Revenge Episode 2-14 Review – Oh, Mandy

Reviews, Shows

This week’s episode of Revenge was a doozy, so if you’ve seen it (obvious spoiler alert) click through for a brief recap.

revengeViewers have generally all had the same complaints about this season – it’s been scattered, unfocused, the Stowaway plot was stupid and the villains were too vague. “Sacrifice” felt like the grand correction to all that. It wrapped up the weak storyline at Jack’s bar and refocused on the Graysons as the main villains and Emily’s targets.

Poor Amanda. I didn’t always like her, but the girl did grow on me. She paid the ultimate sacrifice for her friendship with Emily. She got sucked in so deep that she threatened the Graysons herself (over the deal with Jack’s bar, but using some of Em’s security camera footage) and made herself a target. I had a feeling all season that she’d be the one to go down with “The Amanda”, so this episode wasn’t a surprise, but it was a sad one.

Had Amanda’s death been the doing of Nate, I wouldn’t have cared. But the Graysons were involved, which should refocus Emily on taking them down. Revenge still needs to be shaken up, I think, and I wouldn’t mind seeing the bomb dropped that Emily is actually Amanda Clark sooner rather than later.

Amanda’s death is the most serious consequence of Emily’s quest for vengeance so far, and Emily Van Camp really sold that despair as she sobbed in the dinghy.

I don’t think this episode completely corrected everything – Daniel is still too weak-willed to be a compelling character, and framing Amanda for the murder of the woman from The Initiative is a perfect example of that. But I do hope it was a step in the right direction.

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.