Revenge 3.06 Review: Honesty is More Powerful than Manipulation

For all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of Revenge, entitled ‘Dissolution’, this is the only point where I will suggest that is what you do before reading ahead. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Despite my enjoyment of the final moments between Emily, Nolan, and Jack, this was not as great an episode as last week’s. Sure, I can understand the creative angle driven to write this episode the way it was written, I was a little disappointed in the way certain things were chosen to go.

For starters, Nolan and Patrick only had two episodes kind of together, and I was actually rooting for them and loved them together, but that’s basically down with now. I feel like Patrick just got here, and now he’s being rushed away, despite the possibilities and normalcy his character brought to the show. Yes, he has a weird relationship with his mother, and yes, he tried to kill Conrad, but that doesn’t mean he needed to be written out for a time. I was really liking his character, and how happy he seemed to be making Nolan, someone who really needed it, so I’m sad that this is the way that was chosen, at least at this early point where it almost feels like they made a mistake in the way they’ve written things and are thus fixing them.

Another thing, the chemistry between Daniel and Sarah is so much more obvious than between Emily and him. They have a sense of passion between them that is impossible for Emily with Daniel. But I know that the wedding is gone through with, so what’s the point in dangling this possibility that would be so much better for him than Emily. Emily’s lack of emotions, and almost lack of personality, sometimes makes it hard for me to root for her revengenda, plus the way her plans always seem to be infiltrated before she can fully act them out. It makes it a little strained.

Charlotte was also getting under my skin this week. She’s trying to “protect” her brother from marrying “the wrong woman” and it just makes her seem too much like her mother. I liked seeing her grow into becoming her own, manipulating woman, but we already have a Victoria, and for the most part I want her to be taken down, so I don’t really want Charlotte to end up that way too. It’s disheartening to see a maturing woman become a miniature, almost identical, person to an existing character that isn’t all that great. Victoria has her place, but I don’t want Charlotte to take over that place when Victoria is eventually taken down.

While I was a little weirded out and confused by the way the dialogue was written between Nolan and Jack in the bar, I was happy that they were able to work things out.  It was difficult to follow, but I got the gist of what was going on, and I’m glad they were able to work towards a place of friendship again, because I absolutely adore their friendship, especially the way it was in the first season. It’s nice to see that working out for the both of them, it really appears as though they need each other.

I’m not sure how I feel about this whole Aiden and Emily thing going on. I was under the impression that he was there only to help her get things done, but now they’re back together. I know she has no liking for Daniel, ever since he learned of the cover up of her father’s wrongful incarceration and did nothing about it, but I still feel like her and Jack would be better suited than Aiden and her. It almost seems like, at this point, she’s manipulating Aiden to keep him in line and helping her, but that she’s not trying to manipulate Jack anymore. I did finally realize why he’s pretending to help Victoria, pushing her in the direction Emily needs her to be in, but that’s still not enough for me to feel like Aiden and her need to be the way they are.

All in all, a solid episode of television, although my own creative vision of this series didn’t quite fall in line with the showrunner’s this week. Alas, I’ll leave it up to him to decide what is best for this series, so long as it keeps me interested, doesn’t outstay its welcome, and doesn’t become completely moronic that it alienates me and its vast audience. For now I will keep mum about it, and will look forward to the day we learn who shoots Emily, or if it really is the staging for Victoria being blamed for Emily Thorne’s death.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Maybe I was too tired with this and Once to catch any pop out lines, but there were none I felt impressive enough to jot down. So this is my final review of the night. Check back tomorrow night for my reviews of How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Sleepy Hollow, and The Blacklist. Otherwise, good night everyone.

The Originals 1.01 Review: Family Makes You Weak

If you haven’t watched the series premiere of The Originals, entitled ‘Always and Forever’, then now would be the time to do so. This review, like most of my other reviews, has a chance of containing spoilers pertaining to the episode. If you don’t want to spoiled, then please go watch the episode, and it’d probably be a good idea to get caught up in The Vampire Diaries too, just to be safe. To reiterate, THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed with caution.

