Revenge 4x20 Burn

 

If last week’s flashback episode wasn’t a big enough sign that Revenge is slowly coming to its end this season, than this one definitely was. And I’m happy to say that it was just as enjoyable to watch as the one last week, which means that my hopes of this series going out on the high note it deserves are probably justified. Fingers crossed that I didn’t just screw it up by saying that!

 

The episode opened with a scene of Margaux and Louise literally fighting over Victoria, before she cut it off by saying "If I am to survive this, I'll need both of you". Ho ho ho I was already rubbing my hands at the prospect of that Victoria/Louise/Margaux team-up I mentioned last week, because for some reason it suddenly seemed like a much better idea than back then. I mean, I still hate Victoria, and Margaux is about as boring as they come, but I have really grown to like Louise during the time she had spent with Nolan, and keeping her in the company of the villains for a while might just be exactly what they need to become interesting again. Or to at least get them out of the house, in Victoria’s case. She’s been holed up there ever since Emily spilled the beans about her terrible actions to the media, and she needed Louise’s nagging to get her off the couch and onto the streets... only to get attacked about ten seconds later when she foolishly sent Louise away to look for the car. Why would she do that if she was so afraid? Stupid move, Victoria. In any case she got knocked over and the contents of her purse were rummaged through, and of course she immediately swore that it was Emily, but was it really? We never saw the attacker’s face, and she didn’t show any signs of having done anything like that later in the episode, so for all we know it could have been anyone else. Unfortunately, in light of later events in the episode, I have a feeling that it will be just completely forgotten instead.

To be fair to Victoria, Emily was planning on stealing that flashdrive, and she did so in only a couple more minutes. Margaux decided that it was time to involve the FBI, Victoria gave the drive to one of the agents, and it took about two seconds for Emily to get it off him without him even noticing. I kinda feel like this storyline would have gone on for much longer, maybe two or three episodes, if it had happened two seasons ago. But now that the show is very likely nearing its end, it needed to be dealt with as soon as possible so that Emily’s revenge can be finally over for real. Which it is now, after Emily snapped the drive in half and threw it away. The only problem is, of course, that all this might still not mean that Emily is about to finally get the happily ever after she so desperately wants and deserves. For one thing, David got diagnosed with lymphoma, which he wanted to tell Emily but then he changed his mind when he saw how happy she was. That scene honestly broke my heart. "For the first time in my life, there are no more battles to fight.", said Emily, while Davd was looking at her sadly in the background. How cruel can you be to write a scene like that? Please tell me that he’s going to receive some good news by the end of the show, because I would honestly hate to leave the Clarke family in a state like this and forever wonder what happened to them after.

And it’s not only David’s illness that might stand in the way of Emily’s happily ending. Jack also chose this time to decide that now that everything is over, he doesn’t want to stay in the Hamptons anymore, and he’s moving to New York as soon as he’s packed up. Nolan tried to convince him to stay by telling him that Emily loves him... Nolan Ross, forever the biggest Emily/Jack cheerleader, bless his heart. Jack was having none of it though, after already having confessed his feelings to an unresponsive Emily, so Nolan figured that it was her that he has to convince after all. This was a very nice scene, up until Ben showed up. 

Nolan: "The only thing that's stopping you from choosing Jack is you."

Emily: "I know! But I don't deserve him."

Ben: "But you deserve me?"

Ouch. Ben walked off, and hopefully we’ll never have to see him ever again. Bye Ben! It’s not that I hate the guy, it’s just that this whole relationship has been so unconvincing from the beginning, you know? He kept pestering Emily to go on a date with him and she kept refusing him, and I don’t know whether it was the writing’s fault or the writers changed their mind at some point, but the way she kept telling him no wasn’t telling me that she actually likes him but can’t date him right now with everything that’s going on, but more like that she’s simply not interested in him, period. So it was a pretty big shock to me when Emily apologized to him for all the refusals and asked him out, because that just wasn’t the vibe I was getting from her, and that basically ruined my perception of their relationship before it has even begun. Anyway, it’s hopefully over now for good and we can get back on track with pushing the show towards its endgame, which was always going to be Jack and Emily. Emily must have realized her mistake because she ran after Jack to stop him from leaving, but the plane has already took off by the time she got there. So how many episodes until Jack comes back? My guess is not even a half. Emily’s going to need all the comfort she can get if she is to face everything that’s about to happen in the remaining three episodes.

It appears that I guessed correctly: it was Mason Treadwell circling Emily’s picture at the end of the previous episode, or at least that is the implication of him coming back now to face her one more time. And random person on IMDb who’s username I forgot was also right: he was pissed at Emily because she had promised him exclusive rights to her story, and that promise is now null and void thanks to Victoria forcing Emily’s hands to make that TV interview. So Mason is pretty angry and I don’t know if he has any further plans or if he showed up just to deliver that chilling piece of brilliant monologue (see quote below), but his presence is anything but comforting either way.

