Revenge "Commitment" Review

Emily tells us in the teaser that one's life is determined by their choices; however, one's choices are only as weak or strong as one's commitment to the choice. Emily chose to re-locate to The Hamptons, where the Grayson family resided, the very same family responsible for the downfall of her father. Emily chose the path of cold, unrepentant revenge. For the entire run of the series thus far, which isn't long, she's been a committed woman. The collateral damage wasn't bothersome enough to interrupt her sleep schedule. Everything changed in "Commitment." Bad stuff happened. Emily thought about the people she affected. A marriage proposal happened. Victoria Grayson lied to her son about how Charlotte was conceived with another man. Jack nearly died from a brutal beating, because Victoria hired a man to retrieve evidence from the room of Fake Amanda Clarke. Indeed: things happened.

Emily Clarke's conscience usually became a topic of discussion between her and Nolan. I forget when the BFFs first talked about her conscience, but the conversations always ended the same way--Emily reminded Nolan of her commitment to revenge, and Nolan shook his head and implored her to really think about the effect she has on the lives of others. We were bound to reach this point in the series. A series can sustain a singular motivation such as Emily's for so long before it becomes stale, dull, boring, etc. Emily resembled a robot. I understand the reasons for her characterization; I just felt bored by it in November. Anyway, the episode began with helpful exposition about the Charlotte-David Clarke bombshell. The exposition was written well; it was more or less disguised in substantial dialogue between Emily and Nolan about how Emily feels about Charlotte being her half-sister. The moment was crucial. Nolan's been after one tiny speck of humanity, and Emily's been reluctant to display one speck of humanity. Emily shut him down once more, stating that the Charlotte news changed nothing about her intentions to destroy the Grayson family.

The Charlotte news was just the tip of the iceberg. Whatever feelings Emily felt about her half-sister were buried deep within her mind. Emily needed to focus on the task at hand: creating chaos in the Grayson divorce and framing Amanda for the tapes/burnt house. Again, she acted without thought and people were hurt. Specifically, Conrad harshly dismissed Charlotte from his life without explanation, though he opted against severing her trust fund. Fake Amanda innocently went about her business in The Hamptons, tending bars, making out with Jack, and being completely oblivious to what her dear friend was up to. Victoria invited Fake Amanda over for strawberries and tea. Victoria resembled a spider in a web. Fake Amanda was the poor insect who flew into the web, drawn by something sweet and tasty, only then to feel the bite of a privileged Hamptonite. The purpose of tea and strawberries was DNA, but Victoria hired someone to learn more about this woman whose true identity she suspected wasn't Amanda Clarke. The hired man engaged in fisticuffs with Jack, but made off with a collection of the David Clarke tapes and left Jack a bloody mess. Emily's intentions to frame Fake Amanda spiraled out of control. Now, the man she's always loved, and the woman she swapped identities with, were in true danger. A bloodied Nolan went to Emily's house to tell her that the blood on his jacket isn't nearly as much as the blood on the hands of Emily.

Daniel Grayson proposed to Emily in the middle of the action, during an intense summer thunderstorm. The summer storm was the episode's most obvious metaphor. The clouds were thick around the Hamptons during the day. Declan and Fake Amanda specifically referred to the summer storm and how they roll into town and out of town rather quickly, indifferent whatever damage left in its wake. So Emily's the summer storm; someone who came into town with one objective, whose intensity and passion for revenge is like a supercell; the supercell is intense and violent and utterly indifferent to damage caused. Of course, Emily isn't a supercell, or any kind of weather system; she is a human being, and she can't be a summer storm no matter how badly she wants to be one. The sight of a bloody and unconscious Jack Porter affected our ice-cold protagonist. Emily initially accepted Daniel's proposal because she planned this way back when. The collateral damage altered her opinion for an hour or so. Emily wanted to take a step back, re-access the situation, and figure out how to destroy Victoria without hurting the people she's grown to care about and even love. She decided to give the ring back to Daniel because she needed time to think about whether she actually wanted to marry into the horrible Grayson family.

Emily re-committed herself to the original plan quickly though. Once she took care of Fake Amanda (by giving her a passport and money to leave the country and start a new life), and took the necessary steps to ensure the safety of Jack Porter, she vowed to re-access things; however, Daniel told her about the Charlotte bombshell. Daniel then went on a tirade against David Clarke. Victoria told her son that Charlotte's conception came from rape. So Daniel talked about the things he'd do to that awful David Clarke had he not died in prison following his conviction for blowing up an airplane. The look on Emily's face can only be described as livid but in a classy and subdued way. Emily reiterated her commitment to him, and her excitement to become part of the Graysons. As the engaged couple embraced, she glared at Victoria from her porch, with intense and hateful eyes.

Truthfully, I've been waiting for "Commitment." I wanted to watch an episode that basically let me know the writers know what the hell they're doing; that the in-media-res of the pilot's teaser wasn't meaningless. The episode concluded on several tantalizing shots; one solitary David Clarke tape beneath Jack's bed; the aforementioned Emily icy glare at Victoria; the exodus of Fake Amanda; the relationship between Emily and the lawyer we thought she despised. There's a clearer picture of why the shooting happened on the night of the engagement party. Emily was written more deeply and more compassionately. I had issues with the episode, specifically the tedious scenes between Conrad and Victoria. Both characters are loathsome. I don't care about their divorce, their past infidelities, or their future soon-to-be controversial public trial. I quite liked the rest of "Commitment" though.

Some other thoughts:

-The scene in which Charlotte tearfully came to Emily's wasn't earned. There's been no evidence she'd come to Emily's in a hysterical fit. The scene existed to, briefly, provoke the audience into wondering if Charlotte knows the truth about her biological father. She didn't. Nothing happened.

-Margarita Levieva needs to return ASAP.

-Mike Kelley & Liz Tigelaar wrote the episode. The director's not listed on imdb.com.