Scandal (season 1)

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Scandal (2012–2018) is an American television show, airing on ABC, about a former White House Communications Director who opens a crisis management firm and works to protect the secrets of the country's elite while simultaneously trying to fix her own.

Sweet Baby [1.01]

Harrison: Do you wanna be a Gladiator?

Quinn: Yes.

Harrison: You have to say it.

Quinn: I wanna be a Gladiator in a suit.

Quinn: Ms. Pope... Can I just say I'm a huge fan? I so admire your work in the White House. It's an honor to work for your law firm.

Olivia: We're not a law firm. We're lawyers, but this is not a law firm.

Stephen: Law firms are for pansies.

Olivia: Harrison feed you a line about being a gladiator in a suit?

Harrison: Liv...

Quinn: He did. And I'm ready. To gladiate. Or...whatever.

Olivia: I can have a reporter out here in twenty minutes. With cameras. Asking why you are persecuting an innocent, handicapped, Congressional Medal of Honor winner. Perhaps because he's a well-known conservative Republican and you are considering a bid on the Democratic ticket next year? Just to be clear? That was me threatening you.

David: You have until morning.

Olivia: 36 hours.

David: 24 hours.

Olivia: Sold. Pleasure to see you again.

Quinn: So I read you guys don't try cases? You don't go to court?

Harrison: If we do our job right, we never need to go to court. Look, the reason we're not a law firm? We don't have to play within the rules of the law. We're fixers, crisis managers. We make the problems of our clients go away. Big or small. It's not about solving some crime. It's not about justice. It's about our client.

Olivia: He's not wooing me. We're friends.

Stephen: You and I are friends. He's the leader of the Free World.

Olivia: We may never know who killed Paige. But this isn't about you not going to jail for Paige's murder. This is about you not living a lie. Not hiding. This is about you standing up and being who you are. That's honorable. That's brave. That's heroic. And that's who you are, Sully. You're a hero. You fought a war and you were braver than I can ever imagine being. This is just another war. For every gay person who ever wore a uniform. Be brave now.

Quinn: You said we were the good guys.

Harrison: We are.

Quinn: Really? I mean... Is Olivia? Is she one of the good guys?

Harrison: No. She's not one of the good guys. She's the best guy. It's not enough to say it. You gotta believe it.

Quinn: Gladiators. In suits.

Dirty Little Secrets [1.02]

David: I'm the good guy. The law is on my side. I am the law. The law is me. I work for justice. I uphold the Constitution of these United States. I am a knight for the people. I wear the white hat, and you, Olivia Carolyn Pope, you are a pain in my ass. I had a search warrant for that house, but by the time I got to use it, there was nothing there. Because your people took whatever there was to find.

Olivia: Hello, David. Good to see you. Did you get a haircut? It's nice.

Fitz: Look, you misunderstood what you saw...

Cyrus: I did not misunderstand. It may be a long while since I had an angry lover on my hands, but I do remember what it looks like.

Billy: Maybe this won't come out.

Olivia: It's a dirty little secret. And dirty little secrets always come out.

Fitz: You think they'll get past this?

Olivia: I don't know how they can.

Fitz: I think that those two people want to be together. I think that love, at the end of the day, is stronger than some mistake somebody made. Something they did that they regret. I think that love allows for forgiveness.

Hell Hath No Fury [1.03]

Helen: If you were me, how much would it take you to be able to forget? To forget you'd been strangled, had your clothes ripped off, had some guy pin you down while he forced his fist inside your mouth so hard, you could taste your own blood? How much would it take you to be able to forget all that? To be able to even think of having sex with somebody again? To wake up every morning and not want to kill yourself when you realize it wasn't just a dream, it actually happened? How much would it take you to forget all that? Ten million? Twenty? How much would you be worth?

Quinn: So we lost? I mean what happens when we lose? We're just done?

Olivia: We're never done. If we lose this round, we prep him for appeal. If we lose that, we prep him for a second appeal, because whatever happens, there's always another move. Whatever happens, we do not give up. It is my name on that door, and I do not give up.

Cyrus: I never took you for the "hell hath no fury" type. It's a little trashy, but... So is having an affair with a married man.

Olivia: You want to be careful, Cyrus, with how you speak to me. Because I might forget that we are friends.

Enemy of the State [1.04]

Stephen: Whatever it is, we will fix it.

Olivia: You should have seen me forcing water down her throat to make her pee. It was like something out of Abu Ghraib.

