For the first four episodes, Revenge masqueraded itself as just another procedural, but one where Emily Thorne judged her victims instead of saving them. Then the disguise was removed, and suddenly we found ourselves watching a very different show.
The series has since traded in its revenge-of-the-week format for an increasingly complicated story arc. Gone are the days when Emily could simply while away the hours plotting out her revenge. Now she’s lucky if she can still keep up her “Charade”.
Emily: Did you get rid of him?
Stiles: For now, but this never should’ve happened. What’s the first thing I taught you?
Emily: Never underestimate your enemy.
Stiles: And never let your guard down. This one seems determined.
And by far Emily’s toughest obstacle yet is the Grayson’s now-rogue security guard Frank. Nolan was right when he said Frank was better at this than them, and this week Frank proves it by checking out Emily’s old juvenile detention center. Until now we’d assumed Emily was exacting revenge all by herself, but she actually has a number of accomplices helping her out in various ways.
Who could be a better person to have her back and teach her the ways of revenge than The Shield‘s CCH Pounder? As Warden Stiles, the woman who runs her old juvenile detention center, she’s available to Emily by a single call from a secret phone hidden in a box beneath her floorboards. Very intriguing. It appears that Stiles is a wiling co-conspirator and mother-hen to our young Emily Thorne. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve seen of her, and I look forward to seeing more.
Frank: I’m going to redeem myself with you Victoria or I’m going to die trying.
Another person of great help to Emily’s overall mission is the real Emily Thorne. (Yes, amusingly, the name Nolan made fun of is actually real.) Whereas Stiles is a willing accomplice, the real Emily was paid money to swap identities with our Emily while the two were cellmates together at the detention center. The real Emily’s now Amanda, a stripper, and she quickly kills Frank when he comes around asking too many questions. But unlike Lydia, I hope Frank stays dead. It’s about time we have a permanent casualty of Emily’s vendetta.
Nolan: My first solo takedown?
Nolan also comes to Emily’s aid this week when she approves of him going on his first solo mission to take down the increasingly annoying Tyler. I’d been going back and forth on whether Tyler was actually gay, and I decided just last week that he was only trying to take over Daniel’s life and money. Of course, the show then proved me wrong by having him sleep with Nolan.
Tyler, and as it turns out Nolan, is simply an identity enigma. Both guys are willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill their mission. For Tyler that means sleeping with Nolan to keep him quiet about his plan to get back his family’s wealth after his parents went bankrupt. And for Nolan that means video taping said liaison to use as blackmail at a later date. I love that whether either one of them is gay or not is not even the issue. They’re the ambiguously gay duo.
Emily: Just as there are two sides to every story, there are two sides to every person. One that we reveal to the world, and one we keep hidden inside, a duality governed by the balance of light and darkness. Within each of us is the capacity for both good and evil, but those who are able to blur the moral dividing line hold the true power.
Finally, as I said last week, where would this show be without a momentous occasion to celebrate and consequently destroy? This week it’s a dinner party for Lydia and Conrad’s 25th wedding anniversary that gets everyone in one location. But leading up to the event, resentment is heating up between the Hampton’s golden couple.
We learn that Conrad was already married when he had an affair with Victoria, and it was Conrad and Frank’s idea to frame David Clarke. They used Daniel to make Victoria help them. I love that with each passing episode, Victoria is not quite living up to the enemy she’s been made out to be.
Next week:
One problem just returned, Lydia, and one just moved in, Amanda. Will revenge ever be smooth for Emily again?