I did not miss the Emily Thorne narrations during the six week hiatus. Emily told us about doubt and how it infects people's brains. Many people doubt the guilt of Daniel Grayson. Weeks ago, the Grayson lawyer theorized the public would attack Daniel because he represents the loathsome 1%. The judge felt no sympathy for Daniel when she sentenced him to a maximum security correction facility. Victoria and Conrad quickly returned to their roots of trying to find the first innocent person to take the fall for the crime. Initially, Amanda Clarke became their target because of her arsonist history at Mason Treadwell's. But Amanda disappeared. Charlotte's testimony of a hooded man near the scene of the crime placed Jack Porter into the spotlight. Emily, though, masterminded the Jack Porter/Mason Treadwell/Daniel Grayson investigation blog; in fact, Emily's reasserting herself as the most dangerous person in the Hamptons after Takeda's forceful message to her through Daniel.
Emily returned to the Hamptons under a different name to avenge her father for the crimes Victoria and Conrad made him take the fall for years ago. The journey hasn't been smooth. Emily admits to Nolan how her feelings complicated her grand plan for revenge. As the Daniel case moves forward and the future looks grimmer for him, she witnesses his parents returning their old tricks. Victoria gets her shady criminal friend with the buzz cut to arrange a beating for Daniel in the prison so that the judge is forced to reverse the decision and let Daniel be under house arrest. When Conrad and Victoria stumble upon the idea of Jack, they immediately plot how to connect with the crime and then resort to their daughter and her boyfriend who claimed to witness a hooded man flee from the beach. Emily's disgusted by what she sees and so she indulges in her favorite hobby which, of course, is the act of revenge. She uses Mason to get to Victoria by tying the tapes and the fire to her and using Amanda to convince Treadwell of Victoria's guilt. As for Jack, she counts on Declan to protect his brother, which he does.
Emily is an excellent actor. She's so prim and proper and conforming through most of the episode, which makes it more exciting when she dons a wig, a sexy top, and a sexy way to take her next step. Takeda wanted Emily to remember her old self, the one who spent years in a juvenile facility and could kick ass. Emily meets up with Victoria's criminal dude in a bar and flirts with him. She's a tease and incredibly convincing so much so that he lets her know some of the secrets of the Grayson clan. They leave together, and he assumes they're going to his place for sex, but she just kicks his ass for Jack and Daniel (note how she thought of Jack Porter first). Revenge is at its very best when Emily Thorne AKA the real Amanda Clarke is kicking ass and offering no apologies. I think the writers found a great balance for her. Her love for Daniel humanizes her and her interactions with his parents keeps the fire burning. She's learning how to balance both and that's good.
An old beau of Victoria's named Dominick Wright came into town to woo her once more. The show resembled a crappy Lifetime movie during their scenes. Dominick should be more trouble than he's worth to Victoria. He's a supposed art forger, and his presence might complicate the divorce. The Grayson clan continues to divide instead of unite. Mason reports on Charlotte's drug use, which infuriates Victoria, but not as much as Charlotte recanting her statement about the hooded man infuriates her. This, in turn, damages Declan's relationship with her because he told Mason these things without her consent. Charlotte decides to hurt him with her words by revealing that he didn't have the smarts to get into that pricey school and that her grandfather paid the admissions board off. She remarks how he's also a puppet in the Grayson play (or something like that; a teenager would never say those words). Declan later laments how he's a good brother but a bad boyfriend. Kid, it's better to be a good brother. Anyway, everything is crumbling. Victoria even threatens her relationship with Daniel when she tries to plant seeds of doubt into his mind about Emily. To Victoria's credit, she's finally putting the pieces together with Emily; and, really, Revenge needs to get to the point when Victoria is truly aware of Emily. All in good time, I suppose.
Revenge hasn't missed a beat during the six week hiatus. "Doubt" is soapy and over-the-top and full of intrigue, and that's why people tune in.
Other Thoughts:
-Emily Vancamp is a long time TV crush of mine, dating back to the Everwood days. Emily looked amazing throughout the episode. Her highlights didn't remind me of a loaf cake too much. I wanted to marry her when she donned the brunette wig and wore the green top. I also wanted to dance with her.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
1 comment:
Great recap! As welcome as James Purefoy’s appearance was, did you find it a bit jolting? His character just seemed to come out of nowhere. Still though, ‘Doubt’ was a great episode to return with. It made me thankful to have my new DVR, the Hopper. An unexpected emergency had me bolting out of the house seconds before the show started. Luckily the emergency turned out to be really minor, but Revenge was over by the time I got home. I knew one of my coworkers at Dish would end up spoiling it before I could catch up. Then I realized my Hopper has PrimeTime Anytime enabled, so it automatically records everything on ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC every evening. So I ended up staying up a bit late, but at least I was able to see it before anything got spoiled.
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