Let me preface this by saying: I love Scandal. I’ve loved it since the first day it aired and I’m so glad it’s back!
So while I get that it’s just a show, someone asked me a question the other day that really got me thinking: Why do we love Fitz? In theory, there isn’t really a lot to like about the guy. I mean he’s married and the President and he’s sleeping with a former White House staff member. Didn’t we see this some years ago with another President? Generally speaking, we know that Fitz does not make the best decisions. He even sort of hates his job as the leader of the free world. Yet at the same time I recall seeing an interview with Scott Foley who plays Olivia’s other love interest, Jake, and he said that when he came on the show he got a ton of hate mail (and hate Tweets) because he was breaking Liv and the President up.
So why do we love Fitz so much? I’m not a psychologist but I think this feeds into a couple of things. First off, women love men in power. Well, ok most women do. Powerful men are a true aphrodisiac to us and there’s no one more powerful than the President of the United States. Second, through the years women have always loved to fix men. Fixing men is, in fact, a pretty big deal. Books have been based on this, love stories have become wildly popular when this theme is part of the story arc. Even books like Fifty Shades of Grey have done fantastically well because of one, solid premise: he needs fixing and you will be the one to do it.
And what about Jake? Well he’s also a hottie. Granted, ok, so he’s not without his flaws and he’s slightly damaged. Well, maybe more than slightly. He kills people, which doesn’t get him high marks and he was or is the head of B613.
The real thrill for me though, as a writer, is to watch as the talented writers of this show weave together a plot so rich and characters with so much depth that you want Fitz to win this battle for Olivia because you like him and you love how he loves her. But you also want Jake to win on some level because, well, he’s Jake and maybe, as much as the #TeamFitz folks hate to admit it, maybe Jake is a better choice for her.
I guess we’ll see as the season continues to unfold but you can bet that Jake and Fitz will need to find a way to work together to find Olivia. Likely Fitz will have to turn this over to Jake because he’s in no position to spend his days hunting down whoever kidnapped her. Or maybe he’ll go all Liam Neeson on us.
If you watch the show, who do you think took her? I bet it was that sketchy VP and mother of hers.
And for the record, I’m #TeamJake only because you know, when he’s done with Scandal I’d love for him to play Nick when HBO buys The Publicist series.
I know, a girl can dream.
