Revenge 1x01-1x10

[oyceter]

So instead of finishing off the multiple things I am in the middle of, I started a new series based on various things heard around my dwircle in the spring.

Spoilers

This is a good show for mainlining, since there are about a billion twists per episode. However, mainlining probably also highlights just how convoluted things get.

This also feels very much like a "have your cake and eat it too" show, in which we get to see the lives of the wealthy paraded about for the envy factor and the soap opera factor, but we also get the moral satisfaction of Emily taking them down one by one. At least, in the beginning. Right now Emily has not taken down someone in a while, and I am very uninterested in a lot of the interpersonal drama and would prefer a return to Emily's quest of vengeance.

Things I like: Emily setting everyone up to take the blame for her actions. Emily locking the therapist in a storage unit (creepy!). Emily's way of saying perfectly nice sounding things unless you actually know what she means. Emily being amazingly good at lying to police and etc. Emily and Amanda being BFFs forever. Nolan and Emily's weird relationship. Backstabbing and scheming going on behind polite smiles. Emily and Victoria circling each other like sharks. Frank dead in a ditch.

Things I dislike: Pretty much all the romance plots. I like Jack as a character but I hated Nolan pushing him toward Emily, and I am much more disturbed by how much he pedestalizes kid!Amanda than the writers seem to be. Childhood crushes, nice! Learning who people are as adults after not seeing them for a decade or so, better! Tyler. I hate Tyler OMG hate. Evil gay hustler sex (SO MUCH HATE). Mystical Asian Dude (ARGH). Hints that Emily may be losing her touch due to actually falling for Daniel. Convenient amnesia. Declan. Everything Declan OMG he is so boring why do we keep getting him SO BORING. Also I hate him! And want to slap him!

There are actually more POC than I had expected, given the show's setting, but it's also a woman of color acting as personal assistant to wealthy white woman, black security guard, black detective, and ambitious cheating politician. I actually didn't mind the politician as much, since it's nice seeing actual POC among the hordes of the rich and powerful, but of course they are one-offs. Oh, and Mystical Asian Dude who teaches Emily karate or something.

And while there are some positive male-male interactions (Declan-Jack) and female-male interactions (Emily-Jack, Emily-Daniel, Declan-Charlotte), the positive female-female interactions (Emily-Amanda, Emily-Ashley) seem to be rapidly souring for the sake of drama. Please note I am actually not positively inclined toward nearly all the positive human interactions except Emily-Amanda, but the writers seem to be pitching them as basically good.

Really, I am hoping for much more ruthlessness on Emily's part. So, is it worth it to keep watching? Or does all the soap opera get in the way of revenge?

ETA: Also, why is it that all fiances destined to DOOM due to their loved ones' secret other lives are named "Daniel"? Revenge included, I can think of four off the top of my head.

Comments

[giandujakiss]

I think it's worth watching because I love Emily, and Emily and Nolan together, so very much. I really can't express how much I love Emily's ruthlessness and Nolan's neediness and their weird relationship and, as I've said before, when the revenge is all over I want them to go on the road and do elaborate cons on rich people all over the world, like the Leverage crew, only with just Emily and Nolan.

Yeah, mystical Asian bugs me too, not gonna lie. Jack and Declan (and Charlotte and Daniel) also bore me to tears.

As for the plot - I don't know how to judge, I just like watching Emily destroy people. But you'll see that the end of S1/beginning of S2 turns the thing in a whole new direction, which has the potential to get really out of control and far too byzantine. But I still don't care, because that's not what I'm watching. I'm watching for Emily and Nolan.

Also the clothes.

[oyceter]

Ahahaha, I am pretty sure it was some of your posts I saw! I really love Emily destroy people too, and right now it feels like there's been less of that, at least since Frank died and Amanda showed up.

Mostly I am hoping for more Emily-Nolan conning everyone. And Emily threatening people. And way less romance. And I kind of don't care at all about the Grayson family dynamics except as to how Emily will destroy them. Bwahahahaha!

[tigerlily]

It isn't. Too much romance and soap opera, too little ruthlessness from Emily. I could see it coming in the back half from the fall episodes, and then what happened in the season finally erased my interest.

[oyceter]

Hrm. I suspect I will finish the season just to see what everyone is talking about re: the season finale, but then we'll see.

[shati]

This makes me both more and less interested in Revenge! I mean, I am all in favor of soapy drama, but I prefer it with ruthlessness intact ...

[oyceter]

It is really soapy! Also, oddly, I have discovered that while I hate soap opera mechinations such as people finding out other people are having affairs and spying on them and etc., I have no problem with it when it is more in the name of politics/intrigue/a much more long-term goal. Not quite sure why that is...

[phi]

I think my favorite character in this show is Nolan and my favorite interaction is Emily-Nolan. So amazing.

For a while I was worried that my utter boredom with Declan was just ugly classism on my part, but I'm beginning to think he's just badly written. Maybe classism on the writers' parts.

Definitely keep watching. Emily gets back to the revenge big time.

[oyceter]

Everyone is saying this about Nolan! My fav so far is Emily (and maybe Amanda), but I really like the Emily-Nolan bits.

OMG. Declan is SO BORING. Also I can't say if it's classism or just... bad writing. Because stuff like wanting to get an apartment while not having a full-time job with girlfriend or randomly ditching bar to go on date or stealing other people's lobsters (wtf Declan!) feels less like classism to me and more just... do you not think about the consequences of anything you do? It's like the only thing he has to worry about in his life is Charlotte. Also, the actor probably annoys me... I liked Jack and Frank much better in terms of non-wealthy Hamptons people.

