I watched the first episode last night just to see where the series goes without Mike Kelley. I never expected I could say this, but it got so much worse! The dialogues never were the best part of Revenge, but they weren't that bad, now it's like reading a cheesy pocket book written by some miserable housewife (you know, the one where half naked man holds a woman on the cover). The characters have lost the remains of their volume, their actions are in no way based on their nature (Nolan Ross won't do the hacking? wtf?) or the past. Everything in the best traditions of Mexican soap operas.
ABC has done the impossible. They managed to fuck up a bad show.
Showing posts with label Revenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revenge. Show all posts
Oct 3, 2013
May 14, 2013
BRIEFLY
So the final hours of the second season of Revenge left me as frustrated as every other episode of this show (maybe, with the exception of the first three or so). There was a bunch of chaotic events, completely unrelated to each other, while characters' emotions vanished into thin air just as fast as they peaked, Jack's brother died, although there was hardly any need for it in terms of the story line (frankly, I'd prefer Jack's death, he was a useless, weak and quite unsympathetic character back in the first season, and they made him even less bearable now). And the most annoying part was that there was no resolution whatsoever. However, I'm glad to know that there was no "Initiative" in the first place, that explains why throughout the season it never felt like this group really existed.
The former showrunner, Mike Kelley, parted ways with Revenge, apparently, he had different view on how the series should be from the show's home channel, ABC, so it's rather clear whom to blame on the appalling (even for the soap opera!) quality of this season. The rumor has it that Kelley wanted the series to be a 13-parter (instead of 22), which would help avoid all the bullshit the season contained and all the extra characters that came and went (like Emily's mom and her foster brother, Nolan's ex, Victoria's mom, Conrad's business nemesis). I'm 100% convinced that it doesn't get better, so the wise thing to do is to spare self from the next season.
The same applies to Vegas. They managed to keep the story more or less logical, but it was definitely too long and thus filled to capacity with unnecessary content, and at the same time it was so full of cliches that one could predict the ending after just ten minutes of the episode. All the law guys were disturbingly annoying and it was quite ridiculous, how they almost never killed anyone, while the gangsters went wild.
I didn't even realize that The Americans was over until a week after the finale, so that says a lot. However, overall, the show was not so bad: at times boring, at times a little idiotic (not to the extent of Homeland or Revenge), but at the same time so straight forward, easy to follow and sympathize with the characters.
Despite Laurence Fishburne, who is in my personal top ten of the ugliest actors alive, the annoying character of Will Graham (and a few others), the extremely visual corpses and the weak script, I quite enjoy watching Hannibal. At times, it reminds me of Jamie at Home, only with a much more pleasant host (I mean the magnificent Hannibal Lecter by Mads Mikkelsen, of course). Yes, the creators of the show like to spritz characters' faces with blood as if it's some sort of adult movie, and invent absolutely idiotic, irrational crimes with far-fetched motivation, but most of the time it's a fun watch. And it's surprising to see something like that on NBC.
Orphan Black is not exactly Utopia, but it's one of a few conspiracy series that doesn't annoy me with the irrational plot. There are some iffy turns, but overall, the story is coherent and full of action, even exciting. But we'll see how it ends, that's usually a weak point for this genre.
The former showrunner, Mike Kelley, parted ways with Revenge, apparently, he had different view on how the series should be from the show's home channel, ABC, so it's rather clear whom to blame on the appalling (even for the soap opera!) quality of this season. The rumor has it that Kelley wanted the series to be a 13-parter (instead of 22), which would help avoid all the bullshit the season contained and all the extra characters that came and went (like Emily's mom and her foster brother, Nolan's ex, Victoria's mom, Conrad's business nemesis). I'm 100% convinced that it doesn't get better, so the wise thing to do is to spare self from the next season.
The same applies to Vegas. They managed to keep the story more or less logical, but it was definitely too long and thus filled to capacity with unnecessary content, and at the same time it was so full of cliches that one could predict the ending after just ten minutes of the episode. All the law guys were disturbingly annoying and it was quite ridiculous, how they almost never killed anyone, while the gangsters went wild.
I didn't even realize that The Americans was over until a week after the finale, so that says a lot. However, overall, the show was not so bad: at times boring, at times a little idiotic (not to the extent of Homeland or Revenge), but at the same time so straight forward, easy to follow and sympathize with the characters.
Despite Laurence Fishburne, who is in my personal top ten of the ugliest actors alive, the annoying character of Will Graham (and a few others), the extremely visual corpses and the weak script, I quite enjoy watching Hannibal. At times, it reminds me of Jamie at Home, only with a much more pleasant host (I mean the magnificent Hannibal Lecter by Mads Mikkelsen, of course). Yes, the creators of the show like to spritz characters' faces with blood as if it's some sort of adult movie, and invent absolutely idiotic, irrational crimes with far-fetched motivation, but most of the time it's a fun watch. And it's surprising to see something like that on NBC.
Orphan Black is not exactly Utopia, but it's one of a few conspiracy series that doesn't annoy me with the irrational plot. There are some iffy turns, but overall, the story is coherent and full of action, even exciting. But we'll see how it ends, that's usually a weak point for this genre.
Nov 27, 2012
REVENGE S02E08: ANOTHER EXTENSIVE FLASHBACK
Well, I've never thought it would come to this, but "Lineage" is the worst episode of Revenge I've seen so far. All of the background stories were cheesy, far-fetched, and pretty much unnecessary. Not much to add, really.
2006, Thanksgiving day. Emily, along with Takeda, is trying to infiltrate some Russian cartel specializing in human trafficking to find out what happened to a girl named Coleen, whose disappearance is somehow connected with the Initiative and the notorious plane explosion David Clarke was convicted for. That's when she met Ashley, who was then planning to start a successful prostitution career, and Aiden, who happened to be Coleen's brother, and so he planned to avenge her kidnapping and possible death. He basically sabotaged Emily's operation and killed Dmitry Bladov, the only guy who could know where Coleen was. But in spite o that, Emily asked Takeda to be Aiden's sensei as well.
It was a little funny that Emily and Takeda planned their operation in an abandoned building, like that fellow from Arrow. But gosh, Emily VanCamp looked pretty there.
