‘Revenge’ Review: An Unhappy ‘Homecoming’ for All

I think I might be watching Revenge wrong.

The soapy drama returned last night after a brief hiatus with the aftermath of Emily and Daniel’s wedding. When we last left off, Daniel had shot Emily once he learned that she was a lying liar who lies and she’d fallen overboard into the ocean, her bloody dress washing up onshore where her two loves, Aiden and Jack, were waiting for her.

“Homecoming” picked up with everyone on the yacht being questioned about where they were when the shooting happened while Emily struggled to get her tracking device to work. Aiden found her and Emily begged him to take her away from everything and follow their plan, but she was badly wounded and he had no choice but to make sure she got to the hospital.

Since Emily’s plan had gone horribly wrong, both sides were attempting to do damage control. Conrad lied to protect Lydia, claiming she was in the room with him the whole time even though she wasn’t. Nolan and Aiden attempted to spring Emily from the hospital, but that plan went out the window when Aiden discovered that her amnesia was real and not a ploy to screw with the Grayson family.

Victoria was the chief suspect, but she handled it in stride. She told the police nothing and kept her head up high, only admitting to Patrick that she was worried she was about to be arrested. Daniel didn’t seem to care at all that he’d shot Emily, but once he found out that Victoria was about to take the fall, he confessed to his mother that he knew the truth and he’d shot her. He planned to get a lawyer and turn himself in to the police.

Naturally, Queen Victoria was not about to let that happen. Thanks to Margaux, Victoria learned that she was not the only one missing from the photos at the time of the shooting. So she took the information to Conrad and told him that he needed to frame Lydia for the crime to protect Daniel. Needless to say, he was not happy about having to throw away his love life again, but he did it for his son. Lydia fled the Hamptons and that was enough for the police to believe it was her.

Emily was still suffering from amnesia, but as Charlotte was trying to coax some memories out of her by reminding her how strong she was, Emily remembered her father and when Charlotte asked his name, Emily told her it was David Clarke. Charlotte was troubled and shared the news with Jack, who made excuses and then went to go see Emily himself. He brought her Amanda’s necklace and reminded her that she was Emily Thorne and suddenly her memories came back, starting with Amanda dying in her arms. Then she told Jack that it was Daniel who shot her.

Now here’s the part where I must be watching it wrong. I mostly enjoyed the episode as it unfolded. The acting was fantastic all around. Every single actor brought his or her A-game. There were some great scenes like Lydia ruining Victoria’s chair and Victoria almost taking her head off. I loved the scene where Conrad made it clear to Daniel that he was done with him after sending Lydia away to cover up his crime. Charlotte being the only Grayson to actually care about Emily was a nice touch, especially after the teenager had acted like such a brat for most of the season.

But as a whole, it was underwhelming, especially as a follow-up to the wedding, which was a fantastic episode from start to finish. This one felt heavy handed, like it was trying to guide the audience to the way they should be feeling about the characters, but it didn’t work on me. I haven’t felt any sympathy for Emily at all this season. Seeing her helpless in the hospital was a change of pace, but it didn’t make me want to side with her again, especially since her amnesia already seems to be gone so she’ll just go right back to scheming mode.

While we’re talking about heavy-handedness, Jack being the one to get through to her after seeing Daniel and seeing Aiden failed was beyond over the top. Jack will always be my least favorite of Emily’s suitors because he’s made it clear time and time again that he loves the girl she once was and not the woman that she is now and that’s just not love in my book. Childhood connections are all well and good, but it’s just not realistic, even for a soapy drama like this one.

And speaking of love connections, are we supposed to be rooting for Patrick and Nolan? I was before, but this episode completely ruined them for me. When it comes down to it, Nolan is always going to side with Emily and Patrick is always going to side with Victoria. Does that make them both pathetic the way they basically accused each other of being? Probably, but it’s understandable because family above all else.

The part I’m having trouble buying is why they’d keep going back to each other because aside from a few conversations and fantastic chemistry, the show has failed to sell the part where they actually care about each other. And this is coming from someone who wants to love them together so I can only imagine what people who already didn’t like the pairing think of these developments. I’m not really looking forward to watching them use and manipulate each other or whatever is going to happen now that Patrick has declared his intentions to help Victoria with her takedown.

I could also add Daniel and Sara to this list of failed romantic pairings because I still don’t know where his sudden love for her came from. Maybe he’s just clinging to someone he had before his life became a disaster thanks to his mother and Emily. Then we have the new character, Nico, who has a past with Aiden and obviously wants to continue whatever may have started between them. I’m a little confused though. Did she take care of him after Daniel shot him? Or did they meet after a different incident? I’m going to need a timeline.

So now that Conrad, Victoria and Daniel all know that Emily is a schemer and Nolan, Aiden and Jack are all prepared to protect Emily at all costs, where do we go from here? How is she supposed to blindside the Grayson family when they all know that she’s a liar? Where does the revenge come in when they’re going to be prepared for her to deceive them?

What did you guys think? Are you still Team Emily? Or would you rather watch Conrad and Victoria have a few more victories? Are the romances working for you? Which couples are you rooting for? Hit the comments and share your thoughts with us.