2020 Paley Archive Elements 3840x1536 Banner2

SCANDAL: THE CANDIDATE (TV)

Summary

One in this drama/political thriller about the Pope & Associates crisis management firm in Washington D.C.

Olivia helps Mellie edit her autobiography, although they disagree over its exact content. Olivia advises that Mellie should include a chapter about why she remained with President Grant after she discovered his affair, as she feels this will resonate strongly with the public. Polls indicate that an overwhelming majority of people feel that Vice President Ross would make an excellent presidential candidate if she chose to run. However, she does not wish to pursue this option. Abby tries to convince President Grant to consent to an interview with reporter Lillian Forrester, although Cyrus opposes her and is wary of Lillian’s less-than-stellar reputation for political bias. In spite of this, President Grant asks Abby to set up the interview. Olivia and Mellie continue to argue about Mellie’s book; Olivia believes that if Mellie does not address the reasons why she stayed in her marriage, the question will plague her constantly from both the public and the media. When Mellie acts evasive about the question, Olivia suddenly posits that even she does not know the reason why she stayed. Mellie turns the question around on Olivia, asking why she broke off her affair with President Grant. She tries to avoid the question but Mellie realizes that Olivia does not have a suitable answer either.

Cyrus and Abby brief Lillian on her interview with President Grant, although she quickly manages to annoy Cyrus. She claims she has “no ulterior motive” and wants to have a frank discussion with President Grant about his attitude towards the final days of his presidency. After some time, Mellie hesitantly opens up about how she reacted when she found out about President Grant and Olivia’s affair; she says she was “devastated” and hoped that it would be only temporary. Despite her honesty, Olivia still feels that Mellie is holding something back and encourages her to “dig deeper.” Mellie snaps at Olivia and claims that despite the affair, she and President Grant had a far more nuanced and well-balanced relationship over the years. Olivia gets offended by Mellie’s tirade and Mellie departs, foregoing Olivia’s help in editing her book. Vice President Ross’s aide Amber, David’s current girlfriend, asks David to try to convince Ross to run for president, although he feels this is not possible. The aide reveals that Ross may be attracted to him, and believes he can exploit this to their advantage. He does so, asking Ross out to dinner with him. She is quite surprised by his invitation, although he has difficulty thinking of an idea for a date location, as Vice President Ross has already been to most suitable spots around Washington D.C. He ends up taking her to “Gettysburger,” a tacky Civil War-themed fast-food restaurant.

In private, Cyrus urges President Grant to use the remaining months of his presidency to accomplish something of importance, similar to previous presidents of the modern era. President Grant responds coolly to his exhortations, frustrating Cyrus. That night, Olivia is visited by Jake, and they both enter her bedroom silently in order to continue their sexual relationship. Cyrus encounters Mellie at his favorite bar and sits down next to her. They commiserate over their seeming inability to rid either President Grant or Olivia from their lives. She asks Cyrus to manage her presidential campaign, much to his surprise. Later Mellie, somewhat inebriated, visits Olivia again. She provides a belated answer to Olivia’s question about why she stayed, explaining that “it was working.” She elaborates: she feels that President Grant was “weak” and did not have the wherewithal to fight for what he deserved, and that she tried to coax out his potential over the years. She reveals that her true feelings about the affair was that she “deserved” Olivia, feeling that she was somehow inadequate and that Olivia’s presence was something of an inevitability. Mellie recounts how these feelings subsided when she “turned a corner” and realized that with President Grant pursuing Olivia, she had “space” with which to think to herself, gaining self-confidence, freedom, and more of a sense of direction with her life. Olivia concedes that Mellie has been totally honest with her, although says that it absolutely cannot go in her autobiography. Mellie, somewhat sadly, acknowledges this, and Olivia joins her for a drink.

During their date, David brings up the possibility of Vice President Ross running for president, although she is still not enthused with the idea. She is convinced that she was chosen to be vice-president because Mellie wanted to pre-emptively emplace someone “useless” as her competition to make it easier for her to win the presidency. She feels it would be pointless to campaign and put herself and her daughter through undue stress. David interrupts her with a kiss, denying that she is as “useless” as she claims to be. Olivia and Mellie both get progressively more inebriated as they voice their feelings about each other; Olivia claims that Mellie was always “nasty” towards her. However, each of them admits that they in some way enjoyed having the other one around; Mellie calls Olivia a “good mistress” and Olivia says that Mellie’s presence always gave her an “out” from the affair if she needed one. She admits that she left President Grant because she was “scared,” and suddenly advises Mellie to write about her filibuster and how she did not need a man in her life to achieve independence and confidence.

In the middle of the night, Cyrus wakes President Grant and informs him that his cousin has just died, and that he needs to leave immediately. The next morning, President Grant sits down for his interview with Lillian. Before they get too far, Lillian halts the interview and admits that she is attracted to him, leaving President Grant speechless. She prepares to leave, but instead President Grant invites her out to dinner with him. David tells Amber that he refuses to try to convince Vice President Ross any further, believing that she is a “good person” who must be left to her own devices. However, Amber informs him that Ross has already taken the preliminary steps to running for president. Meanwhile, Marcus confronts Huck about his apparently obsessive monitoring of Javier; Huck uses a hidden camera to watch his soccer game. He declines to explain the true reason why he cannot interact with Javier directly, and Marcus advises Huck to visit Javier in person.

