Revenge 3.05 Review: Vulnerability can Create a Strong Relationship

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of Revenge, entitled ‘Control’, I suggest that you do so immediately. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

For a late night soap opera such as Revenge, this was a very good episode. The writing was tight, the acting perfect, and the little games afoot also spot on. The red herring of Charlotte being the one that caused the car accident (to which I actually thought she had been the one to commit it, and was almost doing a happy dance for having guessed correctly for once) only to turn out to have been caused by Patrick was beautifully written and acted out. I’m curious to know why he tried to kill Conrad, but I think it may have something to do with how the weird relationship he has with his mother, and did so to try and get her out of Conrad’s clutches. But I suppose we’ll learn the answers in coming weeks, I just hope it doesn’t interfere with his relationship with Nolan because Patrick is gorgeous and Nolan deserves some honest, well-intentioned love. Plus that scene at the end: hot, with a capitol H-O-T.

One performance I was enamored with in this episode was Jack’s. His anger during the confrontation with Aiden when he has every right to have wanted Conrad dead was brilliant. Then his whole heated speech with Emily where he asks her what happened to the sweet, little girl he used to know. He really gave it his all, and I’m actually starting to remember why I loved him so much during the first season, only to find him dull last season. While Emily VanCamp is a good actress, her acting as Emily in this series is not the main reason I watch the show. It’s for the intriguing plot and all the other actors that make up the cast, and this week Nick Wechsler brought his all as Jack.

Nolan, as always, I adored in this episode. His friendship with Emily is beautiful and perfect, just the thing she needs. He seems to be the only one she is ever able to fully count on, or trust, because we all know Aiden is a loose canon. Aiden, who tried to threaten Jack out of town, and I believe Emily only said those things to because she saw Jack moving on. I would’ve liked to have seen a little bit more of a loose canon from this week, and for his jealousy to come through a little more clearly, like it seemed to have done in the promo for the episode.

As Emily began to lose her control of Daniel, Nolan gave her a solid piece of advice, to give him a piece of herself despite her incredible aversion to him. She took it to heart and masterfully weaved a bit of her honest vulnerability into the life of Emily Thorne. The tears solidified her character’s ability to both act, and show the side of her she so rarely shows. And just like that, dimwitted Daniel is like putty in her hand. That innocence in his eyes as she told him part of her familial story just told me how naïve he really is. Compared to Charlotte, who is growing to become a younger, more polished version of her mother, Daniel is definitely the artist type.

All in all, I quite enjoyed this episode. Seeing the straining muscles in Patrick as he shed clothing and also while he painted. Also seeing Jack’s nice abs as he totted Carl around was wonderful. Emily was beautifully dressed for the launch party for the magazine Daniel works for, with her hair and jewelry perfect. As in most of this season, I also enjoyed Charlotte’s look a great deal throughout this episode, including her ensemble as she told Conrad she had been the saboteur, and her hair during the dress shopping. The emotions, the writing, the acting, it was all just great for this series.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Phones still have numbers?” – Nolan sarcastically asks Patrick in rebuttal.

“But then again, I’m just a self-made billionaire with a 170 IQ, what do I know?” – Nolan remarks to Emily, in reference to Aiden’s accountability.

Alright, folks, that’s all for tonight. Check back in tomorrow for reviews of How I Met Your Mother and The Blacklist. Bones and Sleepy Hollow don’t return until November 4^th.