Jack and Declan's father, Carl, is still alive and is trying to stand up to some racketeer, who obviously was Kenny's dad. Long story short, the racketeer is killed by another small business owner with Carl's gun.
NolCorp goes public, all thanks to the company CFO, Marco Romero, who also happens to be Nolan's boyfriend at the time. This story line was extremely poor, the dialogues - not less than pathetic. The CFO finds out that the account on Cayman Islands with half a billion dollars from NolCorp is empty. At first, Nolan doesn't want to share with him where this money went. So Marco says "See, I'm your CFO. And you can't tell me where nearly half a billion dollars went? That doesn't work for me." Pff. After a while Nolan does say it was given to David Clarke's daughter and when Marco shockingly wonders if Nolan is insane, he replies "if you don't get that, then I don't think we have a future together". Pffff. Really? You don't want to explain the situation better? Anyway, at least now we know why Mr. Ross wouldn't hire a new CFO for the audit. Too many painful memories.
Finally, the Graysons. Victoria's mother, Marion Harper, whose career was basically marrying rich men, came to a dinner at Graysons to introduce her new fiancee, Ben. Victoria tells the story about how her mother shot one of the men when he refused to marry her and made her daughter take the fall for it. Shortly after, Victoria was kicked out of home at the age of fifteen, because Marion's new boyfriend seemed to be attracted to her more than to her mother. After hearing that, Ben casually says to Mrs. Harper he doesn't want to see her again, and Victoria throws her out of the house, knowing that she has no place to go. It turned out this was all orchestrated and Ben was hired by Vic and Conrad.
Well, this part of story was almost OK, since all those bitchy lines between Victoria and her mom were sort of fun. Still, it was below average, starting with the fact that mother and daughter looked the same age. I know that the actress playing Marion, Adrienne Barbeau, is about thirteen years older than Madeleine Stowe, but it doesn't help. They look equally old, end of story. Plus the choice of Grace Fulton to play Victoria is kind of iffy - she looks nothing like Stowe (except for dark hair). In regards to the plot, I do believe that this incident with killing the man was not really necessary. The fact that Marion kicked her daughter out of her house over a pedophile was a good reason for hatred, murder just made it over the top and frankly, non-believable.
Oh, and Daniel wanted to be a poet back then, but his parents just wouldn't let him (surprise).
2012. After sleeping with Aiden, Emily shows him his secret box with all materials about her father. It didn't take her that long to trust him again now, did it?
Daniel calls the Marco to talk about NolCorp and the guy is very interested.
Victoria and Conrad want to save Daniel from the Initiative, so they plan on preventing him from becoming the CEO of Grayson Global.
Victoria, Kenny, Aiden, Marco. Daniel. Victoria's mom, maybe. The need for revenge drives everybody's motives in this series, I get it. I doubt we needed the whole episode dedicated the root of their vindictiveness, though.
Score 3/10
2006, Thanksgiving day. Emily, along with Takeda, is trying to infiltrate some Russian cartel specializing in human trafficking to find out what happened to a girl named Coleen, whose disappearance is somehow connected with the Initiative and the notorious plane explosion David Clarke was convicted for. That's when she met Ashley, who was then planning to start a successful prostitution career, and Aiden, who happened to be Coleen's brother, and so he planned to avenge her kidnapping and possible death. He basically sabotaged Emily's operation and killed Dmitry Bladov, the only guy who could know where Coleen was. But in spite o that, Emily asked Takeda to be Aiden's sensei as well.
It was a little funny that Emily and Takeda planned their operation in an abandoned building, like that fellow from Arrow. But gosh, Emily VanCamp looked pretty there.
Jack and Declan's father, Carl, is still alive and is trying to stand up to some racketeer, who obviously was Kenny's dad. Long story short, the racketeer is killed by another small business owner with Carl's gun.
NolCorp goes public, all thanks to the company CFO, Marco Romero, who also happens to be Nolan's boyfriend at the time. This story line was extremely poor, the dialogues - not less than pathetic. The CFO finds out that the account on Cayman Islands with half a billion dollars from NolCorp is empty. At first, Nolan doesn't want to share with him where this money went. So Marco says "See, I'm your CFO. And you can't tell me where nearly half a billion dollars went? That doesn't work for me." Pff. After a while Nolan does say it was given to David Clarke's daughter and when Marco shockingly wonders if Nolan is insane, he replies "if you don't get that, then I don't think we have a future together". Pffff. Really? You don't want to explain the situation better? Anyway, at least now we know why Mr. Ross wouldn't hire a new CFO for the audit. Too many painful memories.
Finally, the Graysons. Victoria's mother, Marion Harper, whose career was basically marrying rich men, came to a dinner at Graysons to introduce her new fiancee, Ben. Victoria tells the story about how her mother shot one of the men when he refused to marry her and made her daughter take the fall for it. Shortly after, Victoria was kicked out of home at the age of fifteen, because Marion's new boyfriend seemed to be attracted to her more than to her mother. After hearing that, Ben casually says to Mrs. Harper he doesn't want to see her again, and Victoria throws her out of the house, knowing that she has no place to go. It turned out this was all orchestrated and Ben was hired by Vic and Conrad.
Well, this part of story was almost OK, since all those bitchy lines between Victoria and her mom were sort of fun. Still, it was below average, starting with the fact that mother and daughter looked the same age. I know that the actress playing Marion, Adrienne Barbeau, is about thirteen years older than Madeleine Stowe, but it doesn't help. They look equally old, end of story. Plus the choice of Grace Fulton to play Victoria is kind of iffy - she looks nothing like Stowe (except for dark hair). In regards to the plot, I do believe that this incident with killing the man was not really necessary. The fact that Marion kicked her daughter out of her house over a pedophile was a good reason for hatred, murder just made it over the top and frankly, non-believable.
Oh, and Daniel wanted to be a poet back then, but his parents just wouldn't let him (surprise).
2012. After sleeping with Aiden, Emily shows him his secret box with all materials about her father. It didn't take her that long to trust him again now, did it?
