5 Things Done On Scandal that would never happen on The West Wing

On the surface there are many similarities between the shows Scandal and The West Wing. Both shows air on network television. Both shows are set primarily in Washington DC. Both shows revolve around the world of politics and feature the President and members of his staff as the core cast of characters. But when looked at much closer, these two shows could not be more different. The West Wing, at its core, is all about the never-ending optimism of government. That with enough work and debate we can find middle ground and make this country a better place. Scandal is a show about how everyone gives in to temptation.

"Hey! I'm in both pictures!" - Joshua Molina

Essentially the two shows are polar opposites. One show, the characters can do no wrong and the other they can do no right. On The West Wing, even the bad guys are usually pretty good and in the end do the right thing. On Scandal, the bad guys turn out to be people we thought were good guys but probably should have been suspicious of the whole time. WARNING: Spoilers if you have never watched either Scandal or The West Wing and do not want either of these amazing shows ruined.

1.)           President condones (and participates in) Torture

Bartlet never waterboarded anybody on the West Wing. There was never a scene of Leo holding someone down while Josh and Toby took turns shocking them with a car battery. The idea of torture was a pretty foreign concept in the world of The West Wing. If it was mentioned, it was mentioned being performed by a third party and then immediately condemned. Not performed directly by a West Wing staffer.

"WTF Bro!"

On Scandal, The President of the United States PERSONALLY beats a suspected assassin with a phone book until his knuckles bleed. Now true, the suspect in question (might have) killed the President’s son. But on The West Wing, Bartlet’s youngest daughter was kidnapped and he never took a swing at anyone, though he could certainly be justified. In fact Martin Sheen’s character was so emotionally compromised that he stepped down form his Presidency. President Fitzgerald Grant is more than happy to get his hands dirty and still sit proudly in the Oval Office.

2.)           Multiple Affairs

One of the big twists of the show Scandal is that the main character, Olivia Pope, is actually engaged in a sexual relationship with the President. And of course, it turns out that the President has not just engaged in an affair with Miss Pope, but with others as well. On The West Wing it was considered a huge scandal that Sam Seaborn slept with a call girl. But he managed to be faithful to that call girl and not cheat on her. Bartlett covered up a degenerative illness but was always faithful and madly in love with his wife.

In the world of Scandal, EVERYONE is sleeping with EVERYONE. Nearly every of the titular Scandals on the show involve a politician putting his dick (or her vagina) someplace it should not be. The main conflict of the show in the current season is Olivia Pope reconciling her feelings between the President of the United States and her super spy boyfriend. And it is not even worth discussing the multiple hookups engaged in the office (not just among coworkers but in the ACTUAL office). Hopefully no one every brings a black light with them to Pope and Associates.

3.)           Using Sex to get ahead (no pun intended)

In a bit of an extension of the above number, most of the sex being had by people is done for ulterior motives. In one memorable episode of season 3, the campaign manager of the vice presidents third party campaign hires a classmate of the President’s son to sleep with him in order to get a DNA sample. She does this just so she can get into a prestigious college.  A rival political analyst had no problem hiring a male prostitute (played by a West Wing alum) to seduce the vulnerable Cy Bean. And not just once but several times.

It took seven seasons for Donna Moss to finally sleep with her boss. The idea of “sleeping to the top” is treated as a dirty and torrid thing. Honestly the citizens of The West Wing world seem downright puritan compared with the gladiators of Scandal. One episode, in a desperate attempt to save their boss Leo, Sam and Josh visit Sam’s call girl friend in an attempt to find dirt on an opponent. Even the mere act of considering asking for this information is considered beneath them and the two men feel guilty. Were that the Scandal world, not only would Josh and Sam insist on the information they’d set up hidden cameras to catch all the steamy action.

4.)           Betrayal by a close ally and Remaining friends with that ally even after it

Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. No place is that more evident than on Scandal. Mostly because if people didn’t keep their enemies close they would be completely and utterly alone.  Every one in Scandal has an agenda. Most only see other people as a means to an end. The West Wing is a team whereas Scandal is more a school of piranha, feeding on the week and not above cannibalizing their own.

