Entertainment News - TV

THIS ISSUE: American Idol, Scandal, The Blacklist, Vikings TOP MOMENT OF THE NIGHT American Idol Sings Its Swan Song Fox BECAUSE: Fourteen years, fifteen seasons, and now, fifteen winners -- and it may have just been that Seacrest/Dunkleman hug, but honestly we're feeling a little emotional! The whole Idol gang was back to spew nostalgia all over the stage, and do a little singing too. And though that meant La'Porsha and Trent didn't get nearly enough stage time in their own finale, with Wednesday night's epic performance of "Chandelier" still ringing in our ears, Trent Harmon was announced as the 15th and final winner of American Idol as we know it. A sigh of relief was breathed across America and through the Fox control room as not only did we end up with a worthy final successor, but a worthy season to bring it all home. And now it's finally time to say it: Seacrest, out... "for now." READ OUR RECAP Scandal ABC WHAT HAPPENED: We're afraid this is a "start with the bad news" situation: Scandal got really crazy on Thursday night, y'all. We know that sounds a bit redundant, but this time we mean it -- like, real crazy. Former V.P. Andrew Nichols shows back up, worse for wear after his brush with Huck, but ready to put POTUS on blast for that time he went to war for his mistress,and things got a little tense. Olivia seems opposed to going the Eli Pope route of nipping Andrew's story (re: his pulse) in the bud, but she's cool with Huck sedating him and putting him in a room while they come up with an 8-digit dollar number that can silence him. But when he backs out and Abby manages to make a deal to have his future memoir focus solely on the Mellie affair, Olivia, shall we say, snaps. She's been experiencing traumatic flashbacks all day and after one too many disgusting comments from Andrew, she heads back into the White House basement and -- to put it delicately -- bludgeons him to death with a metal chair. Appropriately, the episode ends with Olivia standing at her father's door, waiting to be invited inside. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Ahem, excuse us, we're just... trying to... wrap our heads around this. Following last week's forced suicide, The A.V. Club was already feeling that, "Shonda and company are vastly overestimating the audience's goodwill toward Olivia." And after the Andrew-in-the-basement incident, it seems the A.V. Club has finally turned a corner on the series: "Every character we once liked, possibly even loved, is now irredeemable at this point." Brutal...but still not as brutal as murdering someone with a chair. READ OUR RECAP The Blacklist NBC WHAT HAPPENED: This is where we inform you that it was just a pretty violent time around the airwaves on Thursday night TV. And that's even considering that The Blacklist's episode revolved around Lizzie's wedding day -- but when Mr. Solomon is in the picture, a bullet-riddled chapel is par for the course. Yes, after a six-week hiatus, The Blacklist returned, opening with Solomon being rescued from an imminent death at the hands of the Cabal by an unseen source. And with his newfound freedom, it seemed he was on the hunt to steal a nuclear missile. At least that's what Lizzie thinks while the Post Office handles the situation and she and Tom prepare for their impromptu wedding. Unfortunately, at the same moment she's walking down the aisle, Red is figuring out that the FBI's been duped -- the nuclear missile plot was merely a diversion for Solomon's real mission: take Elizabeth Keen at any cost. Or as he's calling her, Masha Rostova. A church shootout to end all church shootouts ensues... WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: But between Tom and Red, Lizzie makes it safely into the "Just Married" getaway car... for now. Escaping Solomon is kind of the least of her worries -- he's merely a symbol that someone much bigger is after her, and it's heavily implied that someone might be her mother. So if it felt a little like this episode was just an action-packed plot stall until the big reveal... well, James Spader kind of agrees with you, but he promises it'll be worth it. In a recent appearance on The Tonight Show he encouraged any potential fans that Thursday's episode was the perfect entry point, "Even if one saw the pilot and then sort of abandoned it at that point -- if anyone has ever had any passing interest in this show, boy, [episodes] 17 and 18 are so crazy.I mean, so crazy." He said that Thursday's episode goes right into next week's and elaborated just a little more on what to expect: "These episodes are nuts." We'll definitely take Spader's word on that. READ OUR RECAP Vikings History WHAT HAPPENED: Remember what we said about all the Thursday night TV violence? Of course that extends to the Vikings where simple murders are amplified tenfold. To quote EW recapper Darren Franich (as he quotes the show itself): " How strange life is. How curious this world can become, when one man sails further than any other before him." With that strange life comes brutal casualties, and on Thursday that meant a near massacre of Vikings'supporting cast: In the most unexpected realm was the drowning of Yidu, Ragnar's slave-turned-mistress-slash-drug-dealer, at the hands of Ragnar himself after she threatened to out his Wessex secret. And probably the most painful loss: Queen Kwenthrith finally discovering that Princess Judith was not the friend she thought by getting quite literally backstabbed by her. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: We may have lost the mysterious Yidu and poor, pregnant Kwenthrith on Vikings Thursday night, but EW spoke to both actresses to say one final goodbye to their characters. Despite her character's mysterious aura, actress Dianne Doan assured that Vikings creator Michael Hirst gave her plenty of room to explore: "Michael told me that she couldpossibly be an Emperor's daughter ... I just wanted to make sure I knew where she was coming from. In that dynasty in China, women were allowed an education, a right to choose marriage or work. That sense of power, I wanted to bring to Yidu." Power and control prove an obvious theme, as Amy Bailey told EW, "I said to [Michael Hirst], 'I feel so strongly that Kwenthrith is going down fighting. She's gonna take down as many people as she can.' She always has been so desperate for any kind of control of her life, her situation." READ OUR RECAP One More Thing... Idol's Beautiful Love Letter To Itself Fox STAR POWER: Thursday may have been Trent's winning night on Idol, but the series also sang its own love song, reminding fans that it was more than just a talent show: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and sure, even William Hung all gave performances that reminded just how much truly unique talentIdol has helped find over the years.