Daniel calls the Marco to talk about NolCorp and the guy is very interested.
Victoria and Conrad want to save Daniel from the Initiative, so they plan on preventing him from becoming the CEO of Grayson Global.
Victoria, Kenny, Aiden, Marco. Daniel. Victoria's mom, maybe. The need for revenge drives everybody's motives in this series, I get it. I doubt we needed the whole episode dedicated the root of their vindictiveness, though.
Score 3/10
Nov 13, 2012
REVENGE "PENANCE" FOOL ME ONCE, FOOL ME TWICE
In this week's episode Victoria and Conrad's alliance grows stronger, Nolan practically gives away his company to protect Emily, and Mason is framed after learning the truth about the real Amanda Clarke.
Recap:
Mason appears at Emily's home and shows her the picture from juvie with her and Amanda on it. He implies that there was some romantic relationship between the two and that Emily assisted Amanda with her crusade. Emily doesn't share any details.
The Initiative want to come for investors' lunch at Grayson's house and Victoria suggests Conrad to fight them when the moment is right.
Emily tells Aiden to ensure Daniel takes over the company within twenty four hours, so he summons himself at Nolan's office and asks for the proof of Clarke's investment "to protect Emily". Nolan gives him the check.
Mason calls Amanda and asks her out to talk about her time with Emily in juvie. At first she agrees, then Emily talks her into declining. Unfortunately, Mason is not that easy to get rid of, and when he comes to the bar and threatens to show the picture to Jack, Amanda says she'll talk and follows him to his place.
Nolan pays a visit to Emily and tells her about the check, but she doesn't even get to properly thank him, as Jack calls her and asks for Mason's phone number. He tells her Amanda went to his place for lunch and hasn't still returned. Emily rushes to Mason's home and gets there just in time: Amanda was about to hit him with some metal stick. She sends Amanda away and tells Mason who the real Amanda Clarke is. She then gets a call from Nolan, informing her that Kara, who was supposed to leave the place, cancelled her flight and is on her way back to Hamptons.
Emily asks Mason to tell Kara that he knew Murphy and that Murphy would want her to leave and protect herself. However, he does not follow the script to the end and starts talking about David Clarke's innocence and the role of Conrad and Victoria in his fate. Kara leaves all upset, but she obviously didn't head to the airport.
While Mason is out of house, Nolan breaks into his place, plants the plane engine there and makes the scheme on the wall with photos and red threads look like Mason planned to frame Conrad Grayson.
The lunch with Grayson Global stakeholders, including the chick from the Initiative is taking place. While Conrad gives comforting speech about how the trial wouldn't affect the revenues of the company, Daniel invites major shareholders to a secret gathering in one of the rooms, where he tells them about NolCorp thingie and asks to be elected as CEO. Victoria joins this meeting as well.
When Vic wants to warn Conrad about Daniel tet-a-tet in her bedroom, Kara appears pointing a gun at them. She demands the truth about David Clarke. They tell her about the Initiative, mentioning that Murphy killed David, and show her the photograph from prison, the one with both Murphy and David on. Kara tells them to turn and wear blindfolds, but doesn't get to shoot them: Aiden, warned by Emily, chloroforms her and gets her out of the house. Murder prevented twice in one episode.
Once again, Emily and Aiden try to convince Kara to leave, which she seems to finally agree on.
Victoria and Conrad believe that it was the Initiative who saved them from Kara. Victoria tries to tell her husband about Daniel, but he doesn't want to hear it.
Finally, Mason is arrested for killing Murphy and framing Conrad. Emily visits him in prison and offers him a deal: he goes to prison for now, but when she's done with her vengeance, she'll confess everything, and he gets to write a book about it all. If I was him, I wouldn't believe her: she's just tricked him, after all. But Mason is so naive that he does accept this deal.
Tired Emily gets back home and makes out with Aiden. As if we care.
______________________________________________________________________________
I feel kind of sorry for Nolan, I think he's a truly tragic character in this series. He's so desperately trying to connect and here he is: Jack's busy all the time, Padma's intentions are a bit foggy, and finally, Emily is a plain psychopath not capable of positive emotions or trust. Sad.
Score: 7/10
Recap:
Mason appears at Emily's home and shows her the picture from juvie with her and Amanda on it. He implies that there was some romantic relationship between the two and that Emily assisted Amanda with her crusade. Emily doesn't share any details.
The Initiative want to come for investors' lunch at Grayson's house and Victoria suggests Conrad to fight them when the moment is right.
Emily tells Aiden to ensure Daniel takes over the company within twenty four hours, so he summons himself at Nolan's office and asks for the proof of Clarke's investment "to protect Emily". Nolan gives him the check.
Mason calls Amanda and asks her out to talk about her time with Emily in juvie. At first she agrees, then Emily talks her into declining. Unfortunately, Mason is not that easy to get rid of, and when he comes to the bar and threatens to show the picture to Jack, Amanda says she'll talk and follows him to his place.
Nolan pays a visit to Emily and tells her about the check, but she doesn't even get to properly thank him, as Jack calls her and asks for Mason's phone number. He tells her Amanda went to his place for lunch and hasn't still returned. Emily rushes to Mason's home and gets there just in time: Amanda was about to hit him with some metal stick. She sends Amanda away and tells Mason who the real Amanda Clarke is. She then gets a call from Nolan, informing her that Kara, who was supposed to leave the place, cancelled her flight and is on her way back to Hamptons.
Emily asks Mason to tell Kara that he knew Murphy and that Murphy would want her to leave and protect herself. However, he does not follow the script to the end and starts talking about David Clarke's innocence and the role of Conrad and Victoria in his fate. Kara leaves all upset, but she obviously didn't head to the airport.
While Mason is out of house, Nolan breaks into his place, plants the plane engine there and makes the scheme on the wall with photos and red threads look like Mason planned to frame Conrad Grayson.
The lunch with Grayson Global stakeholders, including the chick from the Initiative is taking place. While Conrad gives comforting speech about how the trial wouldn't affect the revenues of the company, Daniel invites major shareholders to a secret gathering in one of the rooms, where he tells them about NolCorp thingie and asks to be elected as CEO. Victoria joins this meeting as well.
