The cast of ABC's "Scandal." Source: ABC

I’m going to level with you: I’ve never watched an episode of Private Practice and my viewing history of Grey’s Anatomy probably totals three episodes — two of which include the two hour murderous rampage finale from two years ago and the other probably something I couldn’t stomach. Regardless, I have not watched Shonda Rhimes’ shows.

This Thursday, that’s about to change.

Put shortly: Scandal is a fun, thrilling piece of work. The show centers around Olivia Pope (played by Kerry Washington), an ex-communications director to the President of the United States, who has left her former position and begun work on her own crisis management firm. Along with her crises team, also known as “gladiators in suits,” she helps keep the images of the political elite intact. Plus, she’s just really badass.

But reports of this being a legal drama or a political one are all too premature. The show is called Scandal and it stays true to that. It’s quite interesting how this show has found some sort of middle-ground in which to live in the scandal it portrays. It’s not focused on the political point of view or the media’s, which is quite refreshing. Of course, we all know about crisis management — but the idea of freelancing it is new… to me, at least. That said, almost always, from the first three episodes of which I’ve screened, the scandals Pope & Associates tries to keep under wraps are on the shallow side of media bait. If it’s not a sex scandal, it’s a sex scandal, and if it’s not that… then it relies on the season-long scandal, which is a sex scandal. Thus far, Pope & Associates is not trying to keep the next Watergate from being unleashed to the public.

You can take that as you wish. Just know that, yes, you’re watching a show in which political elements play a huge role (and are part of the reason the stakes are so high), but it’s not the next Homeland — far, far, far from it, in fact. I, and I’m sure many others, am taking that in the best possible way. After all, as I mentioned, the series is called Scandal — and when it tries to be something it’s not, it’s really good at faking it. The quick dialogue and the cinematography are both really good at aiding just that.

The dialogue’s velocity is something akin to Gilmore Girls (though it doesn’t possess that cutesy cadence, of course) and the cinematography and direction makes every moment feel secretive. During a conference call, of which I was blessed to be a part of, the Gladiators in Suits stars reiterated the same. They feel as though the speedy dialogue makes the story almost more important than the characters — and the shots make the audience feel as though they’re eavesdropping on a private conversation. I’d tend to agree.

But that being said: this is a really easy, fluid show. It’s seamless to get into. In fact, I was enthralled from the very first scene, in which Harrison (Columbus Short) explained to Quinn (Katie Lowes) that she had been offered the job to work with the elusive Olivia Pope. And the great thing, no matter how much we’re told that Olivia is flawless and how often that isn’t true, at least we get to see her in action to prove her descriptors correct (as opposed to everyone just saying she’s absolutely amazing all the time). Though Washington’s portrayal of Olivia is almost laughable early on… she, along with all the others, quickly slip into their characters quite easily (in the pilot, no less), thanks to some emotional gravitas in the form of a love quadrangle. (Which is at times questionable, but forget about it because it’s the basis for the season-long scandal.)

Honestly, I screened the first three episodes in one sitting and gasped at the end of the third one. That is a rare occurrence for me, usually, especially considering that I had just started watching. By the two hour mark, I was already invested in the story. And the crises of the weeks are sleazy enough to keep your attention even when the arc is at a lull (which felt like never to me).

As for Olivia being the most badass of badasses: we’ve seen it before. Look, I know that women in television (especially women of color — which is quite commendable for this show to do, by the way) are often seen as passive and weak and therefore whenever there’s a strong female lead everyone thinks it’s time to sing its praises because it’s oh so rare. But on the contrary, I think there’s an abundance of shows with marketable Badass Female Lead gusto. Veronica Mars… Nikita… Harry’s Law(?)… Law & Order: SVU… Once Upon a Time… Missing… Chuck… and so on. Actually, I’d mostly compare this show to FX’s Dirt from badass female lead who’d stop at nothing to get her way (though Olivia is much more refined and has a better moral code) to sleazy scandals, they are almost perfectly comparable. Though, that’s not to say that there are so many awfully written women on television. And of course, as we usually do with all the Badass Female Leads, we’ll find out that Olivia isn’t exactly as fine-tuned as everyone thinks.

Shocker! She’s human and has emotions.

But as I’ve said, I’ll be watching. The competition is Awake (which has become a police procedural wrapped up in dreams, so no thank you) and The Mentalist (which I’ve never watched) — and between those two, Scandal is the obvious choice. It’s the right kind of sleaze mixed up with fast-paced thriller to make keep you entertained the entire hour without feeling like the show is condescending.

Scandal is an enthralling, thrilling, helluva fun ride. But most of all, it’s entertaining.

Scandal premieres this Thursday, April 5th at 10/9c PM on ABC.