ABC 'Scandal' Season 3 Spoilers: Creator Shonda Rhimes Talks Show Deaths On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'
The Scandal season 3 finale hadeveryone in tears: a bomb explosion, a presidential election, political intrigue, spy games, and murder. It was a jam-packed Thursday episode (WARNING: spoilers will follow).
Social media was abuzz with Scandal theories about what happened to Columbus Short's Harrison Wright. Is he dead or alive? Why is Mama Pope in the hole? How will Guillermo Diaz's Huck interact with his family?
Those are more questions than answers so let's just prevail with the facts with the help of "Behind the Scandalabra" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Ever since the shocking death of Dan Bucatinsky's James Novak, Cyrus Beene's husband has made sure the Peabody-winning show continues to deliver. The death of James Novak almost broke Twitter on the March 20 episode. The death was tweeted about for nearly five hours. In fact, social media is still aghast over the season finale.
The show's opening shocked audiences with an explosion inside of a church and a country in crisis. This was an attack that Tony Goldwyn's President Fitzgerald Grant III could not avoid. His political rival, Kate Burton's Sally Langston, was nearby tending to the wounded, bringing her support and undercutting Fitz's re-election chances. Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope responded to the press via phone, fed calls and tried to "fix" the situation as "you don't put the president of the United States on a split screen."
Rather than relive every moment play and play, let's provide the cliff notes version. Harris tries to protect Adnan Salif, by allowing her to escape forever. Alas, that does not pan out when Papa Pope resumes as Command of B6-13; she dies. Fitz's son Jerry also dies as the president gives his last speech of the campaign election. Later, Jeff Perry's Cyrus Beene and Olivia lament in the hospital that either their job turns them into bad people or they reveal their true nature through their job.
Harris is then manipulated by Papa Pope into finding Olivia's mother. Afterwards, Harris draws an ingenious conclusion about Papa Pope's plans and motives, but does Harris suffer the same fate as Salif? It ends with a B6-13 agent aiming a gun at Harris.
By the end, Olivia is broken.
"I'm the scandal, and the best way to deal with a scandal is to shut it down," she says.
Olivia and Jake Ballard take a private plane to start their new life, courtesy of Olivia's father.
A special edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the finale, revealed Behind the Scandalabra which was all about Scandal and how show creator Shonda Rhimes handles the writing and the strength of the show.
Rhimes shared that, in the writer's room, there is lots of yelling and fighting and people having strong feelings about particular characters and storylines. Rhimes added that she is the tie-breaker because it is her show, and ultimately she has to decide.
"But really it's about the best idea. If someone can convince me their idea is better, I'll go with it," Rhimes said.
Regarding the fate of characters, Rhimes said that it is never easy to say goodbye to any of them, but that it is about the story.