ABC's hits 'Scandal' and 'Once Upon a Time' go out on top

Posted Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 12:18 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 12:19 PM Central

by John Couture

If there's one thing that ABC is known for, it's finding their niche and milking it for all its worth. Take the two shows whose final seasons arrive on DVD and Blu-ray this week Scandal and Once Upon a Time. Neither show should have made it past its first season, and yet here we are with each series enjoying seven robust years in the spotlight.

For Scandal, the show was the latest in a long line of hits from creator Shonda Rhimes (will Grey's Anatomy ever end?) which pretty much guarantees a sizeable audience. Once Upon a Time was admittedly a more risky proposition where Disney (which owns ABC) dipped into their lucrative fairy tale history to reinvent these characters and stories in a real-world (sort of), gritty environment and explore more modern themes.

As I said, neither show follows the current hit trend of criminal procedural or reality exploitation, but their uniqueness ended up being their strongest attribute. Scandal started out as a soapy dystopian alternate reality that strangely started to mirror the conspiracy-obsessed real world we found ourselves living in. Don't tell me you didn't read about Pizzagate and immediate wonder when Olivia Pope would show up.

Once Upon a Time was buoyed by the success of Disney's live-action big screen adaptations such as Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast. Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, both of these shows lived long beyond even the rosiest critic's expectations and that's a testament to ABC's staunch belief in allowing shows to find themselves. Sadly, in today's "blink and you miss it" mentality, new shows are canceled almost immediately leaving audiences that do enjoy them without resolution.

With the final seasons of Scandal and Once Upon a Time, the loyal audiences were rewarded for their patience and got something that is quite rare in today's TV environment, a satisfying conclusion to the plot. While some might argue that Once Upon a Time could have left things after season 6 and still enjoyed closure, the added epilogue of season 7 truly feels like the ending that the show's creators intended.

In seasons 6 and 7 of Scandal, Olivia Pope ascends fully to the position of the most powerful person in the world while everything around her seemingly falling apart. With a new President and the self-appointed head of B613, Olivia must make some of her toughest decisions yet if she's going to expose the secret cabal in charge of the most powerful office in the land.

As the political fixer turned power-hungry vamp extraordinaire, Kerry Washington's portrayal of Olivia Pope has always been the driving force of this series. While she was certainly a known commodity before Scandal, Kerry emerges from this series as a bonafide star and household name that will continue to be heard from for many years to come.

While it's easy to dismiss the outlandish and soap opera machinations that play into every episode, it's impossible to deny that Scandal's lasting contribution to television will be its strong female African-American lead. With TV shows often placating to a male lead or a non-diverse cast save for maybe one or two "oddball" types, it's refreshing to see Shonda Rhimes continue to knock down these types of artificial barriers.

While, at times, the actions seemed completely ridiculous (plane crashes, rigged elections, bizarre murders, etc.), there was a time where it almost felt as though the show was trying to pull back the curtain on real players in Washington D.C. While Scandal often felt like the silly cousin to House of Cards, it's hard to refute that both shows have a certain life imitating art quality running through it.

These last two seasons really ramp up the craziness, but in a way that will always be endearing for fans of the show. If you want a straight-ahead White House show, go watch The West Wing. But, if you're more into grabbing a glass of wine and letting your mind wander as political intrigue gets intertwined with noir sensibilities and outlandish antics, then Scandal is your best bet.

These last two seasons certainly weren't the peak of the series, but they kept the storylines fresh wrapping up arcs and loose ends ahead of a very satisfying conclusion. It always felt that the show was headed for the conclusion that ultimately played out and that's OK. Not all shows need crazy twists at the end. If there's one thing that Scandal had in spades, it was crazy twists. Perhaps the craziest twist of all was that the series ended much like we hoped it would.

In the complete seventh and final season of Once Upon a Time, the series gets a sort of soft reboot after the climactic events at the end of season six. A few years after the Final Battle in Storybrooke, Henry is now grown up and leaves home to seek out his story.

Once Upon a Time was a show that always seemed to aim for the highest star, but often fell short. And yet, they say when you reach for the moon and miss, you still land in the stars and this was certainly true for Once Upon a Time. It was an ambitious show for sure with its unique blend of fantasy and reality combined with pretty much all of Disney's intellectual property.

While many of the show's regulars departed at the end of season six when it appeared that the series' fate was sealed, season seven proved to be the epilogue to Once Upon a Time that we never knew that we needed. For example, episode 4 "Beauty" may end up as the emotional high point of the series as Rumple and Belle get their penultimate bow and demonstrate how emotional storytelling can tell a wonderful story.

One of the pitfalls of the reboot strategy is that most of the cast is new to the audience and they must earn the emotional resonance of their character. For example, Dania Ramirez had to win over the naysayers as the newly minted Cinderella. While it does take about ten episodes or so to get there, she eventually is able to win the audience's approval and it makes for a solid resolution to the show.

All in all, season seven is a worthy continuation of the crazy world that began so many years ago when Once Upon a Time debuted. What started out as such a simple premise quickly blossomed into one of the guiltiest pleasures on TV and we really didn't want it to end. While season six certainly provided the resolution of many storylines, this series was too massive to try and cram everything into one season finale.

The story and the recurring characters benefitted greatly from the additional season. The overall series feels more complete after the last season and while sure, there are few dangling threads here and there, I feel that the writers did the best job they could to provide a satisfying end to most of the bigger arcs.

And besides, who is to say that Once Upon a Time won't return someday as either a new series or stand-alone film to flesh out and put a nice tidy bow on some of those things? In today's TV culture where everything old is new again, I wouldn't rule it out.

Scandal: The Final Two Seasons is now available on DVD. Once Upon a Time: The Complete Seventh and Final Season is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.