Revenge Season 1 Episode 8 Recap
Juan Navarro
The first season of the ABC American television drama series Revenge premiered on September 21, 2011, and concluded on May 23, 2012, with a total of 22 episodes. The series was created by Mike Kelley and is inspired by the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo.[1] The series stars Madeleine Stowe and Emily VanCamp.
Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) comes to the Hamptons, renting a home next to the Grayson family to enjoy a bright summer. However, it is revealed that Emily has been to the Hamptons before as a little girl. In reality, Emily is Amanda Clarke, whose father was framed for a crime he did not commit and sent to prison for life. She was permanently separated from him and never saw him again. Now, she has returned to the Hamptons, intent on getting revenge against those who wronged her and her father, the top of that list being Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe), matriarch of the Grayson family and the woman whom her father loved and who, in the end, betrayed him.
As she sets her plan in motion, Emily tries to navigate the upper society to destroy those who betrayed her father. But the further she goes, the more her emotions get involved and the more she questions her motives and the moves she makes.
In January 2011, ABC ordered the script to pilot. In March 2011, actress Emily VanCamp was cast as the lead character, and shortly afterwards it was released that Ashley Madekwe was cast in the series.[2] Madeleine Stowe and Henry Czerny joined the cast as well.[3] Max Martini and Robbie Amell joined the cast as Frank Stevens, a private investigator and Adam, a wealthy student who is hoping to attend Yale.[4][5] James Tupper replaced Marc Blucas in the role of Emily's father, after Blucas was forced to drop out due to his commitment on Necessary Roughness. Recurring Gossip Girl star Connor Paolo was cast as a series regular playing the character of Declan Porter.[6] Former Nikita star Ashton Holmes landed a recurring role as Tyler Barrol, a Harvard classmate of Daniel Grayson.[7]
Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal praised the series, writing that "The arrival of one pure and unadulterated drama about a passion as old as man is something to celebrate. That's particularly true when that drama is as spellbinding in its satisfyingly gaudy way, as Revenge turns out to be", whilst awarding particular praise to Van Camp for a "beguiling and entirely chilling study in revenge lust."[34] Writing for The New York Times, Alessandra Stanley compared the series favorably with Gossip Girl, concluding that it has "just enough campy suspense to be enjoyable."[35] Episode 5 of the series received particular acclaim, with C. Orlando of TV Fanatic writing that "Revenge took things to a whole new level this week", and noting with reference to the set-up of David Clarke that "Victoria seems the only one with a conscience".[36]
The series made the covers of Parade, Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide, and was featured in Rolling Stone,[39] Vanity Fair, Vogue, People, Us Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, and Teen Vogue magazine. The season finale "Reckoning" was met with critical acclaim by fans and critics as well, calling the episode "the best season finale of 2012".[citation needed]
The first season of Revenge was nominated for Favorite New TV Drama at the 2012 People's Choice Awards.[62] Madeleine Stowe received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a TV drama.[63]
The first season of Revenge was released on DVD on August 21, 2012, in region 1. The set includes all 22 episodes and bonus material such as "Nolan's World: An Interview With The Infamous Nolan Ross"; "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Dangerous: The Making Of REVENGE"; "Hamptons Bound: Preparing For Life At The Shore"; deleted scenes and bloopers.[65]
Overall, this season finale was great. It was emotional and full of action. It will definitely be hard to wait for the premiere of season 3. I hope ABC has a better way to air the episodes this year. All the breaks between episodes did a great bit of damage to this season. However, ratings are still better than other shows. I look forward to the character development in the next season.
To be honest, the first 50 minutes left much to be desired, but as per usual, "Revenge" pulled out all the stops during the final 10 minutes. There were cliffhangers on top of cliffhangers -- and more than one life was potentially lost.
Let's start with the biggest OMG! moment of the night: Victoria Grayson is reportedly dead. Yes, you read that correctly. "Revenge" just seemingly killed off its biggest star -- the ever-scheming, bandage dress-wearing, icy Victoria.
Queen Vic was last seen boarding a plane to D.C. to testify for David Clarke's innocence, but that aircraft did not reach its final destination. Instead, it blew up on the tarmac, thanks to a bomb planted by the White Haired Man. When Emily spared the life of the creepy Initiative operative -- the assassin who killed her father -- she didn't quite realize what she had wrought.
