Revenge - Midseason Finale - Recap: Another Red Wedding
Recap and review of Revenge - Season 2 Episode 10 - Midseason Finale - Exodus:
Revenge is a show that often asks us to take a given scenario and consider the countless ways in which that situation can go wrong. "Exodus" stands as a monument to plans gone haywire, as it's the rare scheme where nearly everything that needs to happen does, except for the most important thing of all. Emily (Emily VanCamp) is shot, and the narrative doesn't waste any time revealing the shooter, although it does, strangely enough, ask us to genuinely believe that the show is about to kill off its lead, which is more than a bit silly. But even with that fairly ridiculous conceit, "Exodus" is about as good a midseason finale as anyone could have asked for, as Revenge continues to subvert expectations in the grandest way possible -- it really is a soap that makes its mark in shockers.
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Patrick is back, and secrets come out: Patrick (Justin Hartley) is back, having been summoned by Conrad (Henry Czerny) at the behest of Emily in order to convince Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) to attend the wedding. And it works, as Victoria begrudgingly decides to take Patrick's advice not to let her relationship with Daniel go to ruin by not attending the nuptials. But things are complicated by Patrick's on-again/off-again relationship with Nolan (Gabriel Mann). One of the things this show does a good job with is detailing how tortured the characters in Emily's circle often are. Nolan conceals his pain beneath a thin veneer of smugness, but he's still a very wounded soul. When he dances with Emily at her reception, it sinks in for him that he's losing one of the only people he loves. Their dance is among the most tender moments of the episode, as he says his goodbyes, kissing her on the cheek, and says "Long live David Clarke." It's a beautifully understated moment.
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But Nolan's story with Patrick is where the real narrative heft is, as he must lure Patrick away from Victoria to make certain he isn't on the yacht after the reception, since Emily's plan is predicated on Victoria not having an alibi, and so Aiden (Barry Sloane) is going to lock her in one of the cabins until after Emily fakes her shooting -- a plan that won't work if Victoria is with Patrick the whole night. And so Nolan lures Patrick to his house by revealing that he knows about Conrad's cut brakes. Yet he reveals that he didn't lure Patrick there to blackmail him, but to prove to him that he's safe here in a way he'll never be with the Graysons. Patrick and Nolan make amends, and it's kind of great to see a gay romance you can root for on network TV. But things quickly get mysterious once Patrick accidentally discovers a secret panel behind a painting in Nolan's house. And the plot thickens...
Sara tries to kill herself: It's been a rough go for Sara (Annabelle Stephenson), who still isn't over Daniel (Josh Bowman). She encounters him at the Voulez offices, as she's been interviewed about the Grayson wedding cake. The magazine is taking a People Magazine approach to the nuptials with its all-out coverage of the wedding, and it's all spearheaded by Margaux (Karine Vanasse). Daniel attempts to soothe Sara over how things ended, but she cuts him off and tells him, "You can't make everything okay for everyone. Life doesn't work like that. Even for you." She doesn't encounter Daniel again, although she does receive a confused voicemail from him later on which prompts her to drink away her emotions at the Stowaway. As Sara explains to Jack (Nick Wechsler), she knew that Daniel was about to ask her forgiveness, so she cut him off because she recognized that if she had forgiven him, it would mean it was truly over.
This is a realization Jack comes to in relation to Emily, as if continues to find it difficult to truly forgive her. Before her wedding, Emily drops by the Stowaway to say goodbye, and she and Jack have a lovely moment of reconciliation that harks back to the youthful days when they really were best friends. However, Emily goes and ruins it all by revealing that she was with Amanda when she died. Emily then goes on to detail the gruesome business of that terrible night, sending Jack into an understandable rage, as he has no idea why Emily would tell him that. He calls Emily selfish, adding that she ruins even tenders moments like this, and for what? I really can't blame Jack here, as Emily's judgment leaves a lot to be desired, as of late.
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But back to Sara, as her depression over Daniel -- and her rejection by Jack, whom she hits on -- prompts her to despair. While on his honeymoon, Daniel receives a phone call from Sara's cell. However, it's not Sara, but her roommate. Sara has apparently tried to kill herself, and although Charlotte (Christa B. Allen) tries to console him, Daniel is having none of it. So why I have spent three paragraphs detailing the emotional turmoil of a tertiary character like Sara? Well, one might argue her suicide attempt plays a big role in the downfall of Emily's plan. But first, a different thorn in Emily's side...
