Revenge Episode 8 Review: Dealing with the Unexpected

On Revenge, you have to admire Emily crafting a rather igneous plan. However, her biggest flaw appeared tonight and is now poised to ruin everything. Let’s say you were going to assume a new identity and concoct an elaborate ruse to take down a family. Chances are you would be very selective about who you allied with, right? Someone like Nolan seems OK, because he has resources and intelligence. Plus, he’s rather devious. But someone like the real Emily Thorne is basically a red flag. She’s volatile and, frankly, creepy. She and Tyler could probably get married and have creepy babies together. The point is that the real Emily Thorne is a loose end that the fake Emily Thorne should never have left dangling. Sure, it makes for interesting story twists, but anyone would tell you that the original Amanda Clarke should have either killed the original Emily or else assumed the identity of someone who was already dead.

By the way, Revenge is confusing me with all of these identities. So let’s clarify now. The present day Emily Thorne (born: Amanda Clarke) will heretofore be known simply as Emily, since that’s how everyone knows her. Meanwhile, the original Emily Thorne (aka the stripper) will be known as Amanda, since that’s now her assumed identity. Everyone got that? Good.

Essentially, we picked up shortly where the last episode left off in this week’s Revenge. Emily is annoyed that Amanda has come to find her and doubly annoyed that she killed Frank. Now she’s desperate to work around this kink in her plan. She decided to stash Amanda at Nolan’s house for a few days, where she caught Jack’s eye. But the plan went south when Nolan realized who Amanda was and how she was involved in Frank’s death. So Emily decided to get Amanda out of the country. She booked her on a flight to Paris and shuttled her out the door. But not before Amanda essentially Tyler-ed her (can that be used as a verb?). Basically, Amanda is very attached to Emily. She called them ‘sisters’, but I call it ‘creepy crush’. In the end, Amanda decided not to leave the Hamptons and returned, watching Emily and Daniel embrace from afar. That woman is going to cause a lot of problems.

Lydia decided to wake up from her coma, but her memory was spotty. Victoria decided to take control of the situation and moved Lydia into her house. She was determined to control the flow of information and mould Lydia once again. Lydia eventually remembered that suspicious photo of a black-haired Emily at a New Years’Eve party. But Emily decided to be proactive and had Nolan alter the photo. Now Lydia thinks she’s nuts, but she’s also on to Victoria and her suspicious behaviour.

Speaking of Victoria, she, and Revenge, seem hell-bent on destroying her marriage. She continued to be hostile to Conrad, who decided to relocate to a hotel. Charlotte is appalled at having to stay in the house with her mother while her father moved out. And after she called the police on Emily about Frank’s death, Daniel also rejected her. The cops found nothing suspicious at Emily’s house or while questioning her and now Victoria is paying the price. Daniel seems far more interested in making Emily happy than dealing with his mother. He’s since moved out of Grayson manor and in with Emily. But it also seems like her many nighttime activities are starting to arouse his suspicion.

Conrad is trying to remain civil with Victoria, although he clearly doesn’t share her grief about Frank’s death. Tyler has endeared himself to the Grayson patriarch, but when Daniel quit the Stowaway and asked his father for a job, Conrad welcomed his son back with open arms.

Tyler continues to prove himself creepy, but had less material this week. One particularly telling conversation occurred between him and Ashley. Ashley has – somehow – become Victoria’s personal assistant. I don’t remember when this job change happened, but I’ll roll with it. She’s incredibly unhappy that Victoria is basically ordering her around to do menial tasks. She and Tyler shared a whining session about how these rich people just don’t appreciate them, and Ashley displayed uncharacteristic hostility towards Emily.

Revenge has come a long way from a show where Emily would cleanly take one enemy down per week. Now it seems like she’s wasting all her time reacting to events instead of being proactive. The story is growing and cracks in her plan are showing. That’s not meant to be a criticism of the show. I genuinely like the new direction and I think the addition of Amanda could either prove interesting or possibly distracting. I’ll reserve judgment until I know more. But however many obstacles Emily has to overcome, Victoria seems to be doing half her job for her. If Victoria destroys her own family life, how will Emily top that?

A new episode of Revenge will be airing on November 23. Amanda has definitely decided to make herself comfortable in the Hamptons. Watch a trailer for the episode here and browse through photos here.