Scandal Review: “It’s Good to Be Kink” (4×16)

About halfway through this week’s Scandal I came to a realization that surprised me for a couple of reasons. It’s never been clearer than with “It’s Good to Be Kink” that Scandal is having real trouble balancing the fallout of Olivia’s kidnapping with its desire to return to business as usual. And I never really thought that Scandal would be the type of show to 1) stray so far from its formula in the first place or 2) make such an abrupt return to said formula that I would miss it straying. But here we are, desperately trying for a sort of character study on Olivia Pope, while Lena Dunham blackmails every literal dick in Washington.

To wit: “It’s Good to Be Kink” is chock full of wacky hijinks of varying levels of tastefulness. Many of these hijinks are funny: David Rosen tried out super kinky sex once because he was feeling down on himself; Charlie fakes being a torture-porn aficionado a little too well (because he is not faking); Lena Dunham’s wig. It’s all hilarious.

Also to wit Huck slashes Lena Dunham’s throat in a most chilling and pragmatic fashion because he is a dangerous psychopath and she is a loose end. Said dangerous psychopath continues to be presented to the audience as a sympathetic character despite having done very little to earn the audience’s sympathy, and having done a hell of a lot more to not earn it.

I cannot square this throat-slashing psychopathy with wacky hijinks. Just can’t do it, and in fact won’t do it. “It’s Good to Be Kink” left me with such a terrible taste in my mouth; it has soured me one a season of Scandal that until now I’ve been pretty sweet on. I mean, I don’t know. Where do we go from here? What is left to say in terms of Huck’s characterization? Because he hasn’t changed, and this act makes it clear that he never, ever will. Huck is already a flimsy, tedious character—I felt empathy for him last week on the strength of a particularly well-written and -acted scene, and that’s it. But this is finally the bridge too far. Stop asking me to feel for this character.

The funny thing is that this is a question raised throughout the show. Everyone has done terrible things, but the other characters have other, non-psychopath aspects to them. The other characters tend, usually, to show some damn remorse. Huck does no such thing. Huck sits there and silently signs the paperwork guaranteeing his freedom from B-613’s wrath while David Rosen prattles on with guilt over Lena Dunham’s death. Fuck Huck, you guys. Fuck this redemption arc, since the path to Huck’s redemption seems to be a loop straight on back through the behavior he’s supposed to be redeemed from in the first place.

Like I said: my taste is soured now. The rest of the episode is honestly fine, if a little wheel-spinny. The plot is a little too goofy for me, and the idea that a pending sex scandal is what throws the B-613 takedown into crisis mode is more than a little ridiculous. But Lena Dunham really is perfectly cast, and hilarious in every scene of hers that does not involve her throat being slashed. (“I mean define ‘violate’, for you.”) There’s a lot of showing going on—Mellie and Liz are going to team up; Cyrus keeps trying to bring Olivia back into the Washington fold—but it’s all promises of things to come, and nothing much in this episode itself. The sex book scandal would have been fine as a standalone episode, a pretty entertaining case of the week. It’s the attempt to tie it into the show’s ongoing (and misguided) arcs that cause trouble.

This week is as good a time as any to also address that I really, really wish the show would get its cast under control. Cyrus, Mellie, and even Fitz have all faded to the background of late. It’s not a question of having too little to do, but of the scripts giving us too little reason to care. Even Olivia has taken a back seat, though this at least is intentional. And considering that her scenes are the best of any given episode, it tends to be worth the wait to see Kerry Washington on our screens again.

Speaking of Olivia: I’m loving Washington’s portrayal of her PTSD. You can see Olivia going through the motions, whether in talking with Cyrus or in trying to intimidate Lena Dunham; and the latter sees right through her. There is a spark missing in Olivia Pope. She seems like she might have gained it back at episode’s end, taking to bed a stranger from the bar in her own apartment. And, after Marcus questioned her blackness in “The Lawn Chair,” I do think it’s significant that it’s a black man she takes home. Something is brewing here, in terms of race and identity, and how Olivia’s involvement with the establishment has made her lose track of the “black” part of herself. I don’t know that Scandal is equipped to do much more than skim the surface of this, but we’ll be tracking it for the rest of the season for sure.

Stray Observations:

• How much did Abby rock this week? So much, is how much.
• Fuck Quinn, too. Her bullshit distinction between justice for Lena Dunham and Olivia’s “family” made me almost as angry as the actual throat slashing.
• Mellie, a sitting First Lady, is planning to run for Senate in Virginia. Good luck with that, Mellie.
• Cyrus has become such a dick lately (well, more of a dick), but since we’ve seen literally none of his internal life in weeks, we’re lacking necessary context. Next week’s episode looks like we’ll get at least some of that context.