Revenge "Grief" Review

Revenge delivered its most devastating punch of the season tonight: they killed Sammy the dog. No, Sammy didn't die by the hands of any villainous character. The dog is nearly eighteen years old, which is rather old if you go by dog years, and died naturally in the Clarke's old beach house. It was sad, moving, touching, and by far the most effective scene in the entire series not counting the scenes with the little actress who portrays young Amanda. The scene was a departure from the tone of the show. So many tearful scenes were the result of someone being a shitty person to someone else. Sammy's death was true to life; I was in the room when my dog passed away too, and I identified with Jack Porter's grief over losing one of his most reliable friends.

From a story perspective, Sammy's death brought Emily and Jack together. They grieved together and comforted one another. Then they met each other's lips and kissed. Ashley watched from outside, heel turn imminent. For whatever reason, death is the ultimate aphrodisiac in TV. If it's not death then grief of any kind is an aphrodisiac e.g. Kate in season five of LOST when she decided to return to the Island, went to Jack in complete grief, but refused to tell him why she was sad, and instead tore off his clothes and made love with him. Jack and Emily cried a lot over Sammy. Jack remembered her aloud. Emily remembered her in her mind, as a girl on the beach with her father and little Jack Porter. Soon, they were passionately kissing. It was weird. I never understood why death or grief equals sex in TV. Writers can be really weird. Anyway, the writers needed to bring Jack and Emily together in time for the finale because this is a nighttime soap and it only makes sense for the fated lovers to get together at precisely the wrong moment.

ABC seems fond of using train metaphors for their TV shows. So Revenge is chugging along to the finish line and picking up storylines and letting them ride until the last stop. Emily's still pissed at Daniel for betraying his own self and brushing off the whole 'my family is responsible for a horrific terrorist attack and framed an innocent man for it' because the Graysons need to maintain their public image for the stock holders of Grayson Global. Emily's passive-aggressive and more interested in killing the white-haired assassin. Daniel's personality shift hasn't been the smoothest transition; it feels more like the writers felt forced to turn Daniel for the sake of dramatic action.

Daniel and Jack are destined to fight before the season's over. There was more set-up for the eventual fisticuffs tonight. Emily, while spying on father and son, heard about a 'plan' for Jack. The Graysons bought Jack off as a witness to protect themselves. Daniel hoped Jack would use the move to sail to Haiti. Daniel will be incredibly pissed when he learns Jack stuck around and kissed his fiancée. During Ashley's pitch for the Daniel-Emily wedding, Emily kept getting distracted by her phone. She received updates from Nolan about her father's killer's whereabouts, but Ashley will assume she texted with Jack and that she was actually prevented from seeing Jack. Daniel will believe anything anyone tells him. In general, the engaged couple bickers all of the time. So tensions will escalate and the action will fall.

The white-haired man is smarter than your average Revenge villain. He immediately catches onto Nolan's ploy. Nolan infiltrated the man's house to protect Emily from making a rash decision based on a journal entry; he planted a camera in his house so Emily could learn more from a safe and anonymous distance. He threatened Conrad for 'getting off track' on behalf of his 'company' which makes him more dangerous because anytime a shadowy company is introduced it means bad news. Unfortunately, Nolan got too cocky. Seconds after boasting to Emily about his spy skills, the white-haired man choked him out. Emily's in a weak position now. The villain knows more about her. Emily doesn't perform well when her plan is altered just a tiny bit, as Tyler showed us mid-season.

The power play between Victoria and Conrad continued. Victoria briefly gained the upper hand when she convinced Lydia to join her in order to escape jail time for perjuring; she also took crucial evidence from Conrad. However, Conrad used his son to regain the advantage. Daniel threatened to cut Victoria out of his life if she destroyed Conrad. Victoria loves her son and handed over the evidence, only to learn she'd been played by Conrad through Daniel. I'm not rooting for either character. I don't feel sympathy for Victoria after she hired someone to beat the shit out her son in prison. I don't feel for Conrad because he's a remorseless piece of shit. Daniel's essentially a plot device. Charlotte continues her wayward ways. The destruction of her family doesn't help her. Revenge succeeded in making the Graysons loathsome; however, they're loathsome beyond redemption. It doesn't matter how many flashbacks we get of Victoria's tortured past, the character sucks, and needs to be taken down by Emily. The 'Pilot' was about Emily's desire for revenge against the Graysons. It's disappointing the white-haired man is the target now, which means Grayson revenge will need to wait a season (most likely). I'll probably write about this next week.

"Grief" darted between the plots like they were Cory and Shawn in the sweet sixteen episode of Boy Meets World when they needed to be in two places at once. It began in media res, a tiresome device for Revenge, as Emily dug a grave; but it was misdirection, for the grave was Sammy's. The show then darted between Victoria-Conrad, Emily-Daniel and Jack and Nolan, with a small portion devoted to Declan and Charlotte. But it's the penultimate episode. Things needed to be set in place for the packed finale. At this point, there isn't much to learn about the characters. Any new aspect of any character has been terrible e.g. Ashley's imminent heel turn, Victoria's affair with James Purefoy, Daniel's weird heel turn after the jump in time, etc.

"Grief" is neither good nor bad--it's simply an average episode. It didn't provoke any strong feelings from me (with the exception being the sad scenes with Sammy). I'm not excited about the finale.

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