All 7 ‘Scandal’ Seasons, Ranked
If Scandal’s narrative was as impeccable as Olivia Pope’s wardrobe, we would have a much harder time ranking its seven seasons. But the chapters of this ABC political thriller vary in quality — and, relatedly, so did Olivia’s morals as the Kerry Washington character went from managing crises to commanding a whole government. As you’ll see in the season ranking below, we’d have preferred Olivia to wear her white hat more often…
Scandal, Complete Series, Streaming Now, Hulu and Netflix
7. Season 7
If Scandal were a show about one fixer’s descent into villainy, that’d be one thing — after all, TV viewers love an antihero. But the show seems to want it both ways in Season 7, showing us that the Olivia who bombs a plane carrying a foreign leader and his young niece inside in Episode 5 is the same Olivia whose National Portrait Gallery likeness young girls admire in the series finale. Olivia gets her happy ending, but only after other people take the fall for her, and we still don’t know what the show’s thesis was.
6. Season 6
A season earlier, Mellie (Bellamy Young) becomes president, but only after Frankie Vargas (Ricardo Chavira) bites the bullet. Much (actually, too much) of Season 6 is a manipulative murder mystery, and after Olivia and Jake (Scott Foley) deduce Vargas’ wife (Tessie Santiago) was the mastermind behind the assassination, they force her to take a poison pill and succumb to a heart attack. We struggle to recognize Olivia at this point, especially as she then assumes command of the shadowy B613, becoming the most “the powerful person in the world” without a moment’s hesitation.
5. Season 5
In case you’d forgotten, this is the season where Olivia bludgeons former U.S. Vice President Andrew Nichols (Jon Tenney) to death with a metal chair. The guy was treacherous and evil, but still, his murder marks Olivia’s turn to the black-hat dark side. On a brighter side, Season 5 also had the “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” episode, in which Olivia tires of quasi-First Lady wife with Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) and has an abortion — presented in matter-of-fact style on the show — while Mellie makes a filibuster in defense of Planned Parenthood.
4. Season 4
As Scandal reaches its halfway point, the violence skyrockets: Behind-the-scenes issues force the off-screen murder of the Olivia Pope & Associates gladiator Harrison (Columbus Short), Olivia is kidnapped and held captive, Mellie reveals Fitz’s father sexually assaulted her, the team find out Fitz and Mellie’s son was murdered, and Rowan (Joe Morton) has an entire grand jury killed to protect his beloved B613. At this point, Scandal is still engaging, but its bloodshed is starting to feel gratuitous.
3. Season 1
Scandal’s first season is its shortest — at just seven episodes long — and its tidiest — with OPA focusing on handling client-of-the-week cases. The serialized storylines, meanwhile, involve Olivia’s relationship with Fitz and that of White House intern Amanda Tanner (Liza Weil), who later turns up dead. Some of the smaller plots work better than others, of course. Much as we love Shonda Rhimes, having the military officer in the pilot episode exonerated by his closeted sexuality is not one of her more creative choices.
2. Season 3
Another of Olivia’s parents is revealed as we meet the terrorist Maya Lewis (Khandi Alexander, seen here in Season 6), who is actually alive and not a victim of the plane crash Rowan orchestrated and Fitz caused. (Alias did the enemy-of-the-state-mother-returned-from-the-dead twist first and better, in our opinion). On the plus side, Morton and Alexander make for perfect cast additions whom we’d watch square off any day. On the minus side, Huck (Guillermo Diaz) torturing Quinn (Katie Lowes) seemed like uncharacteristic shock-bait.
1. Season 2
Scandal hits its stride as we learn Olivia and others rigged Fitz’s presidential election in his favor, the revelation of which complicates their relationship years later. In the season-finale cliffhanger, Olivia is outed as his mistress, and viewers learn (in another Alias homage/rip-off) that Rowan is actually her dad. Scandal’s second season was walked the tightrope between serial and procedural, balancing client-of-the-week cases with conspiracy storylines in a formula the show should have followed all along.
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