History Series / SCANDAL

* ArmorPiercingSlap:
** When Mellie realizes that Andrew broke up with her because Fitz threatened him to, she struts right into the Oval and smacks him in the face.
** PlayedForLaughs by Quinn when she slaps Charlie for not telling her that he was [[spoiler: assigned to kill Quinn]]. Bonus points for the romantic music played in the background.
--->'''Charlie''': No.
--->'''Quinn''': *SLAPS*
--->'''Charlie''': Yes.
--->'''Quinn''': *SLAPS*
--->'''Charlie''': Maybe?

* PoisonousFriend:
** [[spoiler: Cyrus can be this to Fitz, but he does have moments of true friendship.]]
** Olivia becomes one to David in season two.

* AngryBlackMan: Rowan, especially when he's giving those monologues.

* 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.
** Kerry Washington was almost completely absent from Season six's "A Stomach For Blood."

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Starting with the third season, the show has ten main characters. Then there's all the recurring characters.

* OverarchingVillain: [[spoiler: Rowan/Eli Pope.]]

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Cyrus and Mellie, who frequently collaborate in their dirty tactics to get what they want.

* TitleOnlyOpening

* NotSoDifferent: Olivia attempts this with Mellie in "We Do Not Touch the First Ladies." It fails. [[spoiler: Olivia thinks Mellie had an affair with Andrew Nichols. While Andrew is in love with Mellie and Mellie reciprocates on some level, they've never had sex. Until "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," when they do.]]

** 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!). 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.

** [[spoiler:Sally Langston isn't particularly thrilled to find out her husband is gay and [[YourCheatingHeart unfaithful]].]]

** In Season 3's episode "A Door Marked Exit," we had two gigantic ones: one in a flashback from [[spoiler: Sally to her husband and her husband right back at her, regarding his [[YourCheatingHeart cheating]] and [[ArmoredClosetGay orientation]] and his ability to influence her political career before she stabs him in the back, literally]] and one from [[spoiler: Olivia's father, Eli/Rowan, to Fitz regarding Fitz's perceived spoiled childhood and not being good enough for Daddy's little girl. While Fitz has him locked in a room in the Pentagon effectively powerless, no less.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Just about every character.
** A major plotline on the show since the start of the series is that Fitz is a married man who is cheating on his wife with Olivia.
** Olivia cheats on Jake with Fitz and vice versa.
** Stephen routinely sleeps with other women, despite being engaged.
** Quinn cheats on [[spoiler: Charlie]] with [[spoiler: Huck]] in season three.
** [[spoiler: James cheats on Cyrus with Daniel Douglas when he learns that Cyrus used him as a rent boy.]]
** Mellie cheats on Fitz with Andrew in season three and four.
** David cheats on Susan with Elizabeth, despite having authentic feelings for the former.

* LatinoIsBrown: Huck, Stephen, Frankie Vargas and Alex Vargas.

** Gideon being {{Adorkable}} by cooking to comfort Quinn, proving that their relationship is genuine.

* EvilVsEvil: The candidates in the first election in season three--Fitz, Reston and Sally--have all [[spoiler: murdered someone]].

* WeddingDay:
** Cyrus' wedding to his first wife Janet and his second wedding to James are both seen in flashbacks.
** And in that same episode where the flashbacks are shown, Cyrus was ''actually'' getting married to Michael, but only to save his reputation.
** Olivia and Fitz were about to have a crappy one to avoid her having to testify before the Senate, but she backed out of it.
** Jake's to Vanessa is seen in "Till Death Do Us Part," though Jake is less-than-enthusiastic about it.

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: Olivia is revealed to have had an affair with the president.

* WomanInWhite: Olivia, frequently.

** 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. Come the Season Six finale, the turn is complete, and the BigBad of the final season is set up to be Oliver herself]].

** Command himself. Said to be able to speak 8 languages and code. We never see him do either.

* InformedAbility: B613. We constantly hear about how terrifying they are and while they do sometimes do some scary things, their reputation doesn't live up to the hype, at all. Their reputation for assassinating foreign leaders is just one example.

* TheUnreveal: A minor example on episode 2.16 with PatientOfTheWeek Sarah Stanner, who had an affair with Supreme Court nominee Murray Randall when he was a Harvard law professor fifteen years ago. Later, Sarah admitted to her husband that she slept with Randall two years prior, right around the time they had a second child, which infuriated him enough to demand a paternity test. When Olivia gave the husband the results, sealed inside an orange envelope, she told him that the results changes nothing. His marriage will need time to repair, and the knowledge of who's the biological dad won't erase that he's his second child's true father. Olivia's advice [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments convinces him to rip up the envelope]].

* DomesticAbuser:

* PresidentMinority: Four out of the five candidates for the post-Grant election are in some way minorities. Either Mellie and Susan would make history as the first president to be a woman; in-universe, Edison Davis would be the first African-American president; and Frankie Vargas would be the first president of Latino descent.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler:Frankie Vargas, who gets shot at his presidential victory speech. He was so clean that Cyrus' aid could find nothing on him and overall he was a courageous, smart and principled man who would have probably made a great president.]]

* FiveBadBand: Olivia, Cyrus, Mellie, Verna and Hollis, all five of which conspired to [[spoiler: tamper with the election]].

* RealityRetcon: Various references are made to Ronald Reagan, the 40th US President. However, in "An Innocent Man", it is said that the fictional Edward Randolph Cooper was the 40th US President.