CeRonC

True happiness

[soph-okonedo]

Bianca Lawson attends the premiere of Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures’ “Hostiles” at Samuel Goldwyn Theater on December 14, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California.

[ceronc]

If I believed Vampires were real, I’d believe Bianca was one. This woman does not age! Gorgeous!

[skidivame]

Promo for the Scandal mid-season premiere, ‘Robin.’

[pjamma-sf]

Kerry Washington talks about setting boundaries with Scandal on screen love interests Tony Goldwyn and Scott Foley.

[whiskeycav]

BTS pictures of Scott and Regina shooting “Due North” for Insecure.

[thetyifs]

Scandal 7x07

Well that was an underwhelming Winter Finale. I only enjoyed Mama Pope’s part. Between Jake’s character assassination and Rowan taking forever to shoot Olivia, I can’t decide which moment disappointed me more. If this wasn’t the final season, I would have given up already.

P.S. It’s pretty obvious that Quinn is alive especially since Katie had given birth around the filming of these scenes.

[cartnsncreal]

Reblog and you might save someone’s life, especially with all our Black Girls going missing #ProtectBlackGirls #SaveLife

[lazorsandparadox]

For those who don’t know what’s happening in the video, she untied her shoelaces, pulled one through the inside of the zip tie binding her hands, then tied the shoelaces together. Then, by pulling downward and back and forth on the shoelaces with her feet, she created enough friction to wear away part of the ziptie, making it weak enough to snap right off her hands.

[duubellay]

[skidivame]

Are Kerry and Stephen wearing the same shade of lipstick?! Cute photo though.

[closeyoureyesinthesun]

‪Currently really into the fact that Jake currently has 2 bosses and they’re both women. He serves one by the light of day and the other in the dark of night.‬

[grantforthepeople]

We did the right thing. 

[soph-okonedo]

Naomi Campbell and Kerry Washington, wearing Gucci, attend the 2017 LACMA Art + Film Gala Honoring Mark Bradford and George Lucas presented by Gucci at LACMA on November 4, 2017 in Los Angeles, California

[soph-okonedo]

Kelly McCreary attends the 300th “Grey’s Anatomy” Episode Celebration on November 4, 2017, in Hollywood, California

[soph-okonedo]

Kameelah Williams, LeMisha Grinstead, and Irish Grinstead of 702 attend the 2017 Soul Train Awards, presented by BET, at the Orleans Arena on November 5, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada

[skidivame]

Kerry Washington at the ‘Scandal’ Press Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel on October 18, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California.

Love this dress.

[whiskeycav]

Scott Foley To Star In FBI-CIA Action-Comedy Set At ABC As Put Pilot From Bill Lawrence & Dave Hemingson

EXCLUSIVE: As Scandal is wrapping its seven-season run on ABC, the network has moved in to secure the next starring vehicle of cast member Scott Foley. In a competitive situation with multiple netw…

Written by Hemingson, Whiskey Cavalier follows the adventures of FBI agent Will Chase (codename: Whiskey Cavalier) — played by Foley — who, following an emotional break-up, is assigned to work with CIA operative Francesca “Frankie” Trowbridge (codename: Fiery Tribune). Together, they lead an inter-agency team of spies who periodically save the world (and each other) while navigating the rocky roads of friendship, romance and office politics.

Foley is a producer.

[pjamma-sf]

Yay!

[celebsofcolor]

Kerry Washington for Allure Magazine

[closeyoureyesinthesun]

Yes, Jake is one of Shonda's favorite characters. No, she doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks about that.*

[*As a rule, I’m loathe to put words in people’s mouths or thoughts in people’s heads. And if this thesis ever gets proven incorrect, so be it. But this is what I firmly believe, along with a bit of speculation and educated guessing, based on what I know about how Jake came to be a part of the show and what I’ve observed of how he’s been written and portrayed while on it.]

So we’ve all seen these crazy-ass rants against Ms. Rhimes and how she apparently writes Jake “to look good” (huh?) or “better than Fitz” (what, like it’s hard?), and implying or outright saying she keeps putting him and Olivia together because of the actor, basically saying she uses herself as a self-insert on a prime time network show (the irony). And while this is all, of course, bonkers to the nth degree, I will admit, there is a sliver of a baseline of truth to it. I can’t tip-toe around it anymore. I’m about 99% sure Jake is one of her favorite characters to write for, if not her 2nd favorite after Olivia. And that’s not a negative thing in and of itself. Sometimes creators have characters they’re a bit more into than the others, and usually it’s not hard to tell when this is the case, and who the faves are. Anyway, even if it’s not necessarily Jake as a character who’s favored, she seems to be rather enamored with the space she’s carved out for him in Liv’s life (so are we).

The implications for this go back to the very inception of the show. It’s semi-common Scandal fandom knowledge that Shonda wanted Scott on the show from jump, but he was already doing a show and was unavailable. So it seems to me that, in place of whatever character she wanted him to play (whether Jake or another character altogether), she may have created Stephen. But, while he was endearing and had an interesting dynamic with Olivia, Stephen’s 2nd choice, place-holder status didn’t make for a very meaty role. So Henry and Shonda mutually decided to write him out after the first season. Serendipitously enough though, Scott’s show didn’t get picked up for another season, and as soon as Shonda heard that, she snatched him up with a quickness, knowing exactly who she wanted him to play. Most likely who she'd always wanted him to play.

