Revenge - Damage - Review: "Bringing Back the Old"

In this week’s Revenge, David Clarke took Emily’s place at the helm of the revenge ship. “Damage” was an attempt to bring back the old formula of the show, which worked brilliantly in its first season, with weekly takedowns. I like the idea, but maybe it could have worked better if he hadn’t started his revenge-da with fan favorite, Nolan Ross. The pace is starting to speed up, and though we are only thrown more questions, more curveballs, the story is finally starting to form.



The episode started, and immediately, we were brought back to the show’s pilot, with the Angus and Julia Stone song, to which I loved the call back. The beach really is a big deal for Emily, her memories always seem to bring her back there, when they were at their happiest, where her father was the man she wants still him to be. She’s giving him space, talking to him is out of the question, so running into him at the beach is certainly out of the question too.

She can’t seem to shake the feeling that she’s missing out on something, that there’s something more at play there. She wants to know what happened to him, how he’s dealing with it, and even the FBI psych evaluation isn’t enough to drench her thirst for answers. She’s the one who knew him best, (or did she really?) who’s researched everything there is to know about the conspiracy surrounding him, and she just can’t get rid of the visceral gut feeling that something is missing. Complex PTSD, that’s not a good answer for her, and she’s going to keep digging until she finds what she’s looking for. Nolan thinks it’s only a way for her to comprehend the incomprehensible, but he should know better than to not trust her instinct.

Through her mad ninja ways, and keen investigating, (Seriously, are all the detectives working this case daft?) Emily proved, her father wasn’t kept a prisoner in the silo, that he made it up, staged this, and who knows what else he’s lying about. There’s more to the story that initially meets the eye and slowly, the picture she’s been making of her father is shattering, for everyone but Nolan. I just wonder at what point in this Emily will start hurting for it.

David Clark isn’t the “good man” the memories of a grieving daughter made him out to be. He wasn’t imprisoned, he wasn’t entirely free either, but he was free to roam around, free to go see his daughter, to talk to her, free to explain, to see if she was okay, to make sure she was. He’s mad at Nolan, plotted revenge on him, for depriving Amanda of the money she was owed, but what he did was so much worst. He deprived her of a family, of the love a father can have for his daughter.

“Damage” proved David has another agenda, and I like that he’s not as stupid as he looks, but this also means the illusion Emily painted of the man she remembered doesn’t exist, he’s not the loving father, or at least not anymore. He’s playing them, playing them all, and Victoria, I have the feeling, is the long con. In one day’s research he discovered Fake Amanda didn’t get the money and that Nolan “lied” to him, knows the Graysons bought him out of his company. Surely in his 20 years of research on the Graysons, and the conspiracy surrounding them, he came to realise Victoria was just as bad as Conrad. If Emily came to that conclusion, he had to have also, right? He’s the one that left her the clues, the journals, the address to Taekeda’s Revenge Camp. He’s the one that pushed her there.

“When I was a child, my father was framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Before he died, he left a road map for revenge that led me to the people who destroyed our lives. Sometimes the innocent get hurt, but one by one the guilty will pay.” – Emily

David has his own, messed up map, now that his daughter took care of the one he had painted out for her in his journals, and he better have a good reason for letting her do it all on her own. The first person on his agenda to avenge, is Nolan, and it turns out to be way to easy, because Nolan sees him as father, he’s quick to trust, believe, see the good in people, no questions asked. In a very public, Emily-esque kind of way, and with no way out, David confronts Nolan on live television.

“Your lies, finally caught up to me.” - Nolan

And when Nolan cries, I cry, because Nolan is such a loving, lovable person and he doesn’t deserve it. And when you punch Nolan, giving him a bloody nose, I get angry. It would have been so easy to tell David, explain everything, but he didn’t because Emily will always come first to him. She’s not ready, so he won’t tell, and I hope she realises how hard that must have been for him.

