If you've been wondering whether or not you should check out Scandal, the latest ABC melodrama from Grey's Anatomy super-producer Shonda Rhimes, now would be a good time to catch up.

Scandal stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, a political crisis management expert who runs her own crisis management firm -- Olivia Pope and Associates -- out of Washington D.C. She prides herself on her gut instinct, and leads her team of hand picked former lawyer "white hats" with fierce determination, always trying to do the right thing for their clients of the week in a city teeming with intrigue, corruption, and cynicism. But it wouldn't be drama if things always worked out that way. She and her team all have skeletons in their closets, some of which have already come back to haunt them in the show's first six episodes.

I enjoyed Scandal during it's first five episodes, but some things did bother me, for instance I could tell that I was supposed to like President Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant (Tony Goldwyn), but he came off so creepy. First, he had an ongoing affair with Olivia herself (who is in love with him) and that raised red flags for me, but then there was this whole other thing with a White House staffer, played by Gilmore Girls' Liza Weil and with his Chief of Staff (Jeff Berry) acting all scary all over the place, it was hard to feel sympathy for the character, even as Olivia was having a crisis of conscious about exposing him for doing nasty deeds with an employee and then basically ruining her pregnant little life. Moreover, it was hard to respect Olivia for ever having feelings for him. But last night's episode, "The Trail," addressed all the issues I've had with the show, and brought everything into perspective, cementing me as a viewer for the foreseeable future.

"The Trail" takes us back two years previously when Olivia was on staff for Grant's primary campaign as a fixer (yes, I realize that link goes to an Australian political site, but the definition is a good one). The two develop a close bond, and for the first time we see just exactly why they have such an antagonistic but passionate relationship in the present day. The episode makes Fitz seem like a human, as opposed to a little boy just playing at being the most powerful man in the world, and it deepens both their relationship in the minds of the viewers, and both of them as separate characters. The episode itself was well-written and tragically romantic. It's full of these quietly devastating moments between Fitz and Olivia, all set against the thrill-ride that is a presidential campaign, and the charade that is the Grant marriage. Meanwhile, in the present day, Gabe the journalist is hot on the trail of the man who is blackmailing the president with news of the affair and pregnancy (and the murder of said pregnant staffer), and just as he reaches the truth of the conspiracy, the Vice President's Chief of Staff stabs him in the neck with scissors.

Before "The Trail," I enjoyed Scandal, but I wasn't a fan. This episode managed not only to completely turn my opinion on a pivotal character, but invested me emotionally in the future of the show itself. Bravo, Shonda Rhimes. If any of this sounds at all interesting to you, melodrama lovers, run on over to Hulu and check it out (all the episodes except the pilot are currently streaming).