Scandal (TV series)/YMMV

• Awesome Ego : Olivia.
• Fair for Its Day : For today, sort of.
• Magnificent Bastard: Olivia Carolyn Pope, at least once an episode and usually multiple times. She also demonstrates chessmastering and talents in the Guile Hero department.
• Mary Sue: Some people of the fandom think that Olivia has been increasingly Mary Sue-ish, and so since the pilot, reportedly because she appears TOO competent, scoring a 25 (borderline Mary Sue) in the Mary Sue Limitus Test. However, Olivia is a great subversion since day one. She could be a Mary Sue, or on a pedestal, as Quinn imagines, except that her morals are not presented as perfect, as she can often be too warped in her own impressions to realize the consequences of her acts (though she is well-intentionned), and she can neglect something and get problems because of sheer inattention, and is condemned for it. She was also somewhat manipulated by Fitz, who is apparently less clever than she is. As of now, there is at least ONE character just as manipulative and competent as her : Cyrus. Too bad he is evil, and sometimes outsmarted her.
  • Also, Olivia's much talked about/validated "gut" (i.e. her BS detector or, as David called it, her "spidy-senses") almost always fails whenever it comes to Fitzgerald Grant. If you look back, every call she made regarding the President Grant/Amanda Tanner thing was - 9 times out of 10 - completely wrong. Because he and how she feels for him - as she said in the first episode - makes her mistrust her gut feelings. So yes, more evidence that, really since episode one, Olivia has been a subversion of a typical Mary Sue.
• Malicious Slander: The fear of the heroine's clients.
• Straw Man Has a Point: Vice-Prez Langston is surprisingly reasonable in the season finale. She talks the strength of her faith and how it's not just politicking with her--and then gets threatened with the knowledge of her young daughter's abortion. Ouch.
• Values Dissonance : Abby, on Stephen: "I don't understand why a successful, charming man like him, with a good job, needs to sleep with whores" Abby is hardly an innocent, nor Stephen's actual wife.
• What an Idiot!: Oh, Quinn... why the fuck did you take those scissors out of Gideon's neck when they were obviously THE ONLY THING KEEPING HIM ALIVE? That was Susan Mayer-Delfino level dumb.