Revenge "Absolution" Review

For a stretch of time in "Absolution," I thought I sold the show short a week ago. I was convinced that the show would move forward from the trial, but Daniel suffered a crisis of conscience. The A story tonight had depth. There were complicated choices to make after learning difficult truths. The struggle for Daniel between Conrad and Victoria wasn't shallow. Last week, Daniel lacked consistency. The writers made him jealous and on-edge for the sake of the narrative, for the sake of the time-jump, and it didn't feel organic. The "Absolution" Daniel is believable because he's been torn between two parents, lost amidst their lies, for an entire season. Daniel experienced genuine feelings of conflict tonight and was thisclose to doing the right thing and telling the truth about his family. Unfortunately, Daniel made the wrong choice, and he's doomed to repeat the sins of the Grayson past.

In a sense, the audience became Emily Thorne/Real Amanda Clarke tonight. Of course, the audience always watches the story through Emily's perspective. She's our eyes and ears, our moral compass in a twisted way, our heroine, and protagonist. The writers want us to feel what she feels. Emily saw a photograph of her father that Charlotte found. David Clarke sat alone in prison, a black-and-white shot, with a notebook in his hand; the date was April 22, the day he died. Emily nearly kicked Nolan's ass for not telling her about the notebook. Once in possession of the notebook, the show flashed back to the day of David's death. Flashbacks come from a character's memory or imagination. Emily imagined her father writing the journal note and then immediately being stabbed in the gut by a man with white hair and icy blue eyes. The image is visceral and immediate. One sees it happen and only wants the Graysons to pay even more for yet another awful thing they've done to protect their empire. Anyway, the Daniel question is one for Emily and for the audience. Through all of the plans for Revenge, and the nonsense, I appreciated the decent romance the writers developed between Emily and Daniel. Just like Emily, I wanted Daniel emerge from the Grayson bubble and become his own man.

The moment of decision for Daniel happens after quite a bit of set-up. Jack Porter starts Daniel's internal struggle for truth and identity. Jack confesses to his role on the night of the murder because he respects Emily's love for him and thinks he should know the truth instead of exist in the Grayson bubble, believing Lee would willingly confess to a crime and then feel overwhelming guilt that'd push him to suicide. The light-bulb goes off within his head and the search begins. Amazingly, Conrad confesses every difficult truth to his son, beginning with David Clarke. Normally, any viewer would question the scene because it cut before the conversation finished. Emily heard everything; since she's our eyes and ears, we believe her. Joss Whedon created Drogyn, a character who can't lie, so he wouldn't need to devote more time to characters thinking about whether or not they heard the truth. Daniel learns the real reason he was beat up in prison as well as the truth about what was done to David Clarke.

The moment of truth occurs during an interview with an ABC news anchor for one of their primetime news magazines. Daniel isn't the first character in position to expose the Graysons in a public setting. Somehow, someway, they keep avoiding the fallout from a person's knowledge of their transgressions. They're like Chelsea Football Club parking the bus against Barcelona and hoping for the best; the Lydias and Daniels fail to convert their chances or choose not to. Daniel's just one of 'them' as Emily says later in her narration. Armed with the absolute truth, Daniel chooses to be his father's son; an SEC investigation into Grayson Global and the admittance of two murders and cover-ups aren't enough to dissuade Daniel. Perhaps he wants to piss his mom off. Regardless of the reasons, it's a disappointing moment for the audience and for Emily.

Daniel's choice isn't surprising. "Absolution" is a rare instance of the show playing with its colors. Daniel's arc isn't black-and-white like the photograph of David Clarke. Soaps, daytime or nighttime, choose black-and-white storytelling. It's simpler, clearer, and more direct. Nolan withheld the notebook from Emily, but he's not a turncoat. Nolan wanted to protect his aunt who used to work for Conrad. Nolan's aunt investigated the company and discovered seedy things she'd then relay to David. Emily needs her absolute allies and her absolute enemies. The majority of soap opera fans don't want an Ivan Fyodorovich in their shows. Ambiguity isn't welcomed in soap operas. Revenge's success is in making people, or at least me, care that Daniel's just as shitty as his parents.

Emily's plans for revenge don't change. The woman plans to marry into the family, track down her father's killer, and kill him. The absolution theme came full circle in her narration. I consider this week's narration its most triumphant use of the technique. I loved the imagery of Emily wiping the snow off of her father's headstone because that's why absolution is supposed to be: the wiping away of sin from one's soul. Victoria takes Charlotte to David's grave in an effort to show her daughter who her father was. The snow built up on the stone again, but neither wipes it away, because the Graysons aren't interested in absolution. Emily notes this and decides to act without mercy in a world populated by people who could care less about absolution. In Revenge, a full-fledged and unapologetic soap, that's all the fans want.

Other Thoughts:

-The drama between Charlotte and Declan still isn't worth writing about. Charlotte's descent into addiction is terrible. No, I don't mean it's terrible for the character; I just mean the storyline is terrible. Charlotte being David Clarke's daughter will be much better once everyone knows Emily is Amanda.

-Ashley tried to leave the Graysons for a Media Relations position with Brooks. Victoria wouldn't let her. Conrad combated his wife by hiring Ashley and buying her a brand new Lexus. Twice, Ashley heard men talk about her 'dirty' deeds. Ashley will no doubt get her hands dirtier as the series goes on.

-The lone aspect of Revenge that I consistently like is the Nolan/Emily friendship. I felt relief when Nolan smoothed everything over with her. The girl knows how to hold a grudge.

-In case it's not clear, I liked "Absolution."

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