Scandal: The Complete Fourth Season

Shonda Rhimes' popular ABC series—centered on Washington skullduggery and the specialists who do damage control whenever word of it threatens to leak out to the world—takes some pretty outlandish plot turns in the fourth season, requiring a major suspension of disbelief. Even so, Scandal remains a slickly made guilty pleasure as it follows Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), who returns to D.C. after a romantic interlude with Jake (Scott Foley), only to find her staff—the “gladiators,” as she calls them—dispersed, some to posts in the White House. In the ensuing weeks, Jake will be framed for murder; Olivia is kidnapped and auctioned off to the highest bidder on the Internet; the president—Olivia's erstwhile lover—is blackmailed into starting a war; Olivia tries to kill her duplicitous father; and a politically ambitious First Lady is exiled by her husband. Along the way, there are myriad murders—including the killing of an entire jury—and so much blackmail that it's almost laughable when one character protests that paying someone hush money would be illegal. Even the subplots here that might lend a meaningful contemporary subtext—one involving same-sex marriage, another touching on the killing of a young African-American male by a policeman—receive tabloid treatment. More than ever before, Scandal comes perilously close to self-parody. Presenting all 22 episodes from the 2014-15 fourth season, extras include extended episodes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a blooper reel. Recommended. (F. Swietek)