Revenge
Episode
13: Union
By:
Carlos Uribe
Revenge
is a show about Emily Thorne and her quest of revenge.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
One
of the greatest strengths of a network broadcast series can also be a
crippling weakness. A large episode order basically means you can
concentrate more on creating character-specific stories. It might not
advance the overall plot but it can at least be fun to spend time
with the characters. The perfect example of this is the Parenthood
episode “Road Trip”. It's an episode that couldn't have existed
where the episode order is too small to really deviate from the
serialized plot. The problem is that this requires those filler
episodes to be good on their own and this can be a difficult
endeavor. Revenge is a show that should be perfectly able to present
episodes that don't really advance the plot. This is because it has a
procedural element where Emily gets to take people down. The issue is
that this season has barely had episodes where Emily gets to take out
her red sharpie. It's been largely content with presenting episodes
where barely anything happens. The writers have created a season where the
narrative momentum tends to be very inconsistent. One episode can
excite me a lot while the next one deflates me. It's definably
created a second season that's definably weaker than the first. This
is an episode that hopefully changes that because a lot happens. The writers create a Revenge episode that brings the narrative momentum to life
and makes me excited to see the next episode. If the rest of the
season can keep the momentum alive then maybe this season can salvage
itself. On the other hand, I'm slightly cautious because this season
has proven to be so uneven.
So
what happens? Characters decide to challenge the status quo and stuff
happens. Victoria decides that she can't allow her son to be
manipulated by the Initiative like Conrad. She takes matters into her
own hands. She goes to Daniel with concrete evidence that Helen
Crowley is to not be trusted. She happens to tell him this in his
office, which means the Initiative heard her. This would have
honestly been good enough for one episode but there's more. They send
Helen to deal with the problem. That's when things take a turn for
the crazy when Victoria takes the opportunity to point a gun at
Helen. Okay, but she's not going to murder Helen in cold blood,
right? Victoria is a lot of things but she's not a cold-blooded
kill-oh, wait what's that? Victoria kills Helen!? Talk about a
jaw-dropping twist. This is a huge plot development that has a lot of
potential consequences. I can't imagine the Initiative is going to be
too happy with Helen's demise and it does beg into question what's
going to happen next. When Conrad enters the room and sees what
Victoria did, his question of what Victoria has done is perfectly
delivered. He realizes that he shot her but he's talking more about
how she has provoked the Initiative. Revenge is a show that works
best when it's characters are doing stuff so it makes sense that
Victoria's actions are the most memorable part of the episode.
Victoria shooting someone is a plot twist so big that it literally
caught me by surprise. I would have to state that while I'm liking
where the show is going with this direction, it's not the highlight
of the episode. This might be what I remember about Union but there's
other plot developments that work even better.
I've
gotta state that the best part of the episode is with the Stowaway.
The writers have managed to turn a story that was dragging the whole
show down into something that's become the show's best performer.
What happens in this episode? Emily finds out that Conrad now owns
half of Jack's bar. Emily can't have this so she decides to give
enough money for Jack to buy the bar back. Conrad doesn't want to
accept the money because he has plans to develop the harbor. Jack
threatens to fight back but even he realizes it's a lost cause.
Conrad has too many money, lawyers, and political connections.
There's no way Jack stands a chance. What he doesn't realize is that
Amanda is a greater weapon. She's able to easily break into Emily's
laptop and blackmails Conrad into selling the bar. Conrad gives up
his dream (for now) of developing the docks but he basically gives
the shady Ryan brother subtle hints to attack the Porter family. So
the shady Ryan brother sneaks into their boat as they leave for their
honeymoon trip as he clearly intends to attack them. Sadly we don't
see the attack as this serves as an effective cliff-hanger for the
next episode...and what is likely the event that the pilot
foreshadowed. I can't wait!
In
other news, we get a LOT more plot developments. Nolan finds out that
the only reason Padma is working for the Initiative is because they
kidnapped her father. I guess this move was made to keep Padma as a
viable romantic interest for Nolan and to allow him to become a white
knight and save her dad. Emily shows real emotion when Aiden mentions
that he can't just flip his emotions on and off. She also helps him
to deal with the loss of his sister, who turned out to have died six
years ago. These were some really great character moments that helped
to bring them closer together in a way that really made sense. Not
only that but it allowed the viewers to better understand Emily's
character. We always knew she wanted revenge but now we understand
that she needs it because it's the only reason she's able to live.
It's insanely tragic and sad but it makes for a compelling character.
As I said, all the characters were doing something as the show
stopped stalling and allowed the plots to actually move forward in
significant ways. It was about time.
Union
was a good episode of Revenge and it's one that gives me a lot of
hope for the future of the series. The plots were all strong as they
all started to actually move at a brisk and tolerable pace. The
characters started to affect the universe again which was a nice way
to allow the viewers the instant gratification that this show became
famous for. I have no idea if the rest of the season will be able
keep this pace but it should at least try it's best to keep the
narrative momentum going.
Other
Notes:
Amanda
being able to guess Emily's password as “Infinity” was the
weakest part of the episode. This is EMILY we're talking about.
There's no way her password is “Infinity”-it would be something
even Nolan has difficulty cracking.
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