Revenge: Discussion Thread

[All My Shadows]

YES INDEED. Come on into the official primetime soap canon, sweet Revenge! All Ima need now is for Morgan Fairchild to come in as Victoria's sister, and I'm done.

Edited December 13, 2011 by All My Shadows

[SFK]

Honey, you made the Knots typo.

[YRBB]

Honey, I typed it the way THEY typed it. Love how you thought I didn't know the difference.

EDIT: Which I now see they corrected, following my comment about it. KThanxBye.

Edited December 14, 2011 by YRBB

[SFK]

It's all love! xo

[EricMontreal22]

I usually would agree with you but I think, almost surprisingly, Nolan's been far more complexly portrayed than that. He has seemed MUCH more horrified than Emily when her scehemes have gone so far (like when it appeared Lydia died), and has, albeit not very forcefully, tried to sora get her to see what she's fully doing it seems from the start, while granted eager to help her. This eagerness seems to be due to the fact that despite his money, nobody is nice to him in the community or lets him fit in (his desire for a friend, almost any friend, is both pathetic and kinda touching and reminds me of a more extreme version of some outcasts I knew in school who would buy teh rich kids' friendships by driving them to parties in their nice care when they drank, etc). He also feels an obligation to help Emily and to cover up her tactics thanks to how her dad made his career and I believe entrusted him initially with making sure she got the money (I always wonder how much older he's meant to be than her--the actor is 40 but the character is surely meant to be younger--how old was Emily when her dad died in jail?)

So the Tyler thing got to him partly because, as much as he was posing as being in control with Tyler, he did obviously seem to be falling for him (it was more the fact he could never fully trust anyone genuinely being interested in him, granted which Tyler wasn't, without using him but I felt they could have developped that for a few more episodes), and also because Emily did something that personally involved HIM, Nolan, without warning or telling him first--for the first timne fully cutting her out of his game and making it affect him and even his reputation (what little he has).

The New Yorker had a good review of the show that I mainly agre with. It has a typical New Yorker tone, but I like their current TV critic and while brief, by NY standards, I think it's fair:

"

Revenge,” a new drama on ABC, has found its own cunning take on the procedural, with a protagonist as charismatic as Dexter, and maybe even nuttier. The series is based—very, very, very loosely—on “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Emily VanCamp stars as Emily Thorne, who seeks weekly payback on the wealthy Hamptonites who had her institutionalized as a child and framed her father for unspeakable crimes. The show’s signature motif is of someone standing just outside a mansion, eyes narrowed in righteous melancholy. It could be the official soap opera of Occupy Wall Street.

The show’s candied look suggests a camp-fest like “Gossip Girl,” but “Revenge” is actually a full-on melodrama, replete with strong emotions. Viewers may get high on the tablecloth pornography—the cameras swoon and swan over elegant swimming pools and thick marble countertops—but the people in those fancy kitchens aren’t kidding around. They rage; they are heartbroken; they say things like “Every time I hug you, the warmth you feel is my hatred burning through.”

There are standards of quality even in over-the-top TV shows. Just as an ambitious teen show features interesting parents, a truly effective melodrama gives us villains with sad, complicated hearts. As Victoria Grayson, Emily’s nemesis, a charity-circuit viper with muffled remorse, Madeleine Stowe owns this show. One episode began with a severe closeup of her eye, fanned by delicate lines. “As Hamlet said to Ophelia,” Emily’s voice-over purrs (like “Dexter,” “Revenge” is fuelled by its arch narration), “ ‘God has given you one face and you make yourself another.’ ” Victoria’s eyes are sad, but her cheekbones round into a smile as an invisible someone brushes on blusher, preparing her for a photo shoot celebrating her marriage, which is falling apart. The show is full of gorgeous, ridiculous sequences like this, scored to lush pop: Douglas Sirk for the age of Botox.

But “Revenge” is too juicy to write off as junk. It’s got strong performances, from actors who don’t condescend to their flamboyant dialogue. And it has a few intriguing modern elements—among other things, it’s as obsessed with paranoid voyeurism as Showtime’s “Homeland.” Every once in a while, I imagine that Emily was institutionalized for a reason; maybe she’s hallucinating this whole scheme? If she has a dark passenger, it’s probably Bernie Madoff. ♦

Read more http://www.newyorker...m#ixzz1gYrhD8w0 (the majority of the review is one of Dexter which I am 100% in agreement with about why this season has been such a huge let down and why the thought of two more seasons in this direction seems almost like a point to stop watching).

Edited December 15, 2011 by EricMontreal22

[EricMontreal22]

These leaked promo pics are AWFUL--please tell me it's for a campaign that was dropped or at least is unfinished? It looks so badly shot, for one thing, no background etc

Edited December 16, 2011 by EricMontreal22

[DRW50]

It looks like Bob Fosse got violent.

[JackPeyton]

its a tyler shiels photo shoot. if you fo to his site you will see its his style/thing. some come out really cool, some suck. there are usually videos. a few soap stars have posed for him

[Juliajms]

This trend of models appearing batter and bruised is disturbing to me. Still, Gabriel Mann looks hot as always.

[JackPeyton]

^Thats all Shields does, the fact that the men are abused in this one is rather shocking.

[EricMontreal22]

Fosse would have at least got them to pose stronger

[EricMontreal22]

So there's nothing else to the photo--this is the finished shot?

It sounds like he's obsessed with Helmut Newton's infamous 1970s murdered models photoshoots as immortalized in Eyes of Laura MARS

[Toups]

Though it wasn't in flashbacks, I'm happy I got my Kill Bill training scene, and I want more. LOL

[OLTL_fan]

For those suffering withdrawals, here are the first 10 minutes of the next episode airing next Wednesday Jan 4th.

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[Bright Eyes]

The bitchiest show on TV returns in 15 MINUTES! Be there!