I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I’ve liked Revenge since the pilot, but this week’s episode completely cemented my love of this fun new drama. It’s true that it’s somewhat ridiculously easy for Emily to take down her enemies each hour, but who cares when it’s so much fun to watch? Not only that, but the most recent episode episode wasn’t just about setting up and taking down the conspirator of the week. It also built in a few additional mysteries, revealed some effective backstory and set up some interesting storylines going forward.
Let’s start at the beginning. Years ago, when Amanda Clarke was still a young girl after her father had been arrested, she was being evaluated by a court-appointed shrink by the name of Dr. Michelle Banks. Back then, Dr. Banks was visited by Victoria, who suggested that Amanda be institutionalized. Why would Victoria have suggested that? Was it just to keep Amanda quiet about the affair (since we know she saw Victoria and her father together) or was it more than that? Whatever her motives, Victoria essentially offered to set Dr. Banks up with a private practice and plenty of Hamptons patients, if only she would recommend that Amanda be placed in an institution. (Update: As pointed out by a commenter below, it does seem likely that Victoria wanted to keep young Amanda locked away because she saw Victoria steal David’s computer and give it to Frank. That will teach me to watch an all-important final scene while distracted!).
Dr. Banks was horrible to Amanda. It wasn’t enough to lock her away, she was incredibly spiteful and said terrible things about both Amanda and her father. This is one conspirator I was especially happy to see get her just desserts.
Fast-forward to present day, where we learned that Emily has been visiting Dr. Banks for a year and also tapping into her patient recordings. Fortunately, Victoria presented Emily with the perfect venue to exact her revenge: a Mothers and Daughters charity luncheon for mental health. Victoria was in attendance with her daughter Charlotte, with whom she has a tumultuous relationship. Unfortunately, Emily made things far worse when she decided to play Dr. Banks’private patient videos at the luncheon, which humiliated Victoria (who admitted she was unsure if she actually wanted Charlotte in the video), the various Hamptons socialites, and Dr. Banks.
Naturally, Victoria vowed revenge herself because her private conversations had been released. But her angry voicemails for Dr. Banks came back to bite her when the doctor actually went missing. The police came by to interview Victoria, who claimed ignorance about the doctor’s whereabouts. And Victoria was telling the truth, because Dr. Banks had actually been put in a storage container by Emily so that she could feel what it was like to be locked away. Just desserts, indeed. But Ashley later inadvertently cast suspicion on Emily when discussing how the DVDs could have been switched and now Victoria and her security man, Frank, seem to realize that something bigger is going on here.
Meanwhile, in between destroying and humiliating various people on tonight’s episodes, Emily continued to date Daniel. Or, at least, she attempted to do so, but was continuously thwarted by his former Harvard buddy, Tyler. Tyler’s actions perplex me. I have a crazy theory that he’s actually gay and in love with Daniel, which is why he’s deliberately trying to sabotage his relationship with Emily. On the other hand, it could simply be a case of Tyler not wanting Daniel to grow up and leave him behind. Whatever his reasons, I suspect Emily will soon catch on to Tyler’s schemes and I hope Daniel does as well.
In slightly less interesting news, Conrad visited Lydia in the city, which will precipitate her return to the Hamptons in next week’s episode (which should be far more interesting). Declan was also anxious to unload his father’s tavern after his death, but Jack seems determined to keep it in the family. Declan also grew closer to Charlotte, who became incredibly upset after her mother’s feelings about her came out at the luncheon.
As I said before, I loved this week’s episode of Revenge and think it was the best one yet. The flashbacks are no longer just about seeing young Amanda’s relationship with her father, but are now showcasing how large a part Victoria played in what happened to the Clarke family. And it’s becoming clear that Emily’s plan for Victoria is far more involved and complex than her normal ‘take down one person a week’schemes. Revenge is not really about the week-by-week plots, it’s about one ultimate goal: the destruction of Victoria Grayson. Victoria is proving herself a more worthy adversary as the weeks pass. She (and the completely indispensable Frank) are starting to catch on fairly quickly that something larger is happening.
I can’t wait to see Victoria and Emily face off against each other for real. As the characters gain more complexities, my desire to see a show-down between these two formidable women grows. I haven’t felt this excited about a primetime soap since the first season of Desperate Housewives.
Don’t miss an all new episode of Revenge on October 19. You can view photos and a trailer for next week’s episode here.
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Nice review… but you forgot to mention that Victoria realised that Amanda saw her give the fathers computer to Frank. That is the reason Victoria wanted her to be instituionalized and never see her father again..I thought that was a key insight into her hatred for Victoria and the therapist.
In this episode, we found out that Frank was former FBI. Taken out of context, that scene looked very bad for Victoria, but she might have caught on to the investigation of David, and tried to prove his innocence by handing over the computer to the proper authorities as well. We know she later goes to the chief prosecutor and tries to do the right thing, but her husband is able to block her attempt and bribe the prosecutor into completing the takedown.
I'm not certain why Victoria would have worked so hard to keep Amanda from ever seeing her father again, but time will tell. I'm willing to bet it was for a compassionate reason, such as David begging Victoria to protect Amanda from the hell his life became, or something like that.
I will have to go back to watch that scene again! Like I said, I think that Victoria's desire to have Amanda institutionalized is for a specific reason to keep her quiet and this could be it. I'm just wondering what the timeline is in terms of her convincing Dr. Banks to lock Amanda up and getting the prosecutor to free David.
Oooooohhhh, what an interesting theory about Charlotte! I definitely hadn't considered that possibility, but it could work. I'm trying to do the math in my head to see if it works!
One big clue is the actress portraying Charlotte. She doesn't look a thing like Grayson, but she sure looks a lot like David. She's also 16-ish, which would fit perfectly within the time frame. She would have been born after David went to prison.
What I like to mention in this epsiode. I thought Jack and Daniel were about to throw down at the Tavern.
The day before, Emily went to the beach house to suprise Daniel but it was Tyler in the living room, meanwhile Daniel was in the shower. Emily said she and Daniel had dinner plans for the night. Afterwards, Tyler hide Daniels phone. Daniel came out the shower Tyler told him that Emily had to cancel there dinner plans so that means that Him and Daniel can party it up tonight. Later that night at Emily's house, she was waiting for Daniel to show up but Jack surprisingly showed up instead just wanting to thank her for returning Sammy the dog. And while Jack and Emily are sitting there eating, drinking and talking, Daniel peeks in and see the two of them there. I mean wow.
But they ended up not fighting but whose to say they want come to blows later? If a confrontation does happen between the two. We can thank Tyler for starting it
"That was taken completely out of context!" …I fail to see how you could have said that in a different context. What, did the shrink say, "Now say something completely ridiculous, like that you wish you didn't know someone you love"? ;) Thanks for your review! I love things to comment on, being an internet-addicted teenager.
So… can you believe Nolan GAVE AWAY his computer? He must have really wanted to befriend the Porters. Was it just for Emily's date with Jack? I thought at first they were going to trace the IP address to that laptop and Declan was going to be in trouble. I suppose there's no motive, but in a show called *Revenge*, you think of these things.
Ooooooo, that's juicy! I never thought of that. Hmmmmmm….