Revenge - Exposure - Review: "Fondly Looking Back And Continuing Forward"

“Emily Thorne no longer exists.” – Amanda Clarke

Amanda Clarke’s statement, her confession, is definitely a game changer. It’s a change in character, literally, which will be tainting the remainder of the season. It’s the end of an era, and “Exposure” had us reminiscing about it, about Emily Thorne, and all she’s accomplished, in series of flashbacks and clip montages, successful in bringing afloat an abundance of emotions. This week’s episode was incredibly well done in its acting and in its editing, the scenes from the previous seasons brilliantly selected and beautifully incorporated in a way that didn’t feel forced. “Exposure” managed to make me smile, to make me cry and to make me mad, all in an hour of television. I’d say the episode was pretty effective.

Despite being an episode focused on the past, which felt like a farewell to the show, and to the characters, the relationships, which helped forge “Revenge” into what it is, “Exposure” managed to bring the story forward.

Amanda Clarke is now fully committed to being Amanda, and putting the Emily Thorne persona behind her, but, can she really be gone? Can she manage to supress who she was for years on end, especially when the people she’s taken down decide to come after her? I doubt Ms. Thorne won’t be making an appearance in the not so distant future.

Amanda Clarke will not be looking at time behind bars due to identity fraud, her father having made a deal with the Feds, agreeing not to sue for his wrongful conviction in exchange for her pardon. Amanda can’t be convicted of identity fraud, but what goes for the rest of the crimes she’s committed in her quest to clearing her father’s name? They seem to be fair game and seem to be what her opponents will be using against her.

Emily’s coming out puts her in the limelight. It paints a bull’s eye on her back for all the people she took down. Her confession caused the coming together of “The Red Sharpie Society,” (Best Nolan one-liner of the episode, in my opinion!) led by none other than Tom Kingsley, Emily’s first takedown, the first man whose life she’s destroyed, the takedown in which her and Nolan became a team. I love the cameo from Yancey Arias and would be delighted to see more old characters come back as it seems to bring the seasons together, helps build a bigger picture of Emily's mission.

“You sold 20 years of my life, my daughter’s childhood. You tried to end me. You all had it coming the moment you sold your souls to Conrad.” -David

Putting a stop to this alliance before it starts its uprising, Amanda and her father set out to visit Ex-Senator Kinsley. I’m sorry to say, but David doesn’t look menacing, being Kingsley, I wouldn’t have backed off. He doesn’t have the stare Emily has become famously known for. What did Emily VanCamp use to call it in her earlier interviews? “The Crocodile Stare,” if I recall correctly. Let’s just agree James Tupper doesn’t yet master this art.

Amanda was closer to her father in “Exposure” than we’ve ever witnessed but she and Nolan, she and Jack seemed a million miles apart. I hate what fully committing to living as Amanda Clarke, has seemed to cause the relationships she forged as Emily Thorne. I dislike that her real identity seems to push everyone away but her father, almost like Emily and Amanda don’t have the same friends, don’t need the same people their lives. Except in the beginning of the episode, there wasn’t much Amanda fraternising with either Nolan or Jack. Thought the ending moments of “Exposure,” mimicking 9 year old Amanda in her father’s arms, to “You + Me” was cute, Amanda’s going to need all the help she can get for what’s coming on, help from her friends.

“I’m just a hacker that provided the software that ran Emily Thorne. Now that Emily’s gone, I’m obsolete.” - Nolan

Nolan’s laptop could be the taking down of Amanda, as he kept files and files of their past conniving, of all their takedowns, and even though he clearly feels remorseful, guilty about putting his best friend in harm’s way, she doesn’t go easy on him. She’s pissed; she’s scared, and everything is spinning out of her control. Six files, copied from his laptop are now in the hands of Victoria, a grenade they handed over to the enemy.

He hadn’t erased the files because they meant something to him, for the first time in his life he was a part of something, but she doesn’t want his help anymore, doesn’t want him to fix it. She wants to go at it alone, and Nolan’s face when she told him to back off made my heart break a little. He just wants to make it right again. He just wants to be a part of it. Their montage was spot on. I need them to be the dynamic duo, to be Nolan and Emily against the world. I need them to be okay again.

In last week’s episode, Nolan asked Louise for a divorce, after they realised they didn’t want the same thing out of their marriage. This week demonstrated just how mad at Nolan she really is, as she sides with Victoria, crushed, he lied to her about Emily’s real identity, but she still didn't evolve into full on crazy, Louise needs a little push from Victoria, an expert at playing the victim card. Emily institutionalizing her, though, was a stroke of pure evil genius, she gets to play the victim card on that one, even though she totally deserved it.

The “Victoria getting her hands on incriminating information” part of the storyline is really iffy, doesn’t make too much sense. Louise and Victoria rummage the beach where Lyman’s body was found to recover the thumb drive the cops hadn’t seen. Despite the fact that Victoria needs to hire a Nolan type genius to decrypt the files on the key, we’re supposed to believe Lyman, the mastermind, was able to copy them without triggering some kind of autodestruct function. It doesn’t seem to make much sense, but I’ll bear with them.

Victoria’s truce with Emily/Amanda didn’t last, their silent understanding to leave each other alone, even after Margaux confessed that it wasn’t of Emily’s doing that she miscarried is over. Amanda agrees to an exclusive interview, where nothing is off limits, in a successful attempt to stop Victoria from going on air, forever. She needs to defend her story in front of the public jury, before Victoria tries to taint their minds with her version of the truth, and Amanda, baring her soul, striping her mask and showing her vulnerabilities has won in the court of public opinion. She seems to have managed to hit Victoria, so that she wouldn’t want to get back up. (If that darn Margaux hadn’t come along!)

“The man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Taken from me forever.” -Amanda

The montage of Aiden and Emily made me cry. I’m well aware of my sappiness, but Emily Vancamp crying always manages to break my heart. She’s incredible in those emotionally charged scenes. (She always is. Who am I kidding?) I cried almost as much as when the Fake Amanda died. The scene was poignantly beautiful, and reiterated my hatred towards Victoria. She freakin’ killed him, killed Aiden in cold blood.

It’s because the montage for Aiden and Amanda was so touching, that during the Jack and Amanda montage, I wasn’t able to root for Jack. Jack wasn’t even able to root for Jack. His conversation with Nolan, about Amanda, about how he should go for it, how they’re meant for each other seemed fitting to the episode. I could picture them, back in the show’s first season, having the same conversation, at the Stowaway. This time though, Jack knows better, and he doesn’t listen to Nolan when it comes to romantic relationship advice. He needs to stop going after her, he tried, she turned him down, more than once. There’s nothing more he can do, it’s in her hands now.

“Emily Thorne would never have done that. She was prepared for anything. And for the first time, I have no idea what’s coming next.” - Amanda

Someone else, with a red-sharpie is going after Emily, and I have so many theories as to who it might be, I might as well have none. Who do you guys think it is? I’m going for either Lydia or a back from the dead Conrad.


The Emily/Amanda naming convention is so confusing! I secretly hope she'll go back to being Emily