'Revenge' 205 Review - "Forgiveness"

ABC

This week on Revenge, secrets start threatening to spill out all over the place especially when it comes to Amanda’s identity.  I also start to worry that the show is about to pull the same trickery it did last season.

ABC

So the biggest game that was being played in the episode was that Amanda isn’t the real Amanda and who can see through that and who can’t yet.  We already know that Jack doesn’t realize it, but who could blame him honestly he was just a kid the last time he saw her.  Her mother Kara not realizing the truth, however is far more heart-wrenching.  You’d think some maternal instinct would kick in and she’d realize the woman in front of her isn’t really her daughter. But the fact that she technically succeeded in drowning her own daughter as a five year old probably negates any of that instinct.  It’s eerie having to see Emily stand on the sidelines and listen to her mother offer the girl who isn’t her daughter forgiveness and asking for it in return--something that she has no real right to give.

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We also saw the return of Mason Treadwell this episode and oh, is he ever in a dangerous spot right now considering how confident he is that Amanda isn’t the real deal.  Leave it to a writer to spot a suddenly missing scar on the girl’s back.  I really dug Treadwell last season so it’s good to see him pop up again and it makes me wonder if he could be the body in the boat in the season premiere.  He probably can’t fathom what kind of forces he’s up against when it comes to keeping Amanda’s real identity a secret.

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I’m also starting to get worried that the show is going to pull the same trick it did last season when it comes to the appearance that someone important has died in our flashforward in the season opener.  Sure it looks like it could be Jack, but let’s be real this is a show where a woman can fall off a multiple story building and survive, and Lydia wasn’t even one of the main characters--it’s probably not a main character like Jack at all.  I’m starting to wonder if JR Bourne’s character is going to be the Tyler of this season and be the one on that boat.  He’s causing trouble among the right people and they don’t see it yet.  He’s preparing to buy The Stowaway so it would probably be all too easy to have Jack throw the boat in with the deal as well.  If it does end up being Bourne, then I’m going to have to call the show out on some major bullshit.

ABC

Someone else who’s also suddenly in real danger, but is definitely not the arm in the boat is Padma.  The whole relationship thing with Nolan is clearly now a set up by the writers to have Nolan have to pick between love and his own interests/Emily’s.  Is Padma trying to cause shit by looking into the David Clarke thing, or does she have a genuine concern about the revelation that Aiden gives up to Daniel later on, the fact that Grayson Global has a controlling share in Nolcorp.  Aiden really has a knack for hitting Emily where it hurts the most, this time with one of her greatest assets in her arsenal against the Graysons.

ABC

Speaking of, Emily has really been very appreciative of her season one partners in crime lately.  Thanking Nolan and showing actual kindness to Amanda instead of simply using them as tools in her arsenal.  It was really a pleasant surprise to see her tell Amanda that she’d lied and the baby really was Jack’s, of course I don’t believe her excuse for the motivation behind it.  There’s some real jealousy there that she’s going to need to get a handle on.

ABC

Next week, we get treated to a wedding between Conrad and Victoria that probably won’t go to plan.  One of the funniest moments in this episode was Conrad’s proposal to Victoria, “...to have and to hold and to be legally bound so that we may never be compelled to testify against each other in a court of law.”  How very romantic.