Revenge – Episode 1-14 Review – “Setting the Stage”

Reviews

Wednesday night’s episode of Revenge blew my mind so much that I’m tempted to throw a Revenge viewing party next week. Only I don’t have that many friends in Halifax who watch the show (a shame, I know) and it debuts the same night as Survivor, which I’ll also need to watch and it airs at 11:00 p.m. where I live (a tragedy, if you ask me.) But holy crap, I could not be more excited for next week’s episode.

A Brief Review of “Perception”

OK, so to quickly recap: This week Emily sought to reveal Charlotte’s true paternity in front of the whole Grayson clan – including Grandpa Grayson – and just when she decided to hold off Conrad dropped that truth bomb for her. Now Daniel knows that Victoria wasn’t raped by David Clarke, but was having a longstanding, consensual affair. Now Charlotte knows who her real father is.


It all came to be in such an interesting way. There have been peripheral characters all along on the show, and I expect them all to rise to more prominent roles as the season plays out. This was Jack’s turn – he got his hands on that misplaced interview tape and watched a young Amanda Clarke reveal the affair her father had been having with the lady named Victoria. He crashed the Grayson’s dinner party and told everyone what he knew.

Fire and Ice

All this happened as the preparations are being made for Emily and Daniel’s engagement party, the one with the fire and ice theme, the one we saw in the first scene of the show. We still don’t know for sure that it will be Daniel who’s shot, but we know something will go horribly wrong.

Jack is angry

Right now, there are a lot of angry people in the Grayson’s world. Both of Victoria’s children hate her, and neither of them have a great relationship with Conrad at this point either. There’s the real Emily Thorne, who’s furious with the girl she’s been pretending to be. There’s Emily herself. There’s Ashley, “Victoria’s pet bird” as Conrad put it, a girl more clever than she lets on. (Check out EW.com for an interesting theory about Ashley.) I think we all know Psycho Tyler could make a reappearance at any point. And now, somewhat, there’s Jack. He’d do anything for the girl he believes is Amanda Clarke, and in the pilot we saw that he’s the one who drags away Daniel’s body. We know Declan isn’t the murderer because he was skinny dipping with Charlotte, and who else would he cover up a crime for?

I Will Attend

And then, the twist. At the end of the episode, Emily arrived home to discover her secret floorboards hiding place (did she get that from Lane Kim?) had been discovered, her wooden box was stolen. In its place was that obnoxious party invitation, with “Miss Emily Thorne Will Attend” written in Red Sharpie of Revenge.


Who? How? What on earth will happen? I can’t wait to find out.

Random thoughts:

  • Was I supposed to find College Daniel charming because he said he wanted to be a poet? I found him drunk and seeming like he was trying to get into a girl’s pants. But I think we’re meant to believe Emily liked him.
  • Normally I don’t buy the idea that with brown hair and glasses a girl can be transformed from hot to mousy, but they managed to make it work with Emily VanCamp.
  • Victoria in pants??? That was weird.
  • The RSVP card left in Emily’s house suggests it was left by Amanda, the real Emily Thorne, but I don’t think Revenge would do something so obvious and I don’t know how she’d know about the secret hiding place (unless she was spying on Emily, which is possible.)

What we know from the pilot:

I’ve re-watched the first scene from the pilot in preparation for next week’s episode.

  • Daniel is shot once from afar and twice at close range – were their two shooters? 
  • Emily has sand on her hand, but I don’t think she’s the shooter – it would be too easy.
  • Nolan wears red and white to the party (women wear red, men wear white) – a sign, or just Nolan being Nolan?
  • Why does Emily say “You shouldn’t be here” to Nolan? He got an invitation, so he clearly was originally supposed to attend. What happens between them?
  • I take back what I said about Declan – he discovered the body with Charlotte, but we don’t know where he was when Daniel (or whoever) was shot. So he’s still an option, albeit it not a likely one.
  • Charlotte never got a good look at the body, and Declan never said who it was – so why did she scream that it was her brother? CURIOUS!
  • Nolan certainly looks like he knows something when he stares at Emily as Victoria runs to the beach.
  • Is this Daniel’s hair?? It looks too wavy. (I know, I’m grasping at straws.)

OK, now tell me all your thoughts!

See you next week – practice your Emily Death Stares!


You can follow Jill at her blog, couchtimewithjill.com, or on Twitter @jillemader Jill has been an avid fan of TV since the age of two, when she was so obsessed with Zoobilee Zoo that her mother lied and told her it had been canceled. Despite that setback, she grew up to be a television aficionado and pop culture addict.