Revenge just keeps getting better, doesn’t it? Last night, the very anticipated episode “Chaos” aired, the one that revisited Emily and Daniel’s engagement party. And oh man, was it good.
I think we should all take a moment to applaud the Revenge showrunners for pulling off this episode. They re-shot a lot of those scenes from the pilot (EW.com has a great Q&A about the show) and had planned all along that Tyler would be the murder victim on the beach, not Daniel. I love story arcs that are well thought out, and I have mad respect for Revenge for being able to weave such a tangled web for us all to enjoy.
Tyler showed up early in the episode – it made sense that he was the one who stole Emily’s wooden box of secrets, because he saw where it was. He’d stolen more than the box, though – he was also holding Amanda hostage. He wanted money, but he also wanted – you guesses it – REVENGE!!! After all, he knew Emily was the one who framed him for Frank’s murder.
At first, Tyler managed to turn Amanda on Emily. He enlightened her about how Emily had ignored Jack’s texts and how it had been Emily, not Victoria, who framed Amanda for arson. But what Tyler didn’t know was that it had been Amanda who killed Frank, not Emily. So when Emily framed Tyler she was saving Amanda’s ass, not her own.
What I loved about this episode was that it inspired more questions than it answered. It seemed clear from early on that Daniel would not be the one to die, and as soon as Tyler arrived back on the scene I knew it would be his body laying dead on the beach. But who killed him? Daniel had blood on his clothes, but Amanda went there looking to kill him. Jack obviously thinks it was Amanda and, as I’d guessed, that’s why he was involved. Amanda was the only person (besides Declan, who was never a suspect) he’d cover up a murder for.
I’m glad it wasn’t Daniel who died. Daniel Grayson the murder suspect is a much more intriguing storyline than Daniel Grayson the murder victim, and I can’t wait to see where this goes. Daniel’s family will do whatever it takes to make sure he doesn’t go down for this, whether he did it or not. And since he moved the body (and wasn’t wearing gloves, or whatever) Jack could easily take the fall for this. And that would break Emily’s heart.
Then we also had the reappearance of Emily’s mentor, Satoshi Takeda. He arrived to get Emily back on track, but she didn’t even know he was in town until Daniel mentioned a business meeting. He recovered the wooden box from Tyler and gave it back to Emily disguised as an engagement gift. He picked up Amanda on the side of the road after the murder – where are they going? And most importantly, did you notice the little nod exchanged between him and Nolan? What’s their relationship?
Other Thoughts:
- Nolan had some great moments this episode, but I especially liked it when he tried to convince Emily to take off to Haiti with Jack and live happily ever after. Emily thinks Nolan’s mission is to help her mission, but it’s not. He just wants her to be happy.
- I also loved that Nolan was monitoring the security cameras capturing the party on his iPad while he was at the party! Brilliant. And I loved his red/white outfit.
- Grandpa Grayson is showing his true villainous colors! He used Declan as a way to convince Charlotte not to go see a therapist about the paternity bombshell, when she obviously needs the help.
- February 29th can’t come soon enough:
