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Each fall, dozens of new TV shows compete for viewers, fighting to stay on the air for more than just a week or two. Some fail miserably (Remember Work It? Yeah…didn’t think so.). Some battle it out for a season before quietly fading away. But others—like ABC’s dishy new drama, Revenge—manage to become must-see TV.
When Amanda Clarke was a child, her father was convicted of a horrible crime and sent to prison, where he eventually died. Amanda grew up angry and bitter, blaming her father for everything that went wrong in her life. It wasn’t until after his death that she learned the truth: he was innocent.
Now a young woman, Amanda (Emily VanCamp) returns to her old home in the Hamptons with a new name: Emily Thorne. Emily quickly becomes a part of Hamptons high society, but she’s not there for the parties. She’s there to get revenge on the people who framed her father and ruined her life—starting with her neighbors, Conrad and Victoria Grayson (Henry Czerny and Madeline Stowe).
The first season of Revenge started out with a bang (in more ways than one), and it soon became one of the most sinfully delicious guilty pleasures of the TV season—and for good reason. This high society drama is dark and delectably dishy—and more than slightly sinister—with just a hint of heart.
The series is loaded with great characters—like lovable barkeep Jack (Nick Wechsler) and his little brother, Declan (Connor Paolo)—but Emily and Victoria are the characters that kept audiences tuning in week after week. The ongoing power struggle between them is a passive-aggressive delight. Both women are two-faced and scheming, well-versed in manipulation and exploitation—and each is well aware that the other has a hidden agenda. Emily knows that Victoria will do anything to protect herself and her fortune—and she often uses it against her. But while Victoria is convinced that Emily is just an opportunistic gold-digger—out to marry Victoria’s son, Daniel (Joshua Bowman), for his money—Emily’s hidden agenda is much, much darker. She spends most of the show’s first season ruining everyone’s lives—from the therapist who took a bribe and had her institutionalized as a child to the family friend who testified against her father.
Both actresses are fun to watch in action. While Stowe can relish her role as the Hamptons’ evil queen, though, VanCamp faces a much bigger challenge. She needs to find that perfect balance between good girl and bad girl—because she’s both. She’s the victim and the tormentor at the same time. At times, the combination works. You’ll understand her pain, and you’ll take guilty pleasure in her vengeance. At other times, however, it’s taken a little too far, and you’ll find yourself feeling sorry for anyone who comes into contact with her. You’ll feel sorry for Emily’s friend, Nolan (Gabriel Mann), who often takes Emily’s abuse and keeps helping her anyway—and you’ll feel sorry for poor Daniel Grayson, who’s little more that a pawn in Emily’s twisted game of chess. At times, you might even find yourself hating Emily for the way she treats the innocent bystanders who get in her way.
Revenge is the kind of show that viewers eagerly anticipate each week. It’s loaded with twists and turns—with dark secrets, drama, and scandals—from the opening shocker until everything comes crashing down at the end of the season finale. And now that the first season is available on DVD, you don’t even have to wait a whole week for the next episode. So if you somehow managed to miss this gossipy, back-stabbing treat when it first aired, be sure to pick up the DVD—so you’ll be caught up when the second season begins.
DVD Review:
Really, the guilty pleasures found in each episode of the first season of Revenge make the DVD worth picking up—but every one of the five discs in this collection also includes a number of extras. There are deleted scenes, bloopers, and an audio commentary, as well as a handful of behind-the-scenes features.
Nolan Ross Exposed is a short exposé piece on Gabriel Mann’s character. While it’s supposed to dish a little dirt, it mostly just makes the character look more sinister and obnoxious than he really is.
Other extras, on the other hand, offer more information about the show itself—and how it’s made. Roadmap to Revenge discusses the show’s inspiration, along with its locations, the characters, and their relationships. Haute Hamptons takes a look at the characters’ wardrobes—from Emily’s casual white dresses to Victoria’s seductive designer gowns. And At Home in “The Hamptons” offers a tour of the sets. Though the pilot was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, most of the show is now filmed on a massive soundstage in California, and this short tour offers a look inside the characters’ posh homes.
Not all of the extras included in this set are must-sees. The deleted scenes, for instance, are mostly just short clips of scenes—so they’re not especially noteworthy. If you want a quick peek inside this gloriously guilty pleasure, though, start with Roadmap to Revenge—and follow it up with Haute Hamptons.
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