When Vic wants to warn Conrad about Daniel tet-a-tet in her bedroom, Kara appears pointing a gun at them. She demands the truth about David Clarke. They tell her about the Initiative, mentioning that Murphy killed David, and show her the photograph from prison, the one with both Murphy and David on. Kara tells them to turn and wear blindfolds, but doesn't get to shoot them: Aiden, warned by Emily, chloroforms her and gets her out of the house. Murder prevented twice in one episode.
Once again, Emily and Aiden try to convince Kara to leave, which she seems to finally agree on.
Victoria and Conrad believe that it was the Initiative who saved them from Kara. Victoria tries to tell her husband about Daniel, but he doesn't want to hear it.
Finally, Mason is arrested for killing Murphy and framing Conrad. Emily visits him in prison and offers him a deal: he goes to prison for now, but when she's done with her vengeance, she'll confess everything, and he gets to write a book about it all. If I was him, I wouldn't believe her: she's just tricked him, after all. But Mason is so naive that he does accept this deal.
Tired Emily gets back home and makes out with Aiden. As if we care.
______________________________________________________________________________
I feel kind of sorry for Nolan, I think he's a truly tragic character in this series. He's so desperately trying to connect and here he is: Jack's busy all the time, Padma's intentions are a bit foggy, and finally, Emily is a plain psychopath not capable of positive emotions or trust. Sad.
Score: 7/10
Nov 11, 2012
REVENGE "ILLUSION'
In the episode "Illusion" Conrad and Victoria are getting re-married, the world learns that Gordon Murphy is dead and Mason manages to figure something out about Emily and Amanda.
It opens with Grayson family getting ready for the wedding. Victoria wears an incredibly beautiful dress by Vera Wang and Conrad gives her a wedding present: a very fancy gun, which, unfortunately, she won't use this time.
Emily gets Gordon's body from the freezer, puts it to a trailer, and, by leaving one of Conrad Grayson's cufflinks near the corpse, makes it look like he's the one who killed TWHM. She also plants some of the evidence, like the gun from which Aiden shot Murphy, in Grayson's home. Amanda then mentions to Mason, whom she meets to show the scar related materials, that Murphy worked for Graysons, and eventually, Mason finds the body and calls the cops.
Kenny sends one of Jack's bar suppliers away, because he thinks the liqueur prices are not competitive enough. The guy hints to Jack and Declan that Kenny's involved in some dirty business, which wouldn't be much of a surprise. Nonetheless, the bar is finally reopened, Charlotte spends more time with Declan and seemingly gets back together with him, and last, but not least, Jack proposes to Amanda.
Mason calls Victoria, notifying about the ongoing search in her house. Victoria just carries on with the wedding ceremony, saying no word about this to her fiancee.
Aiden brings Emily to the wedding as his date, which makes Ashley feel quite uncomfortable, especially, when Emily and Daniel end up dancing together. During this dance Daniel brings up the topic of him and Emily getting back together, however, he's interrupted by the police, who came to arrest Conrad.
Nolan confronts Padma with what he knows. She claims she did not realize what her asking about David Clarke could lead to, and in the end Nolan is asking her how far she could go to protect the company.
When Mason talks to Victoria about the whole situation, and mentions Emily, Victoria nervously tells him that Emily is nothing but "a juvie girl".
Kara seems to be leaving the Hamptons.
Initiative come to Conrad's cell to get a deal. He would then get out of jail, but in exchange they want him to provide "financial services" to the group, and that is surely for something evil. Conrad agrees.
And finally, Mason connects the dots and figures that Emily and Amanda must have known each other before last summer.
So, it ended on a very exciting note. There're so many questions, like, what will Initiative ask from Gordon in exchange for this little favor? What will Nolan tell Padma to do about the whole Clarke/Grayson situation? Will Kara really leave or stay and avenge Gordon's death? And of course, will Mason be able to figure out, who Emily Thorne really is?
Score 9/10
It opens with Grayson family getting ready for the wedding. Victoria wears an incredibly beautiful dress by Vera Wang and Conrad gives her a wedding present: a very fancy gun, which, unfortunately, she won't use this time.
Emily gets Gordon's body from the freezer, puts it to a trailer, and, by leaving one of Conrad Grayson's cufflinks near the corpse, makes it look like he's the one who killed TWHM. She also plants some of the evidence, like the gun from which Aiden shot Murphy, in Grayson's home. Amanda then mentions to Mason, whom she meets to show the scar related materials, that Murphy worked for Graysons, and eventually, Mason finds the body and calls the cops.
Kenny sends one of Jack's bar suppliers away, because he thinks the liqueur prices are not competitive enough. The guy hints to Jack and Declan that Kenny's involved in some dirty business, which wouldn't be much of a surprise. Nonetheless, the bar is finally reopened, Charlotte spends more time with Declan and seemingly gets back together with him, and last, but not least, Jack proposes to Amanda.
Mason calls Victoria, notifying about the ongoing search in her house. Victoria just carries on with the wedding ceremony, saying no word about this to her fiancee.
Aiden brings Emily to the wedding as his date, which makes Ashley feel quite uncomfortable, especially, when Emily and Daniel end up dancing together. During this dance Daniel brings up the topic of him and Emily getting back together, however, he's interrupted by the police, who came to arrest Conrad.
Nolan confronts Padma with what he knows. She claims she did not realize what her asking about David Clarke could lead to, and in the end Nolan is asking her how far she could go to protect the company.
When Mason talks to Victoria about the whole situation, and mentions Emily, Victoria nervously tells him that Emily is nothing but "a juvie girl".
Kara seems to be leaving the Hamptons.
Initiative come to Conrad's cell to get a deal. He would then get out of jail, but in exchange they want him to provide "financial services" to the group, and that is surely for something evil. Conrad agrees.
And finally, Mason connects the dots and figures that Emily and Amanda must have known each other before last summer.
So, it ended on a very exciting note. There're so many questions, like, what will Initiative ask from Gordon in exchange for this little favor? What will Nolan tell Padma to do about the whole Clarke/Grayson situation? Will Kara really leave or stay and avenge Gordon's death? And of course, will Mason be able to figure out, who Emily Thorne really is?