[trouble]

The second half of the first season has a draggy bit, and then it gets its feet back underneath it. I think it's worth toughing out, and I am adoring season 2.

[oyceter]

Good to know, thanks!

[laceblade]

I'm in about the same spot as you, having stalled out after about episode 11.
Mostly, I just really want to rewatch Veronica Mars now, ^_^;;

[oyceter]

Oh man, you are so right re: VMars. Now I am really missing the feel of that show compared to the glitz of Revenge.

[vonniek]

Also, why is it that all fiances destined to DOOM due to their loved ones' secret other lives are named "Daniel"? Revenge included, I can think of four off the top of my head.

Danny from the pilot of Alias and... can't think of any more. Man, I'm not as media-literate as I used to be.

I enjoy Revenge as the cracktastic fun it is. The only characters I'm interested in are Emily, Nolan, Victoria, and maybe Amanda. The rest are pretty/boring set dressing and puzzle pieces to be moved around, especially all the idiot boys. I actually prefer the evil Conrad to all the young ones, since at least he is wily, not stupid.

It's a total no-calorie snack though. When the Mysterious Karate Sensei appeared on the scene, instead of making me angry, it just made me laugh because it was so freakin' ridiculous. Maybe the show will surprise me and give him some character development this season but I am not holding my breath.

Half the reason I'm watching it is for the clothes though. Hello Tailor has a series of posts that delve into the fashion in Revenge, which are pretty awesome.

Mind the spoilers!

[vonniek]

Sorry -- I forgot to mention that the Hello Tailor posts have some spoilery pictures before the cut-tags. If you care about spoilers, better to stay away until you've caught up.

Re: Mind the spoilers!

[oyceter]

Ooo, thanks for the warning! Also, knowing that Hello Tailor has been writing up the episodes from a clothes POV makes me want to watch more. Or at least check out her posts if I end up ditching the show, because I love clothes + narrative posts. (TLo! I hope you eventually fashion-cover a show I actually watch!)

[oyceter]

Danny from the pilot of Alias and... can't think of any more.

So far I have Danny from Alias, Daniel from Nikita, Daniel from this (assuming he's dead), and a somewhat spoilery Daniel from Once Upon a Time.

[marina]

It depends on how much you enjoy Emily-Nolan, since that's pretty much the only thing that improves consistently over the course of the season, of the things you mentioned. I personally find the show a nice time waster on occasion but it is waaaaay too soapy for me to care about.

[oyceter]

*nods* good to know re: Emily-Nolan. I do like them, but sticking with it really depends on how much more plotting goes on.

[liviapenn]

Interesting, count me in as another person who stalled out at 1x10, but then got back into it once the season was over. I feel like it does improve-- but that could be because I stopped watching for, almost literally, a year, and didn't bother catching up on the first half of the season before I went on to the second half.

Mysterious Asian Mentor is such a clunkily clueless choice... it was seriously a big part of knocking me out of S1. I was like "Is he the narrative equivalent, culturally speaking, of the Catholic Abbe in the original story who was full of ancient secrets and mystic priestly knowledge? Or is this some kind of meta homage, Kill Bill style, to classic Japanese revenge films?" But then all his lines are seriously like, fortune cookie style, "Emily, stop letting the bee of revenge circle the flower of happiness lest the hidden snake of failure strike," and I was just like.... No, no, they are not actually doing anything clever here. *facepalm*

Declan is terrible! I mostly found him boring in the first half of S1 but now that I go back and watch, I realize what a terrible spoiled brat he really is. Stop it, you don't DESERVE to get Charlotte just for being a Nice Guy! Argh!

Of course the problem with this show is that it's American TV and presumably they're hoping to keep it going for 5+ seasons, when it would have been MUCH a more satisfying and coherent story as one season with a conclusive and dramatic ending. But, marathoning the last half of the season was a pretty satisfying experience and I feel like Amanda only wavered once or twice in her revengey agenda.

[oyceter]

Ahahaha so with you on Mystical Asian Dude. I swear, last episode he was all, "If you are in a nest of vipers, you must act as a viper."

... yeah, thanks.

Declan annoys me so much! And it feels like the writers are writing him without really knowing anything about class differences aside from "Mom wants to pay him off!" I just. Dude. Don't steal other people's lobsters to pay for your date! Also, the only function he basically has is to be Nice Date Guy for Charlotte. I mean, we don't see that much of Jack either, but at least there's a little more hinting at a life running the bar and sailing and etc.

[al_zorra]

You nailed it: too much soap opera and not enough vengeance. This second season, I don't think I'll bother. One entire arc was enough -- and they didn't need 22 eps. either.

But network television -- that's what they Do. I guess. (Do they hafta?)

Love, C.

[al_zorra]

What I liked best was Nolan looking for friends, in all the right places -- if you don't count Amanda-Emily. They could have done a lot more time with that and had a much better arc - story going on.

That dog though -- he's the oldest dog in the history of the world. Which miracle may explain how Amanda-Emily, so young, has mastered so many skills and attributes, from karate to Japanese to finances.

Love, C.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I wish network tv would do more miniseries that are well-done. Because really, I would have been very satisfied with 12 or so episodes of Emily getting her revenge and then gleefully retiring.