To Olivia and Mary Jane...
Originally published on www.kesifelton.com
October 12, 2017
Like many other people in the age of Netflix and other streaming services, I never was a fan of waiting every week to watch a new episode of a TV show. I hated being left for seven whole days to deal with cliffhangers from the previous episode, let alone the last season. I spent the majority of this summer binge-watching various shows, including two of my all-time favorites Scandal and Being Mary Jane.
When Scandal first aired, I distinctly remember my family discussing the infamous "Earn me" line which definitely piqued my interest, but I didn't start actually watching the show until it entered its second or third season. When I did finally give in, I set up my laptop in my bathroom and tried to stay attentive as I retwisted my locs. From that moment, I fell in love with Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope and the Scandal universe.
I don't remember exactly when I started watching Being Mary Jane, but I also remember being similarly captivated by Gabrielle Union and her portrayal of the titular character Mary Jane (or MJ).
What I love about both of these characters, besides the fact that they are played by two of my favorite actresses, is that they gave me images of successful Black women who were where I wanted to be. I started watching Scandal around the same time I decided I would attend Howard, so of course, I practiced my "It's handled" and imagined myself doing the Olivia Pope Strut™ in the streets of Washington D.C.
Mary Jane, a journalist and news anchor, gave me a visual of a successful Black woman in the exact field I am now pursuing. The show's major theme dealt with MJ's experiences as a Black woman in news, the most impactful of which was the idea that whilst climbing the ladder to success, other Black people (women at that) may not always root for you in the name of Black unity when it means you could possibly take their spot.
Over the years, I fell more and more in love with these characters and lived vicariously through them both, rooting for their every success and feeling their every failure. Both women reinforced that being a Black woman in a position of power and success was not only possible but the standard.
With that being said, it definitely came as a shock when I heard that both of the shows will be ending. Scandal's creator Shonda Rhimes alluded to fans that the show's already 5-year run wouldn't last for much longer (which I understood and agreed with, but now that the final season has actually started, reality still hasn't hit. Being Mary Jane, on the other hand, came as a complete surprise. A report from Deadline explained that the series would not be returning for a fifth season and the BET show will instead close out in 2018 similarly to how it started – with a 2-hour movie.
This really caught me off-guard, especially since I was more emotionally invested in season four (which my Snapchat followers can attest to) and felt like Mary Jane's story deserved more than 2 hours to adequately wrap up.
I also felt disappointed that two shows that spearheaded a movement of expanding the representation of Black women on TV would no longer exist. However, with newer shows like Issa Rae's Insecure gaining deserved notoriety, I am confident that more of our stories will continue to be shared in television and movies. We will obviously never have two characters as powerful or complex as Olivia Pope or Mary Jane Paul, respectively, but these characters and the equally commanding women that portrayed them have definitely left a mark in the industry that still actively works to keep stories very similar to their own in the dark.
And although we have a minute until these shows actually end, it definitely leaves plenty of time to bet on our series finale predictions. What are your predictions for the final season of Scandal? Let me know in the comments!
–kf