They say the key to getting ahead in life is to network. You never know what connection you make in life that could lead to some sort of fortuitous business relationship. And the cast of Scandal definitely keeps this rule alive. Even after stabbing that connection in the back. When the characters on The West Wing were betrayed they would sever all ties with the traitor in a magnificent dramatic speech or action. But in truth The West Wing were such a tight knit group, betrayal seemed almost impossible.

5.)           The Presidency is a burden

President Fitzgerald Grant hates being the President. He HATES it. He would love nothing more than to run away and be with the love of his life (Olivia Pope, not his wife). Every single episode he needs to be convinced why he needs to stay in his position and it usually rarely involves arguments about how he is the right man for the job. It usually involves guilt trips over his wife’s future political career, the aspirations of his chief of staff, or reminders that the vice president is a batshit nutty evangelical. Nothing about how good Grant is as the commander in chief.

This never happened on The West Wing. On that show the President walked on water. President Josiah Bartlet is usually described as the greatest man the rest of the characters ever knew. Despite medical problems and assassination attempts, he rarely needed a pep talk to continue to perform the duties of President. The one time he did receive a pep talk to stay in office it was from a ghost so we can assume he was just talking to himself.

Starfleet Is For Pussies

Now don’t let the title of this blog entry fool you. I am a huge fan of Star Trek. I got sucked in when The Next Generation debuted and have watched every series and all the movies in the franchise (Deep Space Nine is still my favorite). But recently I have seen a slew of movies, Interstellar being the most recent, that show a much harsher version of space exploration that makes anything the crew of the Enterprise (whichever version you choose) look like a pleasure cruise.

First of all let me say, if you haven’t seen Interstellar, you really should go check it out. Maybe not in IMAX like I did because that left me kind of nauseous and partially deaf, but definitely go see it. It is an amazing film. But while watching this movie there is one thing you realize pretty obvious off the bat; space travel involves a lot of math. Every moment in this film the crew of the space ship have to calculate their velocity, their trajectory, their fuel consumption, the different rate of time around a black hole (that’s a big plot point), there are just endless calculations being done. I don’t know about anyone else, but I never saw Lieutenant Worf taking out a calculator in any episode of TNG.

Another couple of things differentiating Interstellar from Star Trek are creature comforts of any kind. The Enterprise had a gym, a lounge, a holodeck (on TNG at least) and replicators (also TNG). The only comforts we see the people in Interstellar enjoy are heart wrenching videos from their loved ones at home and recordings of ocean noises (not kidding, there is a scene where we see crewmembers listening to ocean sounds in I assume an attempt to remain calm in a hostile environment). The Interstellar crew don’t even have gravity most of the time. Throughout the entire run of The Next Generation you never saw someone in a spacesuit of any kind. Life Support would fail all the time on the Enterprise, but no one ever floated off his or her chair.

The simple explanation is that Star Trek is meant to be an idealized version of space travel. Some sort of grand dream for people to aspire to. And it certainly has affected us as such. Many NASA scientists claim an interest in space because of Star Trek. iPads and iPhones, flip phones, you can see a design influence if you watch the series and note the communicators and pads sported by the people of the 24^th century. Interstellar is more of a cautionary tale. Humanity has no more time on this planet and must desperately search for another place to live. We’re not exploring the stars because we’ve solved all our problems back at home (something you are reminded of constantly on Star Trek). In Interstellar you either go out into space or you die. And all of humanity will die.

Even the Star Trek series Enterprise, which was a prequel of sorts, was a rather comfy way to travel through space. Despite stripping away many of the creature comforts displayed in the other series, as this was supposed to show the earliest days of Warp space exploration, life on the Enterprise was still first class compared to the baggage of Interstellar. Seriously, the crew in Interstellar literally put themselves in giant suitcase like boxes making themselves baggage.

The main message seems to be that once mankind is able to crack faster than light space travel then space travel will become like any other form of travel. The careful mathematics needed to insure every ounce of weight has some sort of practical purpose will give way to onboard margaritas and tennis rackets for space travel. Once it no longer becomes a chore then people will do it for enjoyment and recreation. In the earliest days of flight, boarding an aircraft was considered an event. Something to be memorialized and dressed up for. Now it is a common occurrence. Same with cruise ships, though even more so. So too could someday space travel be. Booking travel to Mars could be like going to Disneyland.