Stephen: Let me get this clear. Amanda Tanner is...?

Olivia: Pregnant with the President's baby. Yes.

James: He doesn't work on Sunday unless there's a war. Is there a war?

Olivia: Somewhere in the world, there's always a war.

James: When my husband's dead, I'm blaming you.

Cyrus: We employ the best speechwriters in the western world.

Fitz: Are there better ones in the eastern world?

Cyrus: Nobody likes a smart-ass, Mr. President.

Cyrus: You know who sent me here? The President of the United States sent me here, to this office, to deliver these piles of dirt. I'm not the general. I'm not the bad guy. I'm just an errand boy who doesn't have to garden anymore. President Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III has declared war on you, Olivia, and he does so with the full force of the White House and the legion of men and women who work in the United States Government. May God have mercy on your soul.

Crash and Burn [1.05]

Quinn: We should be doing things. Things should be happening. Shouldn't we at least file a missing persons report?

Harrison: Just 'cause you don't see things happening... doesn't mean things aren't happening. With Olivia, things are always happening.

Fitz: For God sakes, Cy, show some respect.

Cyrus: 128 innocent Americans – children, mommies and daddies and best friends and husbands and wives – died in that plane crash yesterday. That's sad. We lost one of the few sane, and worthy, members of the senate yesterday. That's sad. Four Navy SEALs died in Afghanistan... and that doesn't even touch Sudan, Congo, Northern Mexico. That's sad. But the disturbed girl who made it her life's mission to take down this administration, the one who was happily – no, gleefully – carrying your illegitimate bastard child, she's no longer with us? Well, I'm sorry if I'm not sitting Shiva.

The Trail [1.06]

Olivia: [lecturing Fitz after watching him practice for the New Hampshire debate] People want to like who they're voting for. People thought Al Gore was a big stiff until he stuck his tongue down Tipper's throat. They put George W. in office because he and Laura seemed like a fun couple to have a beer with. People have to want to invite you in for dinner. Right now, you and your wife are standing in their doorway, three feet apart, not looking at each other, letting in the cold air. That's why you lost Iowa. It's why you'll lose New Hampshire.

Fitz: And you are?

Olivia: Olivia. Pope.

Cyrus: Let's be clear about something. I run a sausage factory.

Fitz: Which makes me… sausage?

Cyrus: Handsome, highly qualified, smart, idealistic, and energetic sausage. The stump, the electrifying speeches, the baby kissing... That's all you. The nitty-gritty, morally bankrupt, back-alley-brawling rest of the game... that's me. It's filthy and thankless, and it's my hallelujah, heroin, and reason to breathe. And you, you don't have half the stomach for it, so you go and you make nice with Olivia Pope. Get her back, or you can find another sausage maker.

Sally Who in the holy hell is running that campaign?

Billy: As far as I know, they haven't made any official changes.

Sally: Oh, yeah? That is a big, old pile of dung, Billy Chambers, and you know it. That is not the Fitzgerald Grant I ran against in Iowa. That is a candidate, Billy. A down-home, charming, red-blooded candidate who's stealing my votes. Hell, I'm halfway to voting for him. Now I want to find out who's responsible so we can see what we're dealing with here.

Fitz: Just say my name.

Olivia: That's crossing the line. It would be inappropriate.

Fitz: Then let's be inappropriate. Say my name.

Olivia: [after a long beat] Fitz.

Sally: Matthew 13:24. There's a parable about a group of enemies who plant bad seeds amongst the good ones to ruin the crops. The farmer notices weeds growing amongst the fruit. The servants ask the farmer if they should round up the weeds before the harvest... and what does the farmer say?

Billy: Let them grow together.

Sally: One day, God will burn the weeds and save the fruit, Billy. But for now, let 'em grow.

Grant: For the People [1.07]

Olivia: What happened?

Mellie: You let that girl get into his pants! You left the team, Liv! You fell down on the job! You broke his heart, and you left him open and vulnerable and helpless. And that is how that snake Billy Chambers got that shiny red Amanda apple right into Fitz's hand. I do my job. I smile, and I push him, and I make sure he has what he needs. I do my job. Why couldn't you do yours?

Morris: Ms. Pope, you did it again.

Olivia: The President has a great team.

Morris: Nah. Don't give me that. Listen, I don't exactly know what you do or how you do it. But when you walk through these gates, things start happening. The press starts falling in line, the Secret Service gets extra secret, and the problems... they just kinda disappear. And when you go back out, everyone's breathing a little bit easier.