My Review of Revenge's 1x17: "Doubt"

Written by Mike Kelley And Dan Dworkin And Jay Beattie
Directed by Matt Earl Beesley

Emily (to herself): “Doubt has the ability to call into question everything you ever believed about someone.”

Not one of Emily’s best monologues but it raises a fair enough point I suppose. There was certainly a lot of doubt that was seeping throughout this episode when it came to both the innocence of Jack and Daniel in the murder of Tyler from every main character at some point.

Out of the two, Jack is genuinely the most innocent of the bunch. All he did was get Amanda away from Tyler’s dead body and there’s no way that he deserves to become a scapegoat for the Graysons because of that. Victoria tried her damndest to nail Tyler’s death on Jack and thanks to Declan, she failed.

I know there are some fans out there who were mad about Declan betraying Charlotte’s confidence to Mason Treadwell of all people but I am not one of them. As far as I’m concerned, Declan did the right thing and my respect for him continues to grow because of that.

Both he and Charlotte do not know for certain whom they saw on the beach and Declan knew that the Graysons were desperately looking for a scapegoat, so he protected his brother. It might have come at the cost of outing Charlotte’s current drug addiction but when it comes to terrible boyfriends, there are far worse ones out there than Declan. In his own way, not only did he protect Jack but he also managed to do Charlotte a favour, even if she wasn’t thankful for it.

I think Charlotte behaved pretty appallingly in this episode. I know that she’s got her own issues to deal with and Victoria isn’t being particularly supportive but I hated how spitefully she turned on Declan as well as the fact that she was largely obstructive in actually helping Victoria and the cops try and identify who was on the beach when her and Declan found Tyler’s body.

Of course, Charlotte wasn’t the only member of the Grayson family to act out rather badly – Victoria actually organised for Daniel to be beaten up in prison. Okay, she did it so he’d get bail but it was still a rather cold thing for her to do in order to protect her son. As for her trying to plant doubt into Daniel about Emily – well, that just felt like business as usual to be honest. Daniel at least had enough sense not to succumb to it though.

It was also nice that Emily was a few steps ahead of Victoria in this episode. She automatically deduced that mommy dearest was behind Daniel’s prison beating and Emily got her own hands dirty by battering the thug who ordered the job done on Daniel. On one hand, it was a rather reckless thing for Emily to do but on the other hand, I kind of enjoying seeing Emily beating the crap out of that guy as well. I guess this is the show’s way of confirming that right now she has genuine feelings for both Daniel and Jack.

Another thing I loved about Emily in this episode was her neat ability of turning Victoria and Mason against each other. She might not have been responsible for Declan selling out Charlotte but she certainly played a dab hand in getting Mason to believe that Victoria torched his house. Even though I still don’t particularly like Mason, I did like that he showed something of a conscience in this episode in both his scenes with Charlotte and Victoria.

As for Nolan – he was basically the good mate in this episode. He brought Emily food and complied with her bid to get Jack out of town by having the latter go to Montreal for Amanda. I noticed as well in this episode that Emily seemed to be more hospitable with Nolan too, which was nice.

Last but not least – I do hope the sudden appearance of Dominik the painter has more of a plot purpose than just giving Victoria some sex scenes. I like James Purefoy a lot as an actor but I’m not entirely sure what to make of the character and a part of me is wondering if Dominik is another one of Emily’s plants or someone who really does want to rekindle the old flame with Vicky after all.

Also in “Doubt”

A week before this episode aired, ABC did a recap called “From The Beginning” to bring viewers up to speed on the previous episodes.

Emily: “What do you want?”
Nolan: “World peace but I’ll start small.”

This was the first episode since “Intrigue” not to actually feature Amanda, though she’s due to make a reappearance before the season ends.

Emily (to Nolan): “Takeda was right about one thing – I lost focus. I became emotionally involved. That will not happen again.”

Conrad (to Victoria, re Emily): “That girl might just be Grayson material after all.”

That piece of dialogue is making me hope that we get some more scenes between Emily and Conrad within the next five episodes. He was the most level headed Grayson this week.

Daniel (to Emily): “At least one good thing came out of all this. My fiancée and my mother have finally found common ground.”

Jack: “I know who you are. You wrote that book about David Clarke.”
Mason: “I may yet write one about you.”

Mason got a blog courtesy of Ashley named “The Treadwell Report”. He also seems to have a thing for wine coolers as well.

Victoria: “I told you I didn’t think I could fall in love with anyone.”
Dominik: “And I never believed that.”

Charlotte (to Declan): “You’re just another puppet in the Grayson family play and it’s time for your exit.”

Standout music: Leonard Cohen’s “If It Be Your Will”.

Victoria (to Daniel, re Emily): “How do you know she wasn’t there? You see that little bit of doubt is enough to get you acquitted.”

Emily: “Nature can be cruel. Predators are everywhere. Those who don’t need to be protected from outside forces often need to be protected from themselves.”

Chronology: It’s September time with Daniel’s trial due for the first week of December.

As a return episode, “Doubt” was slightly low-key but actually a lot of fun too. I’m not sure if the Dominik plot is actually needed but the lengths that both Emily and Victoria are willing to go in order to protect the men they love and best each other continues to be fascinating to watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10