Revenge "Intuition" Review

A couple of things stood out in "Intuition," the fourth episode in Revenge's second season, which is amazingly worse than its first season. The first thing that stood out was actually Emily Vancamp's cleavage, but I won't dwell on it because I'm an independent blogger who saves such insights for the 'Other Thoughts' section. The 'first' thing that stood out was Jennifer Jason Leigh being typecast. The only film I've seen her in is Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and she was overshadowed by Phoebe Cates (who I'll still take to dinner to THIS DAY). The moment she was revealed as an attempted murderer of her own daughter was when I lost even more interest in her arc as a character by herself and her future relationship with Emily. Of course Jennifer Jason Leigh portrays a batshit crazy woman. Why would I expect an ABC nighttime soap to think outside the box and conceive a character JJL never played before?

The 'second,' which is actually the third thing, regards Victoria Grayson, a character I somehow thought about during the day. The end of season one established her as a character with layers, regardless of how Madeleine Stowe portrayed her. The season ends. The writers opt to jump ahead in the narrative. Victoria is back to being a cartoonish villain again. The scene between Victoria and Fake Amanda ended in the worst possible choice the writers could've made. Emily pulled strings, as per usual, and she pushed and pushed and pushed until Victoria actually pushed Fake Amanda over the second floor rail. The reunion of the Grayson united front was a confusing mess last week and Amanda's role in it did not clarify the choice. Victoria throws her a shower. Amanda asks too many questions about her mother, who is actually Emily's mother but I assume the people reading this are aware and will not get confused by me just referring to the characters the way they're addressed in the show, and Victoria shoves her, which sends Amanda over the rail to the floor and into early labor and a coma. The scenes afterwards are horrible, in which Victoria stares ahead like a corpse while telling Conrad that something bad happen. Conrad, to his credit, reacts like your humble reviewer: with total indifference, and he immediately focuses on the lovely Ashley.

"Intuition" was another example of what happens when Emily pushes her revenge thing too much. People get hurt; specifically, a person she cares about gets hurt. Emily-in-action is my favorite version of Emily, but the consequences of her action are terrible to watch. Literally. It's terrible to watch the show rely on the crutch of very old sitcom tropes. I often wonder how much story a creator has when writing the pilot and whether or not its in the best interest of the show to continue after the well's run dry, so to speak. Dawson's Creek had no idea what the hell it was doing once KW left, just to use an example. Revenge is making a great case for networks to make deals for one season and only renew it if the creator isn't talking out of his or her ass when pitching season two.

Season 2 of Revenge already has Nolan's financial crisis, estranged mother plots, secret and shadowy corporations who really control things, blackmail, a crisis of faith for the heroine, a recasting of Takeda, and so on. Imagine this show in season seven: Victoria will just cackle as Emily grimaces and mumbles synonyms for revenge. The surprise of the episode is Cora trying to kill her daughter. Emily remembers once she's back in town and hovering over Fake Amanda's bed. Accent Guy feels an urgency to warm his former lover of Cora's insanity. Any woman who dated the silver-haired man and considered him the quintessence of male companion is already crazy. An insane number of ridiculous contrivances needed to happen to bring Cora into the show. I opined the season was stuck in neutral until Cora shows up to play with everyone. Now it's in drive and I'm dreading every moment.

Other Thoughts:

-Nolan's new lady being a two-timing so-and-so was less surprising than Jennifer Jason Leigh portraying a crazy chick.

-Emily Vancamp's dress was wonderful. Her dress really saved the episode, along with any Ashley scene. I loved Ms. Vancamp on Everwood and thought she looked like a pretty girl in my class with the polish last name. Dan Feinberg tweeted about the cleavage on last night's Revenge. The cleavage was out, my friends and well-wishers, and I will not complain about it.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK