Revenge - Recap: Charlotte Sometimes (Preferably Never)

Recap and review of Revenge - Season 4 Episode 5 - Repercussions:

What I liked about Revenge early on was how it flipped soap opera conventions on its head.

In a lot of traditional primetime soaps, we'd have been focused on Daniel (Josh Bowman) or Charlotte (Christa B. Allen), and we'd have gotten a look at the opulence and love lives of the fabulously wealth: one part Gossip Girl, another part Dynasty. And Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) would have been there too, harassing our lead characters while the mystery of who this woman seeking revenge is, and why she's seeking it, would have formed a central mystery. But Revenge has excelled by taking the story of the shadowy mystery character out for revenge, and making her the centerpiece as she carves a path of vengeance in her late father's name. That made for an interesting premise, and has often produced some pretty damn compelling television the previous three seasons. But "Repercussions" looks to, once again, flip the show on its head by sending David Clarke (James Tupper), the man for whom Emily embarked on this mission in the first place, on his own revenge mission. Yes, David is finally realizing that something is amiss with the people he's expected to trust. It's not made clear who, exactly, David is targeting, whether it's Victoria (Madeleine Stowe), Nolan (Gabriel Mann), Jack (Nick Wechsler) or even Emily Thorne herself. But I love the notion of David's journey mirroring his daughter's, creating an infinite loop of sorts. In fact, it's a compelling enough notion that I want to hurry up and get to next week's episode to see how the show moves forward with a rogue David Clarke, since it could either be exhilarating or messy.

Credit: ABC

Unfortunately, getting to that point means putting up with a lot of nonsense. First and foremost is all this delayed gratification nonsense the show wants us to buy. I can get wanting to save the big reunion between father and daughter for November sweeps, or even for the midseason finale. But it seriously strains credulity that David Clarke meets no less than three separate people in current, consistent contact with Emily, none of whom inform him that his daughter is still alive. I suppose you could argue that Jack kept the secret because Charlotte put him between a rock and a hard place by bringing David over to meet his "grandson". And it's easy enough explaining away that Charlotte simply doesn't believe Emily when she says Victoria is manipulating David and needs to be stopped. But why on Earth would Nolan keep Emily's secret? Why would he not just ask David to wait in the parlor while he phones Emily to at least ask an opinion on what to do? You've been trying the entire episode to get David alone and away from Victoria so Emily can explain her side of the story, and you finally get him alone but never even shoot Emily a text to let her know? To ask whether she wants to come over and spill the beans or keep her identity a secret until a better, more opportune time? It just feels like the show is artificially extending this conflict by manufacturing excuses for the characters not to do what they would plainly just DO. It wouldn't bug me so much if it didn't do such damage to these characters. Every extra day David doesn't know his daughter is still alive is another day that Victoria's hold on him grows, to say nothing of how much harder it's going to be for him to wrap his head around the truth when he's already grown accustomed to the lie.

Credit: ABC

Granted, it's not as if Emily doesn't try to facilitate alone time with her father throughout the episode. She is able to indirectly arrange, through Margaux (Karine Vanasse), for Daniel to give the deed to the old beach house to David as reparation for Conrad's misdeeds. And it proves to be a wise move, as being in the house begins to trigger all sorts of lost memories for David, who earlier in the episode confessed to Nolan that he was beginning to forget his "little girl". Yet, this plan doesn't really put her into contact with David right this moment, and her inexplicable decision to hold off on telling him rings hollow for a character who should want, more than anything, to set the record straight with her old man. I just don't buy that he would somehow stop loving her for aiming to exact revenge. Maybe he'd be upset or hurt, but not insurmountably. If I'm beating a dead horse, it's simply that the show has never felt so hampered by authorial intrusion before. You can almost feel the hands of the writers guiding the characters in illogical directions that serve no other purpose than to needlessly delay resolution. I love this show, but I desperately wish the writers hadn't crafted a story that relied so much on clumsily delayed gratification. And, frankly, I wish to God they hadn't crafted a storyline that expects me to give even half a damn about Charlotte. I almost feel like I have to write it in bold letters...

I DO NOT CARE ABOUT CHARLOTTE.

I WILL NEVER CARE ABOUT CHARLOTTE.

THERE ISN'T ENOUGH MONEY IN THIS WORLD YOU COULD PAY ME THAT WOULD MAKE ME CARE ABOUT CHARLOTTE.

(Okay, maybe not the last one. But it's gonna cost ya)

Maybe other people do care about Charlotte. And if you're one of them, more power to you. You're an amazing person and far stronger than I am when it comes to enduring these sorts of characters. But I just don't get why we're, once again, asked to care that Charlotte is having another downward spiral. My thought, when a wasted Charlotte got into a taxi with the man who tried to run over David at the start of the episode, wasn't "Oh no! Don't get in there with him, Charlotte! He's dangerous!" It was complete apathy, because we're far past the point where we can, realistically, feel bad for Charlotte. The show seems to want us to think of her as this misguided kid shaped by a twisted mother, a messed-up father, a biological father renowned the world over as a terrorist, and her own crummy circumstances (from the death of her boyfriend to the miscarriage of his child). But Charlotte is old enough to make her own damn choices. She chose to knock Emily out and leave her to die in a fire. She chose to bring David Clarke into Jack's home, and then call him a coward later for not coming clean about Emily/Amanda. The writers need to decide whether Charlotte is a sympathetic protagonist or a straight-up villain, because this shades of grey b.s. isn't working. At all.

Credit: ABC

Christa B. Allen is a perfectly fine actress too, which is why it's kind of a shame that Charlotte has been molded into this completely unlikable pill of a character. But that's what has happened. Hell, the character weighs down an episode that wasn't even that bad! Sure, I didn't love the stuff with Daniel and Louise (Elena Satine), who decides to go to Page Six with a story on Daniel after he romantically rebuffs her, nor was I crazy about Ben (Brian Hallisay) looking into Conrad Grayson's murder. But the episode was still mostly compelling, as David Clarke is a ghost still trying to fit back into the corporeal world -- and that means figuring out who he can trust, and who he shouldn't. Ultimately, "Repercussions" is a pretty underwhelming episode, but its final moments imply an interesting future ahead, so it's not as if I have no faith in the show's direction. Quite the opposite. I couldn't be more excited to get to wherever this story is headed.