Revenge redux: ‘Commitment’ commits to sex, lies, and videotape

I am finally writing something about one of my favorite new shows of the season: Revenge. I know some people actually watch Revenge that read this blog and I have no idea why it’s taken me this long to finally get around to writing about it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much time because I have an early class tomorrow morning, so I’m going to be doing one of those pretentiously-titled “redux” things that you see around the blogosphere. Basically, I’ll be bulletting my ideas on the episode. Then again, I tend to be quite verbose, so I warn you in advance.

This episode found real-Amanda sending Grayson a videotape of David Clarke admitting Charlotte was his daughter — and the ramifications were both heartbreaking and bone-breaking as Amanda realized just who she was putting in danger.

THE PROPOSAL | I don’t think I’ve made this clear, but whatever, I’m going to say it here: I see absolutely no chemistry between the real Amanda and Jack. She’s too tall for him, anyway. And who really is in love with someone they knew when they were like eight years old? And how old is that dog? Just. Anyway, the point is that I was actually putting a lot of hope into this proposal… and I think it could have been a bit better. They made the plot sort of an afterthought, and I know that much of the motivation for real-Amanda to say yes was for, well, revenge, but personally I feel that she’s actually falling for him. The plot deserved much more fleshing out, if only because it’s the catalyst for the series’ opening scene. But, I do like how real-Amanda changed her mind. Loved that scene when Daniel tells her Victoria says David raped her.

CHARLOTTE… CLARKE | I’m actually one of these stupid people that never considered the possibility of Charlotte being David Clarke’s daughter. It wasn’t until during the hiatus when a friend of mine said, “I think she’s Amanda’s dad’s daughter,” that made me go: Ooooh, yeah… So, whoops. But I think not thinking too much about it made for a better story. (I won’t go into how Victoria probably had to lie about how many months pregnant she was and bribed doctors and whatnot.) That way, you were a bit surprised. But even so, it wasn’t about the audience being surprised: it was about how the characters reacted. And it was so raw at times.

Henry Czerny (Conrad Grayson) was particularly fantastic. Riding the line between scorned husband, caring father, and heartbroken was subtle yet palpable. Thank you for that.

REVENGE IS SWEET | Everyone is getting revenge now. And. I. Love. It. When the creator of the show said that he’d be able to make the show about different people getting revenge, I thought that would seem like a farce… but it’s truly not. I’m kind of a bit saddened that Ashley has done about nothing to start playing the game (personally, as long as real-Amanda and Nolan retain their friendship, I’m okay with everyone backstabbing each other). But it’s all falling into place quite nicely, I’d say. Good job.

REAL-AMANDA’S ALLIES | Apparently everyone and their mother is real-Amanda’s ally. Including Victoria’s lawyer. Uh, okay.

BON VOYAGE | It was about time that real-Emily left. She was fun for a couple of episodes, but now she’s basically just dillydallying around and doing nothing that real-Amanda is telling her to do, while being sexy behind the bar and then falling for Jack. Too bad her ticket out of town was just for one.

THE LIES | Real-Amanda’s cries of “Victoria did this!” were a bit… eh… to the point where she basically had to say somewhat of the truth to real-Emily. Beyond that, did Victoria go too far with her cry of rape? I don’t know, but as I mentioned before, I love that that’s the reason Amanda truthfully is going full-on with her engagement. Of course, I don’t think that she doesn’t love Daniel. She was willing to put off the engagement because she was worried about who she’d be hurting, and though not explicitly stated, she meant Daniel. And of course Jack as well, considering he was just beaten up.

THE SHOOTING | So, are there anymore suspects in the Daniel Grayson shooting? Will it even be him? There are only two more episodes until that scene takes place, and my bets are still on Tyler being the shooter.

What did you think of tonight’s episode?