Swamped with final papers, exams, work, projects and personal drama, I didn't have the opportunity to watch the Season 1 Finale of Revenge until three months after it appeared on television. That just sounded like a line straight out of Emily's mouth. As I was writing, the first thought that came to my mind was when she poisoned Conrad's soup and noted that "people say that revenge is a dish best served cold but I think it's best served warm" or something similar to that effect. Emily VanCamp's sinister voice and cliched one-liners crack me up every time yet, I can't help but root for her and the show and here's why.
I think that Revenge is a lot of people's guilty pleasure. To be quite honest, I love the mix that the show offers from being a campy soap opera , to being a compelling drama, to presenting moments of comedic relief and frustration- Nolan, Tyler and Jack are some characters that I have a weekly love/hate relationship with, to providing fantasy- what's it like to be rich and living in The Hamptons with your only concern being revenge, avoiding detection and/or collusion? In these economic and stressful times many of us want to see the underdog and the betrayed overcome every obstacle, defeat the bad guys and run off into the sunset- it's sorta cathartic and we can relate to Emily, Nolan and Jack. I'm sure I'll feel the emotional purging even more when it appears for Season 2 on Sunday nights after a long, exhausting and frustrating work week.
Furthermore, Emily is no damsel in distress neither is she a white knight. Rather than being a victim (or simply hiring an assassin) she sets out to The Hamptons with a plan to avenge her father's death. Throughout the series it seems as if the men are much more in distress than Emily. For example, Nolan is 9 times out of 10 always fumbling through or foiling a plan due to his insecurities and lack of experience, Jack is still pining away at the disappearance of Amanda several years after the fact and keeping her dog as a memento of a lost love, Tyler expectantly going off the hinges because of the damage done to his family and Daniel having absolutely no backbone, being the alcoholic socialite and having absolutely no understanding of life purpose until Emily appears due to his cushy upbringing. The main women in the series are the Lady Macbeth's of their generation. Every time Victoria appears on screen I see her as the perfect embodiment of Lady Macbeth in the first act although I seriously doubt that they will have the same fate.
Oh, and let me not forget to comment on the clothes, cars, houses and furniture. I love the newspaper print upholstery on Victoria's chair; it reminds me a bit of Regina's office in Once Upon a Time. I also enjoy seeing the contrast between Emily's tiny beach house to the Grayson's huge mansion. The soapy symbolism get's me every time.
Maybe I'll do a part two. I was actually getting pretty excited just remembering the old times with my friends from the Hamptons.
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