Tag Archives: American Broadcasting Company

Revenge: “Trust” Episode 2 Review

7 Oct

Revenge managed to hold on to my interest through the second episode.  Congratulations ABC, I actually like this show.

SPOILER ALERT:  I won’t say much because the story this week (the revenge one) is fairly slim.  I will say though, that it is fun to watch as Emily/Amanda (Emily VanCamp) is hunted down/researched by Victoria Grayson’s P.I. (and possibly her sometime lover).  What is a bit harder to discern is whether Emily/Amanda actually has any real feelings for Danny (Joshua Bowman), Victoria Grayson’s son.  She appears to enjoy her date with him and although she might have some feelings for him, I’m guessing she is dead inside when it comes to the Graysons, the people who destroyed her father.  One never knows.  But I somehow doubt it.

The real showdown, obviously, is going to be between Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe) and Emily.  This episode, Emily brings down one of the hedge fund investors that set up her father.  In this economic climate, i don’t think anyone feels bad for him.  In the meantime, Emily’s “friends” are having small dramas of their own.  Jack (Nick Wechsler) sells his sailboat, the Amanda (yes after Emily/Amanda), to resident geek billionaire, Nolan (Gabriel Mann).  It turns out that Nolan just wants company and a friend while Jack just wants cash to save his father’s failing bar/restaurant business.  It looks like an unlikely friendship might actually result from this embarrassing financial arrangement.  Money does make people do strange things.

Nolan, who acts like Emily’s protector, outbids Victoria for the Hamptons beach house that Emily is renting but wanted to buy.  When Emily discovers Nolan bought it for her she demands it is put in her name.  He tells her it is already done.  Ok, I’d just like to take a moment and let any billionaires out there know that I would be happy to demand a condo in Manhattan from them and if I can be greedy, I would like a two-bedroom, in my name with taxes paid as well.  Obviously in a good neighborhood.  It doesn’t hurt to ask.  Just thought I’d throw that out there.  Emily’s friend gives her a surprise house-warming party and her date with Danny is interrupted.  At the end of the episode, Emily has squashed her prey (hedge fund guy) and will be moving on to the next double-crosser next week.  I kind of just want to see what Nolan will buy her next.

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Castle: Season 4 Premiere Review

21 Sep

Last season of Castle wasn’t my favorite.  The things I love about the show are the strange murders, quirky investigations and humor.  Last season, it was hit and miss as the narrative went deeper into the mystery of who killed Kate Beckett‘s mother and why.  The tone was uneven.  Storylines featuring the conspiracy about Kate’s mother and later the involvement with the police department and city officials became increasingly convoluted.  I slugged through a number of episodes until last season’s finale when Kate (Stana Katic) got shot at her old boss Captain Montgomery’s (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) funeral.  When I tuned into the Season 4 premiere episode, “Rise”, I had forgotten two very important things that happened in the last two minutes of the show:  that Kate got shot and Castle (Nathan Fillion) professed his love as she was about to lose consciousness.  Just like any narcissistic man, too little, too late.

SPOILER ALERT:

In this episode, Kate survives the gunshot – barely.  Her doctor boyfriend helps save her and she dumps him later.  In all fairness, that was the right thing to do if she wasn’t in love with him.  Life is too short to stay with someone you only just like.  Or in turn, to stay with someone who can’t express his feelings at appropriate times.  But Castle is doing his best to make it up to Kate, and, like any somewhat rational adult woman, she is willing to forgive if he can prove himself to her.  Without the backsliding Castle is so famous for.  So as Kate recovers from her gunshot in relative solitude, Castle is helping Ryan (Seamus Dever) and Esposito (Jon Huertas) work on discovering who the sniper was, who hired him and why Kate is still in danger.  All of this is done under the new regime of Captain Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald) who is a good foil to all those in the department and should add to a more interesting way of solving mysteries.  As soon as the Captain is on the detective’s sides, it’s not half as much fun to watch Kate and Company essentially bend the law to its fullest to investigate their way.

This episode does include a mystery – a tabloid chick who was murdered while her boyfriend was presumably in her house.  He claims he didn’t do it.  Actually, in Castle, this is usually the case.  The murderer tends to be someone who is close to the victim but not as close as we realize.  It’s always fun to guess who as they investigate.  This mystery is truncated though, since the majority of time is spent on the Kate conspiracy.

