Now that we’re
six episodes into Revenge’s second season, I feel pretty comfortable in saying
that I think season two is off to a terrific start. This episode also once
again reminded me of why Revenge ended up being my favorite new show last
season when I had originally been expecting Once Upon a Time to be my favorite
new show last year. Even when an episode of Revenge isn’t the best episode
ever, it usually still ends up being a very enjoyable episode, and that’s definitely
the case with this one.
This episode was
oozing with soap opera goodness, and that’s exactly the way I like the show.
While Revenge has definitely evolved and changed as a show, this episode still
felt reminiscent of season one, especially when it came to the “take down of
the week” episodes. While this episode wasn’t a straight up “take down of the week”
episode it still had shades of episodes like that from season one, especially
when it came to Conrad being arrested at his and Victoria’s wedding reception.
The moment between Victoria, Emily and Nolan as they watched the police take
Conrad away felt like a moment right out of season one, which I loved.
Since this post
is supposed to be about Revenge, I’m going to try and not dwell too much on my
thoughts on Once Upon a Time’s second season, but I do feel like I should
briefly address my thoughts on the show and how they relate to Revenge. As
spoilers for season two of Once Upon a Time started to come out, I found myself
having more and more concerns that the writers were going continue to do the
things I’ve come to have complaints about in terms of the show as a whole. The
main complaint that I have with Once Upon a Time is that the writers don’t
distribute the amount of screen time that each character gets very well at all.
Plus, I feel like whenever they introduce a new recurring character they
quickly become fixated on them, and a lot of them have been promoted to series
regular status for season two. Plus, I still think they wrote both Sheriff
Graham/The Huntsman and August/Pinocchio off the show way too soon. So far, I
feel like the writers of Once Upon a Time have added way too many new
characters, almost all of who don’t really add anything to the show. Plus, in
my own opinion the writing for Once Upon a Time has been all over the place so
far this season, and I’m having a really hard time figuring out where the
overall storyline for season two is going. Sometimes that can be a good thing
because it keeps the viewers interested and invested in the show, but I don’t
feel that way about Once Upon a Time. Plus, I feel like Once Upon a Time has
had quite a few lackluster episodes so far this season.
On the other hand,
when it comes to Revenge the show has an appropriate amount of characters, both
series regulars and recurring guest-stars, and with the exception of Amanda,
Declan and most recently Jack to a certain degree, I like all of the characters
on the show. All of the characters for the most part also seem to serve a
purpose on the show, which is something I feel like the writers of Once Upon a
Time really struggle with.
Although, I have
to say that I used to really love Jack as a character, but now I feel he is
becoming as extraneous as Declan has always been to me. Plus, I’ve really
started to view Jack’s feelings for Amanda, or at least the girl he thinks is
Amanda, as being downright creepy. As far as I can remember, they pretty much
only spent one summer together when they were kids and yet he’s basically been
obsessed with Amanda to this day. If I had to say what I think the writers
wanted Jack and Declan’s purpose on the show to be is that they were supposed
to give the average viewer characters they could relate too since most of the
show’s viewers aren’t extremely rich like most of the characters on the show.
Plus, I think Jack’s presence on the show is meant to help bring some humanity
to the character Emily in order to balance out all of the horrible things that
she does as she carries out her plans for revenge. That being said, Jack’s
presence in this episode added nothing to the level of enjoyment that I got
from watching this episode, and I’m so mad that he proposed to Amanda because
that means that Amanda/Margarita Levieva will probably be stick around for
quite a while, and I just want her to go away for good.
I’m sorry if
people think I sound harsh for saying this, but I think Margarita Levieva is a
terrible, terrible, terrible actress. Both the character Amanda and Margarita
as an actress annoy the hell out of me. If there was one spoiler for season two
that I was upset about when it was announced, it’s definitely when they
announced that Margarita Levieva would be guest-starring in at least seven
episodes in season two. Other than that, I was nothing but excited for season two.
I just pray to god that Margarita Levieva leaves the show soon, so we never
have to see her or the character Amanda ever again.
