ABC's "Scandal": a big continuity error, and my speculation about how it ends

I'm finally caught up on ABC's "Scandal," with one episode left before it goes on a hiatus for the winter, and I've really enjoyed it so far this season. Well, except for the drawn-out storyline about how much Olivia Pope and President Grant can't stay away from each other.

Anyway, this post includes spoilers through last week's (12/6) episode.

***

With me still? Okay, let's delve into the big continuity error. At the end of the previous episode, President Grant was shot as he stepped out of his presidential limousine. At the beginning of last week's episode, which immediately followed, the shooting scene is replayed in more detail, and we see that Grant was hit multiple times, and a few other staffers were shot as well.

In the subsequent obligatory wounded person on rolling stretcher in hospital scene, his shirt is bloody, suggesting at least one torso wound. No facial wound, though.

The news reports of the shooting, however, talked about how he was hit in the head; and the attending physician reported to insiders that Grant had cranial swelling due to bullet(s) in the brain.

Wha????

I'm not looking for excessive gore or anything (even though this is a 10pm show), but if you're going to be talking about headshots, don't we need to see, I don't know, a head injury??? And if you don't want to spoil Tony Goldwyn's looks, then why have it be a head wound? Why not just have the doctor say that the president has a bullet near his heart and build suspense that way?

***

Okay, now to my speculation about how it ends. So far, we know there's a big conspiracy that includes Olivia Pope, the President's Chief of Staff Cyrus Beene, a Supreme Court Justice, and scary businessman Hollis Doyle, which appears to have rigged the voting machines in a key county in Ohio to steal the election for Grant. Doyle arranged for a bomb to kill eight people, some of whom were connected to the vote-stealing plot but others of whom were innocent; and the whole incident was pinned on an innocent woman, who involuntarily underwent an identity change and is now working for Olivia Pope. The conspiracy may be starting to unravel, as Beene's husband (an investigative reporter) is on to the rigged machine story, as is an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

I'm guessing that in the end, which I hope is not for a few seasons, the conspiracy turns on itself. Pope is the star of the show, so I imagine she will end up cooperating with the AUSA to bring the others to justice. Cyrus Beene is a likeable character, so I think he will end up being killed by Doyle, and that will be what spurs Pope to cooperate with the government. The Supreme Court Justice is somewhat likeable, so it's unlikely that Pope would want to destroy her, but the justice is also suffering from cancer, so she'll probably just die of that.

Hopefully we'll get to see if I'm right (i.e., the show gets to end on its own terms, rather than getting canceled/non-renewed).

Comments

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The Supreme Court Justice is somewhat likeable, so it's unlikely that Pope would want to destroy her, but the justice is also suffering from cancer, so she'll probably just die of that.