This week, we at CliqueClack are asking you to vote for your favorite new fall shows to watch and for those that you would recommend to others. The winter hiatus is the perfect time to catch up on new shows you didn’t initially watch. Julia shared her thoughts on Up All Night, now check out why Bob picked Revenge!
If you are unfamiliar with the show, it follows the quest for revenge of the main character Amanda Clarke (now going by Emily Thorne). Her father was framed as a terrorist and after her own stint in juvenile hall, Emily is looking to get revenge on all the people who helped to set up her father, ruining one crooked life at a time. The prime target is the Grayson family, the most rich and powerful clan in all the Hamptons (of course).
Revenge has a lot going for it. The cast is very good. Emily VanCamp is good in the lead role, and Madeleine Stowe is in top form as the cruel and calculation “queen” of the Hamptons, Victoria Grayson. If you’re a shipper, there is plenty of fodder for you here. Emily is caught in the beginnings of a love triangle, as she seduces the son of the Grayson family, while pining for her lost childhood love who is now running the local bar.
You want mystery and intrigue? There’s plenty of it. There is much about Emily/Amanda’s past that is only starting to be revealed. It seems with each new episode we learn more about how she went from juvenile detention to the Hamptons. We still don’t know the full story surrounding Victoria’s involvement in the framing of Emily’s father. We have seen that she was intimately involved with Emily’s dad, but the exact events surrounding his incarceration are still to be revealed. That’s not all! The very first episode began with a glimpse into the future, with the death of Emily’s brand new fiancé, Daniel Grayson. More mystery!
The best part, though, is that the show is not dilly dallying. The mysteries put forth in the opener are going to come to pass at about the halfway point of the season. The writers aren’t even waiting until the end of the season to reach that ill fated engagement party. So many viewers seem reluctant to get involved with shows with mysteries for fear of being strung along. No worries here.
Add in a fun group of secondary characters, many of them scheming to some extent in their own right, and you have a setting for a drama that always has something interesting to offer. Revenge is fast paced, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and most importantly, it’s fun to watch. Give it a try.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Nov 29, 2011 @ 14:06 EST5EDT
I have told many people the same thing. Revenge is easily the best new show of the season. I am loving it!
Revenge is really good, but not great. I have watched every episode – and plan to complete the season – but have two complaints:
1) The show is a little too much of a soap opera. If it stuck with the theme of Revenge it would be stronger. I’d like to see a long-form tv version of Payback or Taken. But there are a few too many twists and turns for my tastes. I want to go on a trip – see Emily exact her Revenge – not be taken for a ride of arbitrary and haphazard twists and reveals.
2) Emily, as written is way too dumb for someone who has meticulously plotted her vengeance. I realize that the writers need a way to add narrative drama, but it feels lazy. There are so many obvious steps she could do to secure her plan, her safety, etc…
I think I personally might prefer Revenge were it a short 10-episode season like often occurs on pay cable. A tighter, more-focused narrative would, in my opinion, be stronger. I lose interest with all the additional characters, and shifting landscape.
I question whether Emily really has true feelings for either man as the character is so dead inside, hollowed out by her insatiable need for vengeance. It’s an unusual take for a lead character, let alone a lead female, and is partly why she’s my favorite character on the show. As Nolan pointed out, she could have run off with Jack and her billions at any time, yet chose to freeze him out and cut herself off from any positive emotions. Then I read posts from those who say she’s falling for Daniel, and I simply don’t see it as of yet.
I caught the actress, vanCamp, on an episode of Brothers & Sisters that came on the other night. It was weird to see her loving and supporting her fiancé, a dark-haired man, and realize she’s not being twisted and calculating in everything she says and does.
Don’t forget that the body in the pilot may turn out to be someone else. Declan, Charlotte, and Victoria assume it’s him, and he’s probably wearing Daniel’s suit, but they never turn him over to see his face. The press reports that say it’s Daniel who dies have assumed this, but have never quoted any of the producers outright stating it as a fact. I know who I hope it turns out to be…
However, the producers have promised that Emily will have more takedowns in the future to offset her current failures. That has been a point that has bothered me as well.