The most revealing and perhaps promising moments came at the end of the show.  First, next week’s episode is a comic book murder and everyone looks like they are having a good time so let’s hope we will get back on track, at least slightly.  Second, Kate goes to a psychologist to confess that she remembers her shooting (and obviously Castle’s confession of love).  Such a healthy response, her hiding for three months and not talking to him.  I guess it’s better than her telling Castle to get lost and leave her alone.  But not much.  Let’s hope Kate can grow a bit more emotionally because when Castle is the adult in the show, things can get scary.

Castle airs on ABC at 10pm/9pm central.

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Revenge Pilot Review: a guilty pleasure this season

19 Sep

I tend to believe in an eye for an eye.  I also believe in karma.  Sometimes, I think,  it’s just easier to forgive and move on because the person who screwed you over isn’t worth your time or energy.  Mostly, I believe, it all comes down to the transgression committed against any one person.  Now, if you don’t have the energy to wait for karma, because sometimes it is very slow going, you might get a few ideas watching ABC’s new Wednesday night drama premiering on the 21st at 10pm/9pm central, Revenge.

If you would like to watch the pilot episode early, you can do what I did, go to the Gilt City website and sign up for free access.  They should send you a voucher email with a code good before Wednesday for you to preview online.

SPOILER ALERT

The premise is simple:  Amanda Clarke/Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) lived with her wealthy father, Dave Clarke (Marc Blucas – he’s great in Necessary Roughness) who managed a hedge fund.  He was set up by his business partner, Conrad Grayson (Henry Czerny), and Grayson’s wife, Victoria (Madeleine Stowe, who we will learn in the pilot episode was also Dave’s secret lover), to take the fall for funneling cash to a terrorist organization which led to a terrorist attack on a plane killing everyone on board.  Clarke was tried and imprisoned for treason.  A young Amanda watched her father be taken away and ended up in juvenile hall until she was released at 18.   As she leaves the jail, she’s greeted by a friend of her father’s, Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann), informing her that her father is dead, she is rich and he wasn’t really a bad guy.  She decides to take revenge on every person that helped destroy her father’s life.

The trend this year seems to be TV Noir.  At least with the shows I’ve started watching.  This is all about a crime and deception, femmes fatales and double-crosses, and in true noir fashion, it is a melodrama, my favorite noir hybrid.  It’s sleek and slick.  It’s hard not to enjoy these sanctimonious characters being brought to their knees by a petite blonde girl who is very pissed off but so cool and cold on the surface you’d never guess she wants you dead or destroyed, or both.  I’ll admit it feels a bit too stylish at times but usually it is the stylish ones who are destroyed on this show, so you don’t have to feel too guilty indulging yourself for an hour once a week.  It’s less calories than eating Godiva chocolates.  And you can live vicariously.  I also love how Amanda, who is now known as Emily Thorne (what a symbolic last name), is never vilified.  Instead, when she does something bad, we get a flashback to her idyllic life with her father and the dog, Sammy, that loved her as a puppy and recognizes her as an adult.  Sammy has been adopted by the kid who had a crush on her, now the local bartender and sailor, Jack Porter (Nick Wechsler).  We see Jack’s love for Amanda/Emily runs deep.  He seems to be the one who kills for her at the beginning of the show. Or at least he’s disposing of the body, which is that of Emily’s finance, Daniel Grayson (Joshua Bowman), son of the man and woman who set up her father.  Quite frankly, he reminds me of the smug Wall Street guys on the subway who I’d like to smack at times so I really didn’t feel bad when he got blown away.  I suppose I’m the audience for this show, someone who enjoys watching others get blood on their hands, wishing, in some ways, I could do that.  It somehow looks so satisfying.  The show is created by Mike Kelley whose writing credits include Jericho, The O.C., and One Tree Hill so you know there will be plot twists and turns to satisfy any highly dramatic needs.

I know I’ll be watching this season.  This show is already deemed my guilty pleasure this fall.

Revenge airs on ABC at 10pm Wednesday nights (9pm central).

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