Monday, December 03, 2012

My Review of Revenge's 2x09: "Revelations"


Written by Ted Sullivan
Directed by Kenneth Fink

Padma (re Graysons): “Why not hit them now?”
Nolan: “It’s much easier to destroy a castle from inside it’s own walls.”

Okay, for an episode with a title like “Revelations” don’t expect much in the way of an actual reveal because apart from Daniel making the schoolboy error of making it on Nolan’s hit list, very little else in this episode will come across as much as a shock to even the most easily pleased of viewers.

The best thing about this episode through and through was Nolan and boy, did the poor guy get royally screwed over in this one? Aiden and Emily could’ve made more of a concentrated effort to try and stop NolCorp from becoming a subsidiary of Grayson Global but they didn’t and Daniel’s intense pleasure of staking a claim into Nolan’s company made me want to punch him across the face big time.

It also didn’t help that by re-enlisting Marco into NolCorp that Nolan could either be setting himself up for a further fall or possibly doing some damage control. Padma didn’t exactly look best pleased either with Marco back in the game but at least with Nolan given his own revenge based agenda, we’ve got something to look forward in the second half of the season. If Emily and Aiden are too distracted with each other, then at least Nolan’s focused on taking Grayson Global down.

As for Emily and Aiden – I really thought this episode served them rather badly. I get Aiden not giving a crap about Nolan’s company but Emily should’ve shown a bit more concern too. Whatever help Nolan has given her doesn’t mean that he deserves to pay for it with his company at the hands of the Graysons and I can’t help thinking that Emily should’ve tried something to help Nolan out this week.

In fact apart from outing a brief sexual tryst with Conrad and Ashley and receiving an alliance from Victoria, Emily was disappointingly inactive in this episode in terms of storylines. If this is what Aiden is going to do to her, then I have to admit I’m kind of worried. Emily really does need to get her head back in the game big time, so hopefully this ‘alliance’ with Victoria will be the thing to do it.

As for the Graysons, well, we didn’t get anything too revealing about them this week. Daniel’s attempts of playing the big man has put him under fire with the Initiative and the whole reveal of Ashley and Conrad shagging once was something most viewers predicted ages ago.

I did feel a little bad for Ashley but I have a feeling that we’re not done with her just yet, so I'm not too sorry for her then. Still, this episode did seem to emphasise that as angry as Daniel was by Ashley’s betrayal, he wasn’t that into her in the first place. After all, he had no problem deleting Ashley’s pictures but not the ones with him and Emily.

As for Victoria – maybe she does love Conrad. Otherwise why would she have been bothered by him sleeping with Ashley after all? Also, her overbearing maternal love for Daniel made her rashly set Ashley up for a fall and foolishly threaten Helen as well. It’s also probably the latter that’s prompting her to reach out to Emily of all people as well.

Last but not least – it was nice to see Jack and Amanda finally christen baby Carl and I certainly enjoyed that brief scene with Emily and Amanda but the rest of the story not so much. I really don’t care about Kenny and Nate’s vendetta against Carl Snr and if Jack had bothered to do some research beforehand, he might have actually spared himself a lot of trouble. The sooner this storyline is done with, the better because it’s certainly the weakest one going on at the moment.

Also in “Revelations”

Victoria with a rifle. If there was a reason for Conrad to want to sleep with one eye open, surely his wife’s fondness for guns would be one of them now?

Nolan: “That’s for me to know and you find out. How does that feel, not so fun, huh?”
Emily: “Just be careful. Nobody plays dirtier than the Graysons.”

Victoria and Conrad pimping out Ashley to Salvador must have been a bad reminder of the latter of how her life could’ve turned out without Emily stepping in that time.

Padma (to Nolan): “Prepare to enter the lion’s den.”

Aiden: “You don’t have to keep secrets from me.”
Emily: “I’m not.”

The Initiative watching Daniel with a camera in a clock isn’t as cool as Shamu but definitely less cheesier than that convenient fog that Kenny and Nate when they were beating up Matt.

Victoria (to Conrad): “You have wormed your way into the very nadir of repugnance.”

Emily: “I’m not destroying lives, Amanda. I’m righting wrongs.”
Amanda: “Tell yourself whatever you have to but when will enough be enough?”

Anyone else a little disappointed that Charlotte hasn’t had much to do in the last few episodes?

Ashley: “I do my best to keep out of your way.”
Victoria: “That’s debateable.”

Marco: “It’s not your usual hangout last time I remember.”
Nolan: “A lot of things have changed since you walked out the door.”

Standout music: Tunnels “The Hundred In The Hands” that played during the end of this episode.

Conrad (re being slapped): “What the hell was that for?”
Victoria: “Take your pick.”

Emily: “Revelations can help us accept the things we need the most.”

Chronology: Not long from where “Lineage” left off.

Not a bad episode but for an episode that was called “Revelations”, we virtually got nothing that was genuinely shocking or even game changing. I suppose maybe Daniel incurring Nolan’s wrath (more than the Initiative’s attention, now he’s CEO of Grayson Global) or Victoria reaching out to Emily could be considered big moments but they feel a little small scale compared to what we’ve gotten in the past.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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