By Jessica Kopew
Correspondent
The fifth season of ABC’s “Scandal” is full of realistic drama and emotion that will leave you wanting more.
The season ended with a presidential race that almosts parallels Donald Trump’s rise to presidency. The race features a billionaire businessman running against a female politician in a close Republican primary.
After the result of our election, you’d assume that the show would continue to reflect reality by choosing to elect the businessman. However, Shonda Rhimes, the show’s writer and producer, instead, decides to grab you by the shoulders, slap you in the face and tell you “Think again.”
Not only does the businessman not win the election, but he doesn’t even make it past the primaries.
This entire season revolves around the mystery of who will become the next U.S. president, and it is loaded with suspense and drama. The winner is revolutionary, and a choice you’d least expect. More action ensues soon after the election that puts many lives at risk and bullets through hearts. It is emotional and terrifying, and leaves you at the edge of your seat wondering, “What could possibly happen now?”
Like the name suggests, the show has plot lines that are so scandalous that you’re immediately hooked to your television. Along with the election, season five delves into the world of mystery. We find out in episode one that someone important dies, but we don’t know who pulled the trigger. There are no hints or clues to ease your aching curiosity.
Rhimes does an excellent job of keeping you guessing. Often times you’ll think it’s one person until you find out they couldn’t have possibly done it. Like all great mysteries, you’ll find yourself blaming certain characters only to find out they are innocent.
This show is full of characters who aren’t your typical black or white, good or evil, which, again, greatly reflects the complexity of politics in the real world. Some of these people are trying to do what is right, but go about it the wrong way.
The morals of the characters are fickle and ambiguous, making you question the minds of the real politicians currently behind the White House’s closed doors.
For anyone who watches a show by Rhimes, you will know exactly how it feels to fall in love with characters just to watch them break under pressure. The characters are more frighteningly human than we’d like to admit. They are no more than people placed in a position of responsibility, some of whom have let the power go to their heads.
Let yourself be pulled into the gray complexity of politics. It will change the way you see real-life politics for the better.
