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Arts
Tuesday, February 16, 2016 — 5
‘Scandal’ is back and
needs to change it up
By BEN ROSENSTOCK
Senior Arts Editor
“Scandal” seems to follow a
similar pattern every half-season
or so. After each season of crazy,
convoluted
plot, the show
presses
the
reset
button,
leaving all the
characters in a
state of relative
peace.
Olivia
Pope
(Kerry
Washing-
ton,
“Django
Unchained”)
begins
each
season
by
spending a few
episodes tackling cases of the
week with Pope & Associates.
These episodes recall a calm USA
political procedural, there to ease
you gently into the undoubtedly
batshit serialized story to follow.
The fifth midseason premiere,
“It’s Hard Out Here for a Gener-
al,” takes this route again. Olivia,
Huck (Guillermo Díaz, “Stone-
wall”), Quinn (Katie Lowes, “Big
Hero 6”) and newer associate
Marcus (Cornelius Smith Jr., “All
My Children”) tackle the case of
National Security Agency head
General Diane Peters (McNally
Sagal,
“Pleasantville”),
whose
boyfriend is suspected of leaking
classified NSA information from
her personal computer. While
Olivia works to defend her cli-
ent and find the whistleblower
who caused the leak, Jake Ballard
(Scott Foley, “Grey’s Anatomy”)
works under President Fitzger-
ald Grant (Tony Goldwyn, “The
Last Samurai”) to prevent crucial
information from reaching The
Washington Post. Olivia and Jake,
still sleeping together despite
their long-dead emotional rela-
tionship, find themselves at cross-
purposes, with Jake working to
have Peters removed for keeping
classified files on her PC.
The NSA leak plot works well
because the major players have
personal stakes; Olivia is faced
with opposition from one ex-
boyfriend, so she tries to contact
another ex to help her out, but Fitz
doesn’t answer her call. The end-
ing twist of the episode, though,
reveals that there are significant
repercussions even beyond these
initial stakes. It turns out Jake
was the one who orchestrated the
whole thing, framing Peters’s boy-
friend and forcing her resignation
to take her place as the head of the
NSA. Still in the role of Eli Pope’s
(Joe Morton, “Eureka”) obedient
surrogate son, Jake seems to be
the new villain of “Scandal.” This
is probably the right move; the
series has failed to find a real pur-
pose for Jake since his introduc-
tion in season two, and making
him this season’s villain justifies
him staying around a bit longer.
As entertaining as this all is,
“Scandal” has reached a point
in its five-season run where so
many betrayals and dalliances
have occurred that nothing feels
quite as fresh or urgent as it did
back in the season two Defiance
arc. When Olivia first embraces
Jake near the beginning of the
episode, it doesn’t come as a sur-
prise, especially because it’s lay-
ered over with “Scandal” ’s typical
Motown soundtrack that comes
out for scenes of violence or sex.
And the continued existence of
Eli Pope on this show is mind-
boggling by now, his interminable
monologues still peppering every
scene he’s in. How can Olivia hap-
pily dine with her father and sleep
with Jake after all that has trans-
pired between them? Since “Scan-
dal” has no plans to drop Olivia
in an entirely new setting with a
new cast of characters, this isn’t a
problem that can be easily solved
until the characters acknowledge
the abusive nature of their rela-
tionships.
At least Olivia and Fitz’s break-
up is sticking for now; theirs is
the one relationship that actu-
ally has been called out for its
toxicity. There are hints of other
moves towards change, too. Abby
Whelan (Darby Stanchfield, “Mad
Men”) has a fun subplot where
she deals with being Fitz’s “work
wife,” and Mellie Grant (Bel-
lamy Young, “Criminal Minds”)
is still on the path to the White
House, writing a memoir under
Olivia’s guidance. Between Jake’s
switch to the dark side, the lack
of Olivia-Fitz interaction and
Cyrus Beene’s (Jeff Perry, “Grey’s
Anatomy”) powerlessness in the
position he once loved, this half-
season has the potential to really
shake up the status quo. That’s
what “Scandal” needs right now.
KANYE WEEK
When Kanye West
was too cool for me
By CATHERINE BAKER
Daily Arts Writer
I distinctly remember when
I heard my first Kanye song. I
was 10 years old, and my neigh-
bor across the street (who was
clearly much older and wiser
at the ripe age of 12) was show-
ing off her recently acquired
iPod (which was shiny blue and
very exciting). I managed to
convince my mother to allow
me out of the house after din-
ner and ventured to the end
of our driveway. My neighbor
biked around and skidded to
a stop in front of me. She held
out one earbud and “Gold Dig-
ger” flooded through my head.
It was glorious.
Aside
from
being
much
cooler than my small, 10-year-
old brain could comprehend
(seriously, any song that said
“fuck” was out of my league),
“Gold Digger” led me to gain
a new understanding of the
world. While my mother prob-
ably didn’t know I was listening
to Kanye, I started devouring
anything I could get my hands
on. With no iPod of my own to
speak of, I resorted to listen-
ing to other people’s devices
through one earbud. (As a side
note: my first iPod would be
brought by Santa next Christ-
mas and shamelessly, “Bubbly”
by Colbie Caillat was the first
purchase.)
