While he is successful in blackmailing him, the guy ends up killing himself, which usually isn't the outcome when Olivia wins.
-->'''David''': I was trying to be Olivia Pope, and I killed him.

* MistakenForMurderer: James suspects that [[spoiler: Cyrus may have killed Daniel Douglas.]]

* WomanScorned: When Becky finds out that Huck is planning on [[spoiler: taking her down]], she retaliates by murdering a family that he considers dear to him!