Things to Do

WashingTelevision: All the Dropped Plot Points From “Scandal” So Far

A look back at some of the series' never-to-be-mentioned-again craziness, plus a sneak peek at tonight's episode.

Alas, poor Stephen, we knew him barely. Photograph by Danny Feld for ABC.

Since
Scandal debuted last April, Shonda Rhimes’s show has
just continued to get buzzier and buzzier.
The actors (and fans) routinely live-tweet the details of every
episode, and Kerry
Washington and Tony Goldwyn were the undisputed stars of
Saturday’s ABC News party
for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. (Sadly, try as we might, we couldn’t get a single spoiler out
of either of them.)
So as its second season begins to wrap up, we thought we’d take
a look back at the
twisty journey the show has taken—and some significant plot
points that got dropped
along the way.

Amanda Tanner: One of the central conflicts in the first season: El Prez sleeping with his aide.
Sort of makes it hard to root for Fitz and Olivia’s epic love when you remember she’s
not his only extramarital affair.

“Sweet baby”: And on that note . . .
apparently this was enough of a thing El Prez used to do that
Shonda named the pilot for it—but we’ve never heard him call
Olivia anything but her
name or variations thereof.

Poor, dead Gideon: Last
week
,

Quinn waxed nostalgic about her shattered life as Lindsey Dwyer
and her murdered boyfriend
Jesse. But what about her OTHER murdered boyfriend, intrepid
cub reporter Gideon,
who suffered a slow and painful death by scissors on the floor
of his own apartment?

Stephen: Hey, remember the British guy who served as Olivia’s right-hand man and had a penchant
for sleeping with coroners in morgues? Yeah, us neither.

VP Sally: Whither El Prez’s crazy-right-wing, fundamentalist Vice President? On an extended
“diplomatic trip,” perhaps? Because if she were anywhere within the vicinity of the
White House while FLOTUS was moving across the street, you can guarantee she’d be
out for blood.

The Olivia/El Prez sex tape: VP Sally’s psychotic chief of staff, Billy Chambers, recorded audio of the two of
them doing the deed way back when and released it to the press. El Prez was all set
to confess the affair, until Olivia and FLOTUS conspired to announce a sham pregnancy
that turned into a real pregnancy that resulted in America’s Baby, whom FLOTUS is
now using for leverage against her husband. The salient point: El Prez knew Olivia
was “fixing” things for him even before he knew about Defiance.

Verna Thornton: Supreme Court justice. Involved in Defiance. Riddled with cancer. Oh yeah, and SMOTHERED
TO DEATH by El Prez. Are we never again going to mention that in addition to being
a chronic adulterer and a mean drunk, the President of the United States is also a
murderer?

Any other dropped or especially holey plot lines we forgot? Sound off in the comments,
and tune in tomorrow for the full recap of season two, episode 20, “A Woman Scorned.”
(A sneak preview is available on YouTube.)