Revenge 3.11 Review: Who Am I?

This is a friendly reminder for all those that have yet to watch Sunday night’s episode of Revenge, entitled ‘Homecoming’, to kindly turn away from their screen before proceeding ahead. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

There were some definite ups and downs regarding this week’s post-Christmas premiere episode. Things picked up almost immediately where they’d left off in the December finale. Daniel – to which I’d guessed right before watching the last episode – shot Emily after learning she’d poached his family and faked the pregnancy and after blood loss and some head trauma in the water, she had – of all things – amnesia. In my opinion, while it was a cliché TV trope, I thought that this would be able to bring a refreshing on this series, that has had a stronger third season compared to it’s second, but nowhere near as good as its first. Sadly, it seems that Emily may have gained her memories back by the end of the episode, and I was hoping she would at least have amnesia for a couple episodes.

One thing I do have to say is how completely naïve Charlotte seemed to be when Emily said that her father was David Clarke. Sure, it is somewhat reasonable to believe her damaged memories were spewing out such things because Charlotte was the one in the room, but when she approaches Jack with the confusing information his reaction is so completely obvious to me. He turns away just to keep the look from confirming the information with Charlotte, but she’s still somehow able to believe what he says. It was so obvious on his face for a good few seconds, and I was disappointed that Charlotte wouldn’t catch on and just feign believing what Jack was saying to be true. But then, I suppose the truth is often too difficult to handle. I guess the writers just didn’t want another person in the loop at this point, but I am disappointed with the way they handled that tidbit.

Possibly my favourite part about this episode was Emily VanCamp’s stellar performance. While I do believe her voice over on the episodes can come out dry and tedious, and her performance has been off and on this season giving me the feeling she was often phoning it in, this week’s episode made it seem like she honestly has the acting chops. That performance with Daniel when she can’t remember who she is or where she is was simply beautiful and something I would very much like to see more of. If I were still doing Best Performances of the Week, even without watching all the other performances this week, Ms. VanCamp would most certainly be in the running.

Something I have to say I’ve hated this season is how terribly they’ve been writing Daniel. His character just seems like he’s had character development come completely out of nowhere. Honestly the trajectory he’s had, merely since the character of Sarah has reemerged, seems utterly ridiculous. Yes his character seemed to naturally love Sarah, but then the way he’d react around Emily made absolutely no sense as to why they would get married at all – even with the belief that there was a baby involved. Last season Emily and Daniel seemed to be back in love and set on the path towards this wedding, but all season I’ve felt none of that chemistry that they used to have. Seriously, have these two actors broken up? I know they’d been dating last year, but if they’d broken up since then there’d be an actually feasible reason for their lack of chemistry, even with the introduction of Sarah.

On that note, does anyone sincerely believe that Sarah would try and kill herself? I mean we only got to know her over the course of a handle of episodes, but she appeared to be the most genuine of people and even with the loss of Daniel it would not seem honest in any form for her to try such a feat. Yes, she’d loved him, but, to quote a bad cliché, there are more fish in the sea. I can’t see any possible reason that she would try something so rash. Now, if this is part of the writers plan, then it is completely within reason, but if she actually did do it, then I am losing faith in the skills of these writers. But then, I’ve found a lot of this season to be a bit drab. Sure, there have been some stellar moments, but as a whole last season was almost better.

All in all, there were a lot of good parts to this episode. It did not disappoint me as much as I thought it might, from the grand scheme of the delectable previews, but it wasn’t as fantastic as it could’ve been. This series can still count me as a viewer, but I really hope they fix what they’ve done to Daniel, because his character doesn’t seem like he could’ve gotten to this point in any fashion. He’s dark in a way that isn’t fun to watch – if that makes sense – and this is coming from someone who enjoys dark and damaged characters more than other characters. He’s treading Ashley territory, that’s how much I’m beginning to not like him. The only time he is good, at all, is when he’s around Sarah, and he needs to be able to interact with other characters to be able to keep going on this show.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

No memorable lines.

