Reven8e - ADT Home security and you

After last week my mind was just blown, there is just so much going on in this show that it's hard to keep up with it. And I thought that Lost was tough. Additionally last week annoyed me a little bit because I really hate misunderstanding plots. It turned out that it all worked out just awesomely, but there was that moment with Tyler and Daniel and the phone that just bugged me. But I got over that one pretty quick.

So on to this weeks action packed roller coaster that is Revenge. Oh and if this show doesn't get an Emmy for best writing, it's a crime. Oh and one more thing before I get to it, you know what makes a good show to me, addressing the 4th wall (the audience). Remember back to Lost when some crazy stuff would happen and then you'd be left wondering, "Well how is that supposed to work, or well what about this?". Then the next episode they would address that specific plot question and you'd think, "Oh ok I get it now." (Granted Lost left a lot hanging, but hopefully you get my point.) Last night Revenge did the same exact thing. Jen and I keep asking ourselves, "Why is Emily so mean to Nolan?" Thankfully he asked her last night and she said, "It wasn't part of the plan." There was something else but I forget it now, point is it was there, that makes me happy.

On to the plot of last evening. It seems like the hinges are beginning to come off for Emily. The earlier plots at revenge were pretty simple, do A in order for B to take place, wash hands and move on. But things didn't go according to plan last night. Lydia popped up at her house demanding it back and threatening poor sweet Emily. Emily was then put on the defense, calling an audible looking at how to take care of Lydia once and for all. I wonder if the original plan was to go ahead and take care of Victoria in this episode by throwing Lydia at her at the event. It makes sense since she convinced Ashley to center the event around Victoria, which obviously Victoria was able to side step. At the same time Emily set up Lydia by giving her, her little revenge folder. Emily probably didn't know which one was going to go down in flames that night, but figuring that putting the two against each other, knowing that she would have Frank go look at her place was a safe bet that one would take the other one out.

In the preview for next week there is a clip where Emily says that Lydia dying was not a part of her plan, but I'm not so sure. Maybe it wasn't originally for anyone to actually die, but with the pressure that Lydia was putting on Emily it seems like she may have had to put her in a position to be killed. Getting Frank to do it, all the better, in what had to be the ugliest murder in TV history, leave enough evidence behind there Frank? Speaking of evidence, hey Nolan, good job leaving your fingerprints all over the apartment, good thing you have a video of what happened, probably going to keep you out of jail. Question, is Frank at the reception party???

And seriously, she got 10 million dollars, install a security system for God sake!!!

One more indication that Emily's plan might be getting away from her, she had to actually show some personality in her scramble to get all the pieces where she needed them. Oh sure a chess board is easy when all the pieces are lined up at the beginning of the game, but things get a little tricky when all the pieces are in play. Having Nolan go to Lydia's apartment so that she could wrap herself around Daniel was most assuredly not part of the plan.

And what is up with Daniel? I'm getting the impression that he is a pretty decent guy, sure he's had some issues, but he seems to be looking to set his life right. Wouldn't that be the ultimate wrench in Emily's plan if the boy that she set out to destroy was a decent human being? Sure he is a Greyson but he didn't have anything to do with her father or her. I'm sure the plan was to destroy him as part of her destroy Victoria plan, but could she do that if he were a good guy? I guess that has to do with the end sequence and how guilt was a beacon for her to carry her forward, as she's lying in bed with Daniel. Meaning she that why she's going to feel guilty for it, she still plans on ruining his life.

So let me ask this question based on my speculation, is Emily evil? We as the audience have been put in the position to embrace her, but are we being deceived, is she just as reprehensible as the people's lives that she is looking to destroy? If Daniel is a good guy and she ruins his life (or even gets him killed, as maybe seen in the pilot) how can we not say that she's just as bad as the people that she is punishing. It's one thing to give people what they deserve, it's another to harm the innocent. Sounds like something else in this show... Terrorism.

Terrorism is based around the idea of harming the innocent in order to make a point, scare the innocent out of their safe lives. When the plane in the show crashed, 280+ people were killed, all of them innocent victims. Victoria felt so bad about what happened (I don't think they were behind the plot, I'm sure they got wrapped up into funding it somehow, there is no profit in terrorism) that she set up a charity foundation for the victims through her guilt. Interesting that through the episode the theme of guilt created different results in each character. Victoria felt bad for the victims so she tried to help. Emily said herself, that she uses her guilt as a sign that she's doing a good job. Nolan told Emily's father that he would look out for her, which allows him to get caught at a murder scene. Conrad's guilt (if there is any) buys his wife a fancy car, which in turn gets his daughter in trouble with the police. Do we see a trend here???

And one more little piece of symbolism for you. Emily's last name is pretty easy to see the connection, thorn, how about Victoria, Greyson. Sure that seems like a pretty fitting rich people name, but symbolically it's grey!!! Not black or white, but grey!!! Is she actually a good human being in there, is she the she devil the show makes her out to be? Quite literally she is grey. So is her grey son, Daniel Greyson.

Good times.

