REVENGE: “Resurrection”

Photo Credit: Vivian Zink/ABC.

Read on for Emily’s recap & review of Revenge 2×02, “Resurrection,” aired Sunday, October 7th, 2012:

In the beginning of the episode, we have another childhood flashback of Emily and her mom, which turns out to be a dream. Emily is spying on Victoria via her clam cam and discovers that Victoria wants to flee the country with Charlotte. She also learns the White-Haired Man isn’t going to kill her until he receives payment from Victoria.

This plan does not jive with Emily’s master plan to discover the truth about her mother. Luckily, she does what comes naturally, which is manipulating the Graysons. She tells Daniel about Charlotte’s shady doctor, who Conrad has bribed to keep her in rehab.

I just have to note again that Daniel is so not over Emily. That boy could not be more transparent. He’s going to have to work better to hide his emotions if he wants to be a real player in this game. 

We see that Conrad and Ashley are working on some plan to keep Daniel away from the details of company. While prying, he discovers that someone (clearly Conrad) has been lying about the finances of the company. Ashley tells Conrad about this, and I am getting some sketchy vibes from the two of them.

I mentioned on the last Heroine TV Podcast that I thought Ashley and Conrad might be sleeping together. I still think that’s possible, but their scene together this week made it seem like that had some kind of deal going on that has nothing to do with sex.

Meanwhile, Daniel decides to free Charlotte from rehab. Charlotte then promptly goes to see her mother. Emily manipulates her into not wanting to go out of the country by telling Charlotte that Amanda is pregnant, so Charlotte decides to stay and become an aunt.

It’s actually really sweet how jealous Emily gets when she sees Charlotte and Amanda bonding. It seems to me that Emily really does care for Charlotte as a sister. It’s been well established that Emily values her family above almost anything else, so I don’t find it surprising that she wants to spend time with Charlotte. Of course, this family affection only goes so far, as Emily still shamelessly uses Charlotte for her own gain.

Another plotline is Jack and Amanda’s paternity test. Amanda goes to Emily because she needs to make sure Emily can fix the results. Turns out, Amanda had a one-night stand while she was gone. After the final results are in, we learn that Jack really is the father, which he is a little disappointed about. Emily decides to lie to Amanda and tell her the baby isn’t Jack’s, which I love. She’s so evil and Amanda is the worst.

Declan is involved with some plotline involving jewelry that will likely get him in big trouble later. With that one sentence, I already feel like I’ve said too much about this.

Nolan has a subplot regarding hiring a CFO for his company and introduces a new character, Padma, whom I recognized as Rebecca from the late, great ABC Family show Greek. We’re lucky I love Nolan and his sassiness; otherwise there is no way I would care about this whole story-line.

More importantly, Victoria makes a drastic play to get Charlotte’s inheritance away from Conrad. She lets her ex-husband know she is still alive. When he comes to Victoria’s hideout, she convinces him to beat her up and make it look like the White-Haired Man kidnapped her and held her for ransom.

With the two Grayson powerhouses working together, they obviously prevail. The world finds out that Victoria alive, after apparently spending months in captivity. This ransom lie is also a way for Conrad to explain all of the money that is missing, both his and Charlotte’s.

I have to say, the video footage of Conrad hitting Victoria is disturbing. I don’t care that she told him to do it; seeing that happen is very unsettling, especially since he seemed so excited about it. The domestic abuse aspect just put me on edge.

At the end of the episode, we learn that the White-Haired Man did not take the turn of events well. He shows up at Emily’s house to get the footage of Conrad attacking Victoria, because that would exonerate him.

Emily makes a key mistake by asking him about her mother. The White-Haired Man tells Emily he let her mom go, and then immediately responds by trying to kill her. At the last second, the cute guy who was with Takada last week shows up and seemingly kills the White-Haired Man. That was unexpected.

One thing I’m glad the show has acknowledged is that the White-Haired Man knew Emily’s real identity. I spoke about it on the podcast, but I found it strange that this plot never came up. It’s clear he never revealed this tidbit of information to Victoria because he has bigger plans, most likely having to do with evil “Americon Initiative,” even though we still don’t know almost anything about it.

I liked how this episode moved all the key plotlines forward. Victoria’s “death” plotline wasn’t dragged out, which I liked. She’ll be back hosting parties in no time, which is exactly where belongs, trading barbs with her favorite nemesis, Emily Thorne. Nothing makes me happier than knowing those two will be back at their old game.

On the less positive side, I think the Amanda plotline is really dragging the show down. Her plotlines with Jack just don’t have the same spark and intrigue as those with Emily and the Graysons. I’m hoping the show finds a different way to use her soon, because at this point, I’m just hoping she disappears.

That’s all I have for this week, but let me know what you thought of the episode in the comments!

Emily is studying journalism in Washington, DC. She spends much of her time watching TV and becoming emotionally invested in fictional characters. You can follow her on Twitter @EmilyGuilfoil.