I think I’ve mentioned this before but my husband measures how much I enjoyed an episode of Revenge by the amount of yelling I do from the other room. Not surprising, I let out quite a few shrieks and non-publishable phrases during this week’s season finale.
So I decided to divide this episode into moments that provided the biggest “whoa” factor for me.
1. Emily and Daniel broke off their engagement. That’s right, she gave the ring back. In the middle of the season I was pretty sure Emily was surprised that she actually had feelings for a Grayson. But then he was accused of murder, got the crap beat out of him in jail, found out about his dad’s secret doings and decided he needs to carry on the Grayson name. Daniel certainly changed his tune over a season from wanting nothing to do with his family to becoming the epitome of a Grayson. It makes me hate him. (I’m still holding out hope that he’s concocting his own revenge plan.) When Ashley lets it slip that something happened between Jack and Emily, Emily doesn’t even try to cover it up when Daniel asks her about it. She tells him he’s changed, they both have, and she hands back the ring.
Victoria’s reaction: “I knew your future with Daniel was as empty as that box. Best of luck with your new endeavor.”
2. Amanda is pregnant. Before I get to the SHE’S BACK shock of the century, Emily plans to tell Jack EVERYTHING. This was the moment I was waiting for. She heads to the bar that night and Amanda appears from the back of the bar. NOOOOOOOOOO. Best part ever – she is pregnant. WHAT. Jack looks a little shell-shocked. Or maybe that’s my wishful thinking. Emily is flabbergasted. But she covers it well. Amanda looks like a bitch on wheels. And there’s no way she is only 3 months pregnant. I know this is TV but she looks about 7 months. I probably yelled the most during this scene. I *knew* there was no way it would be so easy for Emily to tell Jack everything but I didn’t think it would be because of Amanda. Somehow Tekada is behind this, I’m sure. Obviously, this isn’t the end of Jack and Emily. He doesn’t even know that she broke off her engagement. I can’t wait to see his reaction to that.
3. Emily’s mom is alive. After barely hearing a thing about Emily’s mom, in the past 2 episodes, other people have started mentioning her. First, Nolan’s aunt. And then White-Haired Man (known as WHM) as Emily and him are kicking the crap out of one another. (That was such a fight scene.) To catch you up: Emily convinces WHM that Conrad’s episode is in a locker in Port Authority. She lets Nolan escape and tells him where the evidence REALLY is and she prepares to fight to the death when WHM returns. (Seriously, they need to share their secrets for getting to and from the city so fast. I’m jealous.) During their crazy acrobatic fight, WHM sneers at her: “You’re one hell of a fighter, must have gotten that from your mother.” (What could that mean?) A convenient flashback of David telling a young Amanda that he loves how she loves things as they celebrate saving a bird causes her to stop fighting WHM and not kill him. (I’m glad she stopped herself.) Fast forward to the end, Nolan was smart enough to copy the evidence and finds out this charade (a.k.a. deaths, terrorism) goes way above that Graysons (“the Initiative”). “There’s more to the story of David’s first wife,” Victoria tells WHM in a video. Nolan tells Em that it means her mom is alive. (Great twist for next season!)
Realization: WHM knows that Emily is Amanda Clarke. What could come out of that? He also doesn’t reveal he knows that Amanda Clarke is actually Daniel’s (ex) wife-to-be when meeting up with Conrad (post-Emily fight) and telling him to leave town. He does, though, admit he had not been spying on Daniel.
4. Charlotte overdoses? For about five minutes it seems Charlotte is being nice and accepting of Declan’s new friend Yonkers (her real name is Jamie). She gives them the inside scoop about a teacher they are having trouble with but when she gets home, Charlotte pretends to be her mother and calls up to find out everything she can about the new girl. Turns out, Yonkers has a past. A past that includes hooking up with her history teacher. Charlotte humiliates Yonkers and pisses off Declan. You can tell she knows she did a wrong even if she’s laughing along with her “friends”. Her actions totally backfire when she calls Declan in a panic as she watches new coverage of a fire that has blown up the plane VICTORIA has just stepped on. Declan won’t talk to her, Charlotte takes a bunch of pills, and Conrad finds her laying on her bed.
