SCANDAL INDEED: BUT DID YOU EARN IT?

Oh Scandal and Black Twitter, what would I do without you at 10pm on Thursdays nights? Well if you watched the latest episode of Scandal, it was a doozy. If you didn't watch it, stop reading now, because it's about to get spoilerific up in here.

The mole is still running loose, and Byron from A Different World is still showing up at the end of each episode saying something cryptic, but let's talk about the real news of evening: Olivia got a backbone, Fitz put his presidency on the line, and Mellie basically told everyone, "You gonna learn today!"

Basically, Fitz pissed off both of his women in this episode. Mellie decides that she's not here for the Liv-Fitz whoredom anymore, so she throws down the gauntlet by telling Fitz to either end it with Olivia, or she will end his re-election bid before it starts with a TV interview exposing the affair if he doesn't get some sense in 36 hours. Ultimatum game proper.   

Olivia finally gets tired of Fitz bossing her around in the name of "love," and after being summoned for sexy time at the White House one too many times, she yells at him, "If you want me, EARN ME!!" She said it with her chest, with bass in her voice and everything. I hate to generalize, but I'm pretty sure that viewers everywhere said a collective "FINALLY!" after Liv stormed out of the Oval Office, white gloves in hand (and she left without having anger sex with Fitz. If that ain't progress, I don't know what is).


What makes Olivia so complex, frustrating and relatable is that she's powerful, beautiful, glamorous, and brilliant in her professional life, but a complete mess in her personal life, especially her romantic relationships. Fitz is a spoiled, controlling, selfish man-child, but that doesn't stop Liv from being hopelessly in love with him. I think many women can relate to casting their pearls before swine at least once, and for way too long.

Fitz being Fitz, he thinks Mellie is bluffing. However, once it's clear that she's not playing, he goes to Olivia's place and basically runs out the clock on his marriage waiting for the interview. When the clock strikes 9 pm, it's done: Mellie starts the interview, and Fitz basically kills his chances of getting re-elected for the woman he loves. Wow. Liv said he'd have to earn her love, and he did, right?

Eh, I'm not so sure. Did Fitz really do anything? Here's a couple of ways to look at it:

GOOD DAY RT @blackgirlgeeky: He didn't leave his wife for you. He let her leave while he sat at your place. Good day. #Scandal
— Kimberly N. Foster (@KimberlyNFoster) May 3, 2013

Or...

Kid Fury ‏@KidFury 

He ain't bring no wine. No chocolate turtles. No Beyoncé tickets. He ain't earn sh**.

In the case of Scandal, Fitz half acts like he wants to be president, so the possibility of being re-elected isn't a big deal, at least I think so. What he did took minimal effort. He didn't "earn" anything because he didn't put in any work. 

The same principle applies in real life (see how this works). If Walter the accountant says he's giving up something for you, that sounds nice, but if what's being given up isn't all that important to him, then isn't Walter just being dramatic? Don't we all have enough drama in our lives? Doesn't Walter have some books to keep?

The last time I checked, earning something valuable takes hard work. So, what did we learn from these latest Scandal shenanigans? "If you want me, EARN ME!" is a great t-shirt slogan, but it's meaningless if lower your standards for sorry sacrifices.

If you want someone to "earn" you, what would you want them to do?

Chew on that and stay random,

Jay