And then there’s Victoria, who has finally had enough and decided to do „Something that Amanda Clarke never had the courage to do herself. End this.”, after getting back her famous throne from the early seasons, as "a memento to a bygone era.". Uh oh. All that sounds very ominous, even if at this point it was already pretty clear what exactly it is that she was planning to do. After all, there’s only one thing that Amanda should have done a long time ago, but still hasn’t. I just really didn’t understand Victoria’s reasoning at this point. Why would she kill herself? That sounds an awful lot like conceding the victory to Emily in their own personal little game, and that’s not something Victoria would ever do. Unless of course she can somehow frame Emily for her murder? Well, after I’ve seen her executing her plan, I don’t really understand how that’s possible. The manner of death Victoria has chosen for herself - that is, blowing up Grayson manor while still sitting in it - is one that is pretty hard to blame on Emily under the circumstances. For one thing, doesn’t she still own Grayson manor? I’m pretty sure she does. Also, she literally just aired out all the details of her feud with Victoria to the media, and killing her right after that sounds like an incredibly stupid thing to me. And then there’s the fact that experts can determine where the explosion started, and after the reconstruction it’s going to be pretty clear what happened, unless of course Victoria expects them to think that Emily set fire to her instead of, you know, slashing her throat, shooting her, choking her, or committing literally any other manner of murder that would have been much easier, and way less messy. So while the final shot of Victoria sitting on her throne, and then Grayson manor exploding all around her, was all very beautiful and artistic (and, not gonna lie, incredibly satisfying), I just don’t really understand her endgame here. Plus I’m a little bit peeved that we never got that final Emily/Victoria confrontation that I always imagined would eventually lead to her death, but ultimately I can’t really complain.

Episode MVP: Gabriel Mann as Nolan Ross

Quotes of the episode:

"You're about as depressing as a yankee groom at a Southern wedding." – Louise Ellis

(I had no choice. Everything changed.)

„Yes. Everything but you. Which I suppose is just now starting to become a pattern, standing there, alone, on the tarmac. Realizing that while you hid behind your mission of revenge, everyone else around you evolved. Did you really think they’d wait forever? Sacrificing everything and getting nothing in return? Did you honestly believe that you’d get your happily ever after after so many lies to so many different people, till all you had left were enemies. Like the little pyromaniac that you are, you started a fire and convinced yourself that could contain it. I know your dirty little secret. You can’t exist without revenge. The endless cycle of hate is your addiction. And like all tales of compulsion, this will end the same way: first you’ll crash, and then you’ll burn.” – Mason Treadwell

And because Nolan and Emily had some truly wonderful scenes together in this episode:

„I’m terrified that everything is about to come undone because of me, and trust me, Ems, that is my nightmare because this has been the best part of my life. It’s why I held on to that stuff. It’s my infinity box. And it’s why I still call you Ems even when the rest of the world knows your real name. I hate that I failed you. I don’t wanna lose you.” – Nolan Ross

"I hate imagining a life after Ems."

"You don't have to. There's always going to be a Nolan and Emily." :’)

Random tidbits:

 - They finally replaced the Amanda's gravestone with Emily, which was a very nice touch, but I'm still keeping the names as they are.

 - Margaux initially wantsed to buy Louise off and send her away so that she can be the sole protector of Victoria. "I'm the one who decides what's best for her from now on.", she said. Eventually they teamed up at the end of the episode, but I don’t really know what will come of this now that Victoria is dead.

 - Louise was also being a complete ass to Nolan this week, and even tried to get a confession out of him. This made me a bit sad – they used to be such a good pair before everything went to shit.

 - For a second there I was thinking that a David/Stevie pair-up wouldn’t be half bad, but then I realized that that would make Emily and Jack family... so maybe let’s not.

 - Jack turning off his phone when Emily called him was truly terrible. I really hate it when people on TV do that. I get that you’re upset because she rejected you but what if it’s something really important? And by that I mean, what if it’s something even more important then her wanting to tell you that she actually wants to be with you? Like, what if something terrible happened to Nolan or David, wouldn’t you want to know about that? Haven’t you already learned that terrible things can happen to people you love at literally anytime?

 - I don’t really know how I feel about Nolan and Tony yet. He seems like a good guy and I don’t really have anything to say as to why they shouldn’t end the show together, it’s just that I always imagined Nolan ending up with someone that’s been in more than three episodes, you know? Like, maybe if Patrick could have showed up earlier this season, that would have been nice...