CinePals React to Scandal Season 4's Final Stretch: 'This Was a Clunky Season'

Watching the final four episodes of Scandal season 4, the overall verdict from the reaction was that the stretch felt uneven. Looking back at the season as a whole once the finale wrapped, the verdict came flatly: "This was a clunky season," with the caveat that while they remain "fully invested in the next three seasons," this run did not build properly toward its own ending.

The biggest specific complaint centered on the Fitz and Olivia reunion that closes the season. The hosts felt nothing had been planted earlier to make the moment land, since the two barely shared dialogue for most of the episodes covered. "Wait, it just doesn't feel like it was earned as much," came the complaint, in comparison to past seasons where their moments "always felt earned" through visible tension and passion that this batch of episodes lacked.

The Jake versus Russell fight scene earns praise for tighter choreography

On the technical side, the hosts singled out the safehouse fight between Jake and Russell as a clear improvement over earlier stunt work in the show, calling it "much better" and noting the close-quarters combat felt more deliberate, with a breakdown of how Russell realized "at the very last second that there was someone behind him" before being thrown across a table. They did flag one plot hole they called "unforgivable": Russell is left conscious and unrestrained in the same room while other characters openly discuss B613 secrets around him.

The shooting of Rowan's target's children draws criticism as unnecessary

The hosts also pushed back on the scene where Rowan's men kill a woman's children along with her, arguing it didn't serve the story. "It didn't make the episode better for me for having it in there," was the argument, and if the scene had just shown the woman alone "it would have been just as good."

The military sexual assault storyline hits hardest for the hosts

The Amy Martin storyline, involving an admiral accused of sexual assault aboard a Navy ship, generated the most extended real-world discussion, with the hosts stopping to look up whether the show's cited statistic on military sexual assault was accurate. That prompted the comment, "I don't understand how any woman is brave enough to join the military with numbers being that astronomically high. That is absurd."

Which storyline from this stretch of Scandal stuck with you the most?