But is Queen Vic really dead? I don't think so. Victoria knew that what she was doing was dangerous, and it looked like there was some hesitation as she was boarding the plane (in slow mo, of course). Conrad warned her that if she proceeded with the trial, her life would be at risk, and although at the time, she ignored him, Victoria has always managed to stay one step ahead of her estranged husband. So why would she start playing dumb now?
Not to mention that Madeleine Stowe gives one of the most wickedly enjoyable performances on TV. "Revenge" just won't be the same without Queen Vic throwing shade at her frenemies from across the room. My bet is that she wasn't on the plane when it exploded -- however, Lydia probably was, but I don't really care about her, so that's OK.
Queen Vic isn't the only Grayson with a questionable future. As predicted in last week's recap, Charlotte tries to kill herself. Little Grayson just wasn't able to deal with the news of her mother's death -- and when Declan told her to get lost -- she swallows a bunch of pills. The last we see of Charlotte, she's unconscious in Conrad's arms.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind if Little Grayson died. She's the worst part of the entire series. In her last mean girl act of the season, she exploited Declan's new friend from Yonkers and embarrassed her infront of the entire school. However, if Charlotte does die, Declan would obviously feel responsible for her death, but he wouldn't have much to do without his partner-in-crime. For that reason, I could see Charlotte surviving her overdose. I mean, these two useless characters need each other.
Although, I really hope they ship her off to a psychiatric ward for most of the second season. She's such a waste of space. I'd rather spend more time watching Emily's bitch face than I would watching Charlotte deal with her white girl problems.
Was it really too much to ask for Takeda to kill off Faux-Manda? I really thought we were over her and her trashy short-shorts. Sadly, I was wrong. Now she's back and ready to wreck havoc on Emily and Jack's relationship.
Just when Emily was going to tell Jack the truth about everything, including her feelings for him, Faux-Manda appears out of nowhere and ruins everything. Of course, Jack is too good of a guy to ditch his pregnant kinda-sorta-girlfriend, but you can tell that he was a little disappointed to see Emily walk out of the Stowaway.
Just when Emily thought all of the evidence against Conrad was lost in the explosion, her BFF Nolan surprises her -- and once again proves why he's the best character on the entire series. He backed up the hard drive (full of evidence) before he handed it over to the SEC guy.
You may have a silly haircut, Nolan, but you're so smart! Emily and Nolan then watch some of the footage Nolan uncovered, and they discover that Victoria Grayson knew more about Emily's mother than she let on.
I really hope Victoria isn't actually dead. There's so much potential for Emily and Queen Vic to team up and take down Conrad and the Initiative that wants to see them all dead. Between Emily's bitch face and Victoria's shade, they'll be able to take down even the strongest of enemies.
The first episode opens with a mysterious cloaked figure asking for the local Jedi, then proceeding to pick a fight with Master Indara, who's played by none Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity from the Matrix movies). Moss was absolutely born to play a Jedi, as she oozes effortless cool, calm, and zen-like wisdom.
Mae (the unidentified, force-using attacker) cites "unfinished business" as they begin fighting. The stunt choreography is stellar, and it's fascinating to see a Jedi ward off steel edge weapons. That is, until Indara succumbs to one planted right in the chest.
I refuse to believe that they'd only have Carrie-Anne Moss play a bad-ass Jedi for just a few minutes, so I hope that she'll be shown in flashbacks in future episodes. It's clear that Mae has a vendetta against Jedi, so we'll have to eventually learn the reason for her vengeance.
But these aren't the stolid, over serious, and brown-robed Jedi from Attack of the Clones, though. During this era, their uniforms are white and gold, and they wear their lightsabers in leather holsters. They seem, for all intents and purposes, more like space cops than a mystical order of warriors. Like NCIS: Coruscant.
One of the coolest things so far about The Acolyte is that we get a look into the regional offices of Jedi across the galaxy (more evidence that Jedi are cops). This episode opens with Mae blasting her way into a temple on a remote planet and attempting to murder Jedi Master Torbin, who's hovering in a meditative state. She can't break through his force field, however, and flees. This sort of transcendental meditation is impressive, and the kind of bad-ass Jedi power I've always wondered about.
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