Wednesday, January 28, 2015

My Review of Revenge's 4x14: "Kindred"


Written by Nancy Kiu
Directed by Colin Bucksey

Mystery Caller (to Victoria): “There’s been a death in the family.”

Okay then. The show needed a solid cliff hanger of sorts and this episode provided at least two of them. Aside from Daniel and Conrad, who else in Victoria’s family has now become a dead person? Charlotte? Patrick? Her mother perhaps? I’m kind of hoping for the latter as having Victoria lose two children in a short space of time might be a bit too much for her.

Keeping with Victoria, this was a very interesting episode for her. Not only did she firmly remind Margaux again to let go of her vendetta against Emily (she really has changed), but she also got some nice closure with David of sorts and a fabulous new rival in the shape of Natalie Waters.

Casting Gina Torres was a smart move for this show and in four scenes alone, I already find Natalie a fascinating character. I loved how she seemed to be slightly a step ahead of Victoria during their encounters and even unmoved by Victoria’s threats to discover her secrets as well. Now that Emily no longer poses a threat to Victoria, it looks like Natalie may fill that void and I cannot wait to see both ladies going head to head again. I just hope Natalie gets more episodes than Malcolm Black did.

Speaking of ladies going head to head – Margaux fought poorly with the reports insinuating that Emily and David were lovers (really did not want that image in my head) and I liked that Emily made it clear she could crush Margaux’s little empire as well. I also liked that when Margaux finally did get some genuine ammunition against Emily, it also happened to involve Jack and because of that, we got some conflict to Margaux’s overall plan. Points given to at least making this plotline more interesting than it initially was but I’m still hoping Margaux comes to her senses and lets it go.

As for Jack – I really could’ve done without his moping in this episode. While David seemed to enable it, Ben at least seemed slightly exasperated by it but at the same time, at least Jack finally left the force. I hated Jack being a cop because it made no sense but I do find it amusing that as he was about to try to get together with Emily, she had already moved on to Ben. I wouldn’t worry – Emily and Ben probably won’t last.

As for the rest of the episode – when Emily wasn’t toying with the idea of taking back her real name (thanks to David, who was actually pretty great this week), I liked that both her and Nolan finally helped Louise to expose her mother for the murderer she was. I’m glad Louise doesn’t have blood on her hands and even more delighted that she managed to cut both Penelope and Lyman off as well. While I’d rather her and Nolan didn’t consummate their marriage, this whole ‘sham marriage’ storyline has been more enjoyable than expected.

Also in “Kindred”

Nolan checking out one of his staff members while taking about his marriage to Emily cracked me up.

Nolan: “The marriage may be fake in it’s spirit but it’s real on paper. Nolan Ross is off the market.”
Emily: “And the world weeps.”

Emily or shall I say Amanda Clarke was born on June 11th 1984. Of course she had to be a Gemini and as one myself, I’m pretty stoked about it.

Victoria (to Margaux): “I told you that if you go to war with Emily, no good can come of it.”

Emily: “Is that a threat?”
Margaux: “Simply the world you’ve chosen to live in.”

I’m surprised when Emily wasn’t trying to crack Louise’s memories that she didn’t go for the same method that had been used on her by Takeda and Aiden.

Ben: “Don’t make me do that.”
Emily: “What?”
Ben: “Imagine a world without Emily Thorne.”

Natalie (to Victoria): “It’s not easy being queen if you believe your history.”

It was a bit funny that Penelope and Judge Miller kept the murder weapon for all those years and in public display too.

Victoria (to her socialites): “A friend is like a business. Investing in the wrong one always proves costly.”

Standout music: Lia Ices “Magick”.

Louise: “How could Nolan have such faith in me when I don’t have faith in myself?”
Emily: “Cos that’s who Nolan.”

Chronology: A few days from where “Abduction” left off.

“Kindred” was a nice episode. Not as action packed as the previous one but again, some loose ends were tied up, some plots took an interesting twist and hopefully there’s enough sustainable for the remaining eight episodes when the show returns in March.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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