Revenge - IP addresses and you

I like a show that demands my attention, not asks for it, but demands it. It's part of the reason that I loved Lost so much, and it's a good part of the reason that I'm really liking Revenge. If by some chance you are reading this and haven't watched the show, do yourself a favor and check it out, with so much going on on it, it makes for a very entertaining hour of television.

The show is doing one heck of an effort to appeal to the average American isn't it? The pilot showed us bad people getting what was coming to them, a great premise. Week 2 was the take down of a Wall Street executive, the new arch-villain replacing lawyers in our daily lives. Week 3 (this week) a corrupt politician that isn't buying what they are selling, pro-life and thinking he was paying for an abortion. (Paging Senator Edwards) Next week will undoubtedly be an insurance company or something along those lines.... I'm kidding, but my point is that Revenge, really wants you to like it, it's trying to gain your trust. Take some of the most hated archetypes in society today and throw them on the barbecue, and we'll eat it all up. Again is it too much to think that the show is working us the viewers on some meta-level? Earning our trust so that we'll believe everything we see, only to pull the rug out from under us at some later point? My bet is yes.

Another sign that it might all fall apart on Emily, the dream that she had at the beginning of the episode. I think that Emily knows that in the end she is going to be found out and everything will come crashing back down on her, it's kind of a bad word but I see her as almost being a martyr for her fathers life. Seriously at some point someone is going to put 2 and 2 together and figure out what is going on, Victoria thought that she knew, but was thinking way to small. Eventually it will come back and get Emily, even the quote before the pilot about digging two graves when one seeks revenge, I think she knows it's a one way ticket and she's just trying to take as many down as she can before she is caught. And wouldn't that be a twist if she martyrs her own life only to find out that her Dad really was financing terrorist martyrs himself... Again dad wasn't squeaky clean, he was having an affair with Victoria. Adultery and terrorism are obviously a little different on Santa's naughty list, but you get the point.

But you know who is on the good list? Decklan (however you spell it). Would it have been too obvious if Decklan had just forwarded Adam's sex tape on to Charlotte? (seriously that just sounded weird to write) I think we thought that was coming, but it didn't instead he took the high road. He was going to get her to like him through honest means, rather than resorting to the quick and effective method of destroying Adam's relationship with her. I think the show is trying to show us that not everyone here is evil, not everything is based on hatred and quick and easy revenge, there is the opportunity for morality and decency to exist. Heck even Victoria tried to save Emily's father before he went to jail, granted it was too little too late, but the moment was there to show us that she can be a decent person, maybe she is, or was...

The problem with doing naughty things is that over time those actions that you perform are who you become, or at least seem to be. Emily has had some big plans for Daniel since the pilot, which I'm sure were to get him to fall in love with her and then turn on him like a black widow, naw more like a praying mantis (have you seen what they do to their mates?) But something changed in the little Italian steakhouse, and I'm not talking about Amanda Knox's verdict. The plan was for Daniel's ex's brother to show up and well, cause some damage, not sure if the goal was the car or something more, probably just the car, murder in a public restaurant would be a little much. In the end Daniel confesses his guilt to Emily and goes about making amends (as best he can I guess) for what he did. My take is that this threw Emily for a loop, how can she punish someone for a crime they didn't commit (her father) if they might actually be a decent person? Can she still use him in her plan? By the end of the season they are engaged, but in what context? Ah such mysteries...

We were also presented with a doozy of a mystery last night as well involving the senator and some online content, the mystery of course being, what is an IP address? For anyone that doesn't understand what an IP address is, it is the ID of your computer when it accesses the internet. All computers have an IP address and they are unique to your computer. If someone has access to your IP address (it's generally a 12 digit number so don't worry about it) they can essentially access your computer in any way they want. So what Nolan was doing with Adam's computer, that is very real.

The real mystery of course is who was sending the messages to the senator? Since Emily told Nolan that she bought the building and that's where the video came from it seems likely that she was the one behind the senator's fall from grace. But in the final scene with Victoria we see her wearing the earrings that Emily's dad gave to her as a present, meaning that she was thinking of him when the good senator was hung out to dry. My thought, both of them were working to destroy the senator. That Victoria was involved seems a little less probable, but not unlikely, we'll have to see. The obvious choice is that it was Emily all along, but how would she have access to the computer in Victoria's house over the last two months? Additionally she needed Nolan to hack into the senator's computer, they weren't in contact at that point, so it makes Emily unlikely.

Two months earlier I think that Emily was working on a different plan, and that is securing her old house, through destroying the marriage of the Davis's, forcing them to divorce and sell their house. Victoria could tell that Emily was up to something by being a member in the art society, problem is, she was thinking way way too small. Emily wasn't involved in the affair, Emily was the one that started the affair and then walked away. Emily is thinking on a bigger scale then anyone would expect (for now) that's why Nolan asks her, "You just destroyed the man's career." And her response is, "I want to destroy his life." She's working on a much bigger scale.

And seriously why is she such a bitch to Nolan? I like Nolan. He's on her side and helping her, so what is her deal? Maybe she knows that shes dammed in the end and its a way to protect him?

Oh and when are we going to get to see Emily show a little emotion?

One final question, is the dog on the show Vincent from Lost?