Revenge 4.11 “Epitaph”

Revenge is back in The Hamptons, ringing in 2015 with gunshots and a 9-1-1 call. Once-dead-now-alive, David Clarke calls to report “gunshots heard in Grayson Manor,” as Queen Victoria clings to his side, offering a heavy dose of sociopathic sympathy. GUNSHOTS?! Oh that’s right, DUI-douche-bag, Daniel Grayson was murdered by an “FBI agent.” Who’s going to respond to the call since local cop, Jack Porter fired one of the shots, killing the agent? Luckily, it’s Jack’s hot partner, Ben (played by Brian Hallisay and married to Jennifer Love Hewitt–sorry, ladies). But the main plot remains a little shaky. With an entire show centered around David Clarke’s death, the plot-line crumbles a bit when it turns out David is alive.

I’m not going to lie, I want him dead.

But, even with this wrench in the plotline, “Epitaph” still delivers with Revenge-worthy dialogue, violence and of course, suspense.

Since we’ve been away from Grayson Manor for a while, let’s catch up. The gunshots are from the murder of Daniel Grayson and it’s for real this time. His dying words to Emily? “You’re still lying to me.”

Awesome.

No sympathy for Mr. Hit-and-Run since he’s almost as evil as his father, Conrad, and nowhere near as attractive. Sorry, I know Conrad Grayson is largely responsible for the funding of a 9/11-style terrorist attack, but hey, he’s still a silver fox in my book. Perhaps Conrad and Daniel are sipping martinis in hell. Either way, Daniel’s untimely death has left French pixie, Margaux LeMarchal widowed and preggers. Mierde! And this death has rendered Victoria, dare I say it, actually feeling human emotions. And who shot Daniel? None other than Malcolm Black’s daughter, who’s been posing as FBI-agent Kate Taylor (Courtney Ford from True Blood). She’s also been Jack Porter’s makeout buddy, so when Jack kills her, it’s kinda awkward.

Who’s Malcolm Black? Apparently he’s the guy who’s really after David Clarke, since Conrad’s still, you know, dead. Okay, so is Emily/Amanda actually allowed to help protect her father now? Nope, even with Jack vowing to ensure the secrecy of this death, David Clarke snaps at his daughter, pushing her away. Again. And thus suspending the David and Amanda reunion further into Season Four.

Season Four of Revenge has been a little disappointing, which is hard for me to say since this it’s one of my favorite shows. Like me, many viewers love the exciting plotlines, witty dialogue, and literary elements. In terms of literary elements, the show follows, then alters the plotline of The Count of Montecristo (a swashbuckling love story from 19^th century novelist, Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers).

What tends to inspire people about The Count is that it is a tale of survival against all odds. The hero The Count, Edmond Dantes, is wrongfully imprisoned, believed to be dead and devotes his life to revenge (sound familiar?). But what if The Count of Montecristo died before he could avenge his enemies? What if he died and left detailed instructions for his daughter to exact his revenge? That would be the foundation for Revenge‘s ever-twisting, plotline.

David Clarke’s damaged, yet gorgeous daughter teams up with hacker BFF to avenge his “death.” So the plot of Revenge is pretty damn cool—not a mere Count-rip-off, like I initially thought. It succeeds in re-imagining a plotline as intricate as The Count, faring far better than that other one-word ABC drama, Betrayal. The writers of Revenge do an excellent job of paying homage to Dumas by working allusions to The Count throughout the seasons.

It hearkens back to The Shawshank Redemption where the main character stumbles upon a copy of The Count, in order to properly give credit to Dumas. But where the show loses its edge, is by changing the rules, revealing that the “Count” figure, David Clarke is actually alive. So was his daughter, Amanda’s revenge all for naught? Did her beautiful, Australian lover, Adan die in vain?

Yes and no.

Admittedly, Emily/Amanda should be pretty pissed at David Clarke. Actually, we all should. He shunned lifetime friend, Nolan Ross on live TV, decided to cultivate a relationship with Victoria Grayson over his estranged daughter Amanda and was never even tortured by Conrad. Yet Adan remains dead. Remember Adan? Emily’s gorgeous, Australian ninja whom Queen Victoria so easily poisoned?

Can we take a moment to appreciate his beauty?

And yes, I actually miss Conrad Grayson too. Conrad was an evil, yet sexy mix of Mitt Romney and Heath Ledger’s Joker. It was so satisfying to watch Conrad torture Victoria with his Shakespearean diatribes and witty banter. So Adan and Conrad are gone for good—I can deal. But if Emily’s adorably pansexual BFF, Nolan Ross gets murdered, they better pull a Vampire Diaries and bring him back from the dead.

Moving forward with “Epitaph,” I’m liking Emily less and less the more she puts up with her father’s behavior (still choosing Victoria over his own daughter?). However, I am growing to like Jack Porter a lot more since he’s stepped into the “I’ll stop at nothing” type of friend that Emily has always needed. Jack finally seems to understand that the world does not operate in black and white, and rules must be broken.

I get really irked when TV characters blindly adhere to some stupid moral code despite its obvious setbacks.

Anyway, Jack finally mans up, lies to his partner and kills “FBI agent Kate,” the daughter of David Clark’s arch enemy. So “Kate” and Daniel are dead but something tells me a nice, normal funeral isn’t in the cards for either of them. That just wouldn’t be “revengey” enough, as Nolan would say.

Emily goes back to being a badass when she tells the cops who arrive on scene that Daniel was a violent drunk and tried to kill her. However, she slips up and can’t seem to keep her story straight, making good cop Ben, super suspish. By the way, where is Victoria’s only child, Charlotte? Still popping pills and living the Gossip Girl life? And we’re back to Jack being the hero again. He helps fake the murder scene and doesn’t seem to need time to process that he’s now a murderer. In fact, Jack even calls out Emily on her slip-ups in the interrogation. Although I will never agree with Jack’s decision to shave his Johnny Depp-ish goatee, I really like the man he’s finally become.

But will buddy cop Ben unravel everyone’s lies? Including Jack’s? “I hope it’s all true” Ben says to the new “I just killed a bitch” Jack Porter. Luckily Jack’s new loose view of morality has allowed him to enlist Nolan Ross as his personal hacker, covering his fake-FBI-murdering tracks. But now Nolan has to deal with the other socio, Southern Belle and psych ward friend of Victoria’s, Louis Ellis (also one night stand of Daniel Grayson’s).

This is a much more interesting scene than the continued arguing of Victoria and David. I think they are broken up at least for now. It’s no wonder Emily flees to the police station. Even though Jack pleads with her to at least mourn the death of her former fiance, Daniel Grayson, Emily marches into the jail to answer wanna-be-detective’s questions.

No spoilers on the ending—I suggest you check it out for yourself—as it really delivers in the suspense department. All in all, there was not very much revenge in this episode. But at least we’re finally getting David Clarke away from Victoria. Actually, we have a lot to be thankful for in this episode. Jack and David are both relying on Nolan’s hacker help; Victoria is in deep, emotional pain; and Emily finally gets the upper hand with Ben the cop. What’s in store for next week? Hopefully no more deaths and a lot more revenge.