Revenge 2x06 - "Illusion", 2x07 - "Penance" & 2x08 - "Lineage"

[dreamingahead]

Hi, LJ. It's been ages, I know, but the good news is, I'm doing a bit better concerning my senioritis & time management, which means, LJ quality time! A proper update is on the horizon, but for now, I have three weeks' worth of my show to get off my chest, so bear with me. :D

I've contemplated doing a separate reaction post for "Lineage" since it's

Comments

[intrikate88]

Like. I. I am glomping onto you with all limbs right now. How are you so consistently perfect. How do you always go through my brain and take out all the half-formed thoughts about this show and turn them into amazing analysis. *DYINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG*

Emily and Nolan, bbs, they just continue to get better with all the other facets of them showing. I loved the Marco backstory; it shows so much of what Nolan cares about- he doesn't even know Emily then, he hasn't seen her father in years, but he values loyalty so much- that David Clarke stood by him when he was nobody, and now goddammit he's going to stand by David Clarke's daughter, and either Marco is going to be on that journey with him or he's not. And the second Nolan sees that, for however much affection they feel for each other, Marco's questioning his loyalty and willingness to be understanding for Nolan... Nolan lets him go, that fast. He wants people to love him, but he wants people who will stand with him no matter what more than that, and he will go to the ends of the earth and beyond for that person.

Haha, Ashley's past as a hooker. I feel like there are Secret Diary of a Call Girl crossovers to be made here except it would make me sad if Bambi didn't live happily ever after with whatshisname.

I continue to side-eye Aiden extensively, and especially how he and Emily met. Like I thought for sure they already knew each other at добрый вечер, and were undercover together; turns out they were just undercover separately. And yeah, that is weird that five years passed after Aiden entered the picture and before she got to the Hamptons. It's all very fishy.

And WOW, Victoria and her mother. I was watching Once Upon a Time just before that, and goddamn, they put Regina and Cora to shame. That is a fucked up childhood, and it all makes perfect sense in Victoria becoming who she is, really; her payback was equally fucked up and perfectly fitting. And oh, Conrad. Even wtih the present things happening I believe those two will love and loathe each other until they die.

GOD THIS SHOW *_*

[dreamingahead]

OMG I'M SO STOKED YOU ENJOY MY REVENGE THINKY THOUGHTS. It truly means a lot. <333 I just can't rest easy until I get my feelings on this show in order because there are so MANY. Basically, one re-watch session & 10 Notepad documents later... lol

No, really, Revenge sometimes gets heat for having too damn many storylines going on at the same time, but I personally like to think of it as my show betting on its viewers attention span. ;)

I loved the Marco backstory; it shows so much of what Nolan cares about- he doesn't even know Emily then, he hasn't seen her father in years, but he values loyalty so much...

Goodness, YES. The scene where he fires Marco was such an obvious clash of Nolan & Marco's values. Nolan expects full understanding & support from the person he loves NO MATTER WHAT because that is the way he HIMSELF is. If something is important to the person he cares about, he will give it the benefit of the doubt. Marco, at the same time, was shocked & angry at Nolan for keeping something so big from him b/c he expected HONESTY in their relationship, especially since he's the CFO.

This is why Nolan only giving Marco the jumbled facts and not the whole backstory was a mistake. Marco put (a rather adequate, if I might add!) resistance, and to Marko's huge surprise, Nolan severed ties THAT VERY SECOND b/c if his partner undermines such an important part of him, he can't stay, even if that means sabotaging Nolan's own chance at happiness. <|3

He wants people to love him, but he wants people who will stand with him no matter what more than that, and he will go to the ends of the earth and beyond for that person.

ALL THE NOLAN FEELINGS. It's amazing, the way they established that come rain or shine, he will always choose EMILY.

By the way, Nolan's desire to be understood reminded me of his conversation w/ Emily over at Aunt Carole's, and the way she got it - his need to protect family. His faaaace. :') Makes it all the more special now.

Haha, Ashley's past as a hooker. I feel like there are Secret Diary of a Call Girl crossovers to be made here except it would make me sad if Bambi didn't live happily ever after with whatshisname.

OMG, I've seen the entirety of SDoaCG, but never made the connection! This is hilarious, and probably was a deja vu for Ashley. :D

I was convinced they already knew e/o as well, and eventually it started very reluctantly dawning on me that he doesn't know her - around the time he undermined her ability to take care of herself. Dude, it's the Russian mobsters who have to be afraid!

And yeah, that is weird that five years passed after Aiden entered the picture and before she got to the Hamptons. It's all very fishy.

Seriously do not get what is up w/ that. They dug out the specific Conrad/Lydia pics from the Pilot too for the purposes of that Takeda/Emily scene. ODD.

lol, there seems to be the never-ending competition between Vic & Regina for the title of the Most Evil Sunday Night Queen, and I'm glad to hear Victoria holds her own. :D

And oh, Conrad. Even wtih the present things happening I believe those two will love and loathe each other until they die.