Is Charlotte the main character rumored to have died in this season finale? (I think so.)
This leads to number 5.
5. Another plane accident. Victoria is dead set on righting her wrongs and plans on traveling to Washington D.C. with the evidence against Conrad. Even more so when she discovers Conrad ordered the murder of David Clarke. (And then again, when Daniel is more and more on his father’s side. She even slaps him.) With the end of one engagement comes a new one, when Conrad proposes to Lydia in exchange for her loyalty. Though it doesn’t take long for Victoria to convince Lydia to come to along to her side, grasp onto this immunity, and travel with her to DC. As they get onto the plane, we see the WHM tinkering with the plane, and all of a sudden the news is reporting a plane explosion. This ties in Charlotte’s pill popping, Nolan having the smarts to copy the evidence (because the true evidence has now been blown to smithereens), and Emily finding out about her mother.
So Victoria is reported as dead? I, for one, don’t believe it. Revenge is full of so many twists and turns (not always so believable but that’s another story) so I won’t even consider the possibility of a little explosion bringing Victoria down until I see it for myself in the fall.
Best line of the night (from Nolan): “Champagne is always appropriate.”
When I started watching Revenge, I never thought it would last 22 episodes. (I’ve seen better shows cancelled over 24 episodes in two seasons – long live Life Unexpected. Good news: LUX’s creator is a producer on Revenge now.) And while I wish the dialogue was a little less predictable and we could turn down the use of sad violins, those who have structured and planned out this story have created a show that is suspenseful and addicting.
I, for one, can’t wait until Sundays in the fall. Who doesn’t want a little mayhem at the end of their weekend?
Now we have a few months to concoct a bunch of theories…
Happy summer kids!
I love reading your recaps and hope you continue next season (and with more opinions like on this one). Anyway, here’s what I walked away with after the episode.
1) Nobody Dies on Revenge. Sure, Tyler and Frank bit it but the problem with cheating death so often is that it makes the audience too skeptical. We saw Lydia fell from the top of a building and didn’t die so the impact of “Victoria is dead” doesn’t work because nobody believes it.
2) Charlotte and Declan don’t work. Speaking of death, How disappointing will it be to have Charlotte NOT be dead and instead have us forced to watch her failed suicide storyline. EvERY time Charlotte or Declan hot the screen then all momentum of the show stops so hopefully they find a way to simply write them off. Quickly. (They missed a Romeo and Juliet ending there by simply having Declan find the body instead of Not-Daddy)
Also, take Ashley out. First she’s a friend, then a catere, then the PR for a multi billion dollar company (despite being romantically involved with the victim?!?!), then hired as a corporate …. Wedding planner? It’s just not working
3) Mom? seriously? For a show that started off breaking away from cliche then they’ve hit every cliche in the book. She’s your sister. Moms alive. I was hiding that relative! A mysterious benefactor will pay for that. She’s not dead. He wasn’t the killer.
It’s become so bad that when predictability actually has us applauding (Nolan made a backup? Of course he did. That’s not a reveal, that’s common sense). So to see “Moms back” just makes me think of Alias or Chuck or every soap opera out there.
4) Revenge was not planned out. The inconsistencies and reliance on a fOrgivong audience is what keeps this show alive. But if you’re going to objectively view this as an ongoing story then they need to work harder at making things logical.
Okay well I’m still sticking with it but I do miss the first few episodes which were more clever than cliche.
Your recap just totally got my heart racing again! I was up so late after I watched the finale! Oh the anxiety! SO good! There is no way Victoria gets on that plane! And I’m dying just thinking about how long we will have to wait for new episodes!!!
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