How will life go on? What do we all do now on Thursday nights with nothing to look forward to? It’s a dramatic sentiment but an appropriate one befitting a show that took drama to the next level. With How To Get Away With Murder long done for the season and Grey’s Anatomy coming to a close, Shondaland is looking like a dismal place to be. But I hope all you Gladiators said your farewells the same way I did, and the same way any true Gladiator would, not in a suit but in my comfiest robe perched on my couch with wine in one hand and popcorn in the other, ready an hour before the show is set to air and binge-watching YouTube clips of my favourite Olitz scenes just to reminisce on happier times (get the tears flowing and such you know, very casual). Scandal creator and show-writer, the queen of Thursday night television, and a weaver of chaos, Shonda Rhimes has left audiences with a huge gaping, irreplaceable hole in their TV line-up. No one does drama like Shonda, over-the-top and more than a little outlandish, Scandal paved the way for more truly bad-ass females to stand in the sun and have their time to shine.

And sadly, Olivia Pope, everyone’s favourite political fixer, strutted down the halls of the White House in her platform Manolo Blahnik’s like nobody’s business, for the final time. She was iconic, strong, unflinching, and flawed. Kerry Washington’s character was the first time in nearly 40 years that a primetime television show was led by and African-American actress.

She came, she slayed, and she certainly left it all on the table in the final episode.

Warning SPOILERS ahead. But if you aren’t caught up by now what are you doing with your life??

(This is also happening in real time so forgive the excitement, or lack thereof)

First off this episode is flying by like there’s no tomorrow. Gladiators deserved a proper 2-hour send off but alas, I guess there is only so much craziness that even Shonda can conjure up.

Also, does anybody really care about this Quinn and Charlie (Bernard?!?) last-ditch wedding?? Quinn might die, Charlie will probably die, whats the point? This is not the wedding we all came for!! WE WANT AN OLITZ WEDDING SHONDA. Huck officiating the wedding was pretty damn cute though.

David Rosen telling Jake he isn’t his bitch, and then immediately proceeding to call Jake a bitch is very much redeeming this dull episode so far. We all always knew Jake was a little whiny bitch, so thanks for clarifying that to loyal Ballard fans Shonda.

And nope. David’s triumph was immediately cut short because he was just KILLED!! Cyrus poisoned David?! Wow. I mean he truly deserved that if he trusted Cyrus enough to think nothing sketchy was going to happen by meeting him alone in the middle of the night. Never accept a drink from anyone on this show people. NO ONE! Rip David.

There really hasn’t been that much interesting drama to discuss thus far. A lot of classic Shonda montage sequences, jazzy music, fast talking political jargon. A lot of white dudes sitting on pedestals judging people.

Cut to, Rowan once again delivering a very enthralling monologue, Jake taking the fall for everyone and Cyrus getting off the hook completely. Yes. Nothing happens to Cyrus Bean. He doesn’t even get fired. He just RESIGNS!

Ew, Jake thinking of Olivia while in jail. Honey, Olivia is NOT thinking about you. But who is she thinking about?? Is she starting over? Going celibate? The episode really left us hanging on till the last second for that answer, until a black car rolls up and to no ones surprise Fitz gets out. At least we got to hear those two little words that carry so much history one last time.

It was always going to be Vermont for these two, maybe not so much the jam-making, but Olivia and Fitz were destined for one another from the start. And honestly, if Shonda had made us sit through seven seasons of Olitz’s rollercoaster romance, only for them to part ways at the end for good, I might have imploded.

I’m actually still raging a little bit at that ending though. The fans deserved better. I’m talking about the true die-hard stans that watched in real time every week. The people that stood by through the atrocious bore that was season 4, 100,000 Olitiz break-ups and make-ups, Jakes awful face and even worse acting. As a super fan I am very disappointed with how things wrapped up. In a perfect world Jake would have found himself choking and gasping for breath, writhing on the floor of Cyrus’ office instead of David. Cyrus would be the one behind bars serving a life sentence since he was behind most of the horrific things that have gone down over the years. And most importantly I wanted to have more closure over Olivia and Fitz. It’s sappy and cliche but they should have strolled into their beautiful house in Vermont hand-in-hand, Fitz with his organization thing and Liz starting up some new firm. I wanted to see a tiny slice of their happiness together. Instead we got a tiny slicer, nay, a crumb. Seven years of waiting…for a CRUMB! I really should not have expected any different from the same woman who killed off THE Derek Shepard but, c’est la vie.

All in all, I would definitely recommend Scandal seasons 1-3 to anyone who wants a soapy, fast-paced political drama, with quick and enticing one-episode story arcs. Those are the seasons that bring the intrigue, the passion and the excitement. The introduction of B-613 saw the shows slow decline in interesting subject matter and it was just never able to recover.

Unresolved questions:

Are Olivia and Fitz a thing or nah?

Is Jake in jail forever? Please be yes.

What happened to Cyrus’s daughter? Not cool parenting dude.

Is Marcus going to be the First Man?

Is anyone living in the house in Vermont? What is happening with all those mason jars?!

WILL THERE EVER BE JAM?!