Tuesday, December 17, 2013

My Review of Revenge's 3x10: "Exodus"


Written by Sunil Nayar And Karin Gist
Directed by Kenneth Fink

Daniel: “Two years! I bet you laughed at me every time I questioned you and you just fed me more of your lies and why? Why did you tell me I was gonna be a father?”
Emily: “I’m sorry!”

What. The. Actual. Fuck? Of all the people to shoot Emily (there went my Charlotte/Ashley/Lydia theories), it had to be Daniel to do it? I’m not mad but I certainly wasn’t expecting it to happen and that’s taking into the account that Daniel has previous form with shooting people. I guess he really is as bad as his parents after all.

I know a lot of fan could see Daniel’s motives for shooting Emily. After all, he had just overheard her gloating to Victoria that she faked a pregnancy and was actively targeting the Graysons for the last two years but still, if Daniel ever had any redeeming quality about it, he blew it here with his attempted murder on his new bride. Has the guy never heard of an annulment? It would’ve saved him a lot of hassle in the long run.

Emily might have succeeded in getting Daniel to marry her and even in getting Conrad and Patrick to make sure Victoria attended the wedding of the year (aside from a certain red wedding that is) but she royally fucked things up in this episode for herself. Not only was she stupid enough to gloat in front of Victoria before completing her frame up but she also allowed Lydia to outsmart her. That in itself was pretty bad going.

I knew Lydia wouldn’t just be happy with having the beach house back in her possession. There was no way she was going to resist in confirming Victoria’s suspicions about Emily and that’s exactly what she did with handing over the New Year’s party photo to Victoria. Now that Emily’s in rough shape and Daniel knows about her scheming, she’s going to have to be a lot more in avenging her father’s death after all.

Yes, I said rough shape because it’s obvious that Emily wasn’t going to actually die in this one. Daniel might be able to shoot but he hasn’t mastered the killing bit and we still have another twelve episodes to go with this season as well. However, I wouldn’t want to be in Daniel’s position when Nolan, Jack and Aiden get their hands on him. I can’t see that ending well for Danny Boy in the slightest.

As for the rest of the episode – it was definitely about rekindling and destroying connections as well. Emily’s attempts of offering Jack some comfort with Amanda practically blew up in her face and Sara herself coped badly with losing Daniel to Emily as well. That being said – did she really try to kill herself? I’m not entirely sure I buy that for some reason.

As for Conrad and Lydia – I’m not really sure I care too much about them getting back together. Does he really love her or is he settling for her because he and Victoria are done with? I don’t know but I do think Lydia’s love for Conrad seems sincere enough, though her hatred for Emily and desire to usurp Victoria will probably backfire on her again at some later point in the season.

Nolan and Patrick on the other hand – I was glad to get some actual scenes with them in this episode and more so for Nolan’s snarkiness about Patrick’s over attachment to his mother. However I do things with them still need to be ironed out and it’s obvious their loyalties to Emily and Victoria alike will cause more problems for them in the second half of the season. That and the fact that Patrick managed to find Nolan’s not so secret safe as well.

Also in “Exodus”

Another shocking thing about this episode was having no opening and closing narrations from Emily this week.

Aiden (re Victoria): “You know there are more direct ways of dealing with this problem.”
Emily: “She isn’t getting off that easily.”

Trust Conrad to resort to blackmailing Victoria and Patrick into attending the wedding. I kind of admired him for it a strange way.

Emily: “I lost Amanda too.”
Jack: “You’ve taken everything from me, even this moment, this goodbye.”

Lydia: “It helped being next door to land a Grayson didn’t it?”
Emily: “It’s yours. Just please don’t ruin my wedding.”

I sense a future alliance of sorts with Margaux and Victoria, given their little moment in this episode.

Nolan: “Only you can make vengeance so beautiful.”
Emily: “Let’s do it.”

Emily (to Daniel): “I’ve looked forward to this day since I was a little girl. Thank you for letting me into your life, into your family. Through you, I’ve become the woman I’ve always wanted to be. The woman that I needed to be. From the moment I met you, I knew that this moment was in our destiny. We share a bond that is unbreakable, until death parts us.”

Emily gave Jack back Amanda’s locket and we got some flashbacks to the first two seasons during the wedding. Daniel’s middle name is Edward while Emily’s was Rebecca – an allusion to Brothers And Sisters, perhaps?

Emily: “What is it that you want, Lydia?”
Lydia: “I want you to get exactly what’s coming to you.”

Standout music: Phosphorescent’s “Song For Zula” at the wedding reception.

Victoria (to Lydia): “And they say no-one ever thinks about the mother of the groom?”

Chronology: August 8th, the day that Daniel shot Emily.

Well, that was certainly a doozy, wasn’t it? “Exodus” certainly provided the most excitement all season with Emily making the classic mistake of counting her chickens before they hatched. I have no idea where they’re going to go in the second half (aside from a fake amnesia plot) but the consequences of Daniel’s little murder attempt should be fun to watch nonetheless.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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