BWW Recap: SCANDAL, Call Me Clarence

Hard to find words after sixty minutes like that. Quite literally ripped from today's headlines, Shonda Rhimes dives head first into one of today's most controversial topics with no holds barred. Regardless of politics, that was one of the best episodes of SCANDAL ever.

Exposition plot throughline stuff first; Fitz needs a new VP, he wants Mellie, Cyrus wants someone else, Fitz decides to nominate Susan Ross (Guest Star, Artemis Pebdani) who is under qualified to help Mellie look good as an alternative, Cyrus is mad and Fitz and Mellie are finally working together. Are we good? Okay, on to the storyline everyone will be talking about tomorrow.

Olivia is right back atwork when the Commission of the DC Police hires her to prevent a Ferguson type demonstration after a white police officer shoots and kills black teenager, Brandon Parker. When Olivia arrives, Brandon's father, Clarence (Guest Star Courtney B. Vance) stands over his son's botty with a gun until he can speak with the shooter.

Olivia jumps into action learning about Clarence and Brandon, both model citizens, as well as interviewing the cops with a seemingly believable story. When local activist, Marcus shows up to support Clarence, he and Olivia spar, but when the Commissioner decides to ban the Press, Olivia jumps to the other side of the barricade with Marcus. Through Huck and Quinn's investigation and a little help from her pal, Attorney General David Rosen, they discover that the police officer planted a knife under Brandon's body to exonerate himself. He then releases his rage onto Olivia and the rest that police get no respect and still show up for the job regardless. He and his collaborators are arrested. Clarence is taken by Olivia to another grieving father; the President.

That is a very simple version of what happened in this episode. If you didn't see it for some reason, I really recommend watching it as my words can't do justice to the nuances the performers gave us. There is no need to jump into politics as this isn't an Op-ed (and I don't really feel like nasty emails from strangers and/or family members alike), so instead I will focus on the three things that made this episode extraordinary:

1 - The writing. An episode penned by Zahir McGhee on a controversial topic that left everyone breathless at every turn. It was riveting. It was written so eloquently and sensitively, but yet straight forward and blunt that gave all of the cast beautiful material to work with.

2 - The direction. by Tom Verica. Yeah, Tom Verica, the dead guy on HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER. Amazing choices at every turn between the lighting in the street scenes to the closing shot of Brandon being closed up in a body bag was almost too much to bear.

3 - The performances of the guest stars. I rave about the cast of SCANDAL all the time for their performances, especially Bellamy Young and Jeff Perry. But this episode belonged to the guest stars. Chris Mulkey (Commissioner), Michael Welch (The Officer), Cornelius Smith, jr.(Marcus), and Courtney B. Vance as Clarence Parker. If the Emmy hasn't already been engraved with Courtney B. Vance's name on it, I don't know what else to say. His performance as the grieving father at his absolute wit's end was nothing short of perfection. And Michael Welch, probably best known from the TWILIGHT movies delivers a remarkable arc as a distressed, grieving cop to one so filled with rage refusing to accept the accountability for his actions.

The name of the show is SCANDAL so nobody should be surprised that it tackles controversy. I think my only complaint is the side plot with the VP search. That is something that definitely could wait a week to delve into when an entire show could be dedicated the riveting story. Regardless, it is quite an achievement and despite the scathing emails that I know the creators are bound to get, I'm so pleased they tackled the issue with such grace.

Lines That Will Stay With Me:

• Olivia - The fact that they stand in groups and say things you do not like does not make them a mob, it makes them Americans.

• Clarence - You and I both know that this ends with me either dead or locked up. Because that's the way things go around here.

• Olivia - You talk about fairness and justice like it's available to everybody. It's not.

• Officer Jeffrey Newton - Questioning my authority was NOT his right. His blood is NOT on my hands.

• Clarence - Call me Clarence. My son's name was Brandon Parker.

Here's a preview for next week's episode:

Photo Credit: ABC

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