soap opera

Revenge: Grief

My Revenge viewing buddy described this week’s episode as: “omg omg omg holy sh*t”.

After finally catching the episode on Thursday, I can only agree.

Unlike last week’s yawner, this episode started with a crying Emily digging a grave. Since this show is nothing like it seems, we could only guess who the grave was for.

Operation White Haired Guy is in full swing and Emily and Daniel’s wedding has now turned into a full-blown publicity stunt ala Ashley’s “brilliant” brainstorms.

It’s no surprise Emily is more into uncovering the whereabouts of this white-haired man (WHM) than discussing table linens and the most minute details of the next “royal wedding”. (Oh, I wish I made that up. Ashley called it that, quick to remind Emily that Daniel is the royalty.)

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Revenge – It’s Flashback time!

This week on Revenge we traveled back to 2002. So when I was choosing a college and planning a holiday dance, Emily was kicking the crap out of men in club restrooms and was just all-out angry. She wasn’t her polished, Hamptons self using her unlimited bank account to get back at the people who framed her dad and ultimately, killed him. Her philosophy in life is the total opposite of what we have seen for the past 22 episodes: I don’t think that far ahead.

Already we know the purpose of this episode: how Emily transformed into this illustrious, well-dressed, intelligent young lady who is able to bury Amanda Clarke in order to successfully reach her goal.

While I understand what the writers of Revenge were attempting to do, I’m not entirely sure that I agree with it. The placement for one seemed odd. The details we find out were easily ones that could have been in an earlier episode or split up over a slew of episodes.

It makes me wonder if we needed this episode at all.

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Revenge: Absolution

With only 3 episodes left after a rollercoaster of a season, I can hands down say that Wednesday’s Revenge is officially my favorite. Maybe it’s because many storylines exploded all over the place, the tension remained consistently high, or Josh Bowman as Daniel made me cry and hate him in a period of about five minutes.

Who am I kidding? It was definitely all three.

It’s snowing in the Hamptons and Declan is still the only one with any sense. But Jack is slowly beginning to catch on. How did HIS hoodie end up in Lee’s car? The Graysons MUST have something to do with it. Finally, he’s piecing this devious puzzle together. His first instinct is to warn Emily. It’s a cute gesture but laughable since she’s pretty aware of what happened and who the Graysons are. He never gets a chance to tell her “the truth” because Daniel interrupts with news. He’s coming home for good.

The people of the Hamptons are just as enraged with Daniel’s release as the people of Orlando were with Casey Anthony’s except he leaves jail in broad daylight. Someone has even written MURDERER on Emily’s car. Even if it seemed like the trial was wrapped up with a pretty (bloody) bow, the drama is far from over. All the newspapers are still running with the story, and Emily suggests that Daniel provide an interview to stop the chatter once and for all.

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Revenge 1.16: Scandal!

Editor: The tardiness of this post is my fault, not Estelle’s.

After last week’s fast-paced engagement/murder party and the fact that we have a whole month of March without any new episodes, I decided to switch things up a bit this week…

Ten things that happened on this week’s Revenge:

1. Declan is all of a sudden the smart one. I know, shocker. He’s dealing with the fact that Charlotte is starting to get super dependent on pills after finding out her real father is a criminal and her brother may be a murderer. Declan also catches on to the fact that Jack didn’t make it to Haiti because of “engine trouble” (unless that’s what Amanda is calling herself these days) and that he has a black hoodie a.k.a. “that creepy guy in the hoodie” (as Charlotte remembers him) before the two spotted Tyler’s body.

2. Daniel doesn’t remember anything about that night. Or so he says… he convinces Emily to take the dog for a walk (I think it was around midnight) so that he can dig through her floorboards and find out if Tyler was telling the truth. Was she playing him? His search comes up with nothing.

3. Courtney B. Vance (The Preacher’s Wife, Angela Bassett’s husband) is Daniel’s new lawyer. I I love Courtney B. Vance and he is one tough cookie. Mr. Brooks wants all the possible dirt he can get on Daniel. Emily tells him about Daniel’s horrendous car accident from the summer before, and Mr. Brooks is quick to corner Jack about Amanda’s whereabouts. Since Victoria loves to blame Amanda Clarke for just about everything she possibly can.

4. Emily and Daniel never got to open their engagement presents. Can you believe it? That psycho guy that held them at gunpoint was found murdered on the beach and they couldn’t find a spare moment? Crazy. Victoria is sure to bring over her gift to the couple as long as Emily promises not to open it. (Um, anyone else curious as to what it could be?) She also needs to know if Emily is going to stand by Daniel no matter what. Personally, I think Victoria was being genuine here or she has just mastered the subtle tear. (Favorite quip: perhaps your time in JD will become as asset in this situation. Awesome.)

5. Jack finds the receipt for Tyler’s ransom money in Amanda’s abandoned hoodie. He confides in Nolan, who tries to convince him to just forget Amanda. But Jack, and this is why we love him, is loyal and can’t do that. (I swear this whole thing is going to make him crazy.)