Okay, so check back soon for reviews of Teen Wolf and Almost Human.

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.

Revenge 3.01 Review: A Dish Best Served Cold

Anyone that has yet to watch tonight’s season three premiere of Revenge, fittingly titled ‘Fear’, then now would be the time to back away from this review if you hope to watch devoid of spoilers. THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

As always, this series premiered with a flash-forward to a climactic event that it will now build up to, that being Emily on a boat in a wedding dress being shot and falling back into the ocean. I will say that I liked how this season opened, with the slow move into boat, although the voice over can be somewhat overdone. Every time I hear Emily VanCamp’s voice, it always sounds like she’s overdoing it just a bit. Like she’s trying to push the suspense of the series with just her words. The voice over isn’t terrible, but work could be done to tone down the intensity that comes across. I think we get that this is a series about revenge, it’s not integral to make that come through with just your voice.

I’m a little confused when it comes to Charlotte. She lost the baby? Then what was the point of her being pregnant in the first place? And does anyone else feel like she got over Declan pretty easily? She was under the belief she loved him last season, but now I don’t really see that. Now she seems all determined to have her half-brother suffer if her mother doesn’t do that to him already, if he doesn’t leave. What is with this seesaw momentum of character development? I’d almost think the writers were bipolar when it comes to Charlotte. Though I do have to say that I like her wardrobe this season, and the bangs. Her hair looks surprisingly good.

Then Ashley’s back, and wanting to blackmail Emily this season, but she eventually gets crossed off Emily’s list of people she needs to take care of. I question how these two women were ever friends in the first place. It’s like nothing but securing a position of power matters for Ashley. I saw that yearning in the beginning of the series, but I don’t see any of that knowledge of past friendship when she interacts with Emily. This character has just seemed to have done a complete one eighty, like the writers had no idea where they were really going with her so they send her away. Although that is how I felt all of last season with everything.

Despite not having much dialogue, I do think Justin Hartley did a phenomenal job as Patrick in this season premiere. The man surprisingly came across as genuinely his character more so than the rest of the actors that have embodied their characters for over two seasons. I’m actually looking forward to seeing this character development, and if he’s any good, and got enough of a story, I sincerely hope he sticks around. Particularly more than Aiden.

Jack seems to be better this season, at least compared to most of last year. My specific note reads ‘This Jack is better than season two Jack, but not better than season one’. I think that’s because his complete lack of interaction with Emily last season and completely throwing himself into things with Amanda was just bad when compared to season one where he was so heavily revolving around Emily for a lot of it. Which is why I so desperately wanted Amanda to not be carrying Jack’s child last season because I enjoyed Emily and Jack’s back and forth romance, and then it’s also completely left out for Aiden in season two, and that just got a whole heck of a lot convoluted and messy. So basically what I’m trying to say is that I’m glad he’s kind of darker, or more emotionally charged this season, from the evidence of this episode. I want Jack to be more included in things.

Okay, I get that the smiles and the tone are fake between Emily and Victoria, but you’d think they’d be better at pretending to like each other more than that scene in Grayson manner with the horrendously fake smiles. If I can pick up that you’re being fake with each other, don’t you think the other woman you’re playing the scene against can pick up on that too? They play their teamwork much better on when they finally (and I say that as a heavy finally) get rid of Ashley, but not at this point in the episode. Also, is Victoria still that desperate to get rid of Emily, when Aiden comes to her door?

All right, I think I’m done. The episode was a solid opening, and I look much more forward to this season than I did last year after the second season’s premiere. I’m desperately glad that the whole Carrion, and Initiative storylines are over and done with. May the creators learn from last year’s mistakes.

My rating: 3 out of 5.

Best Line:

“Amen to that.” – Nolan says to Emily, about her nonchalant comment about forgetting about Carrion and the Initiative.

That’s all for tonight, kids. Check back in tomorrow night for reviews of How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Sleepy Hollow, and The Blacklist.