Revenge - Contact - Review: "It's a Start"

This week, new Revenge mythology was introduced and with that was the comeback of some major Emily ass-kicking we’ve come to miss. “Contact” was, once again, a great episode of Revenge, though “Interrupted” might have been a more suitable title. Victoria made for a remarkable Clark-blocker.



David and Amanda found each other, but not really, they're still worlds apart, because they’re both yearning for the people they left behind, the people they’ll never find, the people that, molded and changed by the lives they had apart, are gone forever and it’s going to sting when they both realise it themselves. Last week left us begging for more, as Emily, angry and hurt, barged into the beach house, and finally told her father who she really was. And because Victoria is, well Victoria, professional meddler, even when she doesn’t plan it, she managed to cut the reunion short by getting electrocuted by the fallen power lines.

David doesn’t understand why his daughter, the child, loving and caring, he left behind, refused to help someone, hoping she’d die. He doesn’t understand the hatred that runs through his daughter’s veins for the women who she blames for ruining her life and his. It’s the coldest we’ve seen Emily to date, she could be calculated, unforgiving, but she never a murderer, never this. I still doubt that she would have let her die, being alone with Victoria. I have trouble coming to terms with the fact that she would let someone die, even if that someone is Victoria. She wouldn’t, wouldn’t she?

Emily’s mad at her father for not understanding her, for taking Victoria’s side over hers, always. For defending Victoria when he should have been defending her. Nolan is there to rationalize it; amidst the pain he caused him, still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s too good for his own good. And I’m impatiently awaiting the moment David will finally apologise to Nolan. He’s telling her to give him a chance, to let him explain, but I think she’s the one that need to do some explaining. If she wants him back, wants her father away from Victoria, she’s going to need to help him out a bit, because clearly, he’s clueless about everything. And I feel sorry to say, I hardly doubt he’s playing Victoria, that she’s the long con.

Neither Emily nor David knows the whole story, because David Clark also has a past, a past he’s reluctant on sharing with her, but they need to talk, really talk, to clear the air, but Victoria’s still there. I’m still skeptical that someone can survive this, but hey if people can survive being hit by lightning, why not this? It’s bad news for Emily, good news for us, Victoria is still alive, and she made for a great villain. Even half unconscious on her death bed she manages to screw with Emily. That has to count for something! And the way Victoria always manages to justify her actions, is she the good guy in the story she’s playing herself?

Emily’s going to have to stop being so cryptic, so passive and vague. Her father doesn’t know, doesn’t understand, he wasn’t there, hasn’t seen it. David doesn’t know what Victoria’s done and if Emily wants to save him from the tight grasp she has on him, she’s going to have to give up the generic comments like “She ruined our lives!” and just go with the facts, with the videos, with the proof she has, the irrefutable proof. It’s the only way she’ll be able to justify her actions to her father.

“I dedicated my entire life to you. I punished your enemies. I cleared your name!” –Emily

She’s always there for him, always has his back. She helped the FBI and the Hamptons PD close the Conrad murder case, steering away any suspicions they might have of David. She knows what she’s doing, but he doesn’t want her help, doesn’t want Emily to get involved in it. But that’s just because he doesn’t yet know how great she is, right?

It seems like an open and shut case, nothing more to milk. Is there more to that storyline than initially meets the eye? Is the investigation over, was this just a way to introduce the new big bad wolf? Or was this just let us all in on the fact that Ben is a major douche?

I’ve grown to hate David, despising him more and more as the episodes pass, but I’ve come to terms with the man he’s become, the man he is now. I’ve come to accept it, but Emily hasn’t, she’s still looking for her father, for the man she fought for, the man she dedicated her life to. She just desperately wants her father to say thank you, that he missed her, loved her, and by each passing minute where he didn’t, where he stayed cold and distant I hated him infinitely more. It’s 20 years later, and he just found out his daughter is still alive, yet he keeps her at arm’s length, it has to hurt. And it does, because it’s not usual for Emily to cry, genuinely cry, but she did because she would have done anything for him, the father she knew.

“You dedicated your life to a father you barely knew, what did you expect to happen.”

We were once again blessed with some Emily and Daniel interaction, a porch scene nonetheless, and I love them together. They aren’t as toxic as they used to be with one another. They’re talking, and they seem good for each other, they seem to understand each other, now that they aren’t separated by a mountain of secret and lies. I have the feeling she’s growing on her, maybe not as a lover, but as a friend, because we know he doesn’t have that many flying around. There is absolutely no way he was just casually walking down the beach in route to the hospital, he wanted to talk, wanted to talk with her. And a good talk that was, because she gave him the push he needed to confront his mother and he pushed her back to her father.

In Emily’s kick-assiest moment of the season, she saves her father, once again. Sorry David, but compared to her, you kind of suck. (He’s going to have to be some kind of hero before the end of the season to get back into my good graces I think!) I can’t be the only one that wondered as to how in the hell did she managed to get under that bed?

The men that kept David a prisoner, the men worse than Conrad, (let’s just hope he’s as entertaining!) are still after him. The big question here is, why? But at least it kind of explained why he didn’t recognize his daughter. He’s been shown pictures of a woman he was told was his daughter for over 10 years, that can screw with someone’s head, with their memories, make them doubt what they think they know. What grabbed my attention in his speech though, was the fact that he escaped when he thought Amada was dead, she was the only one who’s safety he was worried about. This means they didn’t have Victoria, or Charlotte over his head, maybe he’s just not that into you.

“I’m so proud of you Amanda, but I can’t be you father. You saw what happened in there, it’s too dangerous.” –David

He wants her as far away from these people as possible. He wants to protect Amanda, to make sure they don’t hurt her. It’s why he’s being distant, for her own safety. The fact that he doesn’t care about Victoria’s was a little win for me, is there hope there? But he’s telling a girl who’s spent the major part of her life avenging him, to wait for him, that he’ll take care of it, in his time. And I bet all she’s hearing is “Must destroy obstacle” because that’s what these people are for her, one more obstacle, a few more people on the ever-growing list of people she needs to take down in order to have her father back. Of course she wasn’t going to stand back and wait.

Next week’s episode seems dark. How can Nolan possibly have fallen for Emily leaving her father deal with it, doesn’t he know her at all? Emily should know that nothing ever comes out of hiding things from Nolan.

I’m loving the soundtrack this season! The ending song, in case you were wondering : No Rest for the Wicked by Lykke Li.

There’s also a new alliance forming in Revenge, with Nolan and Margaux. She’s really starting to grow on me, she doesn’t fool around, she’s intelligent and she doesn’t let people take advantage of her. She doesn’t play games, isn’t a hypocrite, let’s see if she proves to be a worthy adversary to Louise. Louise really is more messed up than initially shown. She wants Victoria to love her by all means necessary, and her best plan to date seems to be getting pregnant with Daniel’s baby. Doesn’t she know Emily already pulled that stunt? It doesn’t make the Queen all fuzzy, au contraire.

Margaux needs Nolan to hack into the police data base to get her sealed criminal record, I hope it’s really juicy, but I think it will only mostly confirm what we already know, that she killed her mother. Nolan is willing to help Margaux, because he wants to rebuild his reputation. He’s the one that should be suing David! I’m really looking forward to seeing this pairing in action. And two birds with one stone, sending Louise at Victoria should be fun to watch. Let’s see if Nolan’s learned anything from Emily’s scheming over the years!

“Can’t I just have a normal friend?” -Nolan

Honorable Mention Quote (Probably laughed way too much to that one!)
“That brag tag of the view was my phone’s last act before committing cellucide.” - Nolan