As excited as I was to finally watch a new episode of Revenge tonight, I have to admit, the momentum felt sort of deflated going into “Doubt.” Fortunately, it didn’t take long for things to get moving. While Emily appears to be regaining her focus, someone else was a lap behind, and Daniel may end up paying the price.
Note to Victoria, when your son’s charged with murder, it’s probably not the best time to rekindle a steamy romance with a loft-dwelling artist. Tonight we met “Vicky Harper,” which is either Victoria’s maiden name or her alter-ego. This random bit of distraction felt like just that: a distraction, and an ill-timed one at that. Sure, it’s great to see Victoria showing us her wild side, which included some passionate kissing the moment their eyes locked, and “Vicky” being pressed against a canvas by the dreamy, beard-stubbled man. But let’s prioritize here, especially considering pretty much everything she tried to do tonight to help her son seemed to backfire in her face.
With Amanda nowhere to be found, Victoria’s choice to use a sketch of Jack and some talk of eye witnesses to push the blame for Tyler’s death onto Jack seemed like a good one. Of course, she wasn’t counting on Declan’s loyalty toward his brother, nor was she aware that her daughter was messed up on pills and champagne the night of the murder. And then there was Emily’s seemingly friendly offer to pull Mason Treadwill back into the mix. A move that Victoria thought would benefit Daniel.
Apparently, Mason’s harboring guilt over betraying Amanda Clarke in the way he handled her father’s story. That, added to possible lingering effects of a Bartles & Jaymes hangover had Mason choosing to tackle his blogging adventure from a slightly less biased perspective. Or at the very least, he’s no longer under Victoria’s heel. She’s lost some status lately, a fact which he pointed out to her when she tried to threaten him. And he’s trying to “restore his soul,” which means he won’t be throwing Amanda Clarke under the bus anytime soon. What he did do was blog Declan’s confession that Charlotte was drunk and high the night of Tyler’s murder, which basically destroys her credibility and wrecks Daniel’s defense, considering how vital Declan and Charlotte’s “hooded man” story was to his case.
So now Charlotte’s mad at Declan for telling Mason about the pills. Victoria’s mad at Mason for not going along with her plans. Mason’s mad at Victoria because, thanks to a chat session from Emily (as “Amanda”) and finding his stolen tapes in Victoria’s house, he thinks Victoria’s responsible for burning his house down. And Daniel’s sort of mad at his mother because she tried to pose the idea that they point the blame for Tyler’s murder at Emily. Daniel flat-out refused that idea, stating that if she tried to do that, he’d confess to everything. I’m not even sure how that could work though. Wasn’t Emily in plain sight of a party full of people being toasted to while Tyler was being killed?
On the subject of Daniel, Victoria schemed to get him out of prison by paying a guy to have him assaulted. Her plan sort of worked, as Daniel was sent home and put on house arrest after a bunch of guys beat the crap out of him in the shower. Still, pretty harsh and kind of purpose-defeating. If Daniel wasn’t in any immediate danger, why put him there just to get him out of prison?
That bit of plotting on Victoria’s part might have actually been the only thing that worked out for her... if not for the fact that it was completely obvious to Emily, who later followed Victoria to a bar and watched (and photographed) her paying off the guy she hired with a big fat envelope of cash. Later, Emily sported a wig and found the guy, got him drunk, then got him to brag-admit what he was hired to do. She followed this up by luring him into an alley (or parking lot or some darkened remote witnessless place) and beat him up as vengeance for Jack and Daniel. Then she took an imprint of a key and left him there.
Is he the same guy that beat up Jack and stole the tapes from his apartment? It’s been a while and I can’t remember what that guy looked like. If not, then why did she steal his key imprint?
Speaking of Jack, Nolan and he are headed to Canada to stake out a bank in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Amanda. The whole thing seems more like a distraction for Jack, but what are the odds he actually comes across Amanda during their little road trip?
Things aren’t looking so great for Daniel. In fact, no one’s particularly happy right now. This has not been a great summer for anyone. But judging by the heavy collared coat Daniel was wearing in the preview for next Wednesday’s episode, summer may be over when things pick up next week!
