TV Series: Everyone gets their fix

Before Scandal, Kerry Washington was often relegated to playing the faithful wife in movies. Nothing about her (aside from her looks and adorable lisp) particularly stood out.

But almost as soon as Shonda Rhimes' Scandal (renamed locally as The Fixer, to avoid confusion with the local soapie) debuted in 2012, it was clear Washington was a much better actress than she'd been allowed to be before.

Until season one debuted on SABC3 on Tuesday, South Africans without pay TV or access to pirated content couldn't watch the ABC show. Now they, too, can go crazy over the show that has a rabid fan base (who are known as gladiators).

Some background:

Washington plays Olivia Pope, a former White House communications director who starts her own crisis management firm. Their clients often find themselves in sticky situations that Olivia gets them out of with dramatic facial expressions and quick phone calls. She is a woman with power, but only in her professional life.

Her personal life is a hot mess. She is, as is soon revealed, the mistress of the US president, the charming Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant (played by sexy Tony Goldwyn).

While the first season's plot was full of holes, Olivia intrigued viewers. How could a woman with so much professional power let herself be someone's side-piece? And why on earth does creator Rhimes have to fall on the old stereotype that women with good careers can't manage their private lives?

Grant's wife, Mellie (the fantastic Bellamy Young), is a southern belle who turns out to be a woman of steel, more than capable of holding her own against both her husband and Olivia. She is a scene-stealing blend of Stepford Wife and Lady Macbeth . She's dangerous.

If SABC viewers find it thin on believability, stick it out: it gets meatier in seasons two and three.

• 'The Fixer' season one is on SABC3, Tuesdays at 9.30pm

What others say

The longer 'The Fixer' goes on, the more it becomes a moving, weirdly thoughtful examination of privilege and power.

Todd VanDerWerff, AV Club

A gonzo hybrid of conspiracy thriller and high-stakes soap opera. It's ludicrous on virtually every level.

It's also enormous fun, thanks to the writing and the performances.

Alan Sepinwall, HitFix

Season Three

Has there ever been a more infuriating man than Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn)?

Perhaps this is just my selfishness, but with only a handful of episodes left of this most intense third season, I had hoped the president would have been braver.

Braver in his personal life, that is.

Signs are, however, that he will need to be after learning that his wife, Mellie, was having an affair with Andrew, his choice for vice-president (of course, cuckoo Sally Langston resigned and sought to battle Grant independently).

During episode 15, Fitz - in his glass house - comes down heavily on Mellie, accusing her of using him to further her own political career. He even blames her for ruining their marriage and sending him into Olivia's arms.

Hasn't he been keeping up a facade all along that, despite erring with Olivia, he is still in a happy marriage? Isn't he using Mellie (who's not innocent herself) to regain the voters' trust?

Yet he still wants to come out smelling of roses - the same man who killed Supreme Court justice Verna Thornton, and more than 300 people under orders from B613. He also put the safety of the country in Jake Ballard's hands. The same Ballard who shot and killed James Novak, who was Grant's chief of staff.

I am not going to get started on Novak's cold-hearted husband, Cyrus Beene, who is more interested in covering up his tracks than mourning the loss of his husband.

Meanwhile, Fitz needs to make a decision about whether to axe Andrew for his betrayal, but something tells me showrunner Shonda Rhimes will find a way of making it more uphill for him than that.

Goldwyn was recently quoted as saying that as the season draws to an end, none of the characters is safe.

Andile Ndlovu

• 'The Fixer' season three is on M-Net (DStv 101), Mondays at 8.30pm