Olivia and Mellie put the finishing touches on her autobiography and Olivia proposes that they release it immediately in order to capitalize on the public’s interest. To that end, they stage a leak of a portion of the book online, and the news media swiftly picks up on the story. Abby calls Cyrus, concerned about President Grant’s date with Lillian, but Cyrus is unavailable. It turns out he lied about his cousin’s death and is in fact secretly attending a press conference in Pennsylvania held by Governor Francisco Vargas, who is facing resistance from the public for his proposed education bill. He makes an impassioned speech about the need for publicly-funded college educations, citing his own background as the son of poor immigrants who worked to earn degrees and provide an education for their children. Cyrus starts to believe that he could lend valuable aid to the young governor as he once did for President Grant during his presidential campaign. Includes commercials.

Details

  • NETWORK: ABC
  • DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:59:58
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: 125981
  • GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
  • SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; LGBT Collection - Drama; Drama, mystery/suspense; Politics
  • SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2012-2018
  • COMMERCIALS:
    • TV – Commercials – Amopé electronic nail file
    • TV – Commercials – Android smartphones
    • TV – Commercials – Bare Minerals skin lotion
    • TV – Commercials – Curél skin lotion
    • TV – Commercials – Enterprise car rental service
    • TV – Commercials – Expedia travel service
    • TV – Commercials – Farmers insurance
    • TV – Commercials – Ford automobiles
    • TV – Commercials – Humira rheumatoid arthritis medicine
    • TV – Commercials – KIA automobiles
    • TV – Commercials – Lexus automobiles
    • TV – Commercials – MasterCard credit cards
    • TV – Commercials – Metro PCS phone service
    • TV – Commercials – Olive Garden restaurants
    • TV – Commercials – Pantene shampoo
    • TV – Commercials – Petsmart pet supply stores
    • TV – Commercials – Red Lobster restaurants
    • TV – Commercials – Rocket Mortgage financial services
    • TV – Commercials – Target department stores
    • TV – Commercials – United Healthcare health insurance
    • TV – Commercials – Verizon phone service
    • TV – Commercials – Wells Fargo banks
    • TV – Commercials – Zillow real estate website
    • TV – Commercials – “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” motion picture
    • TV – Commercials – “Zootopia” motion picture
    • TV – Promos – “Blackish”
    • TV – Promos – “Disneyland 60”
    • TV – Promos – “How to Get Away with Murder”
    • TV – Promos – “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
    • TV – Promos – “Of Kings and Prophets”
    • TV – Promos – “Quantico”
    • TV – Promos – “Scandal”
    • TV – Promos – “The Bachelor”
    • TV – Promos – “The Catch”
    • TV – Promos – “The Family”
    • TV – Promos – “The Oscars”
    • TV – Promos – “The Real O’Neals”

CREDITS

  • Tom Verica … Executive Producer
  • Mark Wilding … Executive Producer
  • Betsy Beers … Executive Producer
  • Shonda Rhimes … Executive Producer, Created by
  • Mark Fish … Co-Executive Producer
  • Heather Mitchell … Co-Executive Producer
  • Merri D. Howard … Co-Executive Producer
  • Judy Smith … Co-Executive Producer
  • Alison Schapker … Co-Executive Producer, Writer
  • Matt Byrne … Supervising Producer
  • Scott Collins … Supervising Producer
  • Zahir McGhee … Supervising Producer
  • Noah Esvlin … Co-Producer
  • Brad Yacobian … Co-Producer
  • Chris Van Dusen … Co-Producer
  • Jason George … Co-Producer
  • Holden Chang … Co-Producer
  • Allison Liddi-Brown … Director
  • Chad Fischer … Music by
  • Kerry Washington … Cast, Olivia Pope
  • Scott Foley … Cast, Jake Ballard
  • Darby Stanchfield … Cast, Abby Whelan
  • Katie Lowes … Cast, Quinn Perkins
  • Guillermo Diaz … Cast, Huck
  • Jeff Perry … Cast, Cyrus Beene
  • Joshua Malina … Cast, David Rosen
  • Bellamy Young … Cast, Mellie Grant
  • Portia de Rossi … Cast, Elizabeth North
  • Cornelius Smith Jr. … Cast, Marcus Walker
  • Tony Goldwyn … Cast, President Fitzgerald Grant III
  • Kate Burton … Cast, Sally Langston
  • Artemis Pebdani … Cast, Vice President Susan Ross
  • Ricardo Chavira (See also: Ricardo Antonio Chavira) … Cast, Governor Francisco Vargas
  • Annabeth Gish … Cast, Lillian Forrester
  • Jess Nurse … Cast, Amber
  • Jaden Betts … Cast, Javi
  • Braden Lynch … Cast, Wayne Turner
  • Delaina Mitchell … Cast, News Anchor Leslie
  • Sara Van Horn … Cast, Elderly Woman
  • Shaan Sharma … Cast, Anchor
  • Michael Segovia … Cast, Teenage Cashier