Revenge - Recap: Oh Father

And yet, that's why it was as dramatically effective as it was. The episode mostly centers on Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) and Emily's ongoing chess game for control of David's loyalties. Throughout the episode, David investigates claims against Victoria that allege she did little else but to make Amanda's life a living hell, and these are claims Emily backs up herself in one of the episode's best scenes, as David Clarke shows up on Emily's doorstep to ask her firsthand about Amanda. David isn't aware of who she is, forcing Emily to conceal her identity and, later, realize just how little her father actually remembers about her. VanCamp is excellent at portraying Emily's internal struggle to hold it all together, even if it doesn't really make sense why she wouldn't just come clean and lay it all on the table. She breaks down as soon as David leaves, and it's an instance of heartbreaking catharsis, since she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth. It's a moment fraught with three seasons' worth of effort, as Emily has fought on in her father's name, only to discover he doesn't even remember enough about her to recognize that she was standing in front of him the entire time. This does little more than exacerbate her growing bitterness about the disconnect between this David Clarke and the father she loved. Her inability to control her emotions and keep her head in the game is arguably what causes her to lose this intricate battle for David's loyalties, as Victoria convinces David that she spent years trying to look out for Amanda, coming down to the strip club and offering her money, shelter, anything she wanted. Naturally, this isn't true, but David believes it because it's corroborated by one of the strippers at Amanda's old club -- a stripper paid off by Victoria. Game, set, and match.

Except not really.

Credit: ABC

Having been outmaneuvered by Victoria, and discovering photos that suggest he's been watching her for years, Emily storms over to the condo and lashes out at David. She demands to know why he never came for her, why he never fought for her, after all the years she spent suffering over him, and all the years she spent fighting in his name, not just to vindicate him but to avenge him. It's a scene that is a long time in coming, but worth the build up. When the realization of Emily's true identity hits David's face, and is confirmed by the double infinity tattoo on Emily's wrist, it feels as if the show has reached the apex of shocking soap opera confrontations. Emily revealing her identity was such a welcome surprise that I immediately wanted to see what would happen next, and I'm not sure I expected anything like that, going into this episode. Emily has always been a character of composure, so to see her emotionally compromised here takes the character in an interesting new direction. Her entire world has been upended by David's survival, and by how different he is from the man she remembers, between the lie about the silo to his continually fading memories about his eldest daughter. Emily is heartbroken, and we don't often get to see her that way, which is why this was so immensely compelling. For a moment, she was just a daughter looking for some shred of evidence that her father still loved her. It was devastating and engrossing. Which is why it was so damn obnoxious that the moment is immediately ruined by Victoria getting electrocuted while trying to flee from what was likely going to be a major verbal smackdown. I still find Victoria to be one of the show's biggest assets, but I don't see why the show needed to have her get electrocuted. Is it just to delay the inevitable confrontation with David? Is it to generate sympathy for Victoria at a time where David shouldn't have any sympathy at all? Hopefully, next week's episode will make the narrative reasons for this direction a bit more apparent.

Credit: ABC

With that said, I'm still not sure what the direction is supposed to be with all this weirdness centering on Louise (Elena Satine). She sees a hallucination of her overbearing mother, and it convinces her to try and kill Margaux (Karine Vanasse) by locking her in a sauna? And then Nolan (Gabriel Mann) buys the hotel where the attempted murder takes place because it allows him to get away from paparazzi? It's just such a strange series of developments. But at least it distracts from the obnoxious investigation into Conrad's murder, as Ben (Brian Hallisay) and Jack (Nick Wechsler) discover the body of the kidnapper Charlotte killed, resulting in Ben getting his hopes up about this possible break in the case, since the same type of knife used to kill Conrad is present at the crime scene. It's all kind of tiring to watch, because I frankly can't stand Ben, and I'd rather this whole Conrad business went away. But it's not, so I suppose I'll try and find the silver lining in it and say that I enjoy Wechsler as the irritated straight man to Ben's go-getter style of investigation. It's one of several acting highlights around the periphery of the episode, as Josh Bowman also gets some nice scenes here, first in confronting his mother over hiding Emily's true identity from him, and then confronting Emily in an elevator and revealing he knows her real identity. Yes, Charlotte told him everything, and it results in Daniel questioning just how much of their relationship was real. It's interesting stuff, and long overdue. It's a shame that it was so quickly glossed over, since I think Daniel is a more worthwhile character than the show gives him credit for. The implication in his meeting with Emily is that he's desperate to find something real in his life, which is why he's so deeply affected later in the episode when he loses the closest thing to a real relationship he has, as Margaux dumps him for sleeping with Louise. He absolutely deserves it, but it's also possible to feel kind of bad for him, at the same time. Daniel is another figure in the show's "shades of grey" approach to morality, right up there with Emily, Victoria and David.

Credit: ABC

"Ambush" isn't a perfect episode of Revenge, but it has several perfect moments. From Emily and David's first face-to-face meeting in over a decade, to Emily later revealing her true identity to David, it's a momentous episode in the history of the series. And the level of performances illustrated the momentous nature of the drama at the heart of this episode. In short, I loved it. The show can't have these sorts of moments every week, but man, do they ever deliver when the time comes.