Revenge - Season 3 Premiere - Recap: A Shot for Emily Thorne
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Recap and review of Revenge - Season 3 Premiere - Fear:
There's something to be said for sweeping the past under the rug. With the season 3 premiere, "Fear", Revenge is essentially asking us to forget about the mostly iffy business of season 2, an uneven collection of episodes that largely took the show away from what worked best about it. Creator Mike Kelley frequently butted heads with ABC last season, and this resulted in his decision to step down as showrunner and hand over the reins to executive producer Sunil Nayar. With this premiere, we're back to the soapy basics. Emily (Emily VanCamp) is back to executing complicated revenge schemes, the logistics of which are revealed to us by episode's end, while putting her back together with Nolan (Gabriel Mann) as a two-man, scheming, snarking vengeance operation. It works because it's a streamlined version of the concept, and also because the "big mystery" of the season is infinitely more compelling than last year's: who shoots Emily at (presumably) her wedding reception?
Within the timeline of the show, we're still three months away from finding out the answer to that question, as it's Memorial Day. The summer has only just kicked off, but a lot has changed in the six months since Conrad (Henry Czerny) was elected governor. Declan was laid to rest, and a devastated Jack (Nick Wechsler), still reeling from the combination of his brother's death and the revelation that Emily was the real Amanda Clarke, jumped town with baby Carl, closing up The Stowaway without telling a soul where he was headed. Charlotte (Christa B. Allen) also took Declan's death understandably hard, opting to spend her time traveling Europe (with an offhand mention that she lost her pregnancy from last season). Meanwhile, Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) has become acquainted with Patrick (Justin Hartley), the son she gave up for adoption. Their chemistry is super-awkward and not at all the chemistry of a mother and her son, but Patrick seems sweet enough, and he defends her to Charlotte, who feels as if she and Daniel are being replaced. It's a bit of a non-starter, as far as storylines go, but it's thankfully only one subplot in a narrative that isn't terribly interested in that plot anyway, as much of the hour focuses on Emily's continued engagement to Daniel (Josh Bowman) her further integration into the Grayson family. Nolan, meanwhile, is fresh off a stint in prison, as a failsafe in the Carrion program ends up exonerating him and earning the former Nolcorp CEO his unconditional release for the bombing of the Grayson Global last season. In addition, the failsafe named all the members of the Initiative in the attack, a development that is more or less Nayar's assurance to viewers that we won't be dealing with that pesky shadow conspiracy again anytime soon.
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To its credit, "Fear" wastes no time getting us back to basics. Emily sets up the Grayson's annual summer kick-off gala, and uses it as a cover for the start of her episode-long scheme. She first introduces the vindictive Ashley (Ashley Madekwe) to the handsome Dr. Velez in order to plant the idea in Victoria's mind that she's cozying up to the doctor. Meanwhile, Nolan parachutes in from above in order to forego security checkpoints and smuggle in a poison for Emily to sneak into Conrad's water. During his speech, he exhibits all the symptoms of a heart attack and collapses on the spot. This is all a part of her plan, as Conrad is admitted to the hospital and learns from Dr. Velez that he has Huntington's Disease, a degenerative disorder that attacks motor functions and mental acuity. The entire family reels from the diagnosis, which quickly becomes very public once someone from within the family's inner circle leaks the news. Of course, all it takes is the insinuation that perhaps Dr. Velez got a little "too candid" with Ashley, and Victoria is ready to have the social-climbing Brit deported back to the UK. Naturally, had Victoria been more observant, she might have noticed Emily faking Conrad's medical records to give him the false diagnosis, and then leaking the falsified records to the press. With the diagnosis out in the public arena, Conrad will be forced to step down. It's a plan that goes off without a hitch, as Conrad is brought to heel and Ashley is sent back to England with her tail between her legs. That said, this entire plan could come tumbling down if Conrad simply seeks out a second opinion, but though Conrad is certainly shrewd, I'm not sure he's necessarily that smart.
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Yet, in a peculiar development, Jack displays sympathy for Conrad. It all goes back to his return to the Hamptons after his long absence. As it turns out, he was away introducing baby Carl to his extended family, and though Emily is happy to see him, she remains as remorseful as ever for what happened to Amanda. They meet at The Stowaway and discuss everything that's happened, including how Jack resented Emily for lying to him for so long. However, he seems to show a gradual understanding about how much Emily loved her father, and says that he realizes she was only trying to protect him by keeping her identity a secret. They embrace, and it quickly escalates to a full-on makeout session, a kiss with the confused intensity of two people who've wanted to do this for years but never could. But then comes the stinger: "I never knew how I felt about you until just this moment," Jack tells Emily. "And I feel nothing." He pulls himself away from Emily and reveals that he hasn't forgiven her at all for what has happened. In fact, he tells her to get the hell out of his bar and out of his life; but it isn't until later, when Jack arrives at Emily's house to confront her about what she did to Conrad, that things get really serious. Though Emily tries to justify her actions by claiming that Conrad never deserved to be governor, Jack issues her an ultimatum: he's giving her until the end of the summer to complete her revenge, or he's going to reveal her secret to the world. Naturally, Emily is faced with no other choice but to pick up the pace on her plan, getting Daniel to agree to a date for the wedding: August 8th, a convenient date given the double-infinity iconography of 8/8.
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There are other plots in the hour, including the widening gulf between Charlotte and Victoria, as well as the return of an old friend/possible flame from Daniel's past, a French woman named Margaux (Karine Vanasse). We even learn that Emily has bought Nolan a house next door to hers, a place where they can meet away from the looming shadow of Grayson Manor. But one of the more substantive developments of the hour comes at the end, as Victoria finds a mysterious figure standing on her balcony. She assumes it's Patrick returning after having left the Hamptons following a confrontation with Charlotte. However, it turns out to be Aiden (Barry Sloane). Horrified, Victoria demands to know what Barry, presumed dead at the end of last season following his fight with Daniel, is doing on her balcony. He reveals that he's here to help her "take down the girl next door." I guess hell hath no fury like an Englishman scorned?
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"Fear" gets Revenge back on track in a big way. The series has a lot of ground to make up from its uneven second season, but I feel as though the series is in fine hands, and the story on the right path. I'm more than optimistic about this season already.