I was 12 when I heard
“Heartless” on the radio. This
revelation led to a new era in
my life of taking songs much
too seriously and memorizing
rap verses to whip out as a hid-
den talent. I sang like a woman
scorned and impressed people
with my ability to perform both
the background sound effects
and echoes at junior high danc-
es. I was a true one-woman
show.
In 2009, Kanye infamously
interrupted Taylor Swift at the
VMAs, effectively splitting the
population in half — you were
either with Kanye or against
him. While I may have strayed
away from Kanye for a time,
I can thank him for deepen-
ing my love for Taylor. In the
year following that interac-
tion I was head of the Taylor
Swift Defense Squad and per-
fected the art of crying on cue
to “White Horse.” Now that
I’ve distanced myself from this
emotional turmoil, I see that
Kanye showed me confidence
in its ultimate and perfected
form. Never before had I seen
someone stand up so blatantly
for what they believed to be
true. It was inspirational and
intimidating, all at the same
time.
After I began paying more
attention to Kanye in the pub-
lic sphere, I became aware of
the statements he was making.
I started listening to his albums
in order and in full and realized
that at his core Kanye is simply
an artist.
From aggressively preaching
self-confidence, self-love and
true ambition, Kanye has fully
and wholly created a brand that
extends far beyond the music
industry.
And
after
recent
Twitter fights with Wiz Khal-
ifa and lyrics dissing Taylor
Swift? I think he knows exactly
what he’s doing.
(And Kanye, if you’re reading
this, I’m in the market for a new
pair of Yeezys.)
FILM REVIEW
‘How To Be Single’
is real and hopeful
By RACHEL RICHARDSON
Daily Arts Writer
“How To Be Single” doesn’t
want to be the typical rom-com.
Rather than an overbearing pres-
ence of mushy
feelings
or
raunchy
sex
scenes, we get
portrayals
of
typical relation-
ship
struggles
faced by ordi-
nary people.
It’s amazing
that the film
manages
to
adequately develop both the nar-
rative and the characters since it
follows a whopping ten different
individuals, centered on twenty-
something paralegal Alice (Dakota
Johnson, “Fifty Shades of Grey”).
After she and her “soulmate,”
Josh (Nicholas Braun, “Freaks of
Nature”), decide it’s over, Alice
meets Robin (Rebel Wilson, “Pitch
Perfect 2”). She’s the typical Rebel
Wilson character, a hilariously
loud-mouthed party animal with
a strong sense of self-awareness.
Accompanying Alice’s narrative
are the stories of her workaholic
sister, Meg (Leslie Mann, “Vaca-
tion”) and bartender, Tom (Anders
Holm, “Workaholics”).
Holm commendably provides
a natural depth to the average
20-year-old man. He doesn’t
overact, but simply exists as
his character. At first, with his
somewhat cynical tone and slight
cockiness, Tom exudes fucc-
boi, but slowly, the layers strip
away. When he shares intimate
moments with Alice, he reveals
a gentler, more honest side. Tom
isn’t afraid to admit that all guys
reiterate the same manipulative
lines just to get girls into bed, yet
he’s well aware of what it’s like to
truly love someone.
Meg serves as a representative
for the subset of women who avoid
love to focus on their careers.
However, the root of her hesi-
tancy toward love is her desire to
maintain completely control of
everything. Mann convincingly
portrays an overwhelmed but
highly capable woman until she
gets pregnant. Her “pregnant
woman” outbursts are too spo-
radic and too violent, making her
seem more on the verge of mental
insanity than someone dealing
with fluctuating hormones; one
second she’s throwing a chair
and the next she’s calmly whis-
pering. With regards to her lover
Ken (Jake Lacy, “Carol”), who is
the receptionist from Alice’s law
firm, Lacy either exhibits too
much emotion or none at all. He
also makes Ken seem too clueless
about blatantly obvious things,
but boys are stupid, so that’s more
forgivable than his drastic emo-
tional shifts.
Overall, “How to be Single” is
profoundly feminist. Even its feel-
good soundtrack is dominated by
female artists. Anthems consist of
Taylor Swift’s “Welcome to New
York” introducing the setting and
Hailee Steinfeld’s “Love Myself”
playing with the end credits. These
anthems keep the empowerment
flowing even after the film’s end.
It’s one of my favorite end credit
sequences ever — it uses symbols
rather than pictures to represent
the characters, demonstrating that
people are defined by more than
physical qualities.
