Scandal

This week, my husband and I decided to find a new show to watch on Netflix. Our go-to show is Grey's Anatomy (that we literally watch everyday), but since we've already watched all of the seasons through TWICE, we decided to try something new. On our "Suggested" list of TV shows Netflix chose for us, Scandal was at the top of the list. And since Scandal has the same creator and producer (Shonda Rhimes) as Grey's Anatomy, we knew it had to be good! So we started watching this two days ago and here's the update:

1. We are addicted.

2. We're almost through the second season and it's been (remember) TWO days. Wow. I impress myself. Please also note that we have both been sick so we have had nothing else to do ;)

3. It really makes you think.

These first two points are pretty self-explanatory. It's suspenseful (thank you, Shonda) so obviously not watching this show is simply not an option.

Onto the last point--
This show has caused me to have many thoughts. Which is different than usual- not because I don't usually think- but because I usually do not watch a lot of shows that require you to think. I usually choose shows with dumb humor that require zero thinking, such as Family Guy. And I don't think about Grey's Anatomy anymore because I know everything about that show by heart. So I just watch it to feel all of the feelings. Anyway, back to Scandal. This required me to think for two reasons: (sorry for all of the lists)

1. It makes me think by forcing me to put all of the pieces together in order to figure out what happened. If you have never seen this show, it is basically focused around one character, Olivia Pope, who "fixes" things. She used to work for the President of the United States, so she is into all things political and spends her days thinking of ways to fix other peoples problems such as people who are being framed for murder. Olivia Pope uses her team to gather evidence regarding these cases and figures out who really did it. Anyway, that was not the best summary, but it's basically solving crimes and figuring out who did what. Therefore, this show causes one to keep track of all of the evidence to try to figure out who did it before Olivia can. (Even though no one can figure it out before Olivia because she is the BEST.) It's fun to feel like a detective. Sometimes it's fun to think while watching TV! Who knew?

2. This show makes you think about what's really going on in the world. For instance, on this show, there is a lot of corruption in the government and there are other things that go on regarding the government such as the torturing of criminal in order to receive confessions. This causes one to wonder if there is corruption occurring in our current government. Regarding the torture scenes and other awful things government personal to do others, it makes you wonder if that really happens in real life. I have caught myself multiple times turning to my husband asking "Does that really happen?" I think watching too many of these types of shows can cause people to be skeptical about the government and fear what is happening around us behind closed doors.

Overall, we love this show because we feel like we are solving crimes and saving peoples lives (and it's good to think while TV watching to exercise the brain), but at the same time, I can see how this may promote negative feelings towards our government and create skepticism in people, even if it happens subconsciously. I will keep watching and keep you updated!


xo
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