Scandal 1×02 ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ review: Oh, brothel!

“Most of us have secrets…some of them aren’t pretty.
—Olivia

The only scandals worth talking about in Washington are sex scandals — and nothing could prove that to be any more accurate than tonight’s episode of Scandal, in which DC’s eldest Madam must reveal her list of clients. The only problem is… that list could ruin the images and careers of dozens of political elite — including newly anointed Supreme Court Justice. For some reason, I was expecting another sexual orientation twist to come (as in, his wife was the one who ordered some afternoon delight…anyone else?), but alas no! I think the best part about that is that Pope & Associate’s clients come with a great set of morals.

Could we condone Olivia’s work if her clients were scumbags? I mean, she bent the law to keep a pimp out of jail, basically. Do we care? Not really, I’m guessing. For the most part, the case-of-the-week was entertaining enough, but I won’t exactly ever truly be using them in my reviews week to week. It makes no sense to (except for: “oh, it was interested” or “it was awful;” I don’t plan on reviewing something episodic, rather than serialized).

Elsewhere, I like what the show did here with bringing in the new element of the media. As for the burgeoning romantic interest for Quinn, I don’t know if I’m annoyed with the fact that we don’t technically need it or elated that at least someone in the crisis team will be getting some sort of characterization. These people have dialogue, yes, but it’s usually to spew out exposition. Saves time and money, but also somewhat makes them irrelevant.

Nevertheless, getting back to the media: I love it. It was something that was sort of missing from the pilot — Olivia’s struggle with keeping information she didn’t want to leak outside of the newspapers. Ha! THE NEWSPAPERS! Who am I kidding? THE BLOGZ. Duh. I love even more that Gideon (the reporter) is working for a flailing outlet and has about zero readers. I feel you, Gideon. But more so, it adds the right kind of conflict with keeping the point of view of some moral middle ground that the show likes to take. We know there’s a story here. There’s a huge story here. And if (or when) Gideon uncovers it, he won’t even be scratching the surface. The pseudo journalist in me wants the s— to hit the fan and for him to find out everything, but of course I also want to see just how Olivia plays her cards on this one.

Elsewhere, however, I’d like for there to be some sort of explicit conflict with Olivia between representing the mistress and her feelings for him. Ultimately, it feels as though Olivia is more concerned with helping Amanda Tanner in order to right her own wrong rather than getting her justice, even though I thought in the beginning that she was only representing Amanda in order to keep her quiet. That said, it’s fun to see Cyrus beginning to not trust Olivia…and in the near future, you’ll see him do something to make sure that President Grant doesn’t trust her again either. But in the end, regardless of how sleazy Grant may be, he sticks by him. Though, I can’t exactly agree with that. Grant is an two-times adulterer. So I’m not particularly on his side.

More reasons for Amanda to speak the truth! (Except for the well-outlined counterpoints Olivia asserts in the episode.)

How will the story go down now that the media is tracing it? I can’t wait to see!