Revenge "Loyalty" Review

Revenge won't return with a new episode until January 2012. "Loyalty" gave the illusion of Things Happening when, in actuality, things did not happen. Sure the characters were more honest with one another. Such honesty raised the stakes in several plots. Alliances were made. Some folk were set up for betrayal. Other folk WERE betrayed. An expensive laptop met its end in a pool. A fancy camera found its way into Tyler's possessions. Secrets were revealed. Alliances were broken. Rich people continued to show a stunning lack of imagination as it pertained to vacation destinations. Of all the places on earth, Nolan wanted Tyler to wine and dine him in sunny Monte Carlo. A marriage ended.

One would think that Things Happened in "Loyalty" after reading the above paragraph. For such an "action-packed" 41 minutes, though, my mind wandered. I thought more about the exits of Manchester City and Manchester United from the Champions League. I remarked, several times to my mother, that I don't know why I continue watching and writing about Revenge. I openly wondered whether or not the actors and actresses enjoy working on the show. When reminded about the amount of zeroes on their paycheck, I admitted the actors and actresses probably enjoy their work. But mother of pearl, friends and well-wishers, an episode of Revenge is boring, boring, boring. Some scenes resemble have all the excitement of watching concrete harden. Big and Important scenes fail to keep my attention for 2-3 minutes. I understand I'm among the minority of Revenge detractors. The majority of the interweb's embraced the night-time soap.

The one scene that worked narratively and emotionally was between Nolan and Emily. The relationship/alliance/partnership/whatever between the characters grew on me since the "Pilot." I enjoyed nearly every scene between them because I felt invested in the success of their treachery and revenge schemes. I liked the dynamic the writers settled on between Nolan and Emily. Emily's the revenge-driven girl, whose heart would remain dead even when watching the commercial about the orphaned dogs, whereas Nolan would buy the entire orphaned dogs company and care for them himself. In other words, Nolan has a heart and Emily doesn't. Nolan's moral compass kept Emily in line somewhat. Whenever they were covering up a murder or an attempted murder, Nolan reminded Emily that he didn't sign up for such dangerous activity. Yes, Nolan promised her father that he'd help his daughter, but Emily's gone entirely off the moral path.

Emily's cold disposition hurt the one person she could count on. I'll spare my readership the gory details of Tyler-NolanGate. In short, their sexual encounter was recorded by Nolan for insurance. Word spread. Conrad fired Tyler, then didn't, when Tyler told the Grayson patriarch about his knowledge of the David Clarke truth. Tyler felt infuriated by Nolan's betrayal, although Nolan's hands were entirely clean. Emily felt disappointed in Nolan for risking their carefully laid plans on a moment of fancy with a hooker (Tyler). Nolan told her that David never wanted this life of cold and calculated revenge for her. Emily couldn't repress her emotions for long. As soon as Nolan left, tears fell from her eyes. By golly, I want Nolan and Emily to make up and be conspirators again. Ashley and Tyler are conspiring over expensive plates of food and glasses of wine.

Meanwhile, Emily allowed Fake Amanda to continue using the Amanda Clarke identity. Slowly, news spread about the Hamptons that Amanda Clarke returned. Victoria learned in her last scene of the episode. The cover-up seems to be falling apart episode by episode. The Fake Amanda arc has many possibilities--murder, public ruination, etc. It won't end well.

I mentioned the other happenings of "Loyalty" in the paragraph. The Graysons will go to divorce court. A lawyer from their past volunteered to represent Victoria. The same lawyer's rejected David Clarke's sentence appeal and Emily knows all about it. Overall, though, the only aspect of the episode worth writing about was the Nolan-Emily fight. Tyler behaved in a way on night-time soap antagonists can behave, which is poorly. Daniel vowed to assist his mother in bringing Conrad down because he's infuriated by Tyler's continued employment in the company. Soon enough Daniel will learn about just how much each parent sucks.

I don't have anything else to write about "Loyalty."

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