Scandal, In Memoriam: The Bullshit Back-and-Forth Between Olivia and Fitz

Even at its least compelling, we could rely on Scandal for one thing: the chronic back-and-forth between Olivia Pope and President Fitzgerald Grant—one of the greatest, most infuriating televised relationships of our lifetime. Though she was quite often the most flawless woman in the room, Liv was also heavily flawed and could never be decisive in love. She was the rare hopeless, challenging black woman character on TV who was allowed to crack.

When she gets engaged to another man in Season 2 (remember Edison?), she screams at Fitz, “If you want me, earn me!” When she tells Fitz it’s over (yet again), he retorts, “We’re not ever going to be over. Ever.” In Thursday night’s fittingly sappy final episode, in a final season that’s been conceptually shaky, the pair make one final choice. To fuck one last time! But not before Liv experiences an epiphany. “This entire time, I was the problem. It was me,” she tells Fitz in an emotional monologue. “It’s been me.” Baby, it’s been both of you.

Last night’s series finale ended with two black girls admiring a portrait of Liv in the National Portrait Gallery—an implication that she either became President of the United States, or the more realistic scenario: she was celebrated for de-scandalizing Washington with a lot of bloodshed in the process. By the end, Liv and Fitz are face to face, and we presume their story doesn’t end at their ritual “Hi.” There is no goodbye with them. So here’s to all the TGITs spent watching these two broken birds obsess over and torture each other, and to all of us who could never leave.