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Lydia reveals the truth about Emily Thorne: Early in the episode, Conrad discovers Lydia's (Amber Valletta) revenge journal and kicks her to the curb. In her desperation, she steals the photo of Emily from the Grayson New Year's party before she became "Emily Thorne," and uses it to blackmail Emily into giving the beachfront condo back to her. And Emily is all too happy to oblige, since little does Lydia know, she won't be needing it after her wedding. But the Lydia issue gets more complicated once Conrad learns from Margaux that, as twisted as it might seem, Lydia does actually love Conrad. And so he tracks her down at the South Fork Inn and offers to make her the next Mrs. Grayson, and it's this reunion that allows Lydia to be on the yacht after Emily and Daniel get married. And her presence on the yacht proves disastrous to Emily's plan, as Lydia shows the New Year's photo to Victoria, proving her right in the suspicions she's had all along about Emily Thorne.
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In her righteous anger, Victoria confronts Emily with the truth, that she's targeted the Grayson family for years, and faked her pregnancy to trap Daniel, a man she likely doesn't even love. And, surprisingly, Emily cops to it all, finally giving us the scathing confrontation that's been three seasons in the making. It's great watching VanCamp and Stowe just tear each other apart, as Victoria denounces Emily as "an empty shell" while Emily accuses Victoria of being "a sad, sad woman." Victoria further punches a hole in Emily's plan when she uses the gun residue-stained bracelet overboard in a show of just how little Emily means to her, which is going to make it a bit more difficult for her to pin this shooting on Victoria. Emily, however, gets the last laugh as Aiden pops in and chloroforms Victoria, whisking her away to give Emily time to fake her death. But as with everything else this week, it doesn't exactly go smoothly for Emily...
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Daniel shoots Emily: I've written 1200 words and still haven't gotten around to confirming that, yes, Daniel and Emily DO get married. And it's a pretty classy affair, with an even classier, tented reception (flanked on all sides by the hounding press). What's interesting about the ceremony is in how one can see Daniel slowly sink into despair as the night rolls on, at first showing optimism about the marriage and affirming his dedication to Emily and to their child, before that optimism begins to erode as they return to Grayson Manor.
Suddenly, he's slinging back drinks and getting cynical with his mother in what's actually a great Henry Czerny impression (seriously, Josh Bowman sold me more on Daniel and Conrad as father-and-son than anything I've seen before or since). By the time they're all on the yacht, Daniel is completely miserable, and it's a low-point that's made worse by the phone call about Sara's suicide attempt. He goes outside on the yacht for a bit of fresh air, only to then overhear Emily confessing to Victoria that she faked the pregnancy, and possibly their entire relationship.
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He sees the gun that Emily is about to use to fake her death, and he steals it away before she can use it. He then aims it at her in a fit of anger, raging about how she must have been laughing at him all this time. Emily says, "I'm sorry," but that simply phrase is enough to send him over the edge. He fires two bullets into her, sending her overboard. The sound of the gunshots is muffled by the fireworks in a slideshow Emily put together to distract the other guests in the yacht. By the time anyone notices Emily has fallen overboard, it's too late. Charlotte is particularly upset, as she's felt a sudden closeness to Emily after she told her secret half-sister she loved her before the wedding. Daniel, who seemed to immediately regret shooting Emily even before she went overboard, does his best to appear inconspicuous. No one suspects him. Instead, everyone wonders where Victoria is.
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Aiden is unsettled to discover that Emily hasn't surfaced once he makes it to the beach, and Jack -- who is waiting there to give back Amanda's cross, which Emily left for him at the Stowaway -- is equally worried, especially once Emily's dress washes ashore...covered in blood.
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So as we head into the second half of the season, the question becomes: what does Victoria do with what she's learned about Emily? Does she go down for Emily's shooting? And if so, does Daniel allow her to?
It's an interesting way to close out the first half of season three, which has been a triumphant return to form for the series, as Revenge got back down to the basics and cast aside all the shadow conspiracy plots of season two, and kept its story arc tight and focused. If the second half of season three can maintain the standard of the first, I think Revenge will be in good stead. As it stands now, "Exodus" is among the strongest episodes the show has produced this year, and I think it bodes well for what's to come.