It’s official: We don’t understand rich people. At least not the rich people on ABC’s Revenge.
Sunday’s episode had them receiving mysterious boxes, and rather than fearing danger inside, eagerly ripping them open and following the clues (which admittedly did not lead to their dooms).
As if that wasn’t blindly trusting enough, a couple of characters took things a bit farther, revealing truths to those who would only turn around and back stab them with such important information.
Note: Spoilers ahead for Sunday night’s episode, “Penance.”
Mason Treadwell (Roger Bart) was hot on the “Amanda isn’t really Amanda” case on “Penance,” first visiting Emily (Emily VanCamp) with old juvie photos to try to get her to admit her past. But Emily has not shied away from the fact that she was in juvie — in fact, the only reason Mason learned of it was because Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) told him anyway. So much for best selling investigative journalist! So he struck out with Emily but pretended otherwise, hoping Amanda (Margarita Levieva) would be as dumb as all of those procedural suspects who spill their guts when they think their partner-in-crime has already sold them out.
Amanda tried a mind game of her own with Mason, but she wasn’t quick-witted enough with her words, so her true plan was to just bludgeon him to death. She really proved herself to be the worst on this episode. Not only could she not follow through, but her failure provoked her to spill “He knows everything!” to Emily… in front of Mason. Emily, of course, had to clean up Amanda’s mess once again.
But Emily had a plan for Mason’s demise already in motion, so his knowing the truth about her was barely a setback — or so it seemed. After all, he failed her father when he wrote that first book. It’s been years and he still hasn’t exonerated him — or earned back her trust — so now he must pay.
Another episode, another patsy, and the police came for Mason — for Gordon’s murder. Well, if they arrest enough people in this town, eventually they’re going to hit upon the right one. It’s just such a shame they so incompetently follow a false trail, though his “Crazy” bulletin board certainly made it easy to make a case against him. At least, no one will listen to the ramblings of a desperate, accused man when he starts spewing Emily’s secret, though.
Mason managed to needle Emily just a little bit more before the end of the episode, though, by getting under Kara’s (Jennifer Jason Leigh) skin so much so that she snapped and took the Graysons hostage in their own house. This is why no one should ever go off-book when Emily is in their ear! Kara was in no way stable enough to handle the truth about her first husband — even if the truth was ultimately a positive revelation. While Kara was planning to execute both Graysons (literally — mob style), Emily tapped into her surveillance of the mansion to stop her before she did something she couldn’t take back. Using Aiden (Barry Sloane) as her proxy, Emily had him grab Kara and help convince her to leave the Hamptons and keep herself safe. But, how she’ll spiral after learning her beloved Gordon killed her once-beloved David… that remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Aiden convinced Nolan (Gabriel Mann) to give him the original investment check from David Clarke, which he immediately turned over to Daniel (Josh Bowman). Don’t worry; it wasn’t a rogue move; Emily told him to ensure Daniel got the head of Grayson Global within 24 hours. This was just the quickest way to ensure that — since Conrad (Henry Czerny) wasn’t actually going to get charged for murder. And Nolan did it because he wanted to keep Emily safe, as per his promise to her father. But what was most interesting here was how Aiden finally admitted he once hurt Emily, planting seeds for the big flashback episode to come next week. But we’ll get to that… next week.
Victoria was onto Daniel’s plans to take over the company, and call it the honeymoon haze, but she wasn’t going to let her husband go down without a fight. She proposed to him that if they were going to hell, they should drag the Initiative down with them. That’s all well and good — especially since the member of the Initiative who infiltrated Grayson Manor for lunch was just awful — but Conrad and Victoria making nice is still all kinds of uncomfortable!
Anyway, if you think this episode was overly focused on Mason because it was his swan song, you’d only be half-right. Yes, there was a lot of him tonight, but at the end of it, Emily decided to keep him around longer because she wanted him to be the one to write her life’s story. Of course, he has to go to jail for crimes he didn’t commit — without a trial — first. That should be ample time to write her story of vengeance — and for her to actually complete it, though we have to admit, there is nothing more satisfying than feeding a false story to someone who puts so much stock in being an “expert.” So, we hope she just spins some other yarn in order to cross him off her list once and for all!
Buzz Moments
OMG!: Mason seriously thought Emily would be threatened by him writing about her and Amanda being teenage lovers? Regardless of whether or not it’s true, it is hardly scandalous!
Thank you, TV gods: “This one time, at Revenge camp…” Nolan’s one-liners never fail to disappoint, and we missed them with the sadly Nolan-lite last few episodes. Additionally, we finally got a little hint at what Kenny (JR Bourne) was up to when his brother (Michael Trucco) showed up and hinted that the dearly departed Porter screwed them in a shady business deal that now they’re just trying to pull over the younger, more naive Porters’ eyes. But again, we’ll get to that next week.
Awk-ward: That whole Target/Neimans/Nolan warehouse party extravaganza was just superfluous, and honestly, not even that stylish when compared to the usual designer duds these socialites don.
Hotness: Did anyone else catch the sexy tension between Aiden and Nolan in Nolan’s office? We mean, past the regular “I care about Emily more!” tension.
Fab-u-lous: Daniel is certainly dressing snazzier these days. His sharp, gold suit did look like something his father would wear, but somehow it worked for a man about to take over a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Can. Not. Wait.: What will Victoria and Conrad’s next move be now that they think Kara was working for the Initiative the whole time? And what will become of Nolan if his company loses cache after the David Clarke news goes public? But most importantly, will Emily embark on something with Aiden or just make out with him and shove him away again?
Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 7
What did you think of the twists and turns in tonight’s Revenge? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
