Revenge 1.5: Guilt

Editors Note: If you haven’t been watching ABC’s newest hit show Revenge, why not give it a try. Estelle catches you up with the events of the latest show and brings you up to speed so you can join in next week.

Spoilers with a capital S.

You know that one moment when everything changes?

Well, Revenge’s moment occurred this past Wednesday evening when Lydia’s dead body was found in a glittery dress on top of a taxi. (Why they felt the need to show her face and then have a flashback when the whole show is a flashback at the moment anyway is beyond me.)

Our first true casualty.

And no, Emily didn’t do it. In fact, this may be the first episode that takes place a day after the last one. This time there is no one person that Emily is after; instead, everyone is still dealing with the repercussions of the night before: Dr. Banks’ kidnapping and release, secrets revealed, and the possibility that Emily could get framed for once.

That actually clears up pretty quickly as Ashley is already jumping into her next party planning project and hoping it doesn’t turn into a disaster like all her other ones. (I’m surprised Victoria isn’t suspicious of her just yet.) Ashley mentions to Emily how the Graysons thought she might be involved but because her therapy session was on display the thought was dismissed. (For now, at least.) Always quick on her feet, Emily conjures up a new plan to ensure Ashley remains in the good graces of Victoria and Co.: recognize her outstanding charity work at the next event.

At tea that afternoon (with Emily in attendance), we find out that the “Open Arms” event will be singling out Victoria’s foundation, Victims United Outreach, which helps the survivors of terrorist attacks. (Was anyone else thinking…“Of course! What other charity would there be?!”) In yet another flashback (in a flashback in a flashback) we see Victoria has true empathy for those affected by the plane crash they blamed on Emily’s father and the awesome Conrad thinking the foundation is the perfect way to boost the morale of his company. Typical.

To spice things up some more, Lydia shows up, exuding a lot more confidence then she was the last time we laid eyes on her (at least when she was in Victoria’s presence and not in lingerie with Conrad). Keep in mind that Victoria has been clued in by Frank, her security man who she has some sort of hot chemistry with, that Conrad gave Lydia $10 million and he’s still seeping with her. For some reason, Lydia thinks she can waltz back into the Graysons’s home and be besties with Victoria again. As you can imagine, Victoria is not having it. Lydia also thinks she can take back her house from Emily. Victoria catches wind of this and will not allow it. Emily plants a little seed in Victoria’s head – Lydia had also been seeing Dr. Banks and wasn’t it odd that her therapy session had not been made center stage?

Interesting.

In the meantime, on the other side of the tracks, Declan thinks they need to hire someone else at the bar. End of that storyline for now.

Emily and Daniel make up. They both realize that Tyler is up to no good. (He has also managed to snake himself an internship at Grayson Global and eavesdrop and later break the news to Daniel that Conrad had been cheating on Victoria with Lydia.) Daniel is also offered an internship (more like commanded) and actually stands up to his dad, telling him he doesn’t want to be anything like him. Conrad will be freezing Daniel’s trust. So this guy actually has morals. Part of me wants Emily to be falling for him, but I’m still not so sure. Daniel even goes to save his sister when she gets “arrested” with Declan for speeding. Another turning point: Daniel wants the bartending job at Jack’s restaurant, which only means one thing to me: more awkward love triangle encounters. Score! I’ll try not to be offended that Daniel and Emily end up sleeping together that evening. I still have hope for this Emily/Amanda/Jack thing. I won’t give it up.

Back to Lydia. (Honestly, I had trouble keeping up with this episode. So much was going on, and I kept talking to my TV and yelping. Please tell me I wasn’t the only one.)

Lydia threatens Conrad. She wants her place back in Victoria’s life and the wealthy social circle or else she confesses she was forced to testify against Emily’s dad (and threatened by Frank) all those years ago. As if things aren’t hectic enough, Lydia discovers a familiar figure in the wings of a New Year’s party from a few years back – Emily in disguise. Lydia is officially the first one who could put the kibosh on this whole Revenge thing.

At the charity function, Victoria is forced to fake-forgive Lydia so she won’t announce these admissions to the whole room and sort of end the whole show before it began. Why Lydia believes Victoria is beyond me. She took $10 million from the Graysons and slept with her best friend’s husband. I think those are two good reasons never speak to a human again, and pretend they never were born. But Lydia’s brain is clearly not working correctly and she gives the nice speech. Only to be totally shot down by Victoria at the end of the evening. Lydia’s place in her old world has been eliminated.

Afterwards, Frank is waiting for Lydia in her apartment in the city. We get a good dose of violence and Lydia falls to her death. Nolan (remember him?) makes it to Lydia’s apartment after this altercation when Emily asks him to tamper with any evidence connecting her to that New Year’s party from a few years ago. This made me really nervous, more so than the deadly attack, because Nolan had no idea that he had just missed a murder (made to look like a suicide) and he was hanging out in Lydia’s apartment with his fingerprints everywhere. Will this come back to haunt him (and Emily?) in the end? I have a hunch it does.

Nolan manages to escape but not before taking back a web cam he had originally placed in Emily’s home (“I promised your dad I would watch out for you!”), which she had unknowingly sent to Lydia’s apartment, and ended up catching the whole Lydia/Conrad confession and ultimately the Frank/Lydia attack.

Needless to say, Nolan is totally freaking out. All the while, Daniel and Emily are having sex. And Victoria turns a ghostly white (is it possible for her to look paler?) when she hears Frank’s voice telling her that Lydia is now dead.

Side thought: did it annoy anyone else that Conrad and Victoria seem to only show love for their children by gifting them expensive cars or dangling money in front of their faces? It all seems pretty cliché to me but I was really annoyed they couldn’t take five minutes to get their nose out of their personal lives and actually deal with the problems at hand. I guess when you spend so much time avoiding what’s happening in front of you it becomes natural at some point. The funny thing is Charlotte and Daniel seem like they actually want to be accepted and loved by their parents. Go figure.

To call this episode a game-changer is just about the understatement of the decade. While I could do without the cliché creepy music and some of the overly dramatic stares going on, I get the impression that this show is well-planned out. And now that Revenge was granted a full season of 22 episodes, we may actually make some progress when it comes to just what happens to all of these crazy people.

I have to say… I had my doubts in the beginning. How could a show like this hold up especially when the formula of each episode remained the same? Until we hit this particular episode, of course. The show’s premise may not be too realistic, but as the plot continues to thicken, it becomes more and more of a guilty pleasure for me.

Lydia’s (unplanned) death combined with so many mini-misunderstandings leaves a lot up in the air for the Revenge crowd. Emily’s superbly laid-out plans may have to be rearranged. Will this short break from her ultimate goal leave her time to really fall for Daniel? Are the previews from next week actually being straight forward for once and will Jack discover who Emily is? Will Frank and Victoria have a thing? What is Tyler’s deal already? Is he connected to the plane crash or does he have other fish to fry? How will Conrad react to Lydia’s death? Is he a ticking time bomb?

So much left to figure out… and only a few more days until we get our next fill.

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Revenge is on Wednesday evenings at 10pm on ABC. Check out www.abc.com to view the full episodes you may have missed.

Estelle, a TV junkie with a jam-packed DVR, loves theatre, cupcakes, and all things Disney. Check out her blog at www.thishappyplaceblog.com and follow her on Twitter @thatsostelle.