Dona: Revenge is an hour long drama that airs on ABC Wednesday nights --
Ty: When it airs.
Dona: Yes, when it airs. It's been off for weeks. But the show returns this Wednesday night to close out ABC's last hour of prime time and to kick off one week after another of new episodes wrapping up the season Wednesday May 23rd with the cliffhange.
Ty: Right. If we can make an Oval Office request: Barack don't choose Wednesday night to give a speech before June.
Dona: Wouldn't that be awful. Okay, let's talk about the show. Emily VanCamp stars as Emily Thorne but she's not Emily. Who is she, Ty?
Ty: She's Amanda Clarke, daughter of convicted terrorist David Clarke. But David Clarke wasn't a terrorist, he was framed by Conrad and Victoria Grayson, he took the fall for Conrad. He'd been having an affair with Victoria -- played by Madeline Stowe --
Dona: Brilliantly played by Madeline Stowe.
Ty: Agreed. And Victoria sold him out. Why'd she do that, Dona?
Dona: Because Conrad explained to her that if he went to jail, Victoria would be broke and living in shame with their son Daniel. That's all it took to get Victoria to turn on David. And she was pregnant with David's child. Charlotte, as Emily found out late in the season, is her half-sister.
Ty: So David goes to jail and young Amanda goes to a foster home and then to juvie. And it's there that CC Pounder --
Dona: I love her, she should be used more on this show.
Ty: Agreed. CC Pounder's the warden and she gives Amanda some life lessons. Like this new crazy kid, this Emily Thorne, Amanda wouldn't have to fight her if she'd befriend her. So Amanda does that.
Dona: And then, when Amanda's out of juvie, she'll meet Nolan, a billionaire, who tells her that her father was innocenct and Amanda will pay Emily a small fortune to switch identies with her. Because?
Ty: Because, like in The Count of Monte Cristo, she's got some scores to settle. So she shows up at the Hamptons as Emily Thorne, a rich orphan, living next door to the Grayson manor on the beach, dating Daniel Grayson, much to Victoria's annoyance.
Dona: And bit by bit, episode by episode, she gets rid of the people who destroyed her father. What was your favorite one?
Ty: That's a toughie. I think I'll say Mason Treadwell. He wrote a bunch of bad, suck-up 'biographies.' Think J. Randy Taraborrelli. And he was a reporter before that. He met David Clarke and promised to tell the truth about what happened. He met young Amanda and swore to her he would tell the truth about her father and help get him released. Despite finding out that David had an affair with Victoria (as he said and she denied) and that he fathered Charlotte, Treadwell never wrote the truth. Instead, he took money from the Graysons and wrote a book saying David Clarke was a liar and delusional. So when Emily and Nolan visit his little summer college and Treadwell's preening about his new book and how he types it out on an antique typewriter and doesn't use a computer or even make a copy until he's done, Emily breaking in and setting the cottage -- and the manuscript -- on fire is one of my favorite moments. I also love how he's trying to come on to Nolan right up until he realizes his house is on fire and then he's throwing the hissy fit. It was hilarious. How about you? What was the best take down for you?
Dona: Like you said, it is a toughie. Hold on. Rebecca, is that you?
Rebecca: Yeah.
Dona: Okay, joining us on speaker phone is Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude. Welcome. We're talking your show, Revenge. And we're talking about Emily's take downs. Ty's just said his favorite take down was Mason Treadwell, the reporter turned book author. I was about to answer but I'll let you jump in.
Rebecca: I hope I'm not taking your answer, Dona, but I'd say Lydia just because it was the first take down. And it was so vicious. Lydia's very well played by Amber Valletta. Lydia is now Victoria's best friend. She used to be David Clarke's secretary. She helped the Graysons set David up for the terrorist crimes that Conrad was responsible for. Now Lydia's marriage has fallen apart. Offcamera, that was done by Emily. She set Lydia's husband up with another woman but that's before the show starts and you only realize that at a party in a later episode when Victoria -- who thinks Emily slept with Lydia's husband -- tries to force a meeting to expose Emily. So Emily's renting Lydia's beach house. And Lydia's telling Victoria that she'll rent it but she'll never part with it. And she's complaining that everyone's circling like sharks, waiting to cut her and gut her. She's referring to Hamptons' friends. Victoria tells Lydia she'll stand by her. So Lydia is protected. Except for what?
Ty: The affair she's having.
Rebecca: Correct. With Conrad Grayson, Victoria's husband. Emily disguses herself as a maid, serves lunch to them after they've had sex and Conrad thinks he's having a heart attack. Lydia calls 9-11. Outside the hotel, Emily -- out of the wig and maid's uniform -- walks up to the ambulance where Lydia is and asks of the man inside, "Is that your husband?" Lydia has no answer. Victoria gets word and rushes to the hospital only to learn Conrad's okay and it wasn't a heart attack. Then at Victoria's big party, Emily makes sure to ask Lydia if her husband's okay after his heart attack scare the other day? Makes sure to ask that in front of Victoria. Who quickly realizes now why Conrad was at the hotel and not on the golf course like he was supposed to have been. She immediately makes it clear to everyone that Lydia is socially dead and has security escort Lydia out of the party. It was so deliciously sweet.