Score 9/10
Nov 2, 2012
REVENGE S02E05 'FORGIVENESS': DEATH IN THE HAMPTONS NEVER WINS
There are some dark clouds gathering above Nolan's head, first his father dies and now his exclusive ownership of NolCorp could be lost.
But first things first, a lot happened in "Forgiveness", actually.
- Kara Clarke appears at Grayson's home, with intentions sniff out if Victoria knows anything about TWHM's whereabouts. Victoria offers her to stay with themfor the same reason
- Aiden increases his involvement with Grayson Global as Takeda's proxy. He gets to learn that Padma requested information about David Clarke's contract details. He and Emily have a fight in the end of which he basically threatens her and later he seemingly joins the dark side, telling Daniel that it was possible that David Clarke provided Nolan with the starting capital, and because Clarke's contract contained the exclusivity clause, it would mean that even if this investment had been made from Clarke's personal account, he still acted on behalf of Grayson Global, which consequently means that Garyson Global has controlling interest in NolCorp.
-Emily informs Nolan about Padma's request and ruins his breakfast.
- Amanda wakes up from her coma, and gets to meet her son and Kara. Mason, the writer, returns to the Hamptons and pays a visit to the hospital, he notices that Amanda doesn't have a scar and later confronts her with this observation, implying that Amanda is a fraud.
- Emily convinces Amanda to talk to Kara and ask her to leave, because she might be dangerous. Amanda and Kara have a talk, and Amanda says she forgives Kara. Emily's in pieces eavesdropping.
- The robbed person makes an offer on Jack's bar and Jack seems to agree.
Oh, and yes, Victoria and Conrad are getting married, so they wouldn't have to testify against each other in court, in case it gets to this point, and Emily tells Amanda that Jack is the father of her son.
What I did not like about this episode is how quickly Amanda recovered. One day she's practically dead, the next day she's released from the hospital. To make it a little more plausible, the writers should either make her accident appear less dramatic or let her lie unconscious for an episode or two.
Score: 8/10
But first things first, a lot happened in "Forgiveness", actually.
- Kara Clarke appears at Grayson's home, with intentions sniff out if Victoria knows anything about TWHM's whereabouts. Victoria offers her to stay with themfor the same reason
- Aiden increases his involvement with Grayson Global as Takeda's proxy. He gets to learn that Padma requested information about David Clarke's contract details. He and Emily have a fight in the end of which he basically threatens her and later he seemingly joins the dark side, telling Daniel that it was possible that David Clarke provided Nolan with the starting capital, and because Clarke's contract contained the exclusivity clause, it would mean that even if this investment had been made from Clarke's personal account, he still acted on behalf of Grayson Global, which consequently means that Garyson Global has controlling interest in NolCorp.
-Emily informs Nolan about Padma's request and ruins his breakfast.
- Amanda wakes up from her coma, and gets to meet her son and Kara. Mason, the writer, returns to the Hamptons and pays a visit to the hospital, he notices that Amanda doesn't have a scar and later confronts her with this observation, implying that Amanda is a fraud.
- Emily convinces Amanda to talk to Kara and ask her to leave, because she might be dangerous. Amanda and Kara have a talk, and Amanda says she forgives Kara. Emily's in pieces eavesdropping.
- The robbed person makes an offer on Jack's bar and Jack seems to agree.
Oh, and yes, Victoria and Conrad are getting married, so they wouldn't have to testify against each other in court, in case it gets to this point, and Emily tells Amanda that Jack is the father of her son.
What I did not like about this episode is how quickly Amanda recovered. One day she's practically dead, the next day she's released from the hospital. To make it a little more plausible, the writers should either make her accident appear less dramatic or let her lie unconscious for an episode or two.
Score: 8/10
Oct 24, 2012
REVENGE: INTUITION LIES
Revenge episode "Intuition" was very intense as opposed to last week's "Confidence". I'm more and more convinced that Revenge is the best soap not only this season (I did watch episode two of Nashville as well and I can't force myself to write about it, that's how boring it was), but probably in a decade or so.
What happened:
Revenge creators used again their favorite way of narration by showing blood in Grayson's house and Victoria burning papers only to then tell us what the hell happened 24 hours before that. I think they are overusing this technique.
Emily confronts Aiden. She says he found her mother, referring to the non existent detective Kara mentions on the voicemail message. Aiden lies that the detective must have been someone from the Initiative, the group TWHM worked for. He also suggests that Emily tempers her expectations about her mother, Kara Clarke could clearly be a very dangerous person now.
Conrad flies to meet the Initiative (a very pointless trip I should say), as he leaves, he asks Ashley to report if Daniel is up to something. Daniel discovers that Ashley is spying on him, but before that he tells her that his father is doing tricky stuff with the company share price and that kidnapping of Victoria didn't really happen.
Amanda moves out from Jack's bar. He tries to stop her but without particular enthusiasm, so she comes to Emily's house to stay in the guest room. Emily wants her help with getting information from Victoria about Kara. The plan A where Amanda trades fake David Clarke journal for this info fails miserably. The plan B is to get a check signed by Victoria to then confront her by showing that the signature on the check matches the one on the visitor log from the mental hospital where Emily's mother was held.
Declan's burglary turns out to be a set up. The guy he robbed apparently wants Jack's bar; a wish that I can't really understand, 'cause the place is a s**thole.
Aiden goes back to the motel to ask Kara about the Initiative, long story short, she gets him unconscious with the help of an electroshocker and leaves him tied up. She's like Sarah Connor or something.
Nolan Ross gets to know that his father died. The two have not been in touch since Nolan was kicked out from his home for not getting back to school (because he already established his company). His nosy employee, Padma, brings him to gather some of the unclaimed stuff of his father. Their romantic story gets a development as they kiss and Nolan promises to take her out on a date.
Padma finds the check that David Clarke gave to Nolan for the start-up, which I believe isn't good for the upcoming audit of the company (like, terrorist funded or something). At least she makes a look like it's something bad.
Amanda brings some of her friends from the stripclub to the fancy baby shower Victoria throws.