Then within his time on season 2, which only consisted of less than a full back half, while still only credited as a recurring character, he was introduced as the main character’s new love interest, a story arc that continued through the rest of the season and beyond; he brought Rowan, another new major player, into the narrative; which, by extension, introduced the Olivia/Rowan/Jake twisted, family triangle that would go on to be the crux of some major story lines in the following seasons. Shonda then established connections between Jake and other people in Liv’s life - Huck, Quinn, David - by way of B613 (an element of Scandal that she’s blatantly in love with, btw). He’s even met her mom. Hell, he’s had to pull her off of her mom. Now that’s someone who’s seen all the dirty laundry, and not only doesn’t flinch from it, but will wade through it with her.

Judging by her relationship with Stephen (who's been referred to as her “right-hand man” at the time), I think it’s safe to assume that whatever character Scott was envisioned for was always going to occupy a unique and integral place in Liv’s life. Whether it was romantic of not. Which fits with how Olake has always operated. Even when they’re not sexually/romantically together, they’re still…together. In like every other way. Still friends, still confidants, still partners, still ride or die, by each other’s sides. And anytime they’re not in sync, or having issues, Liv gets all out of whack about it. Even over something as benign as Jake turning down her request for dinner with her dad. She was not here for that. So she bitched and moaned and made empty angry “girlfriend” threats until she got her way. A little Extra? Yes. But that’s how she gets when she feels her connection with Jake is threatened in any way. Because it’s such an important and impactful part of her life, and therefore, an important and impactful part of the show. A kind of relationship that Olivia needs, as a character, and so was mostly likely always in the cards for her.

Yes, Shonda’s had Jake almost die several times. First of all, he’s B613, so that’s gonna happen. Second of all, he’s always going up against Rowan, so that’s gonna happen. But has he died? No. And more importantly, she’s used 4 of his brushes with death as significant benchmarks in his relationship with Olivia. Mainly by showing just how much that woman is not willing to see him die, and just how far she’ll go to prevent it.

1) It’s implied that ever since she found out about her dad and B613 and the Edison incident happened, she’d avoided Rowan like the plague, until he revealed himself to her at the end of season 2. But that certainly didn’t stop her from getting all up in his face and badgering him until he got Jake out that hole.

2) Then Rowan framed Jake for a double homicide and had him on the fast track to the needle. Liv had to battle both him and Fitz over that one, but in the end she got her way. She had to order a dude shanked to do it, but whatever. No biggie. Jake’s worth it.

3) When Jake was about this close to bleeding to death, Liv agreed to help someone she never in a million years thought she ever would. But Jake’s life depended on it, so it happened.

4) When Rowan held Jake’s life over Liv’s head as leverage for her not to interfere in his plans, she held back accordingly, but it emotionally destroyed her. Then when he actually reached out to her for help, she couldn't not answer, so she stood up to her father once again in order to be Jake’s savior.

Point being, the close calls on Jake’s life were never in vain, or played for cheap drama. They were narratively heavy as hell, contributed to Olivia’s character development, made him more sympathetic to the audience, and bonded Liv closer to him, every time. On top of this, with each progressive season Shonda has heightened Jake’s status and place in Liv’s life:

Season 2: Maybe he could help her not be so sad, and be her do-over. Season 3: Jake, by her side, is for her. Season 4: He’s family to her. Season 5: She’s ready to be happy. With him. Season 6: He becomes her 2nd-in-command. Pun intended.

OK, back to audience reception again. In general (meaning, those of us who didn’t take an immediate liking to Jake and start shipping Olake with a quickness in 2x14), people seemed to be pretty iffy on Jake for most of his time on season 2. Which, OK, he was written to be pretty iffy. Especially since we’re mainly seeing things from Liv’s perspective, going on these arcs with her. And Jake was kind of a complicated roller coaster for her in season 2. But come season 3, there was a pretty quick and highly noticeable tide turn towards Jake’s favor. And by season 4 he was straight up being called a fan favorite by entertainment publications. And that’s not just an empty editorial platitude, folks really love him. When he was framed and imprisoned, viewers were pissed. When he got stabbed and tricked a significant amount of viewers into believing he’d been killed off, they were pissed, and the ones who still had hope were really worried, and potentially pissed. When he wasn’t in the season 5 premiere until the very end, viewers were pissed. When Rowan ruined Olake’s plans to run away together, viewers were pissed. And also really sad.

First of all, if you can get an audience to fall that hard for a character, much less a late-entry character who was brought on as a romantic rival, that’s a damn well-written character. And I’m sure it helps that he’s constantly framed as the height of cool badassery. Remember when he was given the stereotypical action hero trope of walking away nonchalantly from an explosion? Yeah, that was a thing that happened. Twice. But also, he was pointedly written to be inherently likeable. Flawed, complex, and with a serious dark side? Sure. But still, at his core, the goodness, the decency, the striving to be better, even the sense of humor, they all shine through. Especially when he’s around our leading lady. Who, remember, we’re experiencing him through her view of him most of the time. I think this quote from a 2013 NY Post article (awesomely titled, Scott Foley: Scandal’s Secret Weapon) sums it up pretty well:

Although Ballard showed up in Olivia’s life as a man with a lot of secrets, including spying on her…, he has turned out to be a stand-up guy.

Hasn’t he though?? And I don’t believe Ms. Rhimes would have it any other way. way.