1. Fitz is Brody. Brody is Fitz.
By the end of the third season of each show, it has become clear that the worlds of these shows center around our Handsome Male Protagonists, yet our HPMs have become the least interesting parts of the plot.
2. Our fearless leads, Carrie Mathison and Olivia Pope, would not exist without wine.
3. Or reckless romantic lives they keep hidden from their co-workers.
Sex in the Oval Office with the sitting, married president. Sex with a married, double-agent terrorist. Why not?
4. Or Important Wardrobes.
5. Or seasoned mentors.
Cyrus and Saul trained Olivia and Carrie, and then let them go – but are still always there to talk through a problem and try to save their respective protégé from jumping off a proverbial cliff (to usually unsuccessful results, but it's the thought that counts, right?).
6. Or a gut that trumps everything.
Lest we forget Carrie was correct about Brody being turned and Olivia always knows when a client isn't telling her the full story.
7. Going rogue doesn't mean you lose your allegiances.
Pretty much every single American character on each show struggles with what it means to be a patriot every single second of every single day. And when someone gets fired – like, say, Carrie or Quinn Perkins, that doesn't mean they stop fighting to protect the country.
8. CIA power games are B613 power games.
To paraphrase The Who, meet the new Command/CIA director, same as the old Command/CIA director!
9. B613? Abu Nazir? You think you know, but you have no idea.
Welcome to the rabbit hole of dead ends and false leads that keeps us going for season after season.
10. The music is EVERYTHING.
Please see exhibit A (Spotify playlist #1) and exhibit B (Spotify playlist #2).
11. And so are bombs.
Because the one that exploded at the end of Season 2 of Homeland radically changed the show's world (and cast!) and the one that's been threatening the end of Scandal's third season promises to do the same.