She then acts according to the plan B and confronts Victoria. Victoria, after taking some pressure, says that Kara attempted to kill her daughter, and as Mrs. Grayson tries to get her check back, Amanda slips and falls over the banister. So that's whose blood that was.
Conrad gets back home and asks Ashley why she did not tell anything about Daniel. She says that there is nothing to report, Daniel only has his father's best interest at his heart and that she's done spying. Daniel is happy to overhear that.
Amanda is taken to the hospital, where a C-section is performed and she is put to a coma, her son is also under a special tretament. Jack is blaming himself (as well he should), Declan is comforting Charlotte. Emily wonders around the hospital and as she looks inside Amanda's ward through the glass door, she sees her mother who arrived as soon as she heard about the accident on the radio. Emily then has a flashback of her mother trying to drown her. So Victoria wasn't lying about this one, huh.
Emily leaves poor Amanda unprotected, one-by-one with this crazy mommy monster. Aiden arrives at Emily's house where she sits devastated and hysterical. But he gets to hug her and she cries on his shoulder.
So, a lot happened, no idea what Amanda's fate will be. If she survives she could be in a wheelchair for some time. Bad stuff will happen to Nolan's company for sure (Emily keeps thanking him, so she will have to return her debt by helping him out for a change, or?). Initiative group's story line has so far been extremely weak, the dialogue Conrad had with their representative was quite idiotic and as I said I can't figure out why they couldn't deliver that message over the phone, for instance. Jack's bar will hardly go, but at least we got another candidate to go down with "Amanda", the boat (I mean the robbed man here).
Score: 9,5/10 (0,5 deducted for Initiative)
What happened:
Revenge creators used again their favorite way of narration by showing blood in Grayson's house and Victoria burning papers only to then tell us what the hell happened 24 hours before that. I think they are overusing this technique.
Emily confronts Aiden. She says he found her mother, referring to the non existent detective Kara mentions on the voicemail message. Aiden lies that the detective must have been someone from the Initiative, the group TWHM worked for. He also suggests that Emily tempers her expectations about her mother, Kara Clarke could clearly be a very dangerous person now.
Conrad flies to meet the Initiative (a very pointless trip I should say), as he leaves, he asks Ashley to report if Daniel is up to something. Daniel discovers that Ashley is spying on him, but before that he tells her that his father is doing tricky stuff with the company share price and that kidnapping of Victoria didn't really happen.
Amanda moves out from Jack's bar. He tries to stop her but without particular enthusiasm, so she comes to Emily's house to stay in the guest room. Emily wants her help with getting information from Victoria about Kara. The plan A where Amanda trades fake David Clarke journal for this info fails miserably. The plan B is to get a check signed by Victoria to then confront her by showing that the signature on the check matches the one on the visitor log from the mental hospital where Emily's mother was held.
Declan's burglary turns out to be a set up. The guy he robbed apparently wants Jack's bar; a wish that I can't really understand, 'cause the place is a s**thole.
Aiden goes back to the motel to ask Kara about the Initiative, long story short, she gets him unconscious with the help of an electroshocker and leaves him tied up. She's like Sarah Connor or something.
Nolan Ross gets to know that his father died. The two have not been in touch since Nolan was kicked out from his home for not getting back to school (because he already established his company). His nosy employee, Padma, brings him to gather some of the unclaimed stuff of his father. Their romantic story gets a development as they kiss and Nolan promises to take her out on a date.
Padma finds the check that David Clarke gave to Nolan for the start-up, which I believe isn't good for the upcoming audit of the company (like, terrorist funded or something). At least she makes a look like it's something bad.
She then acts according to the plan B and confronts Victoria. Victoria, after taking some pressure, says that Kara attempted to kill her daughter, and as Mrs. Grayson tries to get her check back, Amanda slips and falls over the banister. So that's whose blood that was.
Conrad gets back home and asks Ashley why she did not tell anything about Daniel. She says that there is nothing to report, Daniel only has his father's best interest at his heart and that she's done spying. Daniel is happy to overhear that.
Amanda is taken to the hospital, where a C-section is performed and she is put to a coma, her son is also under a special tretament. Jack is blaming himself (as well he should), Declan is comforting Charlotte. Emily wonders around the hospital and as she looks inside Amanda's ward through the glass door, she sees her mother who arrived as soon as she heard about the accident on the radio. Emily then has a flashback of her mother trying to drown her. So Victoria wasn't lying about this one, huh.
Emily leaves poor Amanda unprotected, one-by-one with this crazy mommy monster. Aiden arrives at Emily's house where she sits devastated and hysterical. But he gets to hug her and she cries on his shoulder.
So, a lot happened, no idea what Amanda's fate will be. If she survives she could be in a wheelchair for some time. Bad stuff will happen to Nolan's company for sure (Emily keeps thanking him, so she will have to return her debt by helping him out for a change, or?). Initiative group's story line has so far been extremely weak, the dialogue Conrad had with their representative was quite idiotic and as I said I can't figure out why they couldn't deliver that message over the phone, for instance. Jack's bar will hardly go, but at least we got another candidate to go down with "Amanda", the boat (I mean the robbed man here).
Score: 9,5/10 (0,5 deducted for Initiative)
Oct 19, 2012
REVENGE: A LOVE TRIANGLE BECOMES A QUADRATE
I did not like 'Confidence', the third episode of Revenge, season 2, mainly because the story did not progress all that much.
We learn that Aiden and Emily used to be lovers (which is not a big surprise), and then he betrayed her twice during one day (in Takeda test and as he left without her to look for his sister, whom he didn't save). Aiden wants to find people TWHM was working for whereas Emily is looking for her mother, so they get into a fight over TWHM's belongings that might contain clues. Emily wins this fight by hitting the Britt with a wine bottle and throwing him to a trash can. The only clue Aiden has is the key from some Motel he heads to to explore. There he finds the recorder from Victoria's plane and Emily's mother, but obviously, he doesn't know who she is.
