Six months is an awfully long time to build towards an event. The first minutes of the "Pilot" showed the climatic denouement of "Chaos." We didn't know the characters or the context. I firmly believed that Daniel would die in tonight's episode; it was a silly thing considering the tricks night-time soaps have up their sleeves. Indeed, a twist happened. Everything we saw at the end of the pilot was completely different in context. I suppose I expected a game-changing episode for Revenge, one in which Emily's secret would be discovered, and the course of the show would change. The ABC promo department assisted in such delusions. I should've known that Revenge wouldn't produce a game-changing episode in their first season. The premise of Revenge would've been shot, and the show would've struggled to tell a story in which everyone knew about Emily's secret. Instead, Emily kept her secret, Tyler's dead, other character dynamics became chaotic, and Satoshi returned to change the game of Emily's revenge.
Tyler's return signaled a return to the nonsense storytelling. "Chaos" became 80% less interesting when Emily learned that he stole her secret box from her house. Tyler's turn from envious sociopath to full-fledged psychopath several episodes ago didn't work mostly because it felt like a sudden decision by the staff to reach a certain point in the story. This certain part of the story is "Chaos" in which he holds Fake Amanda hostage, gets $5 million from Emily, announces his plan to frame Emily for the murder of Daniel Grayson at the Fire & Ice engagement party. Tyler's actions weren't unbelievable, or unearned; in fact, his motivations made sense, were rooted in the storytelling, and consistent with what we've seen from him. His exit was abrupt, and honestly, his arc needed a little more closure. Tyler was Emily's most formidable threat, someone savvy enough to break into her house and steal from her, someone unafraid to take her head on because he's mentally unbalanced.
The enemies picked up from where they left off: threats, weaponry, blackmail, and ransom. Unfortunately for Emily, Tyler successfully turned Fake Amanda against her. Fake Amanda looked through the secret box, learned about Emily framing her for the Treadwell fire, and saw the many texts from Jack that Emily withheld from her. Of course, Fake Amanda eventually changed her mind and bailed on Tyler, taking the $5 million with her. I liked how the writers brought back the sexual overtones between Fake Amanda and Emily; that aspect of their relationship remains essentially unexplored, but Fake Amanda admitted she believed her former cellmate was, in fact, her soul mate. Fake Amanda didn't react as a betrayed friend but, rather, as a betrayed lover. Unfortunately, the story dictated just one scene between the characters. But Fake Amanda's treachery gave Tyler necessary leverage to suggest that his plan would succeed, at least for me.
Emily's been in the position of damage control for quite a few episodes. We've seen the people around her complicate matters just because they care about her. Emily can't actively stop Tyler without blowing her cover; I suppose it's a testament to Emily that she's willing to let Tyler fly about town without medication and a potentially disastrous plan. Nolan implores her to leave town, but she reminds him of the promise he made her, to help ensure the execution of her grand plans for revenge. She's resolute throughout the ordeal, though nervous about Tyler harming innocent people. Luckily, the only one harmed is the most dangerous person in Emily's life: Tyler. Satoshi's return injected a new energy into Emily's plans. Clearly, she needs help. Things around her have gone to shit; when she's not getting her childhood crush beaten to a pulp, she's putting Fake Amanda in danger, or Nolan. Satoshi's the calming presence everyone needs in their lives, revenge driven or not. He's like one's distant brother or sister, or best friend, who returns to help you clear your mind, re-focus, breathe, and start anew.
Satoshi handed Emily a present (her secret box) and told her that the time's come to dedicate herself to the "righteous path" of the revenge. Of course, I think Satoshi, somehow and someway during the party, shot Tyler in the back. Satoshi explains that he got the box through Tyler's carelessness; however, there's a rather significant series of shots between Satoshi, Emily and Nolan as all hell breaks loose. Satoshi nods, and then Nolan nods, and then Emily. Certainly, the killer is a mystery, but the writing for Satoshi felt overt; but Mike Kelley loves his twists, so we'll need to watch and whatnot.
Victoria's grand speech, and subsequent whisper in Emily's ear, was less exciting than it was six months ago, when one thought Victoria figured out the secret of Emily Clarke. I commend Mike Kelley for crafting one heck of a hook in the "Pilot." After all, I'm still writing about the series six months later because of the intrigue surrounding the pilot teaser. Victoria stated her acceptance of Emily, which was bullshit, and her pointed question to Emily was entirely about Daniel. Victoria didn't suspect Emily of trying to kill her boy; she was just concerned because Emily rejected Daniel's invitation to flee the Hamptons.
"Chaos" provided plenty of fodder for the rest of the season. We're not sure what Daniel knows; his confrontation with Tyler happened off-screen. Charlotte's resorting to drugs to help her cope with the truth. Grandpop Grayson doesn't care about a single goddamn person in the Hamptons unless they're about to disgrace the Grayson name publicly which then affects the value of the company and hurts the profit line. Fake Amanda is a wild card. Charlotte and Declan saw a figure by the body (Jack). Jack's still a character without a definable role in the series. Mike Kelley said, some months ago, that the remaining seven episodes would focus on the trial. I'm not really interested in the trial. I don't know what I'm still interested in. I hope Satoshi goes Dogen on Fake Amanda and subjects her to the same test that Sayid got, just because I miss LOST. Dogen was awesome for the few episodes he was in before MIB went INSANE on The Temple. Hm. I should end the review now.
Revenge returns in two weeks.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
2 comments:
I thought that the quality of the writing was very, very good.....................until this episode. To me -"Chaos" was not EVEN an episode of Revenge - but instead the result of an episode in MIke Kelley's life
that left him feeling pressured to step up the QUANTITY of dramatic sub plots.........and abandon all concern - for the QUALITY of the drama. I loved Revenge because it was a well written, highly dramatic nighttime soap opera. The plots were well thought out and there were plenty of unbelievable twists and turns and conflicts and motivations - all great for the genre that Revenge is part of. There is a huge difference between unbelievable and .............NOT believable. Chaos was just not believable - so many stories going on at once, I'd say about ten gaping holes per story.............and the characters all simultaneously responding in ways that they would never respond. This was just plain choppy and disjointed, and it has made me wonder why I thought Mike Kelley was a decent writer. Maybe he WAS...............and maybe all the praise - has made his head swell......... to the point where his writing sensibilities have been pushed out through his ears.
Terrible episode, but that was expected. Hey, let's all stand around & yell Daniel as the guy is face down in the sand. Did anyone think to turn the guy over & see if he's alive or perhaps to save him? No, they couldn't do that now since it wasn't him.
Very dramatic to watch your own family member die & then to prolong the scene where Victoria finally turns him over.
Congrats to the show for saving the pretty boy that the viewers drooled over & making the show nothing better than any other run of the mill drama.
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