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Revenge 1.15: Chaos

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I don’t know about you but I’m still reeling Wednesday’s episode of Revenge. It had a lot to live up to. We’ve been subjected to 15 episodes of flashbacks (and flashbacks in those) just to be brought back to the Fire & Ice engagement party. The party where viewers were led to believe that Daniel Grayson would not survive his engagement shindig… literally. Could the writers be that cruel? Especially after we have grown to care about Daniel and realize our initial impression of him as the party animal/evil spawn of Grayson was completely wrong?

Well, after much speculation, and in the final minutes of this long-awaited conclusion, we can breathe a sigh of relief as we see that psycho Tyler is the one with the fatal gunshot wounds.

You would think Revenge’s entire story would make a bit more sense after this reveal, but, no, of course not. Instead, we are left with more questions than answers. Again.

So how did we get to this place?

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Revenge 1.14: Perception

Ahhh. The engagement period. Otherwise known as “the happiest time of your life.” On the surface, Emily and Daniel might seem happy. Happy enough to give in to Victoria’s whims: a “fire & ice” themed engagement party (who thought that was a good idea?) and the posed family (?) engagement shots in the Grayson mansion. The ones where they are all wearing white. (Eh.) Emily has to be distracted with bigger matters if she is letting this atrocities occur.

In all honesty, this episode remained pretty sluggish through most of the hour until the last ten minutes when the you-know-what hit the fan. But before we get there… Emily is very focused on Charlotte finding out about who her father is. Without caring that Charlotte might feel like she was kicked in the gut, or on the verge of a massive identity crisis. Nolan tries to explain this to Emily, make her understand the possible consequences of what she is about to do. But no dice. Emily is in her zone.

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Revenge – Episode 1.11 “Duress”

Happy 2012 everyone! I don’t know a better way to kick off the new year then tuning into a new episode of Revenge! Especially when it features a mental breakdown of this guy:

Yep. That’s Tyler. The episode opens with him holding a gun and about to shoot one of the bunch — Conrad, Ashley, Charlotte, Declan, Jack, Daniel, or Emily — at Daniel’s “casual” clambake birthday shindig on the beach. And because Revenge wouldn’t be the show it is without them, we get a flashback to two days earlier.

Pretty early into the episode we see why Tyler appears as the uninvited “guest” at the clambake. Conrad agrees to fire him (especially if Daniel returns to work) and Victoria is going to kick him out of his beloved pool house (because she will basically do anything Daniel wants right now). Emily steals the infamous animal-shaped USB and his prescription pill bottle. She calls his doctor and finds out that Tyler has been under investigation for several weeks now. A few minutes later, she’s watching Tyler trash the pool house. Because the USB is missing and he doesn’t have any pills yet.That first (or last) scene is making so much sense now. But every time I think this guy is about to lose it, he gains composure some how. And then loses it again. Apparently, Tyler is under the supervision of his brother, who is a big doctor. Nolan calls him and arranges to fly him to the Hamptons to pick up Tyler before he does something dangerous.(Where has this guy been?!) On top of everything else, Tyler’s beloved Daniel calls Tyler a “pathetic parasite” and threatens to call the police on him. Tyler flees.

I’m going to wait to get to the good part.

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Revenge – Episode 10 – A few things….

Editor: Estelle is back with another amazing recap of ABC’s Revenge. I apologize for the tardiness of her post. It’s 100% my fault.

A few announcements before we begin:

  1. Victoria debuts a few new hair styles.
  2. It’s still summer in the Hamptons.
  3. These characters reign as “Best Dressed” on TV.
  4. Things are just as crazy, if not crazier, in the land of Revenge.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, this episode opens with Emily regaining control by practicing karate with Mr. T and divorce papers. It’s the beginning of the end of everyone’s favorite couple and Victoria seems thrown for a loop. Crappy for Ashley who is all dressed up for a breakfast and has suddenly has nowhere to go when Victoria doesn’t feel up to breakfast (or Ashley calling her “Victoria”). But Ashley is ready to suck up this morning and Victoria asks her to get Daniel back, which, of course, she can do. And now she can call her Victoria again.

We get the first of the awkward Ashley and Tyler run-ins when Tyler justifies his kiss with Nolan as him being ambitious and doing it for both of them. He invites her out to dinner that night – fancy place – and while she agrees, I’m not sure Ashley is on Tyler’s team like she used to be before.

Then there’s Jack. I thought he was a smart guy. But first, he believes “Amanda” when she says she is his Amanda from childhood. (Still not seeing the resemblance.) And then when Sammy the wonder dog can’t stop barking at her, Jack thinks the whole thing is a fluke. What? C’mon guy. “Amanda” also has blocked out her childhood and doesn’t want to hear Jack reminisce. I guess I can give her a pass on that one. Not too hard to believe that a person who went through what “Amanda” did might want to talk about anything.

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