(Spoiler alert: Please do not read ahead unless you have watched through last week’s episode of “Scandal”)
The Shonda Rhimes-created love triangle between Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), Jake Ballard (Scott Foley), and Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) has been a cornerstone conflict at the center of “Scandal,” albeit a very sexy one.
So when the series finale airs Thursday, one of the biggest questions fans will be asking is ‘will Liv stand in the sun with Jake or go make jam in Vermont with Fitz?’ (Look, you either get that reference or you shouldn’t be reading this article).
And while Team Fitz seems to be pulling ahead at the moment, as he did just sleep with Ms. Pope and Jake is working against pretty much everyone but Cyrus (Jeff Perry) at this point, Foley tells TheWrap it doesn’t ultimately matter to him which guy wins out.
“Look do I personally care? I don’t care,” Foley said. “I’m a fan of the show, but I’m a fan of the show because I like the show. I’m not a character-driven watcher, if that makes sense. I love character-driven shows, but I don’t fall on one side or the other. I’m not a ‘she should be with him or she should be with him’ person.”
OK, fair enough. But, Foley does have a very logical answer to the question if he has to give one.
“Look, if I’m gonna take Jake’s side on this, Vermont gets cold for Christ’s sake! Go to the sun! What are you doing?!? They were on an island!” Foley laughed, referencing the time Jake and Liv literally escaped to go stand in the sun together. “It was beautiful. You wanna leave and make jam? Give me a break! Let’s go kayaking in the ocean. Pull a coconut off a tree. That would be my choice, personally, not just because I play Jake. Don’t get me wrong, I like Vermont. It’s beautiful. Let’s have some maple syrup and go skiing. But give me an island somewhere where nobody else is on it, except the woman I love and let’s have babies and drink a bunch of stuff,” he added.
Foley makes some valid points. And, all joking aside, he gets why you care so much, as the triangle has “to a certain degree, driven this fanbase.”
“There are those for and those against, whether it be Jake or Fitz,” Foley said. “The relationship with Olivia, it has been a very powerful motivator for viewers. And people get into it. And I think that’s amazing and ultimately good for television, you know? When you can root for a character or group, it benefits the show and it benefits you as a viewer because you are invested.”
Now, when it comes to who is going to be happy and who is going to be sobbing into their wine glasses when we find out how things wrap up, Foley said the ending as a whole (which he himself said has some ambiguity to it) is what should please everyone.
“I think that people will be — depending on what side of the line you fall, whether you are a Jake or Fitz fan, I think people will be very satisfied — not just with the ending in the story, but I think the ‘Scandal’ ending overall,” Foley said. “I remember being at the table read and it was something we were all really looking forward to and anxious about, wondering ‘Is anyone gonna die? Are they gonna stand in the sun? Are they gonna go to Vermont? Is Mellie gonna be president? What the hell is gonna happen?’ But it was, I think, not just for me, but the entire cast, a very satisfying ending.”
“We know Shonda Rhimes, and know that this isn’t going to be a dust your hands off and walk away and say, ‘Well that was nice,’ kind of ending. It’s complicated. And she gave us the ending I think the show deserved.”
The series finale of “Scandal” airs tonight at 10/9 c on ABC.