Declan didn’t
really do much in this episode. He was just kind of “there”. Although, he and
Charlotte did share a nice moment, which makes a part of me wonder if the
writers are planning to have Declan and Charlotte get back together at this
point. Personally, I wasn’t all that crazy about Charlotte last season, but I’m
loving her this season. I especially like that Emily and Charlotte have
remained close despite the fact Emily and Daniel aren’t together anymore. The
relationship between Emily and Charlotte is another thing that I think gives
the character Emily some humanity in order to balance out all of the horrible
things that she does as a part of her plans for revenge.
Mason Treadwell pretty
much figured out that Amanda/the original Emily Thorne isn’t actually Amanda at
the end of the previous episode. Although, he doesn’t really have any concrete
proof to back up his suspicions and expose Emily as the actual Amanda Clarke at
the moment. Emily helped Amanda develop a cover story to explain why she didn’t
have a burn scar anymore, which kind of got Mason to back off, but he was still
very suspicious of Amanda.
One of juiciest
and most enjoyable aspects of this episode for me was Victoria and Conrad
deciding to get remarried. Of course in true soap opera fashion they weren’t
getting remarried for love, but rather so they wouldn’t have to testify against
each other in court if either of them ever got in trouble with the law. The
writers wasted no time having Victoria and Conrad get remarried almost
instantly after Conrad proposed to Victoria. Given the fact that the whole
decision to get remarried and actually have the wedding was rather impromptu
I’m surprised by how fancy the whole event ended up being, including Victoria’s
wedding dress. While I think it’s really weird that Victoria’s wedding dress
was gray, which is definitely not a color of fabric that I would ever have
thought of someone using for a wedding dress, I have to admit that it was a
very nice dress, and Madeleine Stowe looked great in it. As for Victoria and
Conrad being able to pull together a wedding that looked rather extravagant on
such short notice, I’m just going to write that off as being something that
rich people can do in the world of TV.
It’s amazing for
me to think about how I had never heard of Madeleine Stowe before only a year
ago, and now she’s one of my favorite actresses and one of my biggest celebrity
crushes. Although, I’m not surprised that I would find Madeleine so attractive
because she’s absolutely gorgeous, and I do have a major thing for older women.
Madeleine Stowe
truly is an amazing actress, and I think she knocks every one of her scenes on
Revenge completely out of the park, and that’s definitely the case with this
episode. I really enjoyed the scenes that Victoria and Kara in this episode.
Last season I feel like the writers really established Victoria as someone who
is a force to be reckoned with, but one thing that I’ve really liked about
having Kara around is that Victoria is definitely afraid of her. Although, I
think that Victoria’s fear of Kara stems from Kara having a history of mental
instability more than anything else.
The shit really
hit the fan at the wedding reception when the police crashed the reception to
arrest him for Gordon Murphy’s murder thanks to Emily’s scheming. I have to say
that whole scene was absolutely amazing, especially when it came to Emily,
Nolan and Victoria’s reactions to Conrad being arrested. Conrad was quickly
released from jail thanks to the Americon Initiative representative who was
introduced several episodes ago pulling some strings. The Americon Initiative apparently helped
Conrad in exchange for him agreeing to help finance them again. I have to say
that I’m really excited to see where that all goes in the upcoming episodes.
As for Kara,
she’s been a really hard character to read. I don’t know if the reason I’m
having trouble figuring her character is due to the way the character is being
written or because of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s acting choices when it comes to
her approach to playing the part. The way she delivers her lines sounds like
she’s mumbling them, and it’s reminding me a lot of how Laura on General
Hospital has acted in the past whenever she’s first coming out of her catatonic
state. Jennifer Jason Leigh’s portrayal of Kara definitely reminds me a lot of
Genie Francis’ portrayal of Laura Spencer on General Hospital in some ways.
The scenes
between Emily and Kara were also really enjoyable, especially the scene where
Kara asks Emily if she thinks Amanda, or rather the person that she thinks is
Amanda, would ever be able to forgive her for not being around for so many
years. Based on Emily’s reaction to the question, it sounds like Emily wants to
forgive her mother for leaving when she was a child, but at the same time Emily
is also struggling to find a way to forgive Kara. Personally, I thought the
whole thing with Kara painting that painting on the beach was really random.