I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet, being that I have to get up in five hours to get ready for a funeral, so I’m going to be hitting the points fast. If that’s not something you like, well then that’s just too bad for you.

Going into this episode, I wasn’t all that excited to hear that it was going to be a retelling of the back door pilot, just in Elijah’s point of view. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed it, particularly more than The Vampire Diaries fifth season premiere, which was mostly terrible. I do hope Elijah will play as big a role in the series as he does in the pilot, because he’s quite enjoyable to watch. But then again, the actor is a new father, so I don’t know how much time he’ll be able to spend on the series, likely it’s just going to revolve around Klaus and Marcel, with the witches hanging around.

Did anyone else get chemistry vibes between Elijah and Hayley? I know it likely had to do with the fact that the guy’s so excited for a new generation of family, after they were all basically cheated out of having their own children when their mother turned them into vampires – and no, that’s not as sexual as it sounds, she was a witch, get your head out of the gutter. I kind of hope they go this way, because I’m still strongly under the impression Klaus is hung up on Caroline, and it would honestly be terrible writing if they just had him fall for another woman, when he’s not the type to do so easily. So, basically I really hope that it’s Klaus’s kid (which it is), but if Hayley is to stick around after the birth, I’d want her to have some kind of relationship with Elijah, romantically speaking.

This episode may have been interesting partly because I haven’t watched the planted pilot since it first aired. I don’t know how much that might have helped my liking, but it has to have something to do with it. Otherwise, I think I like it because it’s not the same tired stuff as it’s parents show, and there’s no romantic triangle it’s basing itself around. But it could also have to do with my love affair with New Orleans. I just love the idea of having a show based there on my TV screen, and the fact that I get a two-hitter this year with this show, and American Horror Story: Coven both being based there, it’s simply marvelous.

While the CW is known for casting based on beauty rather than acting talent, I do think some of the acting was surprisingly good in this episode. Marcel was wonderful as he was in the backdoor pilot, as were Klaus and Elijah. It was nice to get a hint to who this Davina character is, and the actress is astoundingly good compared to her foray into Disney Channel made-for-TV movie. The actress that plays Sophie is also intriguingly good, though a bit exaggerated in her facial movements. But I was most surprised by Phoebe Tonkin as Hayley. Perhaps it’s that she’s finally gotten an American accent down better, or that she was less annoying playing against Elijah, either way I think I may actually start to like her, despite the fact Caroline should really be the one, if anyone, to carry Klaus’s child… aside from the fact she’s a vampire and unable to.

To keep it quick, I’ll just mention that the music is good, though there wasn’t much to comment on. The lighting was mostly fabulously done, though hopefully will become devoid of classic TVD lighting. And the cinematography was shockingly not too close up on a lot of the shots, although that could have something to do with the fact I watched this episode online because my DVR was conflicted with Grey’s Anatomy and The Crazy Ones both claiming top priority (my DVR can only record two shows at once, or one show and watch one show). I’m honestly more excited for this series than The Vampire Diaries, maybe it’s time to put that show to bed and let Caroline come over to this one and give Ian Somerhaulder a role that’s worth his acting chops.

There, that only took about twenty minutes, that’s what I call quick.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Line:

“Your dad was a dick.” – Hayley, referring to the Originals’ father, who constantly came after Klaus to try and kill him, but was eventually defeated by him. Spot on interpretation, I might add.

So, that’s all for tonight. I know I still have the Best Performances of the Week to do, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow night, despite how tired I’ll probably be. I work until two am-ish, so expect it around three. As long as it comes up before I watch Haven’s fifth episode (it is fifth, right?), it doesn’t really matter. I’ll also most likely be reviewing that right after. But I make no promises, I have to work the day after that at four, that gives me about four hours to do anything before sleep.