Looking back, season one doesn't hold a candle to the ones that followed. Back then, the central relationship between Olivia and Fitz took center stage and hardly anyone had even died yet. This scene sets the tone for the evolution of “Olitz”, complete with Cyrus Beene walking in on them in a mid fight-kiss. Not the typical day at the office!

This was the turning point in our Gladiator Nation journey. Sally Langston (played by the talented Kate Burton) and her in-the-closet husband, Daniel, have a heated fight after Cyrus Beene catches him sleeping with his husband. If that wasn’t scandalous enough, the very prim and Christian Sally ends her troublesome marriage old school style. Damn, Sally.

Excuse me, ma’am but did you really just break down male patriarchy without even taking a breath? If you weren’t clamoring for the rewind button after this one, you should have checked your pulse. Congresswoman Marcus (played by Lisa Kudrow) was the misanthropic, tough-as-nails presidential hopeful who stood for no nonsense politics and had zero patience for PR fluff. But her shining moment was when she said what so many of us have thought in our heads at some point. He wasn’t ready.

Cyrus Beene is a fan favorite and possibly the most underrated characters on Scandal. He’s tortured and empty but somehow endearing. He’s also delivered some of the most epic bouts of verbal slaughter on the show’s five year run. Here, Cyrus and Mellie clamor for power while Fitz is away from the White House. Epic!

After Fitz and Mellie’s son, Jerry, passed away we got to see Scandal address a very important topic, depression. The temporary collapse of the First Lady had gone on long enough and it was time pull up her big girl pants and remember that other parents in America have also lost their children. That’s not an easy thing to say to a grieving mother, but Abby Whelan (played by Darby Stanchfield) said it perfectly.

Since season four aired with the rise of the Black Lives Matter and it was only fitting that one episode addressed this timely issue. When a young black man in D.C. is killed at the hands of a rookie police officer, it spoke to us all on many levels. Surprisingly, the clarifying moment came from the accused officer when he admitted his guilt in a very emotional, and racially charged declaration. 

It was short, seething and to the point. When Olivia finally got tired of being yanked around by Fitz she reclaimed her time by reminding him that he's undeserving of it until further notice. The "Earn Me" speech of season two was definitely one of those rare moments where we all stood up and clapped for the side-chick.

This scene only lasted about 20 seconds, but it made a huge statement about women and domestic abuse. The typically nervous Abby Whelan demanded respect by taking a stand when her past came back to haunt her. She raised a gun to her smug, abusive ex-husband and reminded us all that domestic abuse is too often overlooked.

Everyone has that moment, and everyone needs that friend to slap them out of it. The day Cyrus Beene’s trist with a male prostitute became national news, Olivia Pope was that friend. What she said should be the thing you hear upon waking up every Monday morning. It should be played before interviews and first dates and that moment before people walk down the aisle. Whatever “bitch-baby” even means, we know we don’t want to be one and it’s all because of this scene.

If true love prevails, we’ll see Olivia and Fitz make it work for good in the final season. But for those of us who have lost all hope, we at least got a sneak peak into what their "happily ever after" might look like in the 100th episode, thanks to a flash sequence that included the Pope-Fitzgerald wedding, a house in Georgetown and Mellie and Cyrus hooking up.

This one had Black Twitter on fire. Olivia and her old friend Angela Webster caught up over drinks and ended up discussing Fitz. Olivia gave her friend a pass and encouraged her to shoot her shot at the man used to share a bed with. It's a classic moment. 
For more on Kerry Washington, watch the BET Breaks, above.