“There are two paths to revenge. One is failure. The other will set you free at your journey’s end.”Revenge is a show that suffered rather severely from a sophomore slump. Although I enjoyed it, it strayed too far off course, bringing in too many characters and too many stories that sunk into melodrama and ignored what had worked so well in the freshman season.
Watching this episode, I felt as though I were watching a chess match. The pieces are all being moved around the board, bringing us back to what worked so well in the past. Being the penultimate episode of the season, not much happened during this hour except to set up the season finale.
Aiden has fallen into the trap set by the Initiative. The blackout and the resulting chaos were caused directly by his actions and he will now have to go on the run. Daniel is, of course, going to ensure that all the evidence does lead to Aiden and not to him.
I believe that Aiden genuinely loves Emily; he just doesn’t understand her. Because his revenge left him cold and more conflicted than ever, he is unable to see that Emily is simply incapable of withdrawing from her fight. Unlike Emily, he is not able to compartmentalize. When Emily picks up Daniel’s call, you can see the pain and frustration all through Aiden.
Even worse is when he finds out that the man Emily does truly care about is Jack. I liked the fact that he was able to get to the truth without Nolan having to spell out all the details. Aiden may be hot headed and he may be impulsive, but he is not stupid. The look he gives Nolan and the resignation in his voice as he leaves make it pretty clear that he has, finally, accepted the truth.
Victoria conspiring with Jack always felt a bit odd to me. Of course, she is playing him and is only using him to get information to pass along to Conrad. And, I was right in my guess last week when I said that I was convinced that Victoria had recorded Alison and then leaked the information to the press. Like Conrad, I am interested in why Victoria is so keen for her husband to be the governor.
I do like the fact that Takeda is also peripherally involved in the David Clarke case. One of the minor points that the show never really made clear was why he would take both Aiden and Emily under his wing and spend such a long time training them. The fact that Emily discovers the truth about her mentor only after he is dead should prove interesting to watch as she will not be able to confront him in person.
The most powerful scene in this episode is Emily finding Takeda’s body. This young woman has been so cold and steely, so singular in what she wants, that she has sometimes failed to appreciate those who have helped her reach this point in her story. This scene was so wonderful because it allowed us to see the entire scope of her journey in the span of a minute.
During the flashback, we see the start; we see how Takeda helped her focus her anger and grief. The implication is that he helped her shut down her emotions as well. After the flashback, we see her sobbing in Nolan’s arms. Through the course of her journey, she has allowed herself to become emotionally attached to others in her life and all those emotions are beginning to come back to the surface. Nolan is not only there to help her; he is there to hold her when she cries.
The end of this episode was exciting. The identical text message, “Long Live David Clarke” appearing on every phone in sight followed by a massive explosion at Grayson Global is an excellent set up for next week’s finale.
Three out of four revengendas (the word of the series).
Vengeful Bits:
-- It took Daniel and Charlotte three hours to walk fifteen blocks? What did they do? Crawl?
-- I found it a bit naive on Jack’s part that, when he found Victoria’s file on Amanda, he didn’t jump to the conclusion that she had one on him.
-- Henry Czerny mispronounces the word “err.”
-- It was, indeed, Yogi Berra who said, “It’s deja vu all over again.”
-- The Declan/Charlotte/Regina triangle is so absurd as to be almost not worth mentioning.
Devious Delights:
Nolan: “Sadly, my plans for the apocalypse consisted of making a list that started and ended with, ‘Call Emily.’”
Emily: “I’m not gonna sit back and watch the Initiative turn you into their next David Clarke.”
Nolan: “It’s going to be a while before Carrion likes Daddy more than he likes Mommy.”
Emily: “I’m not running, Aiden. But, I think it’s time that you did.”
Aiden: “You’ve been an unexpected friend.”
Nolan: “Takeda had his own revegenda?”
ChrisB is a freelance writer who spends more time than she ought in front of a television screen or with a book in her hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.