The best part of the film is unde-
niably Rebel Wilson; it couldn’t
have drawn the laughs without
her. Continuing Fat Amy’s humor
in “Pitch Perfect,” Wilson’s char-
acter constantly spews puns, but
this time they’re about dicks, not
a cappella. Robin encourages Alice
to play (in her own words) sexual
monopoly, where you pass go and
collect 200 dicks. She makes the
point that Alice gets “trapped in
dicksand,” the act of conforming to
a man’s desires. Playing off a typi-
cal rom-com trope, the funniest
instance not attributed to Wilson
is when Alice walks out of a hotel,
just after having her epiphany and
proudly declares to the cab driver
that she is going home. Completely
ruining the moment, the cab driv-
er snipes back with, “I don’t know
where the fuck you live!”
Thoroughly entertaining and
impressively empowering, “How
to be Single” captures what it’s like
trying to live and love in the real
world. Through its strong sense of
identity, the film reminds us that
best parts of life are the moments
when we can completely stand on
our own two feet, defined by no
one other than ourselves.
ABC
Tfw white people find out you’re Black.
TV REVIEW
B
Scandal
Season Five
Midseason
Premiere
Thursdays
at 9 p.m.
ABC
B
How To
Be Single
Warner Bros.
Pictures
Rave & Quality 16
I distinctly
remember when
I heard my first
Kanye song.
Khalifa’s latest
album is terrible
After all these
years, Wiz is tired
of his own crap
By SHAYAN SHAFII
Daily Arts Writer
I never thought Wiz would
still be around for this long,
but full credit to him for drag-
ging
out
his
career
into
2016. It’s hard
to believe Kush
& OJ came out
six years ago,
and in revisit-
ing that semi-
nal
project,
it’s more than
apparent that this dude has
completely run out of ideas
on his newest album, Khalifa.
2010 saw Wiz break through
as one of the standout MCs of
the 2010 XXL Freshman class
– one of the strongest ever with
Freddie Gibbs, Big Sean and
Fashawn. I remember this with
great detail because it marked
the birth of the DatPiff era and
the resurgence of mixtape-rap.
Wiz was cool to all my 14-year-
old friends and me because he
could rap about weed all day
and never run out things to say;
Mary Jane has and always will
be his muse.
Yet, like his fans (who are
definitely too old for this shit
now), Wiz’s career hasn’t aged
so well. There’s nothing wrong
with his one-dimensionality;
Pusha T has rapped about
cocaine for 20 years and it still
hasn’t gotten old. The problem
is when the artist himself loses
sight of his raison d’etre. On
Khalifa, Wiz sounds tired of his
own shit, like he sighs before he
hits each joint.
The Khalifa experience is
almost an exercise in cring-
ing. One of the earlier cuts is a
track titled “Celebrate,” where
he rhymes “Rolex” with “mo’
sex.” Naturally, you have to
wonder what reason Wiz even
has to celebrate; what was the
last major development in his
career as a rapper? In the six
years since Kush & OJ, all he’s
given us are watered down ver-
sions of “Mezmorized.” What
happened to all of that youth-
ful energy? What happened to
the poetry he used to conjure
about Polo socks and expen-
sive sunglasses? This album
is so unimaginative that he
unironically starts a verse off
with “One for the money” … all
that’s missing is a Skizzy Mars
feature.
On “City View,” he spits “All
this paper got me shitting in
public.” After cleaning off the
water I spat onto my comput-
er screen, I ran the song back
because I was almost certain I’d
misheard him. Lo and behold,
it’s right there in the first forty-
five seconds. Nah, we’re not let-
ting that slide this year.
The album has a few negli-
gible features from the Taylor
Gang crew, but the one surpris-
ing inclusion is Travis Scott.
Including the rap-game chame-
leon on Wiz’s album is a dead
giveaway that he’s lost all sense
of direction. Travis has a prov-
en track record of shape-shift-
ing into the flavor of the month,
and sadly it’s gained a lot of
commercial
traction.
People
actually get excited about Tra-
vis Scott features these days,
and “Bake Sale” is one that your
friend rocking DC shoes will
likely text you about.
“Call Waiting” is another
album cut that highlights the
descent of Wiz, namely because
it’s just a weaker but more
commercially appealing version
of “Huey Newton.” The end of
“Lit” is actually so generic
that it sounds like a parody of
itself: “I’mma get money n***a /
I’mma get money / I’mma keep
it real / and I love getting high.”
Dude sounds like he just picked
up “Rap Music for Dummies”
and is still going through
tutorials.
Just like “the guy on the
couch” from “Half Baked,”
Khalifa is essentially a remind-
er that Wiz has overstayed his
welcome. At this point he’s just
polluting the hip-hop scene
with recycled weed parapher-
nalia, and no one really knows
what he’s going for. Many will
argue that he’s more “lyrical”
than recently celebrated artists
like Young Thug and Playboi
Carti, but I would argue that
Wiz is simply more decipher-
able and less expressive. Khalifa
is what happens when you run
out of ideas, but how about just
making something that genu-
inely moves people?
TAYLOR GANG
We can’t show it to you, but he’s cuddling with Mary Jane in this pic.
ALBUM REVIEW
D
Khalifa
Wiz Khalifa
Taylor Gang