Tuesday, March 31, 2015

My Review of Revenge's 4x18: "Clarity"


Written by Karin Gist
Directed by Allison Liddi-Brown

Emily (to the media): "There is only one explanation. There's one secret that I kept and it has cost the ones I love more than I ever wanted. I am David Clarke's daughter. I am Amanda Clarke."

Well, that was interesting but when you think about it, rather expected. With an upcoming series from one of this show's writers having a similar premise (The Kingmakers which I'll discuss in a later blog) and the likelihood that the remaining five episodes will see the end of this show for good, Emily's rather public confession to clear Daniel's name felt signposted throughout the episode.

That doesn't mean that the reveal in the final moments lacked impact. In fact they packed a genuine punch as Jack and David looked delighted with Emily outing herself to counter the likes of Nolan, Victoria and Margaux being completely shocked by the whole thing as well. The fact that Ben wasn't there during Emily's pivotal moment should be taken as a sign of those two breaking up as well.

I'm glad that Emily's secret is out. We might have a few more episodes left but every main cast member has known who she is since the second half of this season and aside from some inevitable legal ramifications for Emily's double life, it does feel like the beginning of the end for the series in a proper way.

More to the point - Emily gave both Victoria and Margaux what they wanted. Daniel's name is no longer tainted and while Victoria doesn't look particularly satisfied in the previews, Margaux has slowly realised that going after Emily wasn't her brightest of ideas. She told Victoria to let it go in this one and even got her right hand man and that assassin lady not to go after Emily too. As annoying as Margaux has been in the last few episodes, I did feel bad for her here.

As for the Emily, Ben and Jack triangle - well, any day now Emily and Ben will break up. The divide is already there between them and while Stevie was able to persuade Jack to go along with Emily's original plan, he was still there during the crucial moment of her public announcement too. I think Jack/Emily fans are going to very much get their happy ending by the time we get to the finale.

In less happy news, it looks like things are going to turn ugly between Nolan and Louise as well in the last few episodes. Louise overheard him talking to Jack about being married to her out of pity and when he did tell her he wanted a divorce, she played it off like it was nothing. Not to mention her sudden fixation on getting pregnant, the whole flashdrive issue and to a lesser extent, both Tony (who bailed on Nolan sadly) and Lymon's death of course. Yeah, this isn't going to end well at all, is it?

Also in "Clarity"

I'm surprised we didn't get to see Louise's awful mother one more time during this episode. I really hope Louise doesn't properly go crazy on Nolan.

Margaux: "How can I miss someone I never met?"
Victoria: "You're a mother and Emily should be behind bars for taking that away from you."

The assassin was called White Gold and she was played by Courtney Love. First Empire and now this show. Where will she appear next?

Nolan: "I have to make sure I'm free."
Tony: "My advice, be free."

Emily: "You asked me to leave revenge behind. This is what it looks like, Dad."

We met Ben's older brother Kevin in the episode as the former made detective (something which Victoria briefly threatened to scupper as well). Even he picked up on the Emily/Jack vibe.

Louise: "Nolan and I have no secrets."
Victoria: "Did he tell you what happened the night Daniel died?"

Tony: "This isn't how I work Nolan. I won't be the other man in someone's marriage."

Tony looked pretty damn hot without his glasses on. I hope he comes back in the remaining episodes.

Margaux: "I wasn't myself when I asked him to hire you."
White: "You were the darkest part of yourself. Don't be ashamed, own it."

Louise: "I'm a big girl, Nolan. I can swim in the deep end."

Standout music: Calvin Harris/Haim's "Pray To God".

Emily: "I've lived between two worlds. You can't possibly understand."
Ben: "Yeah, but I want to. Come on, don't do this. Don't shut me out."

Chronology: More or less from where "Loss" left off.

Now this was excellent. Another one of those with a tiny bit of tweaking, it could've been a series finale but either way, "Clarity" was a triumph. I don't know where the remaining episodes are going to go but it does look like this show could go out in style.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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