"We've got a lot of work to do."

The simple truth is that the closer to our time science fiction is placed then the closer that fiction will try to emulate our world. Star Trek has hundreds of years between us and them so it can argue that by that time all of the difficult parts of space travel will be solved. Interstellar is only a few decades off (maybe a century, they never out and out say what year it takes place in). In the present, space travel is rough. Astronauts have to deal with cramped quarters and isolation. Spending a given amount of time in space leads to muscle and bone deterioration. Everything about space exploration is hard and rough. But it is conceivable that these initial expeditions could lead to Federation style space travel. Just as the voyages of Christopher Columbus one day gave way to voyages onboard The Queen Elizabeth II.

Adaptation Invading

Comic books have been a huge source of material to adapt into film and television. Multiple characters have been translated from the four color page to the big and small screen. But if you watch a lot of the films and shows and also read the comics they are based on, you will see an interesting phenomenon. The adaptations become so popular that characters created for the screen are now being introduced into the comics.

Now the idea of incorporating ideas from other media into the pages of the comics is nothing new. The idea of Kryptonite first made an appearance on the Superman radio show long before it was ever depicted in the pages of the comics. Same with the villainous Lex Luthor who was the villain in a film serial before he became the Man of Steel’s primary antagonist in the comics. The reason why it is important to note characters from other adaptations invading the pages of comics is because there are SO many comic book adaptations going on at the moment. When Superman graced the radio, there weren’t dozens of other radio programs on the air at the same time. Any changes done to a character in another medium would have little affect on the comic book universe, especially since there was no unified comic book universes back then and all characters existed in their own private worlds.

Harley Quinn has become a hugely popular character in the pages of DC Comics. Of all of Batman’s villains she seems to be the only one featured in their own weekly series (and a supporting character in another, Suicide Squad). But the interesting thing, as popular a comic book character as Harley is, she did not get her origins in the comic book. Harley Quinn was created by Paul Dini for the Batman: The Animated Series. She was originally just a nameless clown girl who hung around with the Joker. And since then she’s been featured in comics and video games and nearly every incarnation of Batman since her inception (except for the movies but there is certainly fan desire for her to be given a live action incarnation). She was even featured in a brief cameo on Arrow when the characters of the Suicide Squad were introduced.

And speaking of Arrow, quite a few characters from the TV show Arrow have been making themselves known in the pages of the Green Arrow comic. John Diggle, a character created completely for the TV show is now a regular fixture in the pages of Green Arrow. Same with Felicity Smoak. Felicity had a minor appearance in the comics long before (though really in name only, the two characters were nothing alike). Now Felicity and Diggle are both mainstream characters in the DC Universe.

Of course Felicity is nothing next to Agent Phil Coulson. Considered by many fans to be the lynchpin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it makes absolute sense that he would eventually make an appearance in the comics. Not just an appearance, but he is one of the main characters in the pages of Secret Avengers (a black ops team of super heroes and secret agents who deal with threats before they escalate). And with Coulson starring on Agents of SHIELD, those same agents are scheduled to become a regular part of the Marvel Universe.

As more and more fans become familiar with comic book characters from media other than the comics it just makes sense that the comics will resemble more and more the characters people are familiar with. Comics are always trying to get new readers and they won’t do so if the characters in the comics are completely different from the ones they know from TV, movies and video games. And unfortunately the medium of TV, Film, and Comics are all different and thus have different ways of telling stories. This means that characters will need to change in order to fit the storytelling aspects of their specific media. So not all versions of a character will be the same.

The truth is comics have become less an entertainment media of their own but intellectual property generators. Disney purchased Marvel for that exact purpose. A built in audience of young boys (and more and more girls) easily identifying costumed heroes that can be placed in movies, toys, video games and all manner of marketable materials equals a huge source of revenue. The fact that these characters originates in a comic book is almost secondary to their presence on T-shirts and movies. And sadly it is this symbiotic relationship that will keep comics alive and thriving for the enjoyment of loyal readers like me.