Charlotte’s faith seemed gloomy, at best, at the end of “Repercussions,” but in the episode we all thought, hoped, she would be dying, she’s the one to come out on top. The witch is not dead, guys. I’ve been proudly wearing the “Kill Charlotte” T-shirt for a while now, but I really didn’t hate her in this episode, I actually somewhat enjoyed her. That being said, I don’t want her to stay. I think it’s better she go out with a bang, with leaving a positive impression, than coming back and shattering that illusion, because her character hasn’t been known for its consistency.

Charlotte’s the bait, bait for David Clarke, but she’s got some Clarke in her and she’s a fighter, doesn’t get taken down that easily and that’s mostly why I liked her in this episode, she stopped playing the victim card. The guy’s been following David around for quite some time, and god only knows why. I guess I gave Victoria credit last week for trying to run down David, and it wasn’t, sorry for that. Defending herself, she gets away and kills the man who’s trying to keep her hostage. Of all the murderers in her life that she hasn’t tried to kill, she called her sister, she called Emily and of course Emily was there to clean up after her. I really wish we could have seen the phone call, “Hey Ems, forget I tried to burn you alive last week, I need your help.”

“You know for a while now I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt, because your parents did you no favors by protecting you with lies. But you’re too old for excuses Charlotte. It’s time you own your bad choices. That, could easily have been you lying there. You only called me because you wanted someone to come and save you, but I can’t do that. You’ve hit rock bottom, only you can pull yourself up.” - Emily

Charlotte’s going down a dangerous path, and tough love really seems to be the way to go with her, making her realise no one can save her, not even super hero Emily Thorne. The two Clarkes open up to each other, and it’s learning about her mother’s murderous strike, that gives Charlotte the final push. She needs to get away from the madness, away from the lies, away from her mother and the cycle of hate. She is seemingly changing sides in the war between Emily and Victoria, or choosing not to choose sides, but for how long, she doesn’t have the reputation to stick to her guns for very long.

In an attempt to get her life back in order, and mostly to escape the wreckage that has become her family. Charlotte decides to go to rehab, but we didn’t actually see her checking-in so I’m still skeptical it’s the last we’ll be seeing of her. Then there’s the note that Emily left her, and that just may be enough to make her turn around. Noooooooo!

“The greatest weapon anyone can use against us is our own mind, by preying on the doubts and the uncertainties that already lurk there. Are we true to ourselves, or do we live for the expectations of others? And if we are, open and honest, can we ever truly be loved? Can we find the courage to release our deepest secrets? Or in the end, are we all unknowable? Even to ourselves?” -Emily, in Duplicity

Victoria did get into her head last week, because she’s trying to justify herself, finding excuse why she can’t just go up to her father and tell him who she is. Charlotte’s right she’s ashamed, afraid of what her father will think of her, of what she’s done, in her name. But what he’s doing, in her name, is that really any better?

Daniel’s becoming less and less clueless by the episode, and “Damages” was a big one for him. Victoria, in an attempt to get him away from Louise, and closer to her, tells him about her stint at the mental institution. He just doesn’t know who really put her there, yet. Then, in her last effort to get us to not hate her, and it somewhat worked on my part, Charlotte, did something great. She told Daniel the truth about Emily, and I can’t wait to see his reaction. Surely he won’t go all psycho like Charlotte did, but who knows? If he does though, I don’t think Emily will be as kind to him as she was with her sister. There next meeting should be a really fun. their exchanges have been between too few and far between.

We were promised a death, it wasn’t Charlotte, it wasn’t Margaux (although I have a feeling, Louise will be on her case soon enough) and it wasn’t Daniel and I don’t think it was Charlotte’s psycho kidnapper, David Clarke Fanatic, one-night stand. It was actually Officer Jim Something, the guard that helped Conrad out, that seemed to have a relationship with David. Ben wants to make detective, wants to close the Conrad Murder Case, by all means necessary. At least, Jack’s off his suspect list. The infinity symbol carved in the wall reeled Jack in, maybe they’ll be able to get Emily some answers, an assist in her quest for her answers about her father’s whereabouts, but I really doubt they both have it in them.