Revenge S1E16: Scandal

Posted on March 01, 2012

Well.

That’s the problem with stories once you get everyone up to speed: there’s always a momentary “What’s next?” In a book, this pause-and-regroup moment could take as little as half a chapter, but in a serial television drama, it means entire episodes are turned over to the actions of cleaning up and setting up. These are rarely Pinanyone’s favorite episodes, but we suppose this could have been a lot worse.

In an hour relatively short of forward momentum, there was at least one major reveal that surprised us: Revenge Sensei killed Tyler. Mostly. We’re not necessarily surprised that he’s the killer; we’re surprised that we know he’s the killer already. Many of us assumed the second half of the season would be something of a murder mystery but now we have no idea where things are going. That kind of unpredictability is golden for a show like this. We admit, we were a little disappointed at first to get such a definitive answer, but now it throws everything back at Emily. She will have to decide who deserves to be saved, according to her Sensei. Although we admit, we couldn’t tell who he was talking about. She’ll have to choose between Jack and Daniel? Or Jack and Amanda? Or Amanda and Daniel? Either way, we really enjoyed that short flashback scene to the night of the murder because we finally saw Emily not only display emotion, but emotion that was thisclose to getting out of control. It’s a new look for Hamptons Batman and while we can’t say we like it – preferring her when she’s totally on top of her game and ahead of everyone else in the room, of course – but it makes her character a lot more interesting and it raises the stakes emotionally. If Emily is this upset, how can we, the audience NOT be? “Your lack of discipline has brought chaos,” Sensei tells her, but has it? Sure, there’s a lot of chaos right now, but how much of that can be laid at Emily’s feet? She has nothing to do with Tyler’s craziness. A lot of the Amanda stuff is entirely her fault, but you can’t blame our Ems for a nutty gay with a gun, can you?Pin

At least we got to see Emily once again prove that she’s smarter than Daniel – or any of the men, really. How quickly did she deal with Tyler’s attempt to reveal her plans? She didn’t even break a sweat getting Daniel to believe her.

In other news, Jack is so dumb that we’re impressed he has motor skills at all. HE PUT THE BLOODY HOODIE IN HIS DRAWER. Let’s face it: when wool-headed mouthbreather Declan is out-thinking you and feels he needs to step in to protect you, SCHEDULE A BRAIN SCAN IMMEDIATELY. If only to determine you actually have one.

Nolan remains awesome, of course. In fact, finding out that he’s not only the Robin to Hamptons Batman but also the Robin to Revenge Sensei suddenly made him even more interesting. Emily’s lucky to have him but she should never make the mistake of thinking she’ll always be able to out think him or control him.

Ashley somehow went from a party planner to a Grayson family spokesperson. We’re digging her whole “ambitious social climber” schtick, but we’re getting a little tired of random men walking up to her and telling her she’s an ambitious social climber. How about showing us some of that, writers? Sure, she took and uploaded the party pics, apparently, but why? What was she supposed to get out of that aside from more turmoil for her employers? If she’s so ambitious, what exactly are her plans and goals?

PinCharlotte went from being a nobody in this story to the person we feel the most sorry for. The scene on the swing with Emily was well played and quite sad, revealing once again just how much Emily’s giving up by staying on this path. We’re telling you, though: once that girl figures out how little she has to lose, she’ll become one of the most dangerous players on the board.

And finally, pretty mouthbreather Daniel gets punished for being part of the 1% (and how quickly was THAT inserted into the script, we wonder) and inexplicably gets sent to prison without a trial, to await trial. Okay, then. Doesn’t make much sense to us, but then again, we never understood why these people think bandage  dresses make appropriate beach wear. We’re just not their kind, we suppose.

NO NEW EPISODES UNTIL APRIL?!?

We WILL DESTROY YOU, ABC Television.

 

 

[Photo Credit: ABC]

Please review our Community Guidelines before posting a comment. Thank you!

blog comments powered by Disqus