A romance author's take on Scandal's mid-winter return

Romance authors are total TV gluttons — we find a show we love and you can't drag us away from the latest episode even with promises of a year's supply of chocolate. You should have seen us when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was still on — superglued to the tube every week and endlessly discussing, even now, nearly 12 years after the last episode aired (12!), whether we're Team Angel or Team Spike. So, yeah, big-time TV lovers we are. Today, we check in on another of our favorite shows — Scandal. Bestselling author Dee Davis, whose latest romantic suspense release is Eye of the Storm, gives us her take on the latest episode ...

Dee: When last we left our scandalous friends, Olivia was cleaning up Cyrus' latest mess. Fitz was being … well, Fitz. Andrew was two-timing Mellie with Liz, while plotting to get America into a war. Quinn and Charlie were dancing around their relationship while trying to avoid B6-13's cleansing. Jake was trying to stay alive. Huck was losing his son — again. Abby was torn. David was lost. Mellie was growing a backbone. Rowen was dodging his daughter's, unfortunately, not-loaded gun. And life in D.C. was, as usual, convoluted and screwed up. Oh, yeah, and Olivia was kidnapped.

Welcome to the mid-winter return of my favorite Shonda Rhimes confection … Scandal!

So, wow, what an opening. So impressive they had to show it to us twice. Once from Jake's point of view and again from Olivia's point of view. Next thing we know we're in the apartment across the way watching as Olivia is held and Jake tries to find her … in the wrong place. But who are the guys in charge? After killing the woman who lives in the apartment they're holding Liv in (and smuggling her out underneath the dead body — ew), we travel in an ambulance with the secondary players in the kidnapping scheme. The leader is AWOL. And after awakening, Liv is drugged.

Cut to what appears to be a foreign country and one hell of a holding center. Complete with fellow prisoner Ian. I've got to say that I've got a feeling maybe Ian isn't who he is supposed to be — even though after Liv tries to escape he is apparently tortured and/or killed. Seems too much of a setup to me. And a perfect way to mess with her head. (I'm writing this as I watch.)

Of course, if you're a Scandal fan, you may be wondering if we've suddenly dropped into 24. Where is Jack Bauer when we need him? Interestingly, at the moment, I'm really starting to think this has gone too far, when we take a journey into Liv's subconscious. First, Jake rescuing her, and then Liv with Fitz in their ideal Vermont home. Only something feels off. Confirmed when the Secret Service agent appears, followed by Abby. Both of them projections of Liv's mind as she tries to work out how to escape. Seen the pretty bracelet before?

Cut back to reality, and thank goodness for underwire bras! Except that they've bricked-up the window. But Olivia is a gladiator, and she isn't giving up. After sinking to the floor, she notices a coupling on the pipe that resembles a certain bracelet. And voila, instant pipe weapon. First, she slams guy No. 1. Possibly permanently, and then she finds the courage to shoot guy No. 2. And I have to say that one pleased me no end. Hopefully, he's really dead. Unfortunately, after making it through triple locks, she is recaptured by none other than — hey, I called it — Ian. And surprise (not so much) we're not actually in a foreign country. Just a place made to look like one.

So we're left with Olivia still in deep trouble (and in desperate need of some hair product and a new bra). I'm not sure where we're going with this one. But from a show where B6-13 exists and a woman's father is Command and her mother a terrorist, and where she is the love of the standing, married president's life and the heart of one of the key players for B6-13 … anything goes.

We've come a long way from the original days of the gladiators rescuing Washingtonians in deep trouble. And I've got no idea where we're going from here. But I'm still intrigued enough to keep watching! How about you?

Dee Davis is the bestselling author of 22 novels and five novellas. When not glued to her television screen, she can be found pounding away at her keyboard, trying to put words to one of the stories running around in her head. Find her at www.deedavis.com.