More Than Enough Crazy To Go Around: Revenge “Mercy” Review

‘Mercy’ gave the viewers anything but in Revenge’s fourth episode. The vengeance stakes are high and everybody, I mean everybody, wanted in. Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but it’s not just for breakfast anymore, and it’s not just for Emily. Duplicity has turned to multiplicity in the Hamptons, my friends.

Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. However, that is not at all the flavor of mercy served up in this episode. Mercy, on Revenge, refers to being ‘at the mercy of,’ in that each character is at the mercy of their own bloodlust. With that in mind, perhaps the episode should have been called ‘Merciless.’

Regardless, Revenge took us on a roller coaster ride of deceit last night. Along the ride, Emily seemed mostly lost, Jack has adopted a thirst for Grayson blood, Daniel is no longer adorable, and Patrick, while retaining his easy-to-like persona, is becoming more interesting by the minute.

What did this tumultuous ride consist of? To begin with, it’s official that Daniel and Emily have no warmth whatsoever between them, supporting the hypothesis that Daniel has his own revengenda against Emily based, possibly, upon what Aiden may have told him the night they fought at the beach house. Okay, I’ll buy that.

Patrick has continued to be the best thing that ever happened to Victoria. His suggestion that she regain her independence through selling her art collection was brilliant and encouraging. Surprisingly, Victoria gets a job at an art gallery. What? Victoria with a job? Why on earth did she go that route instead of selling some of her artwork? Through conniving manipulation, Victoria steals the art gallery out from underneath the owner with Patrick’s assistance. Why she felt she needed to own the gallery is a mystery, one left uncomfortably unexplained. Vickie, you do understand that this means you will not have to, um, you know, work?

What was plausible, and very well portrayed, was Patrick’s visible disappointment over Victoria’s continual professions of love and support for her other children. That’s what made Patrick’s fencing of Victoria’s artwork believable. That it was part of a plot to manipulate the owner came as a complete, yet intriguing surprise. What else are these two going to get into together? After chaffing from Victoria’s continual fawning over her other children, it is safe to say that Patrick has a revengenda of his own.

Perhaps even more interesting was the plot development between Patrick and Nolan. Only months into his tech time-out, Nolan is like a kindergartner left alone in a room with a forbidden marshmallow. Eventually you know he’s gonna have to have damn thing … and Nolan does. In an adorable bout of persuasive self-talk, Nolan succumbs and uses his techy wiles to uncover Patrick’s ex-wife who reveals what we can only guess is $20,000 worth of gritty backstory. All we are told is that Patrick is ‘a user and a liar.’ Well, Nolan has already confessed to having his own revengenda and that Patrick is part of it … or did we just assume that because of what we’ve seen? What is Nolan going to do with his new intel and what does it consist of? I can hardly wait to find out, but it starts out with the steamiest man kiss to ever grace the small screen, pun intended. Whew. So Nolan has a revengenda against the Graysons.

ABC/Vivian ZInk)
MADELEINE STOWE, HENRY CZERNY, EMILY VANCAMP, JOSH BOWMAN

Meanwhile, Jack is looking to buy himself a whole boatload of heartache (pardon the pun, or don’t, it’s up to you). Why? Because he wants revenge against Conrad but has absolutely no plan and no experience. He just wants blood in exchange for the lives of his wife and brother. It is plausible, however, that Jack may be a quick learner. He’s already shown that he can gather intel and use professionals to interpret it for him. But he’s also got scruples. He could have hidden the evidence of the compromised brakes and sent Conrad to jail, but he didn’t. Regardless, Jack does have a revengenda.

Aiden. Oh, Aiden. His revengenda is against anything that gets in the way of his dream life with Emily. And that means Jack. Aiden’s lie that Jack tampered with Conrad’s break line is bound to come back and bite him in the ass. Emily will find out and Aiden will be history. The question is, will Aiden go down without a fight, and who will get hurt in the crossfire? Aiden may not be long for Revenge if a clear way to extricate his character isn’t provided. Short of death, it seems there is no where to go for Aiden. However, the previews for next week’s episode show a shirtless Aiden making out with the housekeeper. Can we assume it’s because he needs something from that housekeeper, or has he come to his senses and developed his own revengenda against Emily because she is all that’s keeping him from his dream now? That would be interesting.

So, how do we get from here to the sunset cruise in a bloody wedding dress? I haven’t a clue … and that’s why I’ll be tuning in on Sunday, October 27th for “Control” when Emily losing control of her plan, along with her groom Daniel after he makes a startling statement at the Voulez magazine launch party.