Brenda Song | Scandal

• Genre: Drama, Political thriller
• Created by: Shonda Rhimes
• Starring: Kerry Washington, Henry Ian Cusick, Columbus Short, Darby Stanchfield, Katie Lowes, Guillermo Díaz, Jeff Perry, Tony Goldwyn, Bellamy Young, Joshua Malina, Scott Foley, Portia de Rossi, Cornelius Smith Jr., Joe Morton, George Newbern
• Theme music composer: Chad Fischer
• No. of seasons: 7
• No. of episodes: 124
• Executive producers: Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Mark Wilding, Tom Verica, Mark Fish
• Producers: Merri D. Howard, Scott Collins, Matt Byrne, Heather Mitchell, Paul William Davies, Raamla Mohamed, Kerry Washington
• Cinematography: Oliver Bokelberg, Michael Wojciechowski
• Editors: Karen Castaneda, Matthew Ramsey, Gregory T. Evans, Julia Grove, Christal Khatib, Matthew Pevic
• Running time: 43 minutes
• Production companies: ABC Studios, Shondaland
• Network: ABC
• Release: April 5, 2012 – April 19, 2018

When you get into trouble there's only one person to call, Olivia Pope. Olivia is a professional 'fixer' who makes problems go away before anyone even knows they exist. For the moneyed, the powerful and even the President, Olivia is a legend in her field. Her spectacular success is mostly due to her unbreakable rule of always trust your gut. No matter how careful you are, when you do damage control for a living, you're bound to cause some damage to your own life. She and her crew eat, sleep, live and breathe crisis. Each week, as the team races against the clock to defuse intriguing new problems before they become full-blown disasters, they also have to deal with their own personal issues. They may call themselves 'gladiators in suits', but little by little, Olivia and her crew begin to reveal the chinks in their armor.

"The Trail"

As Gideon investigates Amanda Tanner's past, a series of flashbacks reveals the contentious primary race between Fitzgerald Grant and Sally Langston, Olivia's first meeting with Grant on the campaign trail, and the formation of the Pope & Associates team. The flashbacks delve into Olivia's life and her past is slightly more eventful than she's letting on.

"Hunting Season"

Olivia watches Kimberly Mitchell's talk show discuss President Grant's decision on whether or not to go to war with Libya over photo-shopped photos of dead Sudanese children. Olivia sees Senator Edison Davis on the talk show and calls him to tell him that his tie is distracting on screen. He is glad to hear from her, considering it's been three years. When Olivia gets into her car a government official named Artie Hornbacker claims that the government is using a new technology called "Thorngate" to spy on U.S. citizens. He claims he knows about her late-night phone calls to the West Wing. Artie explains that while he was doing data entry he noticed some descrepencies leading to his discovery and subsequent stealing of "Thorngate" from the NSA. Abby, Harrison, and Quinn look into Artie and become convinced he's crazy. They get "Thorngate" up and running, and Artie reveals that he told someone else about "Thorngate." Edison wants Olivia to ask him out, but she asks him about "Thorngate" since he's on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Cyrus informs Fitz that "Thorngate" has been stolen and Olivia is representing Artie. He tells Fitz that he is a ticking time bomb, faking being happy since Olivia won't return his phone calls. Fitz finds out that Edison is Olivia's former fiancee and is back in her life when a secret service agent gives him photos as proof. Fitz goes duck hunting with Hollis Doyle. Fitz summons Olivia to join him hunting where he reveals to her he that knows about Edison. They kiss against a tree, ignoring Tom and Hal standing a few feet away, but afterwards Olivia claims their relationship is over. When Fitz returns home, Mellie tells him that if he sees Olivia again he won't be re-elected. Olivia picks Kimberly Mitchell to do an interview with Artie. Fitz puts an injunction against the network, making it treason for anyone to go through with the interview, but Olivia gets them to do it anyway. Artie escapes from Huck's house with the recently decrypted "Thorngate." The NSA shows up at OPA looking for Artie, but Olivia improvises and gets the NSA to give her 12 hours to find him. Fitz realizes that Cyrus used "Thorngate" on him; that's how he knew that Olivia wasn't taking his calls. Huck finds Artie and greets him with a toolbox. David joins OPA to uncover the true story behind the Lindsay Dwyer case. Edison declares himself a client of OPA. David and Abby have sex. Huck vows that his torture issues are under control.

"Beltway Unbuckled"

Olivia and the team are on the case of a missing college student. They soon discover that the missing girl had been sleeping with senators and writing about the sex on a site called "Beltway Unbuckled". The team discovers she was murdered and identifies her killer, leading to a fight with the White House over diplomatic immunity. Abby and David's relationship continues to blossom, as President Grant and Mellie's relationship continues to flounder. Olivia and Fitz meet for dinner where Fitz ends their relationship. David continues to dig deeper into the Cytron investigation.

"Nobody Likes Babies"

David learns the truth about the Cytron case; Olivia, Cyrus, Mellie, Hollis and Verna go to extremes to protect themselves. Verna tells Fitz she was the one who tried to assassinate him. She also reveals to him that she along with Cyrus, Olivia, Mellie, and Hollis rigged the election in his favor. Fitz removes Verna's oxygen mask and holds her hands back, ultimately killing her. At her funeral, Fitz gives the eulogy and doesn't say anything negative about Verna. Fitz also calls off the divorce after Olivia turns down Edison's proposal so she can wait for Fitz's divorce to be final.