Let me start off
by saying that I don’t think that this was one of the best episodes of Revenge,
but as I’ve mentioned before there’s never been an episode of Revenge that I’ve
hated. Even when I’ve found an episode of Revenge to be somewhat disappointing,
I’ve still always enjoyed it to a certain degree, and that’s definitely the
case with this episode. Let me preface this post by saying that most of what I
have to say in this post has more to do with the show as a whole and the first
seven episodes of season two than just this episode alone.
One of the
things that I enjoyed the most about this episode is the role the theme of
penance played in the episode. I’ve always liked Emily’s narrations on the
show, but I especially enjoyed the narrations at the beginning and the end of
this episode. I thought the dialogue for both narrations was very well written,
and I like the visuals that they used for them as well.
One of my least
favorite things about this episode was definitely Jack and Amanda’s storyline
with them making plans for their wedding. For the most part, I’m loving season
two just as much as I enjoyed season one, but if there’s one thing that I
haven’t enjoyed about this season it would definitely be Jack and Amanda’s
storylines because they have often been the one thing about each episode of
season two that I haven’t liked. I’ve just found both Jack and Amanda very
boring this year. Plus, I find the character Amanda extremely annoying, and I
hate Margarita Levieva as an actress. I just think she’s a terrible, terrible,
terrible actress, and I hope they wrap Amanda’s storyline up sooner rather than
later, so Margarita can hopefully leave the show once and for all.
Kenny and his
brother Nate seem to have partial ownership of all the boats at the dock,
including the Amanda, now that they are financially involved with Jack’s bar which
makes me wonder if they will end up playing a role in the Amanda sinking, which
we saw at bottom of the ocean in the season premiere. I’ll talk a little bit
more about some other theories I have regarding the flash-forward in the season
two premiere later in this post.
Kara’s behavior
continues to puzzle the hell out of me, and I’m still trying to figure out what
the deal is with her. They made it clear in earlier episodes that she was on
medication for mental illness, so my guess as to what the deal is with Kara is
that perhaps Gordon Murphy was the one who made sure that Kara always took her
medication, but I’m guessing that Kara hasn’t been taking her medication since
before he died, and without medication she’s become somewhat mousy and
lethargic. I’m inclined to believe that Kara’s behavior is supposed to seem
weird and that it’s supposed to be attributed to her mental illness given
Victoria’s reaction whenever Kara shows up very quietly and she didn’t realize
she was around. Victoria seems to be at least a little afraid of her, and I
don’t blame her being afraid of Kara, especially after everything that happened
in this episode with Kara holding both her and Conrad hostage. Although, I
suppose it’s possible it’s not the writers’ intention for Kara to come across
as acting weird and Kara’s behavior simply seems weird due to Jennifer Jason
Leigh’s acting choices. Regardless of whoever is deciding how Kara should act,
her behavior still puzzles the hell out of me.
Kara told
Victoria that she was planning to leave the Hamptons, but she apparently
doesn’t have a credit card, which I assume was a part of her technique to live
off the grid like she said she’s been trying to with Gordon in one of Jennifer
Jason Leigh’s first episodes. Due to the fact that Kara didn’t have a credit
card of her own and only had cash, she wanted to borrow Victoria’s credit card
and pay her back later, but Victoria ended up offering to pay for Kara’s plane
ticket, which really surprised me. Given their history, I wouldn’t have thought
that Victoria would be willing to do that.
Kara was getting
ready to leave, and she originally wasn’t going to say goodbye to Amanda.
However, before she managed to get on her flight, Mason, who had miraculously
grown a conscious all of the sudden, confronted her and ended up telling Kara
about the Graysons’ role in everything that happened to David Clarke, despite
Emily warning him not to, which made an already mentally unstable Kara
completely snap and take a detour to the Grayson manor to confront Victoria and
Conrad and held them at gun point. This brings me to what one of the main
highlights of this episode was for me.
One of the main
highlights of this episode for me personally were the scenes that Victoria and
Conrad had together, especially the scene between the two of them on the beach
talking about how the Americon Initiative wants Conrad to do something for them
in exchange for them having gotten him out of jail in the previous episode. I
have to say I thought the way they were talking about the people who work for
the Americon Initiative made it sound like they were equating them to being
vampires. That was just weird in my opinion, but I have to say that
conversation between Victoria and Conrad got me really excited to see where
things go with Conrad being forced to help the Americon Initiative with
something in the future. I’m wondering whether the writers are planning to draw
out the whole thing with Conrad having to help them in the future until the
season two finale, or if it will happen sooner.
My other
favorite scenes between Victoria and Conrad were when Kara was holding them
hostage and they were shown holding hands. Despite all of the hostility that
existed between them last season and despite the fact that they only got
remarried so they wouldn’t be forced to testify against each other in court, I
do think that they still love each other and care about each other in their own
weird way. Whether they are fighting with each other, plotting against each
other or they are getting along like they were in this episode, I always love
watching them interact with each other. Madeleine Stowe and Henry Czerny had
great chemistry, if you ask me.
Bringing this
post back to the subject of Kara holding Victoria and Conrad hostage, she truly
did go nuts and even made them put blindfolds on, which I’m not sure I
understand why she made them do that since they stayed in the same place the
whole time. Just when Victoria and Conrad thought that Kara was about to kill
them, Aiden came and chloroformed her, and the next thing we saw was Kara in a
car getting ready to leave the Hamptons. The writers glossed over what happened
to Kara after Aiden knocked her out with a brief bit of dialogue about how they
discovered there wasn’t any medication in her system and they gave Kara a
bottle of her pills before she said goodbye to Emily. I have to say that I’m
disappointed by how rushed Emily and Aiden finding out that Kara wasn’t on her
medication and Kara leaving town was. I really hope that Kara will be returning
later on this season, because I feel like Kara’s time on the show was too short-lived,
and if she doesn’t return at some point the whole twist with Emily discovering
that her mom was still alive last season and having her come back will all be
rather pointless in my opinion.
