Revenge

Revenge

Episode 14: Sacrifice

By: Carlos Uribe

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

Spoilers Ahoy!

That was pretty intense. The season premiere had begun with a show of the Amanda boat in the ocean and a dead body. The previous episode was setting up how the boat sinks and the battle that's going to come. Nate has snuck on board of the ship so that he could get rid of the problem that's stopping Conrad from developing the docks. It was an exciting way to lead into this episode because we knew that somebody was going to die due to that sneak peak at the beginning of the season. The episode basically picks off where the last one left off. Nate is on board of the boat but he doesn't make himself immediately known. He's biding his time until they're far away enough from civilization so that he can ruin their honeymoon before it can really begin. It's nice that Daniel and Amanda are able to enjoy their married life as they have sex and are simply happy. The calm before the storm can't last as Nate makes his move in the morning. Amanda realizes from the beginning that she's going to have to fight them if they're both going to survive. The three do their best to try and get what they want. Nate wants the evidence that Amanda used to blackmail the Grayson family. Amanda and Jack do their best to stall the answer so they can find a way to gain the upper hand. This doesn't really work all that well for them. Jack is able to get the rescue boat open and they start to make their move but there's an immediate complication. Nate is able to shoot Jack. Amanda is forced to stay on the boat as she allows Jack's emergency raft to leave without her. Okay, so Jack got shot but he's now off the boat. It can't be his dead body at the bottom of the ocean. This leaves Amanda and Jack but the opening shot really hinted at a male.

The good news for Amanda is that Emily was able to figure out that something was wrong pretty early on in the episode. Nolan and Emily quickly take a boat to try and find them but this requires having to catch up and track the cell phone signal. The two are able to find Jack's emergency raft. Nolan has to take Jack back to the hospital as Emily takes the raft back to the boat. It looks like Jack is hopefully going to be okay but later events basically guaranteed it. There's no way the show is going to kill such a major character after killing one. When we return to the boat, Amanda has been knocked out but she's been left alone in the cabin. She takes advantage of the situation by opening a hole. This starts to flood the cabin she's in. She also makes herself a handmade weapon. When Nate eventually figures out what's going on, this leads to a large fight scene but Emily is able to get there in time. Emily is awesome but it's Amanda who gets to kill Nate. She accidentally has shot the gas and the two decide to ditch the boat. That is until Amanda realizes that the necklace that ties her to her best friend Emily is on the deck. She rushes to get it but she can only look in fear as she realizes that Nate's dying action is to blow up the boat. Nate is dead and the boat starts to burn before it'll sink. As for Amanda? Emily is able to rescue her but this only leads to an emotionally devastating scene where Emily has to bid adieu to Amanda. Amanda has suffered to many injuries to survive. There's no way the show is going to kill off both Amanda and Jack so at least this means Jack gets to live but it was incredibly sad to see Amanda's character die. She's really grown over the course of the series from a wild card to a three-dimensional person that I've actually come to like.

The main plot might have been sad but the sub-plot was great in so many levels. The Grayson family has to unite to try their best to get away with murder. They don't just have to hide the body but they have to lay the blame on someone else so that the Initiative doesn't seek revenge. They manage to lay the evidence to suggest that it was Amanda who killed her. This was all very smart and the Initiative fell for it. What's really smart about this move narrative speaking is that they're blaming a character whose basically already dead. They might not know this yet but it allows the plot to basically move on without getting dragged down by Victoria's action. If Amanda was still alive then the plot would have to revolve around keeping her safe as the Initiative tried to kill her. As for the Grayson family? They're going to move and pretend that nothing has happened. Daniel is the only one who really seems conflicted by this but not enough to actually go against his parent's wishes. Overall, I'd say this was a nice way to close out this dangling plot thread.

In other news, Conrad decides that he's going to use the labor day party to announce he's running for Governor. Ashley thinks this is a bit premature since she knows Amanda is blackmailing him but Conrad has basically already neutralized the threat. What I love is how one night he's covering up a murder and the next he's announcing his intention to seek political love. It's a delicious soap opera move that the show is able to sell in spades. It makes sense that they wouldn't want to cancel the party so that it looks like it's business like normal. It's logical that they would want to use the Initiative's cameras to trick them into thinking they had nothing to do with Helen's murder. That's something you could see other similar characters do but only Conrad Grayson would have the gall to be able to pull this off without coming across as too silly or dramatic. In other words: the show is able to sell that this is happening.

Sacrifice is a pretty amazing episode of Revenge that had me at the edge of my seat for the most part. There were some dull moments (Aiden/Padma) but most of the episode was exciting. The stakes were clear, the mission was obvious, and the line between good and bad had been drawn. The soap opera elements were on fire. Union might have allowed the narrative momentum to really start but Sacrifice pumped it to the maximum. If this holds, then the next episode should be an exciting one as well but I'm still a little doubtful. After all, the first half of this season was uneven but this episode suggests a more dedicated Emily and a show that is course-correcting what went wrong.

Other News:

Aiden decides to help Padma get her father back. He asks for proof that the father is alive and they get it in the form of a finger. Also we meet the new face of the Initiative. I like him so far.