Batman’s Wasted Resources

During a recent episode of my web series (Crossover Appeal,check it out!) the subject fell on the idea of Batman and how he has wasted so much of his life. Now while I have discussed how horribly Bruce Wayne has managed to spend his fortune many times in the past (see here, here, here and here), during this one discussion I realized (thanks to Elizabeth and Debbi) there is a whole different form of waste going on in Gotham City. Bruce Wayne is completely overlooking the resource that is Batman’s Villains.

If you’ve ever read a Batman comic you know that the majority of Batman’s rogues gallery are, to put it nicely, batshit insane. Coocoo for cocoa puffs. But as is a popular adage, there is a thin line between genius and insanity. Which is very true in the case of the inmates at Arkham Asylum. Batman’s villains are, for the most part, geniuses. Most have a PHD in some field or other, and at the very least have proven their cleverness while fighting the Dark Knight. Just imagine the many social, economical and global problems that could be solved if all these brilliant minds were pointed in the right direction.

Now you might be saying “But these are criminals! Why would they want to help anyone?” And my answer to that is yes, they are criminals. BUT ONLY as a side effect of their mental illness. The Riddler only commits crimes to prove his brilliance. Mr. Freeze steals so he can fund his cryogenics experiments. Same with the Scarecrow, who is obsessed with the concept of human fear. The list goes on and on of people who are only criminals because they have a particular quirk or obsession that has not been focused in the right direction.

Enter Bruce Wayne, who rather than funding a one man war on crime could instead devote all his money towards rehabilitating and focusing the many insane individuals who call Gotham home. Wayne Enterprises has invested interests in a wide variety of industries all of which could benefit from the input of a genius. The pyromaniac Firefly has a flamethrower that can burn down an entire city block. He could easily develop a more fuel efficient automobile engine helping America limit its dependence on foreign oil.

The Riddler is determined to prove he is the smartest person alive. What better test for him than to give him the challenge of untwisting the bureaucratic nightmares of most government agencies. He could probably find a solution to the tax code in an afternoon. Team him up with The Clock King and forget about just the trains running on time. The entire government would become a Swiss watch. Though maybe we won’t ask them to tackle the overcrowded prison system. Just to be safe.

World hunger is certainly a pressing issue. There are many parts of the world where plant life just can’t be sustained and unfortunately many people live in those places. But what if you had a botany expert who could engineer plants capable of surviving in any environment. Enter Poison Ivy. Dr. Pamela Isley has created plants that can control men’s minds, engulf whole buildings, and even gain the power of intelligent speech. Certainly if she can engineer vegetation capable of taking out super heroes she can make something that could survive, even thrive, in a harsh climate such as a desert or frozen tundra. And once a crop is harvested we can use technologies developed by Dr. Victor Fries (aka Mr. Freeze) to find a way to preserve the foods indefinitely.

There are a host of mental and physical problems people suffer from in society and there are many Batman villains who could probably help them. The Scarecrow, with his knowledge of fear inducing chemicals, could probably eliminate panic attacks and cure people of PTSD. The Mad Hatter can control a person’s mind with his hats, but he could probably also use that same technology to help a disabled person control a prosthetic limb and walk again. Dr. Kirk Langstrom who became the monstrous Man-Bat was originally searching for a cure for deafness so perhaps his studies could continue.

And all of these criminals could be encouraged to do it. Many want to, they merely lack the resources. Their research was considered risky or dangerous and many companies simply refused to pay for it anymore. Now considering Bruce Wayne goes out every night dressed as a bat, I think he might be willing to take a risk. But that would mean he would have to buy one less batmobile and not be able to get a brand new bat satellite or bat espresso maker.

In truth, Gotham is the way it is because Bruce Wayne is greedy. There are so many people he could help with his money and resources but instead he devotes it all to his own selfish needs. True, Batman does save people from time to time but it is a secondary result to his true reason for being Batman. Vengeance. Bruce Wayne wants to be Batman so he can hurt the people that hurt him. But he can’t do that (many stories have been written of the killer the Waynes being either unknown or already dead) so he beats up on substitutes, briefly eliminating the pain of his parents’ deaths with every punch. In truth, Batman wants Gotham to be a crime filled cesspool. He needs it to be a haven for criminal activity. Because if there is no crime in Gotham then there is no need for a Batman. And without a Batman you are left with a sad lonely boy with too much time and money on his hands.