If there’s one
thing that I’ve missed the most about the first season as I’ve watched Revenge this
season, it would definitely be the “takedown of the week” episodes. I
understand that the writers can’t do those kind of episodes every week and I
don’t think they should either, because that would get old really quickly if
every episode were like that. Plus, I do think that it’s important that the
writers spend time building a larger mythology for the show. Introducing the
Americon Initiative is something that I think has really helped expand the
overall plot of the show and will also help prolong the show in the long run,
but not in a bad way. I think introducing the Americon Initiative into the
overall premise of the show was a very good move on the writers’ part, because
it allow the whole conspiracy that David Clarke was a victim of and Emily’s
overall plan for revenge to expand beyond the Grayson family and the Hamptons.
Plus, I’ve found that element of the show very interesting so far.
That being said,
I do think the whole storyline with Emily wanting Aiden to put Daniel in a
position where he can take over Grayson Global did have shades of the “takedown
of the week” episodes that they had last season, so I really liked that
storyline in this episode. It sounds like Daniel’s plans to take over Grayson
Global will also affect Nolan due to the fact that David Clarke had given him
an initial investment in NolCorp, which apparently means Nolan could potentially
lose control of his company to Grayson Global. I’ve really been worried about
Nolan’s future this season, and this episode has left me feeling even more
worried for him than I was before. My gut tells me that things won’t end well
for Nolan in terms of this storyline.
I have to say
that I was really surprised how things played out with Mason figuring out the
truth about Emily and how she switched identities with Amanda played out. The
scene where Mason first confronts Emily about the truth was definitely another one
of my favorite scenes from the episode. That scene also showcased what’s made
me truly love Emily VanCamp as an actress for the first time in my life after not
really being a fan of hers when I watched her on Everwood and Brothers &
Sisters. Revenge is the first show that Emily has been on where I’ve actually
liked the character that she was playing. Emily VanCamp plays the role of Emily
Thorne flawlessly, if you ask me.
The ending of
last week’s episode left me wondering how the writers were going to handle
Mason figuring out that Emily is actually Amanda Clarke without Emily’s secret
being exposed to everyone else, and I have to say that I was really impressed
with how it all played out. It also reminded me of the writers’ rule about how
the punishment that Emily gives as someone as payback has to fit the crime that
they committed. That being said, I thought it was really fitting that Emily
told Mason that he had to confess to the murder of Gordon Murphy and the plane
crash that happened in the season one finale and wave his right to a trial so
he would go to prison for a crime that he didn’t commit the same way her father
did. Although, the writers did leave things open for Mason to return. Emily
told him that she would see to it that he was released from prison once she had
completed her plans for revenge, at which time he will write a book about what
really happened to her father unlike his first book that was all lies. Perhaps
the writers can end the series with Emily getting Mason released from prison
and the two of them beginning to work on the book that Emily wants Mason to
write.
After watching
this episode, I’m even happier about the producers making Barry Sloane a series
regular than I was before, because I love the character Aiden, and I think he
adds a lot to the show given his past with Emily and his own reasons for Takeda
training him. Plus, I love the fact that he can be another character aside from
Nolan who knows the truth about Emily, but is still able to remain on the show
on a long-term basis unlike all of the other characters who’ve discovered the
truth or at least started to discover the truth about Amanda in the past who
always seem to quickly be killed off the show, or in Mason’s case be sent to
prison.
One thing I’ve
found myself thinking about a lot as I’ve watched the first seven episodes of
season two is the flash-forward in the season premiere where it showed Jack’s
boat, the Amanda, being at the bottom of the ocean with a man’s hand sticking
out of one the windows on the boat. The thing I’ve been thinking about the most
in terms of the flash-forward is who is responsible for the Amanda sinking. My
first guess was the Americon Initiative, especially after the Americon Initiative
told Conrad that they would need him to do something for them in the future.
Although, that seems too small scale for them given the way Victoria and Conrad
have talked about them. My next guess, which I think probably makes a little
more sense, is Kara. Perhaps she’s going to return around the time of Jack and
Amanda’s wedding and will do something that leads to it sinking, not
necessarily because she’s off her medication again but out of revenge for
Gordon death. Maybe that doesn’t make sense now, but for some reason my gut is
telling me that Kara is responsible for the Amanda sinking. The other thing
about the flash-forward that I’ve been thinking about is when we will get to
that point in time on the show. Personally, I would like the writers to get to
that point in time around episode fifteen like they did last season with the
flash-forward of Emily and Daniel’s engagement party in the pilot.
All things considered,
this definitely wasn’t the best episode ever of Revenge, but it was still a
very good episode, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the way Emily dealt
with Mason Treadwell figuring out the truth about her being the actual Amanda
Clarke pleasantly surprising. I like that the writers left the door open for
Mason to return in the future, and I hope he does because I think Roger Bart is
an incredibly talented actor. I also love the character Mason Treadwell. The
addition of both the character Aiden Mathis and Barry Sloane as an actor to the
show was a brilliant move on the producers’ part. This episode once again
reminded me of why I’ve always loved the dynamic between Victoria and Conrad.
As I said earlier, I really hope they finish up Amanda’s storyline soon and
send Margarita Levieva on her way, because she’s really bringing down the level
of enjoyment that I’m getting from an otherwise fantastic second season.
That being said,
I give this episode a rating of B+.
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