I know! I loved how they established in the scene where Kara holds them both @ gunpoint that Conrad only framed David b/c he took Victoria from him. That was my headcanon all along, and it was nice to hear it confirmed on screen.

THIS SHOW IS THE SUREFIRE HIGHLIGHT OF MY TV WEEK NGL.

[agnes_bean]

I was watching Once Upon a Time just before that, and goddamn, they put Regina and Cora to shame.

Dude. I had literally the EXACT same thought. Not to get off on a total tangent, but I've always found Regina's backstory a little flimsy in terms of justifying her current actions, and my reaction to this flashback was literally "See OUAT? THAT'S how you do a backstory for a villain!" Creepy, amazing stuff.

[intrikate88]

I mean, I feel that there is more to be said for Regina's backstory and I think that the whole Daniel thing was less about True Love and more about being robbed of freedom and escape and that wasn't really made clear- and while Victoria explicitly said "You chose a pedophile over your own daughter", Regina never pointed out the obvious conclusion that her mother forced her into a marriage for status with a man she didn't want to be with, both in life and in bed. I can understand, somewhat, how Regina blamed Snow (because everyone else involved had the actual power to kill her if she showed them the slightest bit of blame) but the actual details of what Regina went through have been mainly glossed over, whereas with Victoria, they were brought out in a well-choreographed performance.

tl;dr: When Cora gets to Storybrooke, I WANT THIS EPISODE FOR CORA AND REGINA.

[dreamingahead]

Actually, you touch upon one of the reasons I haven't been watching OUAT since mid-Season 1. A few episodes in, I've realised that I like Regina best out of all the characters on the show (and even sided w/ her in some Emma/Regina showdowns, especially those involving Henry!), and yet I couldn't help shake the feeling that OUAT actively doesn't WANT me to like Regina. For the longest time, I've had an issue with the show portraying her as "evil because she's evil", and the more OUAT did that, the more I liked her b/c I felt like that was just the show's bias talking. Pair that with a couple other issues I had with the show, and I figured I was watching it wrong & it's time to check out.

So a year later, it's interesting and ngl, not at all surprising to me that when they've finally introduced her backstory which technically should have explained why she became so jaded, it didn't do the job properly. The way I see it, the writers don't really want to redeem her in our eyes because we're supposed to root for Emma.

[intrikate88]

Weeeeeeeeeeeell, I had this problem too, and I think that the writers had a pretty definite reason for how they structured the revealing of Regina's storyline, but didn't convey incredibly clearly what that reason was. I think to start with they wanted to present a very black-and-white traditional heroes vs. villains world, and then when the audience went along with that (and some did, and some didn't- I've noticed a definite divide) completely up-end it and show that the Evil Villains are just as human and do things for much the same reasons as the heroes do, but they come from different backgrounds and have had to make different choices.

Not sure it was the best narrative choice, but it's how it went, anyway. I think it could be helpful to re-watch, speed through a somewhat shaky big on worldbuilding start and start getting to about ep 7 or 12 and then 16 and 17 I think where all the presentations of character have their masks pulled off. Now in s2 things are becoming even more complex. Kind of the world growing from the perspective of an unhappy 10-year-old boy and his hardened birthmother, into something that encompasses the perspectives of a lot more people.

I've still got some issues with it- needs more diversity, needs to get its shit together on blood family being more important than other types of family, etc., but I do see it as one of the more intriguing shows on television, especially in its depiction of women.

[dreamingahead]

Yes, I definitely felt the black & white vibe there, and seems it threw me off as someone who likes to look for solid reasoning behind things before they did their up-ending thing b/c I felt like they were underestimating the audience, ngl.

Another thing, does the show explain Henry's hatred for Regina beyond "I read in a book that she's evil"? It was doing my head in b/c it seemed that she loved him & there was no abuse involved (except for trying to preserve this ideal world she created for herself by making him believe the fairytale theory was crazy talk).

Thanks for sharing your take on the show. Maybe I'll give it another go at some point. I never got past ep 10, I think, and I have to admit that all of my issues with it came to the surface after Graham's death, which I guess I never got over.

[intrikate88]

Well, I think it was a calculated thing based on their 8pm timeslot with ABC- it's on at a family time, with a creative but not excessively adventurous network, so I think they had to decide to simplify some concepts to gain an initial audience, especially since they were dealing with jumping around in timelines. You and I can follow without problems, but Sunday nights I'm generally with my family and that comes on tv- and my dad and grandma can't follow it AT ALL. So annoying as it is, they probably had to take into account their audience. :\

Yes, Henry's issues with Regina are more gradually shown through season 1 and then very explicitly stated in s2 after they've become clear. She's very controlling in many ways and dismissive of his feelings, she continues to gaslight him and make him feel that everything he's concerned about is just a sign of him being crazy. It starts to seem like a lot of the issues he has with her have existed for awhile, and the book showing up just gave him a target for his frustration. She isn't ever physically abusive, and she does care for him, but she herself has been so damaged that she has no idea what constitutes appropriate boundaries and emotional interactions with a child and it takes a toll on Henry.