[Last night the ABC TV series Revenge ended its four-year run on Sunday nights. In my humble opinion, the Series Finale was perfect, which is high praise indeed. The entire series was great…but please, follow along and I will explain my rationale. Those readers who are still here, thanks, and please feel free to comment as to my artistic taste and sense of greatness in television.]
This is not intended to be a comprehensive re-cap of the show, or cast of characters.
Revenge is the first series that I watched from the very first episode through the finale. The pilot came across on my computer screen, and I watched it there. That show doubled as the first episode, which I watched again when it aired. This is noteworthy (for me) because of the on-line venue.
This show is packed with plot, characterization, and continuity. Situations are often “unlikely,” but usually plausible in a fairy-tale-soap-opera sort of way…once an equally convoluted back-story scenario has been placed. For example, it is perfectly logical that there was an Oriental guru of martial arts in Emily/Amanda’s past. That explains why she is proficient in skills such as fencing, underwater-breathing, and cat-burglar-type espionage tactics.
Emily/Amanda is bigger than life–this is true. She is the perfect heroine…strong, loveable, beautiful, ingenious, and resourceful. Also extremely rich. Her major adversary is Victoria, who is also rich, diabolical, a classic beauty, and a character we love to hate. (After all, she is vulnerable because of her terrible life experiences, and fans tend to cut her some slack. I do anyway.)
Emily/Amanda has important and influential friends–noteably Nolan Ross, who is a matrix-type computer genius who can hack any system, invent new techniques and has connections with all kinds of people in high places. Nolan had an affair with Victoria’s son Patrick, and married Louise–in order to protect her inheritance rights. Louise accidentally killed her brother, and Nolan covered for her, but most of Louise’s problems stemmed from her rotten mother.
She met her friend/adversary, Louise, in a mental hospital. This acquaintance was very influential for several reasons, and Louise contributed vital and numerous plot twists in which she befriended Victoria, married Nolan, killed her brother, and conspired in some really evil-deals with Margaux.
Margaux moved the plot along nicely through various scenarios: she had an affair with Jack, almost had a child with Daniel, was alternately BFF to Victoria and Louise. And did SHE have the interesting friends! Also very, very rich, Margaux had instant contact with an international assassin–who showed up and did her work at her bidding. She would have killed Nolan, who was mysteriously saved by a squad of heavily-aarmed-troops who played a bit-part in the production.
The major heart-throb in the show (for me anyway) was Daniel…Victoria’s son, Emily/Amanda’s husband, Margaux’s almost baby-daddy, and general international mogul.
The amazing thing (to me) about Revenge was the way in which every scenario was played out in the space of one or two episodes. Characters walked on and off the show as one-time guest-stars. Every one of these people served to move the plot forward, and when there specific role had been accomplished they were gone. No extraneous hangers-on.
I could go on and on (don’t worry, I won’t} as I have not done justice to any of the characters, scenarios, or plot-twists.
The young actress who played the child Emily/Amanda (Emily Alyn Lind) is a perfect choice.
Anyway….either you, the reader, 1) are already a fan of Revenge; 2) will watch it in re-runs; 3.) could not care less…in which case you won’t have read any of this post.
The absolutely PERFECT ending to Revenge is the wonderfully appropriate cliché Finale where Emily/Amanda and Jack–true lovers–are literally sailing off on Jack’s ship, into the sunset.
SOMETIMES 