Declan, out of the blue, becomes a burglar. I kind of need a little more explanation of this, you can't just agree to keep the stolen stuff one day and break into houses to steal, which is a pretty serious crime, the next day, just because you're a little broke. Anyway, Declan "loses" his driving license (I can't believe he's that stupid, so maybe that was planted by his sidekick) and the man he robbed came to Jack. He says he won't press charges if all stolen stuff is returned.
Charlotte learns the truth about her father from his diary that Amanda gives to her, Daniel learns that his mother faked her kidnapping as he's sent her fake passport by Aiden. Victoria makes a bold move: she goes public about the affair she had with Clarke and welcomes Amanda to her family, whereas Emily is told to stay away, you know, for security reasons.
Conrad receives a call from the people behind TWHM.Aiden gives the plane recorder in exchange for what he thinks is the TWHM's SIM card, in fact Emily exchanges the card with the empty one.
After being attacked by Aiden (Aiden tried to protect Emily, I take it), Nolan moves out from Emily's. He's still not paying much attention to the audit of his company, which will probably have consequences.
Jack sees how Amanda is welcomed to the Grayson family on TV. He then says to her that he can commit to the child but not to her. I don't like this character. At first, he likes Emily, then he falls for Amanda, then he likes Emily even more and can't settle for Amanda. He's not a good guy, he's just wrong in the head, with possible mommy issues.
In the end of the episode, Emily hears her mother's voice on TWHM's voicemail.
I can't think of any comment for this episode except for "meh".
Score 6/10
Declan, out of the blue, becomes a burglar. I kind of need a little more explanation of this, you can't just agree to keep the stolen stuff one day and break into houses to steal, which is a pretty serious crime, the next day, just because you're a little broke. Anyway, Declan "loses" his driving license (I can't believe he's that stupid, so maybe that was planted by his sidekick) and the man he robbed came to Jack. He says he won't press charges if all stolen stuff is returned.
Charlotte learns the truth about her father from his diary that Amanda gives to her, Daniel learns that his mother faked her kidnapping as he's sent her fake passport by Aiden. Victoria makes a bold move: she goes public about the affair she had with Clarke and welcomes Amanda to her family, whereas Emily is told to stay away, you know, for security reasons.
Conrad receives a call from the people behind TWHM.Aiden gives the plane recorder in exchange for what he thinks is the TWHM's SIM card, in fact Emily exchanges the card with the empty one.
After being attacked by Aiden (Aiden tried to protect Emily, I take it), Nolan moves out from Emily's. He's still not paying much attention to the audit of his company, which will probably have consequences.
Jack sees how Amanda is welcomed to the Grayson family on TV. He then says to her that he can commit to the child but not to her. I don't like this character. At first, he likes Emily, then he falls for Amanda, then he likes Emily even more and can't settle for Amanda. He's not a good guy, he's just wrong in the head, with possible mommy issues.
In the end of the episode, Emily hears her mother's voice on TWHM's voicemail.
I can't think of any comment for this episode except for "meh".
Score 6/10
Oct 9, 2012
REVENGE S02E02 (RESURRECTION): RISEN FROM THE ASHES
The second episode of Revenge was a little less impressive than the start of the season, but it still left me wondering what happens next.
What happened:
-Daniel learns his father was artificially increasing the company value with Charlotte's money and the Britt we've seen with Takeda is on the board of the meeting with Grason Global investors (to represent Takeda)
-Emily tells Daniel what she knows about Dr. Thomas, so Charlotte is released, but is penniless, which means she and her mother can't flee to another country as initially planned. Not that Charlotte wanted too, since Emily informed her that her"sister" is expecting
-Nolan meets one of his employees, Padma
-Emily makes Amanda believe that she fixed the DNA test results, Jack is really the father (that's what he knows too)
-A weird guy asks Declan to hold a stolen bracelet for him in exchange for some money. I'm sure it's a trap.
-Victoria with the help of her husband stages her abduction to come back home, resurrected. White-haired-man, before the arrival of the police notices Emily's clam-cam. He calls her and comes to get the video, as he tries to slit Emily's throat, the Britt shoots him.
Victoria's part was the highlight of the show. The only thing I don't get is why her husband came to help her (her threat "or I will hunt you for the rest of your life" is not convincing, really. That was a great risk, also, he could have killed her in that cabin, easily. Anyway, what happened that happened, Victoria's back to life (the joke's on Ashley).
I am more and more convinced that the dead body on the sunken boat is the Britt's (his name is Aiden, btw, but I don't remember him introduced). He appears in different roles at Hamptons.
I did not like Padma at all, very annoying character. As far as I understand, she'll be Nolan's crush, but I fail to understand what will she add to the story.
I did not like Padma at all, very annoying character. As far as I understand, she'll be Nolan's crush, but I fail to understand what will she add to the story.
I know the last time I complained that they make Emily look like a superhuman, this time she nearly gets killed because she meets TWHM unprepared. Did she really expect that he won't try to attack her? How silly.
Score: 8/10
Score: 8/10
Oct 3, 2012
REVENGE: HOW ABOUT SOME ACTUAL RETALIATION THIS TIME?
The Count of Monte Cristo was my second favorite book as a child (I had tough childhood, alright), so the whole idea of vengeance really speak to me. Last season though, what Revenge (ABC) was lacking was the actual revenge. Emily/Amanda could not even finish her father's murderer, which to me looked pathetic. No, I understand it's soap and that the creators are afraid that part of the audience would get upset if Emily (I'll go with calling her Emily) crossed this line. Plus, they would then need to invent another evil-evil-evil person to do everything they prepared for the white-haired-man in season 2.
I also think starting every episode with little Amanda yelling "Daddyyyy!" is extremely annoying. But overall this series was above average, Emily VanCamp is squinting eyes very convincingly and Madeleine Stowe is great at giving fake smiles.
So the creators decided to use a template from the last season and start the first episode of season 2 with Jack's boat, "Amanda", sunk with a dead men's body in it on Labor Day (again), only to continue with narration of the events that happened three months before that. We then see Emily provoking a near death experience, under the watch of Takeda, the Japanese who shot Tyler, and a new British guy, in order to recover some memories about her mother, who might be still alive. I am actually worried about how they're trying to make Emily look superhuman, it makes the story less believable (haha).
