IT’S DONE!

Olivia Pope and her ‘gladiators’ say goodbye on ‘Scandal’

‘Sends its run Thursday night at 10 on ABC after seven seasons and 124 episodes.

Its finale, “Over the Cliff,” wraps the soapy saga of powerful DC fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and those in her orbit: her evil father, “Papa Pope” (Joe Morton); Huck (Guillermo Diaz); Quinn (Katie Lowes); ex-President (and ex-lover) Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn); Grant’s ex-wife (and current US president) Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young); operative (and ex-lover) Jake Ballard (Scott Foley); and scheming VP Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry).

The series, created by Shonda Rhimes, launched star Washington into the stratosphere and, for one brief shining moment, kept office watercoolers abuzz.

“They’re at a sweet spot right now where they’re leaving me wanting more,” says SiriusXM legal analyst Laura Coates (“The Laura Coates Show”), a “Scandal” superfan who hosted an online “Scandal” recap show. “What was fascinating to me was the idea that [Olivia Pope] was somebody that looked like me,” Coates says. “She not only had a seat at the table but was solving problems and addressing issues in a bipartisan way. It was a way to identify, if we could imagine ourselves as the ultimate fighter and problem solver. For me it resonated in a special place and, in many ways, I think a lot of women were yearning to see themselves in power reflected on the screen.

“Olivia did that for us,” she says. “She was unapologetically flawed even though she was more than capable in her professional life. It was wonderful to see such a prominent, beautiful woman in a position of power.”

Coates says her favorite “Scandal” episode is “The Lawn Chair,” which aired in 2015 and featured gueststar Courtney B. Vance as the father of an unarmed black man gunned down by police. “That’s one of the moments when the show really dovetailed with our culture,” she says.