Revenge – Recap & Review – Loyalty

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Revenge
Loyalty

Original Air Date: Dec 7, 2011

Melanie – TwoCents Reviewer
melanie@thetwocents.com

Is anyone else frustrated with all this week skipping? Makes it hard to keep track of the show! And with so much going on in the storylines of all the characters, you hate to have to wait twice as long to see where it’s leading!

It seems Emily’s plans are on hold as she deals with a couple unexpected twists…or are they? Can she proceed with her original targets while taking out the new ones? And what is the deal with her visiting Japanese mentor? Unfortunately, this episode doesn’t offer us many answers…

Apparently part of Emily’s training with her Japanese mentor, Takeda, included martial arts, probably as a way to teaching focus, discipline, and unemotional thought. Her encounters with him this episode included a few, what I thought, were choice quotes from him, reminding her of what her mission is supposed to be, and warning her of the dangers of her relationship with Daniel. According to him, she is falling in love with him, and it’s clouding her mission. Though she denies it, he’s not fooled, and neither am I.

Ok, so she tries to use Daniel to take-down Tyler by creating the possiblity of him ratting out Tyler for his use of sex to get Nolan to invest. Yay for turning him completely against his smarmy, conniving faux-friend. Boo for the fact that Tyler used his knowledge of the David Clarke situation (from Lydia’s speech which he has lost) to threaten Conrad and save his position. But that didn’t really put Daniel in danger, and it helped him to no longer be Tyler’s victim. And with her help, including her footing the bill for Takeda to invest with Grayson Global for $50 million, he stands a chance of coming out on top.

Nolan, on the other hand, seems done with Emily. The latest betrayal, using the sex tape to try and take down Tyler (who was supposed to be his target only he got sidetracked by the promise of more sex), went too far. He didn’t appreciate the unexpected, semi-violent encounter with Tyler over the matter, an encounter which caused Tyler to end up with the sperm whale USB camera, and thus all the footage from Lydia’s apartment.

We’ve all wondered what Nolan’s game was with her, and now we may have our answer. He wanted to stop her from her destructive path and push her towards what her father would have wanted for her. This moment of honesty from Nolan, as well as a moment between Emily and Sammy the dog (yay for Sammy being back!), were quite poignant and honest emotional moments for Emily. Takeda was right that she can’t always separate her emotions, but to state that this will cause her to fail? Well, I don’t know if I believe that. Just because you’re emotional doesn’t mean you’re irrational. Human emotions are one of the most powerful things, and in many cases we only succeed because of them. Of course, I’m no expert on revenge, like Takeda apparently is, but still. Do you think that just because she is in touch with her emotions, and driven by them, that her ultimate goal will fail?

And speaking of Sammy, I was thrilled to see him bark at Faux-manda! Yes, even he knows something is wrong with her (as does Daniel, which I give him kudos for). Unfortunately, Jack dismisses the obvious warning from Sammy about the girl, and instead allows his childhood feelings for Amanda Clarke to be completely engaged by this crazy girl. It doesn’t help that Emily feigns support of Amanda’s mission by giving her a journal of her childhood, allowing her to get memories to use on continuing to convince Jack that she is Amanda Clarke. Emily says she doesn’t want Jack to get hurt, and that she must take out Amanda, but then she helps her…I’m with Nolan on this one, I don’t see where it’s going and it’s obvious that Jack is going to end up hurt in this situation, it’s unavoidable. The man just gives away his heart too easily!

On the (boring) Charlotte/Declan front, they forgo plans to get an apartment together using the $25,000 bribe money from Victoria and instead Declan plans to go to school and become the man she deserves, returning the money. It’s ok with Charlotte though, she just wanted away from her mother. And so she moves in with her Daddy at the local inn. Uh-oh. Now the Grayson family is split for the impending divorce with Conrad and Charlotte on one side and Victoria and Daniel on the other. It seems that Conrad’s handling of the Tyler situation (i.e. not firing him and getting him out of their house) has put the final nail in the coffin of their relationship.

And we have a new character introduced, who may be a part of the assault on Emily’s “ultimate opponent”: Victoria Grayson. With the upcoming divorce, of course the Graysons are in need of lawyers, and one happens to offer his services to Victoria. He offers three conditions: she have no contact with Conrad, have complete transparency about her financial situation, and be prepared to do whatever it takes to beat Conrad. What we later learn is that Mr. Ryan Huntley is the lawyer who refused to appeal David Clarke’s case, and had a visit from Emily in her still-black haired days before her transformation.

So is he working for Emily? Is he a target? Both? Will it affect Emily’s mission now that her mentor Takeda has abandoned her on the basis of her emotionalism? Or is that part of the training, being left to succeed or fail on your own? What does the family division mean for the Graysons? How long before Victoria moves against the Faux-manda Clarke now that she knows she’s back? And when will Daniel propose already!