Unless that painting is going to come into play down the road later, I’m
thinking the whole thing was simply because the writers wanted to give Emily
and Kara a reason to talk to each other.
As for my own
theory regarding why Kara is acting so strange, Emily found some medication
that was prescribed to Kara in a previous episode, so I think that with The
White Haired Man A.K.A Gordon Murphy being dead she hasn’t been taking her
medication for a while. I’m guessing the medication is supposed to help people
remain mentally stable, but without any medication in her bloodstream she’s
slowly going to lose it again.
Emily and Daniel
also shared a nice moment in this episode. I liked them okay as a couple last
season, but I don’t really want them to get back together. I’m kind of liking
Ashley and Daniel as a couple so far. Although, I have to say that I still
think Ashley still lacks a true purpose on the show. I really hope that the
writers develop the character Ashley beyond being an employee of the Grayson
family and Daniel’s latest girlfriend some more soon.
I have to say
that I for one love the addition of the character Aiden to the show, and I also
think that Barry Sloane plays the role very well. Plus, I just think he’s a
great actor in general. I really enjoy the dynamic between Emily and Aiden. I
like how Aiden has been able to fit into Emily’s plan for revenge, and I’m
thrilled that the producers have made Barry Sloane a series regular on the
show.
It looks like
Nolan could potentially be in hot water since his new C.F.O. at NolCorp, Padma,
knows about David Clarke giving him the money to start his company. Ever since
they first mentioned and showed the check that David wrote Nolan, it made me
wonder what would happen to Emily’s money if the government were to seize
NolCorp’s assets since it originally came from NolCorp stock. Let me start by
saying that I don’t know very much about how having shares in a company or how
liquidating stocks works, but when I went back and watched the episode a second
time I caught Emily’s line about how she liquidated her NolCorp shares years
ago, so I don’t think she has anything to worry about. Plus, I’m sure that
Emily invested some of her money in other companies as well. All things
considered, I’m really liking Nolan’s storyline with Padma so far. Even though
I think Padma is going to prove to be very bad news for Nolan down the road,
I’m still really enjoying Nolan and Padma’s relationship at the moment. Given
the fact that Nolan is bisexual, I think it would be nice to see him get a male
love interest at some point. If that does happen at some point, I don’t want
them to end up being mentally unstable like Tyler was though.
As I mentioned
earlier, Mason seems to be really close to figuring out the truth about Emily
and Amanda, especially after Victoria told him about Emily spending time in
juvenile detention. The episode ended with Mason using a draw string board to
try and figure everything out, and he linked Emily and Amanda to the same
juvenile detention center. The fact that Mason appears to be extremely close to
figuring everything out makes me think he’s not long for this world, because it
seems like whenever someone discovers the truth about Emily or comes close to
figuring things out they always wind up dead. I’m a huge fan of Roger Bart as
an actor, so a part of me would definitely be sad to see Mason get killed off
after finding out the truth about Emily. Although, Mason has already proven
that he can be easily manipulated, which makes me think that it’s possible that
Emily will manipulate him into helping her carry out her plans for revenge.
That’s pretty much the only way I can think of in terms of the writers being
able to keep Mason around even after he discovers the truth about Emily.
All things
considered, while this wasn’t the best episode ever of Revenge, it was still a
great episode. This episode displayed the perfect combination of maliciousness
and humanity from Emily. It was overflowing with pure soap opera goodness,
which is always a great thing in my book. The jury is definitely still out on
what I think about Kara and Padma, but I’m very intrigued by the both of them
at the moment. Unless Kenny ends up being the guy who’s at the bottom of the
ocean with Jack’s boat, the Amanda, which was shown in the flash-forward in the
season premiere, pretty much all of Jack and Declan’s scenes were a waste of screen
time in this episode. Other than that, this really was a great episode.
That being said,
I give this episode a rating of a B+.
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