I guess I'll begin with Jimmy Eat World's "The Authority Song." A staple of any prolonged flashback is the use of music or items from the year in which the flashback takes place. If I were to write a spec pilot and luck into my own series, I'd set it in the year 2003 and would rely too much on boxy looking cell-phones, portable cd players, and dial-up internet. "Legacy" takes the viewer back to 2002. The story unfolds over a three day period and dramatically concludes on New Year's Eve. Jack's family bar hosts a New Year's party. Jimmy Eat World's "The Authority Song" plays during a scene. Jimmy Eat World was rather successful between 2001-2004. Bleed American is a terrific album that placed them in the mainstream. Now, "The Authority Song" isn't in any way particularly relevant to Revenge; it's a fun song about trying to talk to someone you fancy; but, of course, I studied English and college and learned how to argue a text's meaning however I wanted to as long as I had evidence. So now's the part where I compare "The Authority Song" to Emily/Amanda's personal arc.
Jim Adkinson sings, "Honesty or mystery? Tell me I'm not scared anymore. I have no secret purpose. I don't seem obvious, do I?" Nolan bothered Amanda/Emily in the months following their heart-to-heart prison conversation about David Clarke. Nolan advises her to read through her father's journals so as to learn the truth about what happened and the people responsible for his imprisonment. She does. Soon, she's catering the New Year's Eve party at Grayson manor and learning firsthand what shitty people they and the people they associate it with. The lousy tertiary characters she destroyed early in the season are all there, displaying their worst characteristics for the soon-to-be-vengeful Amanda Clarke to witness. Adkinson's work easily summarize Amanda's arc in the episode: she needs to figure out whether her father's honestly guilty or whether there's a mystery surrounding the events. She can't be scared anymore. Of course, her purpose will need to be secret if she wants to succeed; and in no way will she ever be obvious. Amanda/Emily learns everything she needs, freaks out, but decides to expose the Graysons.
Anyway, I absolutely hated the return of Lydia, Bill Harmon, immoral politician, horrible psychiatrist woman, and Mason Treadwell, because these characters bring nothing to the table. In fact, "Legacy" reminded me how much I dislike the world Mike Kelley built. Watching and writing about a show for nine months can cause tunnel vision. The serialized element of late made me forget about the awful run of episodes in the beginning of the season. Sadly, Kelley wanted to bring these characters back in the same episode. Yes, Emily/Amanda needed to see these people and listen in on their conversations to truly hate this world enough to plan for ten years in order to return and blow it up. There were little 'side' scenes that were entirely unnecessary. We got to witness the beginning of Lydia and Conrad's affair, which was terrible. The tertiary characters sat around and acted terribly. Again, the scene didn't add anything to the episode. Our heroine wasn't around to hear it. It's like Kelley wanted to show how much he planned or he thought people really clamored for more Frank and Lydia and the same shit that made this show unbearable for months.
"Legacy" emphasized Victoria's passionate love for David Clarke. Conrad is disgusted by his wife's ability to be torn about someone she loved who's life she actually destroyed. None of Victoria's past relationships really work on screen. Perhaps they're brilliantly conceived on a white-board in a fancy writer's room on the ABC lot in Burbank, but they're a drag on screen. I suppose I wondered how David and Victoria met. They met at a Grayson party on New Year's Eve. The characters weren't engaged in flirtatious conversation. Somehow, they became lovers. I still don't understand the relationship. It seems like a product of the writers deciding they needed to add depth to Victoria's character to make her less of an ice cold bitch and more of a complicated ice cold bitch instead. There's a reason for these scenes, and the reason was indicated in the previews. Victoria's feelings for David Clarke don’t change my opinion of the character as being anything but an ice cold bitch. The storyline isn't suddenly more complex emotionally because of her relations with David. I still want Emily/Amanda to destroy her.
The Porter storyline was a head-scratcher. Jack Porter had long hair (a dreadful wig); Declan was a little boy; Mr. Porter didn't have any money. Jack was dating a shitty person during 2002. Nothing about the Porters changed in 10 years. Nolan bought their house unknowingly and offered to drop the offer. Mr. Porter didn't have money to pay for the house because of a divorce. He chose the bar and his children's ignorance of their horrible mother over a home. Jack's shitty girlfriend overheard the chat and decided to pursue Nolan presumably because he is ridiculously rich. Jack punched Nolan in the face. I suppose the writers anticipate the audience FREAKING OUT and exclaiming, "What history!" Jack's a decent character trapped in horrible storylines. I did not understand the importance of this storyline.
I expected "Legacy" to show the explicity sexual relationship between Amanda and Emily. I don't know why I expected it. My sour opinion of the episode isn't related to the lack of Amanda-Emily-as-lovers. I didn't know what to expect, and I'm not sure what one is supposed to take out of it. We knew the Graysons are shitty and that Frank murdered folk to protect the cover-up. Many episodes showed Amanda's gradual plan take shape. I wouldn't have criticized the show for not showing the time Amanda catered a Grayson party; in fact, I forgot about the photograph Lydia had of Amanda-as-caterer. "Legacy" is a waste of time though, an episode full of answers to questions we already knew the answers to, but goddamnit, the Bangs of Sadness and Vancamp's sexy dress were awesome.
Other Thoughts:
-The Bangs of Sadness were coined by AB Chao of TWoP in her Everwood recaps. Those recaps are terrific.
-Emily's wig made her look a few years younger. I'm unclear on how old the character is supposed to be. Emily is my age, which means I'll gladly take her someplace nice and woo her, but she looked older when the episode returned to the present.
-The crew continues to do nothing to make Madeline Stowe look different. She's looked the same in 1995, 2002, and the present. Even Conrad gets a hair dye.
-There was a mystery surrounding an anonymous letter which read "Shame--David Clarke" with spots of dried blood. If you want more on that, watch the episode. I thought it was a horrible mystery made worse by Treadwell's involvement.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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