Revenge - Review: Tales from the Arcade
Credit: ABC
Recap and review of Revenge - Season 2 Episode 19 - Identity:
Revenge is knee-deep in the kind of scandalicious business that made season one such an enjoyable romp. "Identity" feels like a season one episode, in a lot of ways. It's squarely focused on the procedural aspects of the show, where there's a "case of the week" involving a villain from David Clarke's past that requires taking down. In this case, that villain is the person responsible for framing him all those years ago, in addition to being indirectly responsible for the death of Padma, the hacker known only as The Falcon. The episode has terrific momentum as a result of this unifying narrative, as Emily (Emily VanCamp) and Nolan (Gabriel Mann) continue to have one of TV's most satisfying onscreen friendships, making their teamwork into exposing The Falcon all the more rewarding. Yet there are other worthwhile soap elements to the episode, as Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) has her secret past brought out into the open, allowing her to freely do what she's always wished she'd had the freedom to do: track down her long-lost son, Patrick. It's as straight a soap opera development as the series has had in weeks, as this presents a clear outlet for surprising reveals and shocking turns, particularly if "Patrick" is someone we've met before (although, given the relative age of many of the males we've met over the course of the series, I don't think there are many candidates other than, maybe, Aiden or one of the Ryan brothers. And that's a bridge too far, even for this show). Ultimately, "Identity" represents the best of what Revenge can be when it casts aside the narrative excesses of season two, in favor of the simultaneously streamlined and scandalous storytelling of season one.
Credit: ABC
The majority of the episode follows Emily and Nolan's attempts to bring The Falcon to justice. This involves a tricky gambit in which they trick Victoria into calling The Falcon over the phone, luring her to an arcade where Nolan baits her into a game of Street Fighter II. He's the all-time record holder, apparently, and he makes a wager whereby if he defeats The Falcon, a woman named Edith, then she must do a job for him -- essentially, she must erase all traces of his hacker past. Nolan easily secures the win, and hands Edith a flash drive with his files on them so she can begin doing her work. Yet the flash drive is revealed to be encrypted with a Trojan which uploads all of Edith's information to Nolan's computer, allowing him to learn everything about her. He takes this information to the FBI, who arrest Edith on the spot, bringing The Falcon down, once and for all. This entire storyline was initially pretty jarring, since The Falcon was built as a potential overarching villain for the series, as opposed to a one-off "dragon" for our heroes to slay, en route to taking down the real power behind David Clarke and Padma's demise. However, this was immensely satisfying, just the same. Nolan gets over being the sad sack he'd been, while Emily helps make up for having failed Nolan in his search for Padma by helping him bring down The Falcon. In a touching coda to the storyline, Emily scans the photo of The Falcon so Nolan can have the honors of placing the red X over her face, adding to the total of Grayson soldiers the tandem has brought down.
Credit: ABC
Yet things aren't going nearly as well for Emily in her personal life. In an interview with the media, Daniel (Josh Bowman) puts Emily on the spot by having the interviewer ask her if she's open to marriage. Emily, in the heat of the moment, concedes that there would be "no greater honor" than to become a Grayson. Jack (Nick Wechsler) witnesses the entire thing and storms off, leaving Emily to try to pick up the pieces. But it's too late. Jack doesn't want a "Grayson" around his son, and rescinds Emily's status as both his friend and Carl's godmother. It's a devastating blow for Emily that's only exacerbated by Daniel forcing the marriage issue, albeit in a sweet way. He says that he can't continue the relationship if he knows it's all going to end the way it did the first time, and so he gives her an engagement ring and tells her to make a choice -- if she's wearing it the next time he sees her, then he'll know she's in this for the long haul. On the encouragement of Aiden (Barry Sloane), Emily allows the ring to be placed on her finger, confident in the knowledge that, once she has her revenge, she'll be able to be with Aiden, once and for all. Aiden believes this to be true, and he has no reason not to. He briefly meets with his mentor, Takeda, after Takeda meets with Daniel on an exploratory meeting to discover Aiden's true intentions. Takeda betrays nothing, but he still appears disappointed in his former pupil when they're in private. Aiden rationalizes that revenge is hollow, and Emily will realize this once she has her revenge. It's not an unrealistic hope for Aiden, but something about Barry Sloane's delivery pegs this as a naive hope on Aiden's part. This is an interesting characterization, and I wouldn't be surprised if Sloane were bringing more to the character than was on the page.
Credit: ABC
Meanwhile, Victoria has all her dirty laundry aired in front of the nation during a live interview with Nightline, as Emily leaks the information about Victoria abandoning her six-month-old baby, Patrick, to go abroad for a European art program. Conrad (Henry Czerny) had assumed that Victoria had the child aborted, so the bombshell hits him every bit as hard as it hits Daniel, who reels at learning he might have a brother out there somewhere (although he tells Emily that he's resigned to the revelation, since nothing his parents do surprise him anymore). Conrad, who'd been gaining ground in his gubernatorial campaign, is furious at how Victoria's secret has devastated his campaign, though really, he should have expected a secret or two from Victoria by now, given that their marriage has been built on a foundation of escalating lies. Conrad, for his part, has been meeting with the wife of the incumbent governor, and this would have had the potential to blow up in his face if not for the intervention of Ashley (Ashley Madekwe), who delivers the pictures, which Jack sent her, of the rendezvous directly to Conrad. It's hard to tell if Ashley is betraying Jack, or if she's simply pretending to, in order to wiggle her way back into Conrad's inner circle. Either way, Ashley isn't nearly as compelling as the show probably thinks she is.
Credit: ABC
"Identity" also has a brief plot in which Declan (Connor Paolo) is blown-off by Charlotte (Christa B. Allen), who opts to go out partying with the classmate she punched at the masquerade ball, as the girls bond over a story of how the girl's brother committed suicide. It's a strange story that doesn't seem to have immediate implications to anything in the narrative. If anything, it takes away from the episode's big reveal, in which Victoria approaches Nolan for help in tracking down Patrick. The prospect of Nolan and Victoria sharing scenes together already has me hyped for next week. Overall, this was a return to form for Revenge, free of the excesses of the bogged down plot complications that have plagued season two. The narrative has been streamlined as we approach the finale, and this can only mean a more focused plot with the potential to set up an explosive third season, should the show be fortunate enough to get renewed. At this rate, I would be shocked if it didn't.
