Revenge - Renaissance - Review: "Once a Revenger, Always a Revenger"

It’s this time of the year again, the time of the year where we’re headed back to the Hamptons, our television screens adorned with breathtaking sceneries, never-ending beaches and luxurious cars. Revenge’s return rimes with cocktail parties, crocodile stares, snazzy Nolan outfits and witty repartees. And the season 4 premier was so much more than that.

“In my lifetime, I’ve come to understand there are three ways for a person to disappear. The first is to die. The second, is to lie. And the last is to be reborn. It was after my former husband’s death, 6 months ago, that my transformation began. I made my peace with those who have wronged me and with those who I have wronged, no one more so than Emily Thorne.” -Victoria

Along with Victoria, Revenge as we knew it was reborn. “Renaissance” was different from all the previous episodes, and I absolutely adore the direction the writers seem to be taking. I just wish they would get rid of a couple of B storylines. The fourth season opener diverged from its predecessors mainly because of the absence of the “unidentified dead body on the beach,” and I’m happy they seem to be changing things up. I was one of those people, last May, who dished out on the third season’s big reveal, aka David Clark isn’t dead after all, so I was kind of apprehending how they’d tie his storyline in. (I’m still waiting on answers on that count.) Add to that Revenge’s history of starting every season with incredibly average episodes, I was hesitant about the premier. I wasn’t expecting much, but was still looking forward to it. (ABC promos rocked!) Let’s just say, it didn’t disappoint.

Last we saw of badass, Emily Thorne, she was hitting Victoria over the head with a shovel and committing her into a mental hospital. Six months later, she managed to keep her upper hand with the Graysons. She is now the owner of the Ex-Grayson Manor (the remodel, just wow! WOW!) and is the new queen in town. She’s hosting the opening season, traditional, Memorial Day Party. You can just see from her new attitude she’s lighter now, even tried her hand at humor, cracking a few jokes. Conrad is dead, Victoria is locked up and Daniel is self-destructing on his own. She’s done. She avenged her father. What now? From the looks of it, Ems is down for some fun and so is Nolan. They deserve that much, right? Are we finally going to witness a takedown-less party? Does this mean the end of “Revenge”? Is the show now going to be “Parties and Booze”? Of course not.

“You know what they say about the girl who gave up revenge? She lived happily ever after.”
- Nolan

Happily ever after? How about no. Because Emily Thorne isn’t the girl who gave up revenge, she can’t be. Revenge is a second nature for our anti-hero, the skin she forged herself. It’s what she’s been fueled by. Emily Thorne doesn’t know what to do without it, who she is. She’s addicted to it, to the thrill, to the fight and she just can’t it go. And when you’ve succeeded but still can’t stop, what do you do then? You continue.

In this season opener, it isn’t the ones who wronged her father who are suffering from the wrath of Amanda Clarke, but the man who caused a boating accident and killed an innocent man. (I think I could really love a show where Emily gets all vigilante and gets revenge for those who can’t get it themselves. She IS the revenge ninja, is she not?) And it makes sense, or at least to her it makes sense. It’s all she knows. When someone wrongs you, you make them pay, it’s as simple as that. It’s the code she lives by, but it isn’t the one everyone lives by. Her plan ultimately back fires, because not everyone wants to see the people who ruined their lives suffer.This scene kind of made me emotional, because she truely believed she was doing the good thing, that she was righting the wrongs. But hatrid, it really is a useless emotion.

“Nothing will bring back the people we love.”-Nancy

She’s not Amanda Clarke, but is she really Emily Thorne? Does she have to choose between the two, because really, it’s just a name. Who does Emily Thorne have, I mean really have, that Amanda Clarke doesn’t? This episode brought out the best in the Nolan/Emily friendhip, because who does she have? Nolan. That’s who she has, and she has him whether she’s Amanda Clarke or Emily Thorne and she needs understand that.

The Jack and Emily relationship seems to be mending nicely, and really, it was nice to see Jack stop being so judgement and morally superior than everybody. He’s a cop now. Wow. Jack is the new Hampton’s Police Departement Rookie. Really? Apparently, while we were away, Jack had time to become a cop and the characters are acting like this isn’t a complete surprise, did I miss something last season? I’m thinking his “connections” will at one point become handy, when a member of our happy bunch gets in trouble.

I have to confess I had completely forgotten about Charlotte’s incriminating sense of touch and I’m pretty happy they didn’t dwell on that too much. Beginning-of-episode-Charlotte, kidnapping Carl, was all kinds of creepy. (I kind of digged it!) End-of-episode-Charlotte though, was the same uninteresting mess she used to be. It was kind of sad to see how much of a bore the character is. I know they’re keeping her around for the “I’m your sister” conversation, but… I don’t even know what to say. Right now, she's just waisting precious air-time. I was hoping after the 4 years, she’d stop being the weepy, self-centered child, she was, but I was wrong. She can’t even pay her rent without her brother’s help.

Daniel’s on the road of self-destruction, of course. The Grayson’s are poor (Although, I’m sure Victoria will have a plan for that. There’s no was she’s shopping at PayLess.) and Daniel is doing his god honest best to stay affluent. His best that is, that doesn’t involve any actual work, because that would be so second class. Once it comes to light that Daniel was framed by Gideon, Margaux and Daniel team up, * insert grunt here* in the hopes of getting Daniel back in the game and Gideon out.

Victoria is, and always will be the master manipulator and sure as hell, she used her gift to escape the crazy house. She managed to get her hands on a cellphone, but that plan was derailed when Emily was the one to answer her SOS call. Yes, Emily's still the one winning here, and she bought your house, Victoria. I'm sorry but Victoria needs to stop acting like Pascal was the love of her life, and that Emily's the one responsible for his death. It doesn't justify killing Aiden, it never will. But Victoria Grayson doesn’t give up, and thanks to a trunk, an umbrella, and some fellow inmates, she was able to break out and the scene was absolutely amazing!

The first stop for Victoria after relinquishing her liberty, is straight to Emily's new mansion. The face-offs between these two are always intense and this one was no excpetion. But it's the smile Emily made when she closed the door that made for me. It's a smile full of meaning, like she's thinking something along the lines of "Finally, something interesting to do. Bring it on, b*tch." The return of Victoria also means one thing, she doesn't have to give it up just yet, doesn't need to find out who she is when she isn't pushed by the envy to make people pay. It's what she needs right now, that's what she chose. She chose revenge. I'm not sure how this will all go down, because Victoria's strength has always lied in her connections and means, now, she's got nothing, and Emily, she's got everything. I'm very excited to see what Victoria has in store, though.

I'm still very fuzzy on the whole David Clark situation. Apparently, he's working with the prison officer, let’s just call him Bellick for continuity’s sake. (I should have known!) Was he the one who helped David fake his own death and escape the prison. Is he one of the "good" guys?David Clark then hides in Emily's beach house, and I just don't get it. (Heartbreaking performance by Emily VanCamp on the flashback sequence, by the way.) He is a witness of his daughter obvious in pain, even partially to blame, but chooses to remain hidden. It seems hearthless. And if he doesn’t recongnize her, he really is a sucker. Why was he there, in the beach house? What was he looking for?

Then in one of the most epic moments of the episodes, he chloroformed Victoria. Once again, why? Was it because he heard her threaten his daughter? I'm really swimming in a sea of cluelessness here.

This begs one question.
David Clarke bad or David Clark good?