Columbus Short will not be returning to Scandal in season 4.
ALL THE WELPS THAT EVER WELPED IN WELPCHESTER! It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone though. Miss Cleo could have seen that coming.
His recent uncouth behavior and run-ins with the law had folks more nervous than Coolio’s hair braider. We knew he was risking his job. I even wrote about it last week when I talked about how he needs to get some behavior before he ends up unemployed and unemployable in the future.
But you know folks don’t listen.
Like Tyra Banks said, “We were rooting for you. WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!” But Columbus was playing bald-headed games, and he now gotta pack up all his gingham and exit the Shondaland premises.
At the end of the Scandal season 3 finale, Harrison’s fate was somewhat up in the air as Tom pointed a gun at him, and we all saw what Shonda did there. She probably wanted the wiggle room, but honestly, Columbus gave them none.
Being accused of assaulting your wife and threatening to kill her and you is a big deal. So no, I don’t blame the Scandal team and ABC for letting him go.
We can now assume that the Gooning Gladiator in Gingham did not make it out of Wonderland breathing. Harrison’s gone; that dude is dead.
In that case, what does this mean for the show? Well a couple of things.
- We will never know Harrison’s full story.
Although Harrison was a somewhat important character in the first two seasons of Scandal, we never really knew his story and how he became a Gladiator. He was basically Olivia’s conscience at one point, reading her for filth when she needed it. Most of us wondered why he was so loyal to her and were looking forward to peeling back the layers to get to the heart of Harrison. Now, we will never know. It’s unfortunate too, because he was underdeveloped.
- The Gladiators have lost someone for the first time ever.
How will Olivia Pope and Associates deal with the loss of one of their own? The only other Gladiator that has ever been gone was Steven, after season 1. Remember him? He’s the lawyer who got engaged last episode of season 1, and the first episode of season 2, they said he moved to Boston. But the Gladiators don’t die. This is the first time. Will Olivia herself want to avenge his death? What does this mean?
- What about the Brolivia Pope theory?
I believed that Harrison was Olivia’s brother, possibly from her daddy’s side. I was interested to see if me and other Gladiators who thought so were right. Now we’ll never know because he went and got shot in the head. Selfish! OR maybe we WILL know. Can Harrison’s ghost come back, or can we get flashbacks so we learn his story?
- There is no more eye candy besides Olivia.
I used to enjoy lusting over Harrison. Without him, there’s no one left for me. I mean, sometimes Jake is sexy flexy, but it’s only when he’s doing evil things as Command. Now that he lost his job, he lost his badassness too with it, so nah. Who will replace Harrison as my show crush? I need someone, and Huck is NOT it. He spits in folks’ faces and licks it off, and I am not here for that so NO. Can I nominate Khalil Kain? He will ALWAYS have the juice. Owww!
I’ve got questions, y’all! How will Columbus Short’s departure affect the show? Many will say not at all, but there’s no way the exit of a character in a close ensemble won’t make a difference. I just wonder how much. Season 3 of Scandal has been about loss, so I guess this is just another.
RIP Harrison. We hardly knew ye. Say hey to James, Justice Verna and Fitzgerald Grant IV.
Luvvie can be found ranting about all things pop culture at AwesomelyLuvvie.com. She can also be found on Twitter (@Luvvie) and Facebook.