Revenge - Epitaph - Review: "Farewell Daniel, Greetings New Nemesis"

Revenge came back this week with “Epitaph” after it’s short holiday hiatus, in an episode meant to say goodbye to Daniel. “Atonement” ended with Daniel’s lifeless body, and gave us three weeks to mourn his death, to accept his absence in the episodes to come. “Epitaph” starts up, moments after the gunshots that ended his life, and this week, it’s Victoria, Margaux and even Emily’s turn to mourn the death of Daniel, that sacrificed himself for Emily. The episode felt mostly like the closing of a chapter, the introduction to another. Let’s face it, this episode was mostly passive, and dealt more with the characters’ inner demons (not that I didn’t like it!), than with moving the storyline forward.

The biggest part of the episode was about trying to conceal that Katherine Black was ever in the “Grayson Manor.” Am I the only one who flinched when David called it that? Shouldn’t it be renamed? The episode is about hiding that she’s dead, from the police, the detectives, but most of all from Malcolm Black. It was about convincing him that they’re not to blame, because apparently, if Malcolm Black finds out they had any involvement in his daughter’s death, they’re all in for a whole lot of torture.

The way the writers have been building up to the reveal of this character, the ominous villain, he has really big shoes to fill in the upcoming episodes. I’m expecting someone borderline psychopathic, someone violent. Conrad Grayson usually had more passive attacks, he rarely got his hands dirty, so this should be a nice change up, a worthy adversary for Emily, and hopefully there will be collateral damage. I’m really looking forward to having the flashbacks of what David and Malcolm have been doing the past 20 years, I hope they show us rather than tell us.

In order to save themselves, Emily, Jack and David much sacrifice the one thing Daniel’s got left, his memory, one thing Victoria’s having trouble doing, and honestly I hope we see Emily struggling with it to, especially after learning he was going to be a father. Because how they’ve tarnished Daniel’s memory isn’t much better than how they tarnished David’s. (If he’d been dead!) The scene, in the interrogation room, with Emily explaining why Daniel doesn’t have any wounds, why she wouldn’t hurt Daniel, has to be my favorite of the episode. It reminded us that he wasn’t all good, but showed that Emily wasn’t either, and that she knows it. Emily VanCamp just keeps bringing it.

“Daniel said that was the night I ruined his life. Turns out he was wrong.” -Emily

Daniel redeemed himself during “Atonement,” and gave his life to protect Emily’s from the bullet’s fired from Kate’s gun in her direction. Since Special Agent Kate Taylor was never at the manor, since she can’t be to blame for his death, someone else has to take the blame for it. The story they’ve made up, the tale they’ve staged includes Emily shooting him in self defense after he drunkenly breaks into her house. Maybe I’m just someone who’s watched way too many CSI episodes to think this story has any chance of sticking long term. Maybe the Hamptons Police Department just didn’t really process the crime scene that much, didn’t check the blood spatter or the gun powder residue, or maybe Jack just really knows how to stage one.

For now, even given the inconsistencies in her story, Emily seems to have gotten away with it. She’s at least managed to convince Ben, and they’re not charging her with murder, they’re calling it self defense. But this is going to come back to bite them in the ass, there’s no question there.

“I’ve seen Emily play people, including me. She’s good at it. Anyway, I hope it’s all true.” –Ben

The hypocrite of the episode award definitely goes to Victoria. She’s in pain, and in the moments after finding her son’s lifeless body, she needs someone to blame. Emily is there and frankly she’s the easiest one to blame, and maybe she should carry some of the blame, but Victoria has her part to play in her son’s murder and she knows it.

It’s clear in this episode Emily is genuinely sorry for what happened to Daniel, for her part in it. She cared about him at one point, probably still did, and always would, to some extent. Victoria is grieving, she’s lost her son, but we’re not seeing any guilt. Maybe that’s why Emily’s considered the good one and Victoria the bad one, maybe that’s what sets them apart. Emily clearly feels remorse, while Victoria who’s understandably saddened by his death, is only trying to push the blame on to others, trying to make them feel worst and trying to hide her involvement in the story, by having Louise fetch the incriminating proof. Do you guys think Louise read the note before destroying it?

I had to roll my eyes at Victoria’s, “Your welcome,” to Emily after telling Margaux that she believed what Emily was saying about self defense, like she was doing it for her benefit, and not for hers. She’d throw Emily under a bus in a heartbeat. She’s in this mess just like the rest of them, but I just hate that she has this tiny bit of leverage over Emily, Jack and David.

Margaux and David’s Lady Friend (love Emily’s new nickname for Victoria!) banned Emily from Daniel’s funeral, and I didn’t understand why, other than to hurt her. Emily finds herself there anyways, on the outskirts, because she needs to say goodbye, because she once cared for him. Her mind flashes to better times, to the times were the feelings were genuine even if the honesty wasn't. If they were inserted to make us nostalgic for the good old days, it definitely worked. I believed they could make it, way back then, and the final moments were the perfect farewell to the character.

Margaux’s reaction to Emily’s statement that Daniel assaulted her was true to the character, and since Ben seemed to believe the story, they needed someone to stir up trouble. She declared war on Emily, and maybe the storyline is going to help me get more interested in her character because right now, every time she and Victoria share the screen, I battle the urge to go make myself a snack. Margaux doesn’t believe Emily, and make it her life’s mission to clear Daniel’s name. I guess that put’s a dent in my theory that stricken by grief, she decides to go back to France to raise the baby.

The stupid question award goes to David with,
“How is she doing?” -David
“Ask her.” -Emily
“I’m asking you.” -David
“How do you think she’s doing? She lost her son.” –Emily

I loved the idea someone had, on last episode’s review that maybe David was trying to kill himself with the poison, and we were assuming it was Victoria. “Epitaph” cleared out any doubts that Victoria was the intended victim of the poison, and even Emily knows. How do you think she’ll deal with this new piece of information? Will she try and finish it herself? Or convince him not to? Or will she push him to try again sooner rather than later? At least now we know the annoying Victoria, David romance is over. Yay!

“I was a prisoner for two decades because of yours. You can hold on one more day.” – David

The Most Underused Character of The Episode Award goes to Nolan. They need to find him something more to do. His only involvement in the episode limited itself to saying tech-savvy phone jargon, trying to get Malcolm Black to Miami and away from them. There wasn’t much room for his always entertaining quotes, or awesome suits. The interactions I mostly watch Revenge for is Nolan and Emily, and they didn’t even exchange two words in this episode which was disappointing. What I wouldn’t give for some great season 1 Nemily in the next few episodes.


Random thought of the episode:
David is learning Spanish, or another Latin language. What’s up with that? Is he planning to run?