Revenge "Trust" Review

Well, I didn't like the second episode of Revenge. I figured I'd state that truth immediately. As per usual, I write about two episodes for shows I'm interested in writing about for the long haul. Second episodes provide a better feel for what future episodes will be like. I didn't like what I saw in "Trust."

Mike Kelley, the series' creator, promised to wrap up the Daniel Grayson murder mystery in the thirteenth episode, which allows the series to focus on the dramatic trial in the back nine. I suppose it's refreshing for a show runner to make promises about the direction of the show. The series has a small window to tell a large chunk of their narrative now. The narrative moved forward two months in one week yet nothing changed. The majority of the episode recycled the pilot, which isn't uncommon in the initial six episodes of a series, but it didn't make for a compelling or engaging hour of TV. Basically, the timeline moved forward but the actual narrative did not, and that's just a waste of time.

Okay, I lied. The narrative moved at a snail's pace. Emily took revenge on a man named Bill Harmon who was part of the conspiracy to destroy the life of Emily's father. The episode ruminated on the idea of a trust. And who's more trustworthy than family? Of course, Bill wasn't family; he was LIKE family, though. In flashbacks, Little Amanda ran towards Bill's arms, excitedly yelling "Uncle Bill" as he waited to swoop her up. David, Amanda’s father, trusted Bill like a brother. Bill ran a successful hedge fund. He acted as a trusted financial adviser to David until he was bought by the Graysons to help ruin him in the court room. Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship--friendly, sexual, and business. There's neediness in any relationship, as well--a need for companionship or intimacy or money. Bill's supposed to be a trusted individual. After all, he's responsible for billions of other people's money. Emily's fueled by the fire of broken trust. Uncle Bill sold her father out, and since she's not in the business of forgiveness, she decides to ruin his hedge fund.

Emily's revenge isn't a complicated scheme. Bill's the dumbest Wall Street executive created, and the scene in which he buys stock in a doomed company was reminiscent of Martin Prince's infamous "Soy! Soy!" scene in The Simpsons. She performed a simple task in her destruction of the man: she made him trust her. Bill, being in the business of hedge funds, wanted Emily's investment. He needed her money to make him more money. Her seemingly close friendship with Nolan Ross made Bill more eager to do business with Emily because, despite his quirks, Nolan's one of the richest men in the world. When Emily exchanged inside information with him, Bill bit like a fish. The hedge fund went down swiftly as Emily sipped wine and smiled to herself.

Bill's a nobody in the grand scheme of her revenge plans against the Hamptons, though. Victoria Grayson, the queen of the Hamptons, is the one Emily's after because she's responsible for the plan against her father. Years ago, Victoria and David had an affair. Something went wrong. Victoria needed to make a choice, so she chose Conrad. Victoria doesn't trust the new girl from next door, especially when she learns of her son's interest in her. The head of the Grayson security investigated Emily and found nothing initially; however, two years of her life weren't documented, and she and Lydia's husband left the board of directors for a New York Preservation company at the same time. Victoria instructed her head of security to follow Emily at all times.

The board of directors revelation suggests something sinister about Emily. Either the girl stole someone's identity (anything's possible in a damn soap) or the name's coincidence or Michael (Lydia's husband) has a role to play. I'll opt for the latter scenario because Emily easily rented the home. Michael has cause for revenge, considering his wife's adultery. Revenge is built around these connections and crosses. Audiences eat up this sort of melodrama, and it's why I disliked the second episode of Revenge. I didn't care for the Emily and Victoria feud the second time around nor the financial troubles of the Porter family nor Nolan's sociopathic interest in Emily's revenge nor the Lydia/Conrad scene. The surprise party for Emily, thrown by Daniel, only happened to blur the future. The scene said, "Boy that Daniel is quite a nice guy. Could Emily have really murdered him? Is her revenge THAT cold?" And I'm just not interested in finding out what happens.

I'd consider watching some more episodes if I suspected the soap opera quality would be reduced but it won't be. I'm intrigued by Victoria's character. Thus far, she's been mostly portrayed through the lens of Emily, so she's cold and cruel; however, she's a loving mother and loyal to her father. Victoria's not spying on Emily because she's resentful of her youth or riches; she's just a mother protecting her son whose been made his mistakes with the opposite sex. Likewise, Emily should become more relatable as her relationship with Daniel grows, and when she reveals her identity to Jack. The isolated woman's hard to identify with, even with her tortured back story. She sits alone at the end, on her birthday, blowing a single candle out on top of a cupcake because she can only trust herself. I doubt that philosophy remains because there's no conflict, no hard choices, or pain. Emily's revenge scheme will be complicated by her affections for Daniel. If not, why bother telling a story about revenge if it's as easy as the Bill Harmon storyline?

I declared last week that I wouldn't write about The Secret Circle anymore. Naturally, I'm writing about #103 tomorrow. I'm inclined to watch another Revenge episode because I'm intrigued by the murder mystery as well as the two main characters. I won't promise to write about it, though.

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