Dona: Along with "revenge is sweet," they also say "revenge is a dish best served cold." Why do they say that?
Rebecca: I don't know. Maybe they mean that if you're not emotional, if you're detatched enough, you'll enjoy it better or pull it off better.
Ty: Who is "they"?
Dona: You know who "they" are! Okay, my turn. The best take down for me was the doctor, Michelle Banks. Remember her? She's the therapist who put Emily away as a little girl. Remember how Victoria paid her to do so and paid her to punish little Amanda? So now she's a world famous psychiatrist and the author of books and more. And Emily takes her down hard. Without telling her wealthy clients, Michelle has been taping their sessions. And Emily not only gets ahold of the footage, she shows it at Victoria's Mothers & Daughters charity luncheon. The footage includes Victoria revealing that's she's never felt anything for her daughter Charlotte. Emily's so smart. She made sure to have a session of her own where she talked about not wanting to rush into sex. That way she had a clip for the luncheon as well and that has allowed her to escape detection repeatedly. If she was behind it, why would she have included her own embarrassing moment in what was broadcast? It destroyed the doctor. And someone killed the doctor in that epiosde. We still don't know who.
Ty: There's been a lot of murders. We know the real Emily who had to pose as Amanda since the real Amanda is posing as Emily --
Dona: That's so confusing.
Rebecca: I get more e-mails about the confusion when you try to recap and bring in Faux Amanda.
Ty: Moving on. The real Emily killed Victoria's head of security and possible boyfriend Frank when he came snooping around the strip club she worked at, trying to find information on Emily. And we know that Tyler, the bi-sexual, off-his-meds crazy, was killed by Amanda's former mentor Satoshi Takeda. Though everyone thinks Daniel killed Tyler. Takeda was on the beach when Tyler had a gun on Daniel. Daniel got the gun and shot Tyler. And Takeda hit Tyler on the head with a rock and then grabbed the gun to the relief of Tyler who thought he was going to get some help only Takeda then shot Tyler dead as Tyler tried to crawl away. But we don't know who murdered Dr. Banks.
Rebecca: I wouldn't be surprised if it was Emily. Fake Emily. Let's leave out real Emily and just talk about the Emily played by the star of the show Emily VanCamp.
Dona: Agreed. But would that make her too unsympathetic? Would audiences be okay with her killing in cold blood? As opposed to some form of self-defense?
Rebecca: I would. These people destroyed her life, she's back for revenge not tag-you're-it.
Ty: Okay, Rebecca covers Revenge at her site and she's trying to make sure people are aware the show is finally coming back with new episodes this Wednesday. That's one of the reasons we're doing this piece. Rebecca, what's the biggest question the show has to resolve?
Rebecca: Whether Emily loves Daniel, whom she's engaged to and who's charged with murder, or Jack, her childhood sweetheart who never stopped carrying the torch for her. I don't think they'll resolve that until the third season. But I agree with what Takeda told her on the last new episode that aired --
Ty: Back in February!
Rebecca: Yes, back in February. He told Emily that she was going to have to choose which one she loved and she couldn't protect them both. That's because Jack was on the beach and discovered Tyler's body and Victoria's looking for a way to pin the murder on him so Daniel can walk.
Ty: What do we know about what's happening when the show comes back this Wednesday?
Rebecca: Well I posted last week about an interview the actor who plays Declean -- Charlotte's boyfriend, Jack's brother -- gave in which he revealed that the show is going to spend some time flashing back to 2003 to give us some answers on what happened in the past that we don't know.
Dona: That'll be interesting. So everyone's going to be playing like their nine years younger.
Rebecca: No. He states that Jack will be played by the same actor but that Dec and Charlotte are too young to be played by the same actors. They'd be nine years old nine years ago.
Ty: How many more episodes are left to air?
Rebecca: Wednesday night kicks off the last six episodes of the season.
Dona: And last question, Ty first, who should Emily end up with?
Ty: Jack.
Rebecca: Daniel is so gorgeous but he is so very bland. He is especially bland when the actor tries to shade him darkly. I always thought that we should have learned he and Tyler had an affair when they were college roommates because that would have given him a layer that he sorely needs. Jack's solid, dependable and sexy.
Dona: In my best John McLaughlin voice: You're all wrong! Conrad Grayson. Because that, more than anything, would kill Victoria. She's gotten used to her son with Emily. But her soon to be ex-husband?