Revenge - Season 2 Episode 16 - Recap and Review - Illumination
Check out the recap and review of Revenge - Season 2 Episode 16 - Illumination:
Revenge is pretty good at introducing rogue elements into Emily's plans. Emily (Emily VanCamp) has gone to great lengths to conceal her true identity in the Hamptons, towards the goal of enacting her protracted revenge fantasy. However, "Illumination" illustrates that no matter how far afield she gets from her past, it's never that far behind. No sooner has she put Amanda in the ground, and with her, one of the only people on Earth who would be able to expose her for the true Amanda Clarke, than her former foster brother arrives in town to blow up the entire charade. Eli James (Collins Pennie) and Amanda were inseparable as the "Invisibles" of their foster home -- the kids who, whether as a result of age or jadedness, prospective parents never wanted to adopt. They were separated at the age of 13 when Amanda burned down their foster home, though Eli, in later years, would go on to search for his long-lost foster sister, coming across the real Emily Thorne in the process, and discovering that the girl buried in the ground wasn't the real Amanda Clarke. From there, it's only a matter of time until Eli is able to piece together that Emily is the real Amanda, and this is where the complications begin. It's a deliberately-paced episode that moves the pieces around the proverbial chess board, setting us up for the conflicts and confrontations coming our way in the tail end of the season. In itself, it's not all that compelling an episode, particularly following the last two, but it's hardly filler. "Illumination" is necessary to get us where we're going, as the last five minutes introduce an entirely new villain for Emily and Nolan (Gabriel Mann) to combat.
Credit: ABC
The episode primarily revolves around the Graysons' fundraiser for a foundation they're setting up in Amanda Clarke's name. The party is the kind of traditional Hamptons affair that Revenge loves throwing, and which the series also excels at utilizing, as it places all of our principal characters in one setting to sort out their existing issues, while introducing new ones. Some of the conflicts are small potatoes, such as Declan (Conno Paolo) giving Charlotte (Christa B. Allen) attitude for not making time for him in her life, ignoring that (in her mind) she's just lost the only connection she'll ever have to her biological father, and under sudden, tragic, criminal circumstances, no less. However, not all the problems introduced are as lightweight as Declan and Charlotte's relationship woes, thankfully. Jack (Nick Wechsler) has been piecing together some of the details of the night Amanda died, in particular the identity of the person who brought him ashore and saved his life. He confronts an old friend of his from out by the docks, who reveals that he rented out, and eventually sold, his boat to a tall, sandy-haired guy on the night of Amanda's death. This information, coupled with Declan's question of why Nolan lied about Jack and Amanda having safely made it to their honeymoon destination, leads Jack to correctly assume that Nolan was the one who saved him -- meaning he was there that night on The Amanda.
Credit: ABC
Fed up with lies, he shows up at the fundraiser and disingenuously pledges his loyalty to the Graysons, then breaks with Nolan completely, telling him that he's sick of all the lies. Later, Nolan, utilizing his hacking skills, is ultimately able to convince Jack that Kenny Ryan was the one who commandeered the boat and brought Jack to shore. Though Jack seems to take the bait, the wry smirk behind each one of Jack's embraces (of Nolan, of Victoria) implies that he's up to some revenge scheming of his own, given that he has questions of his own that still need answering (such as why Amanda would be seeking revenge against the Graysons for framing a father that, according to Eli, Amanda never forgave?). Jack's new quest somewhat parallels the start of Emily's journey, as he tries to obtain some measure of justice for those he's lost.
Credit: ABC
Emily, meanwhile, isn't doing too well on her front. Eli, after putting two-and-two together, confronts Emily, and they hash out the missing details of their past: Eli is something of a con man himself, getting rich people to believe he's a Columbia-educated seller of rare books. He has outstanding warrants in several states, however, and so Emily uses this as an opportunity to get him to leave, thus eliminating yet another rogue element from her life. She gets Nolan to erase his criminal record, and then fronts him a check for $100,000 to start a new life somewhere else. Unfortunately, at the party, Eli seems to enjoy hob-knobbing with the Hampton elite a little too much, and Emily's anxiousness to get him out of town piques his interest. When Ashley (Ashley Madekwe), on Emily's advice, tries to warn Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) about the risk in having an ex-con at their party, Victoria takes Emily's displeasure with Eli as all the more reason to bring him deeper into the company fold. She appoints him co-chair of the Amanda Clarke Foundation, and he donates Emily's $100,000 check to the cause, "for all the Invisible children." It's bad enough that he's not only in town, but also in a position of prominence among the Graysons, but it's considerable worse that, having deleted his criminal records, Emily no longer has any leverage against him. Eli isn't so much a villain here as he is a force of chaos, much like Amanda was when she was first introduced, or like Amanda's mother earlier this season. Funny how figures of Emily's past seem to serve no other function than making things needlessly difficult for her. It'd be nice if at least one person from her past as Amanda Clarke didn't have to go around starting trouble. But when you live by the sword...
Credit: ABC
The developments are pretty significant on the Grayson front as well, as Daniel (Josh Bowman) learns from Conrad (Henry Czerny) that Aiden (Barry Sloane) has been appointed treasurer of the Amanda Clarke Foundation -- not because he's cut out for the job, but because the foundation is a front. Conrad is worried that, should the Initiative give them a hard time, the resulting Federal investigation would lead to all their assets being frozen, which would ruin the company, and the family as well. However, the government can't freeze the funds of a charitable organization, and so the Graysons are hiding all their money in the Amanda Clarke Foundation as a contingency, with Aiden Mathis unknowingly positioned as the fall guy for when the money inevitably disappears from the foundation's accounts. Daniel is furious and tells Emily all about his father's big plot, lamenting his predicament, as he feels the proverbial noose getting tighter around his neck, and he can't free himself without putting the noose around someone else's. Emily suggests that maybe he should consider doing just that, and Daniel seems to consider the possibility, egged on by Aiden's insinuations that Emily still isn't over him.
Credit: ABC
Of course, Emily is still in a sort-of relationship with Aiden, as evidenced by their morning routine at Aiden's swank house. She pours him coffee, hands him his briefcase, then sends him out the door with a kiss. Turns out Aiden has been named to the Grayson Global position formerly held by Conrad himself, which means Emily has multiple in-roads with the company now. However, those in-roads don't extend to the tech realm, as Nolan tries to hack into the foundation's bank account in order to steal all the Graysons' money right out from under their noses, only to find that the account is protected by world-class coding. A flashback reveals that only one hacker has ever managed to best Nolan, and it's the same hacker that set up the documents that brought about the downfall of David Clarke. This mysterious hacker goes by the codename The Falcon, and he or she has only one weakness: ego. The hacker puts a signature at the end of every one of his or her bits of coding. They now have someone standing in the way of their revenge against the Graysons and, to paraphrase Emily, it's time our Revengers went hunting.
Credit: ABC
"Illumination" isn't necessarily exciting, but it's an episode that sets up exciting conflicts for the future. Eli could make things very dangerous for Emily, while The Falcon is a newly-introduced element that, strangely, doesn't feel shoe-horned into the plot. Everything fits well, and I enjoyed how the episode further elaborated upon some of the developments resulting from Amanda's death, such as Jack's gradual path towards a revenge plot of his own. At this stage of the game, Revenge is getting back to what made it so compelling in the first place -- Emily's revenge, and the myriad forces either standing in her way or complicating the process. This brand of storytelling is the strongest aspect of the series, and it elevates "Illumination" considerably.
