The midseason finale of Revenge airs tomorrow night, and it will most likely be met with middling ratings. After a convoluted second season (paired with a move to a different night), audiences jumped ship on the frothy drama. No one can blame audiences for abandoning what was once a fun summer-in-fall soap turned complicated mess. But something happened during season three of Revenge: it got good again. Everyone’s goals were clear. The stakes were raised. And none of it included superfluous, huge conspiracies (ahem, The Initiative, otherwise known as they who shall not be named). Revenge decided to recalibrate and got to the core of the show — Emily’s revenge, especially onto those it makes most sense for her to revenge. Yes, season three is all about Emily versus Victoria, and it’s been fantastic.
The frame of this season is Emily will be shot on her wedding night and fall into the ocean, seemingly dead. Obviously, there are more episodes this season, so we know that Emily won’t die. (Not just yet, anyway. That could possibly happen in a series finale. Who knows?) But what the frame has done is classic Revenge. We’ve gotten to see how Emily’s plans are unfolding and just exactly how all those plot points move closer toward the inevitable flash-forward. And while doing so, it’s kept the mystery of the exact details up in the air. It’s the best of both worlds, like season one.
In fact, this season’s flash-forward is taking place quicker than usual. That’s because the structure of ABC’s 2013-2014 season has made it accelerate to episode 10. As usual, cutting a bit of the fat makes for a much more thrilling ride in a television season.
Now I’m not saying that everything technically makes the most practical sense. I’m still not quite sure why Emily thinks, uh, well in fear of spoiling it, a certain event is the perfect and acme of revenge. But honestly, this show never really held up on the details. For example, David Clarke sends Emily a box of all the ways he’s been betrayed and then tells his daughter to forgive all those people. Oh, okay, sure, David. And of course, there are a couple of characters that can still afford a trip to Belize. But Revenge has always been one of those shows that can subvert the inanity of soap operatics without being bogged down by the low-brow insinuation. Let your mind go and let the fun ensue, has always been my mantra when it comes to Revenge.
What I’m saying is that if you quit somewhere in season two, then catch up on Revenge. It has been a lot of fun this season, in my opinion. Don’t worry on catching up to all the episodes in season two if you quite midseason. Just skip straight to the season three premiere. It does take a couple of episodes to drag itself out of the muck of season two, but when it gets going, it’s fun Revenge-ness.
There are a bit more than 24 hours until the midseason finale tomorrow, and with only nine episodes to watch, if you’re thinking of binge-watching something this weekend, why not catch up on Revenge? Trust me, it will be fun and entertaining!
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Getting rid of previous showrunner did this show a LOT of good, returning it back to its roots.
However there are FOUR glaring problems with this season:
1. Some of the loose ends were tied way too quickly. I am sort of sad on how Initiative storyline came out - the whole storyline was the dullest thing ever, but Conrad as this irredeemable capitalist-criminal sounded really great, while this season it seems they don't have quite an idea on where to go with him, considering all the flip-flopping of his character. Some of long-term consequences of Nolan being jailed would have been nice too.
2. Some characters act completely OOC,. Very noticeable with Nolan especially, from scene to scene. The characters overall lack what makes them THEM sometimes.
3. Too much focus on Redemption. What separated Revenge from other "revenge"shows was the fact that Emily would keep crossing the line further and further and would not regret what she did to those people. Yet this season she is all full of self-pity. We are talking about Emily who was okay with thousands loosing their jobs as a price for vendetta. She would not react the way she did to he whole heavy-handed Priest plotline, which ties back to Point 2 too. Thankfully after that plot, it seems they got back on track with her being ruthless as ever. The last thing this show needs is redemption storyline. That would ruin everything that makes this unique.
4. Aiden is still alive and breathing Self explanatory really.His character was a HUGE part of what was wrong with Season Two,because he keeps hogging spotlight from Emily. Only by getting rid of him will the show be able to come back to what it did best.
Yes, which is part of my only critique with season one. It was obvious that they wanted to permanently kill off Daniel but wound up loving the actor/character and decided to keep him around.
1. Yeah, I don't think they smoothly explained away the Initiative story, but to be honest, I'm just glad that it's done. I'm sure they're glad too. It didn't make sense how they ended it but… good riddance.
2. I half-think that maybe Nolan's revenge arc is purposeful, that maybe he's beginning to be dragged into revenge-ness because he was burned by some of these people.
3. This, I see, as growth. Emily can't stay a bad mofo forever. When she came into the Hamptons she was blinded by rage. Her revenge plan was just getting started and she had all this adrenaline. But it's been a few years now, and she's beginning to see that her actions have grave consequences, emphasis on GRAVE. I mean, she came very close to almost killing a man once. That's certainly not the person she wants to be.
4. Agreed entirely. I'm pretty sure he's going to meet his maker soon. There's no other reason why they would have gotten engaged in the last episode.
I am okay with character growth if only it was not so jarring and out of blue. I mean, she got Jack's pretty much whole family killed already. There were thousands of hooks to pull off the whole "she does not want to be this person" thing and they chose...a random priest storyline. Which not only feels quite overblown (I literally laughed out at the whole "look at how I am taking care of those poor poor people" scene after Ems framed him), but it does not make sense in regards with how she dealt with Mason.
The other obvious problem is that the "Edmond Dantes type of character suddenly feels sorry and tries to atone" is just so...cliched. The show started with "This is NOT the story about forgiveness" and frankly I can't imagine watching the show if the narrative suddenly shifted away from Emily Thorne ruining lives of various people to Emily Thorne being all redemption-y. Let's be frank the major attraction of this show IS the anti-hero lead. It simply is NOT the show where the lead would work as a good guy.
Various roadblocks in character journey is okay. A character has to doubt his/her actions fromtime to time, obviously, but in comparison with how her regrets were handled before, this feels like being hit in the face with a sledgehammer level of subtlety in comparison. Hopefully the writers do realize that and this is just a usual "point of doubt" used to update her resolve, as I doubt anyone would tune in for a show called Redemption.