Revenge -- A Stranger Arrives
The linear version
Amanda Clarke lived in a beach house as a child with her father that was overlooked by the Grayson mansion. Amanda's father, David, was in love with the married Victoria Grayson. And she ultimately helped frame him for a crime he didn't commit; destroying Amanda's idyllic life. Lydia Davis, testified against David and helped to send him to prison. She ultimately bought the beach house after David was sent to prison.
Nolan Ross greets Amanda as she's being released from what looks like prison. He tells her she owns 49% if his company, because her father helped to get him started, and with her father dead her father's half of the company now belongs to Amanda. Nolan also gives Amanda a box her father left for her.
All these years Amanda believed her father was guilty. When she reads his letters to her, he wants her to forgive the people that destroyed his life, but that's not on Amanda's agenda; she wants revenge. She dyes her hair blonde and takes on the name Emily Thorne. She even manages to rent the beach house she lived in with her father.
Emily decides to target Lydia as her first victim of revenge. She discovers that Lydia is having an affair with best friend, Victoria's husband Conrad. When Lydia and Conrad are having a tryst together, she disguises herself as a maid and drugs Conrad's food so it looks like he might be having a heart attack. When Conrad is being loaded into the back of the ambulance Emily innocently runs into Lydia; something she later, again innocently, reveals to Victoria.
Victoria, no slouch, puts two and two together and banishes Lydia from her kingdom, while Emily crosses off Lydia's picture in a group photo of all her targets for revenge. Up next, Emily accidentally spills her drink on Daniel Grayson, Victoria's son, and they begin to get to know each other.
Jack Porter knew Amanda as a child, and when she was taken away, he took care of her dog, Sammy. He even named his boat after her. A boat he later has to sell to get his father out of debt. Jack also makes Emily's acquaintance and Sammy still remembers her, but she gives him the brush-off.
That was the linear version and the first episode wasn't really told in that fashion. It began with someone shooting Daniel Grayson at a party to celebrate Emily and Daniel's engagement, but Emily doesn't really seem to be in love with him by her comment. Jack Porter drags Daniel from the drink, but he's seen running off by Daniel's sister, Charlotte. No doubt, he'll be accused of the crime if anyone figures out it was him. The big question is did Emily shoot Daniel? She seemed genuinely shocked and upset about Daniel being shot, yet what better way to get revenge on her prime target Victoria than to kill her precious son?
Of all the new shows I've watched this season, I liked the first episode of Revenge the best. They have some engaging actors. This show, if it proves successful, might herald the return of the prime time soap, which is what this show reminds me of.