So, as a result of this self torture, Emily remembers how she visited her mom in a hospital with a statue of an angel in front of it. She's close to dying but the Britt takes her out of the water just in time.
In a meanwhile we learn that Daniel is grieving over his dead mother and thus drinking all day long. His father wants him to move his funds from the trust to the company, but Daniel hesitates and later declines.
Charlotte is in a rehab and she expresses a wish to attend the auction on Memorial day (again) dedicated to the late Victoria Grayson. She seems focused and overall reborn.
Jack is with Amanda, who's now heavily pregnant and is said to deliver in four weeks, and he's deeply depressed. Later Emily hints that the baby Amanda's expecting might not be Jack's and he cheerfully embraces this suggestion, so Amanda says she'll make an appointment for the DNA test.
On a way to the Hamptons, Emily picks up Nolan Ross from his boxing section. Nolan was my favorite character in the show, now with slightly changed hairstyle and the whole boxing thing, he reminds me of Dolph Lundgren.
He apparently sold his summer house and now wants to stay at Emily's, which she's not thrilled about, but anyway lets him.
Together with Nolan Emily visits an abandoned hospital where her mother was treated. We learn that there was a record of a mental illness in Emily's family, so no wonder she turned out to be this kind of a psycho. We also learn that Victoria visited Emily's mom in this hospital at some point.
Emily visits Charlotte in a rehab and learns that Daniel and Ashley are now together, so she appears fully prepared (i.e. looking gorgeous) at the auction that Ashley, who's trying to take Victoria's place, hosts.
Ashley says a couple of words about Victoria (the speech was hardly inspirational), but then Charlotte takes a word and as she says that she (Charlotte) is a new person now, a phone of her "rehab controller" rings and he then says Charlotte's blood tests returned positive results on the drugs use.
Charlotte freaks out and yells that the results are fake and whispers something to Emily's ear. From the further development we understand that Charlotte's father tried to get to her part of heritage from Victoria, that's why he wants her locked in a rehab.
And here we come to an obvious turn...Victoria is alive! (Tadadaaa!). Emily finds her hiding in a house off the beaten track (Charlotte told her).
Of course, it would have been stupid to think that the main antagonist of the show and its best actress would disappear like that. So hardly anyone believed she actually died in that plane crash, the question was only how she survived it.
Victoria says that Feds are the ones hiding her to compile a case against her husband, but as Emily with Nolan's help installs a camera in Victoria's place, turns out that she actually has a deal with the white-haired-man, whom he now tells to eliminate Emily.
The questions:
Whose dead body we see in the beginning? All details point to Jack, so it means it's definitely not Jack!
Who's the Britt (maybe, he's the one that dies on the Labor Day)?
Is Emily's mom alive?
For how long Victoria will be hiding?
Is baby really Jack's? If not, how Amanda sabotages the DNA test?
I believe the episode was pretty fine, and in comparison with all the new series that turn out to be a pure crap, it's a really good watch.
Score: 9/10
I also think starting every episode with little Amanda yelling "Daddyyyy!" is extremely annoying. But overall this series was above average, Emily VanCamp is squinting eyes very convincingly and Madeleine Stowe is great at giving fake smiles.
So the creators decided to use a template from the last season and start the first episode of season 2 with Jack's boat, "Amanda", sunk with a dead men's body in it on Labor Day (again), only to continue with narration of the events that happened three months before that. We then see Emily provoking a near death experience, under the watch of Takeda, the Japanese who shot Tyler, and a new British guy, in order to recover some memories about her mother, who might be still alive. I am actually worried about how they're trying to make Emily look superhuman, it makes the story less believable (haha).
In a meanwhile we learn that Daniel is grieving over his dead mother and thus drinking all day long. His father wants him to move his funds from the trust to the company, but Daniel hesitates and later declines.
Charlotte is in a rehab and she expresses a wish to attend the auction on Memorial day (again) dedicated to the late Victoria Grayson. She seems focused and overall reborn.
Jack is with Amanda, who's now heavily pregnant and is said to deliver in four weeks, and he's deeply depressed. Later Emily hints that the baby Amanda's expecting might not be Jack's and he cheerfully embraces this suggestion, so Amanda says she'll make an appointment for the DNA test.
On a way to the Hamptons, Emily picks up Nolan Ross from his boxing section. Nolan was my favorite character in the show, now with slightly changed hairstyle and the whole boxing thing, he reminds me of Dolph Lundgren.
Together with Nolan Emily visits an abandoned hospital where her mother was treated. We learn that there was a record of a mental illness in Emily's family, so no wonder she turned out to be this kind of a psycho. We also learn that Victoria visited Emily's mom in this hospital at some point.
Emily visits Charlotte in a rehab and learns that Daniel and Ashley are now together, so she appears fully prepared (i.e. looking gorgeous) at the auction that Ashley, who's trying to take Victoria's place, hosts.
Ashley says a couple of words about Victoria (the speech was hardly inspirational), but then Charlotte takes a word and as she says that she (Charlotte) is a new person now, a phone of her "rehab controller" rings and he then says Charlotte's blood tests returned positive results on the drugs use.
And here we come to an obvious turn...Victoria is alive! (Tadadaaa!). Emily finds her hiding in a house off the beaten track (Charlotte told her).
Of course, it would have been stupid to think that the main antagonist of the show and its best actress would disappear like that. So hardly anyone believed she actually died in that plane crash, the question was only how she survived it.
Victoria says that Feds are the ones hiding her to compile a case against her husband, but as Emily with Nolan's help installs a camera in Victoria's place, turns out that she actually has a deal with the white-haired-man, whom he now tells to eliminate Emily.
The questions:
Whose dead body we see in the beginning? All details point to Jack, so it means it's definitely not Jack!
Who's the Britt (maybe, he's the one that dies on the Labor Day)?
Is Emily's mom alive?
For how long Victoria will be hiding?
Is baby really Jack's? If not, how Amanda sabotages the DNA test?
I believe the episode was pretty fine, and in comparison with all the new series that turn out to be a pure crap, it's a really good watch.
Score: 9/10
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