Revenge

Revenge

Episode 9: Revelations

By: Carlos Uribe

Revenge is a show about Emily Thorne and her quest of revenge.

Spoilers Ahoy!

One aspect of Revenge that I simply love is how convoluted it can be. It can sometimes hurt this show but it's often what makes it so fun to watch. It can turn what would otherwise be a boring old company board vote into something that is filled with intrigue and excitement. This is the episode where Daniel's bid to take over his company occurs. The event of whether he'll win or not isn't really a source of tension by the show. It's a foregone conclusion by the characters, and therefore the viewers, that he's going to have the votes to take over the company. This doesn't mean that Victoria and Conrad don't go down without a fight but there's always a sense of ineviteblity in their interactions. The two know that they're facing an uphill battle that is quickly turning against them. This is why they try their best to convince a member of the board to vote on their side. This is because the member of the board controls the majority of the votes. If he decides to back Conrad then Conrad remains in charge of Grayson Global. If this board member decides to Daniel then Daniel wins his coup. By focusing our attention on this single board member, the series is able to represent the battle over the board in a way that only a soap can. There are characters on this show that come out on top and that come out on bottom due to trying to win over this single board member.

Who comes out on top? Daniel is able to win control over his father's company. He was winning the board member over before he lost him due to a dirty trick from Victoria. Daniel is able to turn that dirty trick around and blackmail the board member into backing him. The Initiative gets a new puppet that they're going to try and control. They haven't been very happy with Conrad or Victoria so Daniel must be a treat to the initiative. Marco is the final characer to come back. He uses his information about the missing money to leverage himself a job on Nolcorp. Daniel, Marco, and the Initative are all characters that benefited from this week. Granted, the Initiative pretty much had a win-win scenario going for them. They get a new puppet or they get to play with their old ones. Considering all the players that were involved, the people who win this week are very much in the minority. There is only three after all.

Who comes out on the bottom? Ashley does. She gets dumped by Daniel when he discovers she was about to sleep with the board member to win the vote for Conrad. The only reason she does this is because she's blackmailed by Victoria using a sex tape from the time Ashley slept with Conrad. Ashley is now out of the Hamptons in disgrace. Nolan loses big time this episode because Marco gives Daniel enough information to leverage a controlling stake in Nolcorp. Nolan doesn't seem to bothered since he plans to be a trojan horse that destroys Grayson Global. Aiden might be getting emotionally closer to Emily but he loses out this week when Daniel tells him that there isn't a place on the board for him. Since that was the opening that Aiden was hoping to use to get to the Initiative then that also means that Emily didn't win. The two biggest losers were Victoria and Conrad. They don't juse lose their business but they know that Daniel is going to be used by the Initiative now. Little does Daniel know but his victory might be what destroys him.

The best part about Revelations isn't the really great main plot and it's consequences on the characters but the bar sub-plot. The bar sub-plot has largely been lifeless until this episode when I started to care. Why? Jack finally realizes that he should have listened to the advice of his old liquor distributor and properly vet his new businesses partners. That's all because of the christening of his new son. It's not just his partners that show up but an old family friend. The family friend that had shot and killed the father of the brothers. This friend warns Jack about the people that now own part of his bar before getting beat up by the brothers. This beating and Nolan's information about who the brothers are is enough to convince Jack that they might be a danger to his family. When he gets his hands on the physical evidence that proves they just want payback, there is a sense of foreboding that this series hasn't really had. The best part about Revelations is that it took what has been a dud of a plot so far and it has finally started to make me care about it. That's a pretty big accomplishment by the series and hopefully the series will be able to keep this interest alive when it comes back in January. This is because despite this accomplishment, it's still the least interesting part of the show. I believe that just speaks out on how strong the rest of the plots are.

A fall finale is supposed to build me up so that I'm dying to see what happens next. Revelations manages to succeed at this point by moving the plot forward and having a pretty good ending. What works even better is that the fall finale pretty much does almost everything else well. There are some logical holes in the episode but they're easily overlooked when it's simply so much fun. Revelations isn't just a great episode of Revenge but it's also the best episode that this season has had so far. Revenge is able to finish out the first half of the season with a strong note that proves that it can still capture audiences with tight plotting.

Other Notes:

Why didn't Emily and friends just send the sex tape to Daniel to begin with rather than doing it the roundabout way with Victoria.

Instead of allowing the gun to sink in the middle of the ocean, Father Porter decided that the best place to keep the gun was on his son's boat.

Why is it that all conspiracies like the Initiative have dimly lit rooms? I understand it's meant to cover up the identities of it's members and it's kind of awesome but it doesn't seem like a practical way to be productive.