Scandal (TV Series)

The Candidate (2016)

Bellamy Young: Mellie Grant

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Quotes 

• Olivia Pope : [critiquing Mellie's book manuscript]  When you discovered that Fitz had taken up with a mistress, you pretended not to know about it and you stayed. Why? That chapter is missing, and that chapter is what the American people want to read. It's what I want to read. It's all anyone wants to read. Why did you stay? Why did you lie? Was it 'cause of ambition, or was it for love? What exactly was it about Fitz or the White House or herself that made Mellie Grant turn a blind eye all those years? What was running through her head? Were you having an affair? Did you have a side piece of your very own? Because when Fitz was screwing another woman, you didn't seem to care, and we want to know why.

  Mellie Grant : You really can compartmentalize like nobody's business.

  Olivia Pope : You asked for Olivia Pope. You got Olivia Pope.

• Olivia Pope : You don't know, do you? You don't know why you stayed.

  Mellie Grant : Well, do you know why you left? I'm just asking, 'cause maybe your answer will spark something in me. At the very least, maybe I can steal it.

  Olivia Pope : I don't need to answer that question. I'm not the one writing a book. I'm not the one running for President. You are.

  Mellie Grant : You don't know, either, do you? Tougher than you thought, right? What's for lunch?

• Mellie Grant : Is that some sort of reverse-psychology crap you learned from your therapist?

  Olivia Pope : I don't have a therapist.

  Mellie Grant : Well, maybe you should get one.

• Mellie Grant : You can divorce them, but you can't get rid of them.

  Cyrus Beene : Fitz or Olivia?

  Mellie Grant : Both. We are married to them for the rest of our lives. They are cinder blocks tied to our ankles, and we just keep fighting to keep from drowning. But what's the point, we're going down whether we fight or not.

• Mellie Grant : Fitz didn't have any fight in him. He didn't know how to stand on his own two feet. I mean, I saw the potential. We all saw it. But I had to work at it. I held his hand, I bluffed, I bled, and I got nothing in return. Except for you. *You* showed up. I wasn't devastated, Olivia, or numb, or empty. I was deserving. I deserved you. I was a 37-year-old governor's wife with two kids, and that was all. I was somebody's wife and somebody's mother. Not my own anything. I deserved you. I warranted you. I justified you. I had lost myself, and in return, I got you. *You* are my retribution. And it was humiliating. I couldn't even hate you. I couldn't even pretend to. I hated myself.

  Mellie Grant : But then I turned a corner. It was quick. Effortless, really. *You* had become the beautiful kept thing he lusted after. Where you went, he went. Which meant that I... I suddenly had space. I had air of my own that I could breathe. Time to think and plan. And I started liking myself again, because I was alone, and I was relieved, and I was free. Freedom, baby. Whew. I stayed because it was working. I stood by and I allowed the affair to continue, because it was working for all of us. He was occupied, thanks to you. He was happy. You lit his fire. We made it all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And one day, it was gonna be my turn. Fitz would make me President of the United States, because he owed me at least that much. And so I stayed. Because the three of us, ugh. We worked! So, what do you say, Olivia? That deep enough for you? Is that honest enough?

  Olivia Pope : Mellie, you can't actually write that anywhere. If you want to be President, you can never, ever tell anyone any of that.

  Mellie Grant : Oh, yeah, I know. I know I can't. That's the problem.

  [offers her the jar of moonshine]