My Review of Revenge's 1x10: "Loyalty"

Written by Wendy Calhoun And Nikki Toscano
Directed by J. Miller Tobin

Emily (to Nolan, re Tyler): “Now you sabotage our alliance because you fell for a hooker.”

Emily – ever hear of the phrase, ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’? Well, if you haven’t, then familiarise yourself with it pretty fast because even though I believe you could take Nolan down without breaking a sweat, it should be abundantly clear that Nolan could easily do the same to you as well.

I mean Nolan had a good chance of actually doing that this week when Emily decided that Conrad needed to become privy to how Tyler really got Nolan to invest in his company and to be honest, I wouldn’t have blamed Nolan if he had decided to teach Emily a rather expensive lesson. She went too far this week and if she doesn’t watch herself, she’s going to find it a lot harder to get her own back without Nolan bankrolling most of her antics.

Nolan definitely felt betrayed by Emily and acting wise, Gabriel Mann and Emily Van Camp were pretty much on fire with each other when he more or less told Emily that she had gone too far. The comment about David as well was pretty fair too, considering that Emily didn’t exactly correct Nolan when he said her father wouldn’t be proud of her.

I get that Emily is a hardened person but Nolan’s been nothing but kind and trust worthy to her (and for that matter, so have Daniel and Jack), so it actually irked me this week with the way Emily screwed him over. In her own twisted way, she actually did Nolan something of a favour but at the same time, she needs to stop fighting against the guy and realise that he genuinely seems to have her best interests at heart.

Also, if she could control the Amanda situation through kindness and a fact filling diary, then saying so much as a thank you to Nolan every now and then isn’t going to kill her. It’s well and good, Emily lamenting about loyalty and the people who didn’t show it to her father but she’s risking becoming every bit as bad as the people she’s trying to get even with.

That also leads to the presence of Satoshi in this episode and my conflicting views with him. On one hand, he’s right about Emily falling in love with Daniel and how her emotions will be her undoing when it comes to her scheming but at the same time, he was given a rather weak way of departing from Emily’s company after she gotten him to invest with Daniel in the Grayson business. I do hope we see Emily’s sensei once again.

Speaking of business, Daniel has the knack for it but his hatred for Conrad and Tyler might not always work in his favour. He had every right to be frustrated when Tyler wasn’t fired but at the same time, if he only knew about his father’s antics, his reasons for hating Conrad would definitely intensify all the more.

As for Tyler – yeah, I really don’t feel sorry for him in the slightest. He might have managed to make Nolan feel like crap about himself and destroy the sex tape between but he was crafty enough to ensure that Conrad didn’t give him his marching orders and his continued manipulation of Ashley has done a lot to make me less fond of the character than before.

Of course, I have a feeling that Tyler is on the way out nonetheless though. Victoria won’t put up with him for much longer and I’m sure Conrad will find someway of getting him out of the family business if Emily, Nolan and Daniel don’t themselves. In other words, Tyler is more or less on borrowed time as we speak. Oh and the fact that he’s off his meds as well was an interesting reveal too.

Speaking of time, I did love that Amanda was struggling this week with keeping up the pretence. Sammy didn’t recognise her and Jack trying to jog her memory also kept her rather confused until Emily handed over the diary to bring her up to speed, plus the hostility between her and Daniel is rather promising. Of course now that Victoria knows she’s back in town, it can only be more interesting though.

That being said as rushed as Amanda and Jack and as much as their ‘relationship’ is built on lies and big expectations, I quite like the pairing in a way. Both of them need someone (Amanda more than Jack) and to an extent, it actually does work in Emily’s favour. That being said, I don’t envision this pair lasting too long though.

Also in “Loyalty”

I like the slight change they made with the credit sequence. It’s a good look for the show.

Emily: “Amanda, she’s a ticking time bomb.”
Satoshi: “Then you must stay clear of the blast.”

Now that we’ve seen training with Emily and Satoshi, can we please get a sequence where the former gets to use her skills on someone?

Ashley (to Tyler, re Nolan): “You kiss a billionaire, you get 200,000. I’ve been kissing Victoria’s arse all summer and I’m lucky if she lets me call her by her first name.”

Jack: “I can’t tell how good it feels to have you back.”
Amanda: “And I can’t tell you how long it’s been since someone was this nice to me. Thanks Jack.”

For all of Ashley’s complaining, Victoria is obviously softening towards her. Also Amanda managed to win Sammy around and the plot with her and Jack’s sea glass was nice.

Nolan: “You do realise you’re paying me back with my own money, right?”
Tyler: “I’m trying to say thank you. You have no idea the doors you’ve opened for me.”

Satoshi (to Emily, re Daniel): “Do not let the feelings you pretend to have for this boy to grow true.”

Instead of moving in with Declan, Charlotte decided to move in with her father instead. Emily’s also targeting Victoria’s divorce lawyer, Ryan Huntley, who wouldn’t take on David’s case.

Conrad: “Sorry but you’re fired.”
Tyler: “Am I? At least when I do business, people don’t die.”

Daniel (re Amanda): “That girl makes me nervous.”
Emily: “She just seems a little lost to me. Can you imagine growing up the way she had to?”

We got two flashbacks in this one – one with Amanda giving Jack her dog before being taken away and another where she confronted Ryan Huntley.

Tyler: “You’ve been playing me this whole time, setting me up to fail.”
Nolan: “Let’s not mix business with pleasure.”
Tyler: “Funny, coming from the guy who videotaped that sickening encounter.”

Standout music: The Velvet Underground’s “Oh Sweet Nothing’”.

Satoshi (re Daniel): “You are in love with him.”
Emily: “Of course I’m not.”
Satoshi: “When you came to me, you were a little girl. So much rage, so much betrayal. I did not want to train you because your emotions made you destined to fail.”

Chronology: From where “Suspicion” left off.

Now this was bloody excellent. “Loyalty” might have proven that Emily needs to develop a sense of the very thing to someone other than herself but it was also the strongest episode we’ve had in the series as well so far.

Rating: 9 out of 10