Revenge Winter Finale “Revelations”: What Happened, and What’s Next?

Happy hiatus, y’all! Time to recap where we left off with Revenge before we get back to business next weekend. Also, as a programming note, if you’re in the U.S., you can catch all of the second season’s episodes so far online now at ABC.com and hulu.com.

One of the things I like about Revenge is that we’re often in the loop on Emily’s plans, and there was a moment in the winter finale where she came back onscreen toward the end and I realized how little she’d been in the episode because we’d spent a lot of time on everybody else. I’m all for EVC not having to heavy lift every episode, but I missed her.

The other side effect of that is that I really can’t figure out whether she’s genuinely into Aiden or if she’s winding him (and us) up for a massive rug pull. I don’t know if I’m giving the show too much, or  not enough, credit for that arc.  And why haven’t we seen Aiden contact Takeda in all of this? We learned in the flashback that it was Emily who brought him into Takeda’s organization (after she saved him from being killed), not the other way around (which is what I presumed). I like Aiden. I like him with Emily, but I’m uneasy that it’s all a ruse. So there’s that. Thankfully, Barry Sloane is contracted to appear in all of the back half of the season so even if Emily throws him a hook, Aiden will still be around.

Elsewhere in the finale, Daniel successfully took over the Grayson Global board, putting himself in the crosshairs of the Initiative.  He also sent Ashley packing after a sex tape with Conrad surfaced, and has his sights set on reuniting with Emily (noooo!). Conrad and Victoria were an unusually united front in all of this as they tried to keep Daniel safe and then were neutered when they couldn’t tell Daniel why he shouldn’t pursue the board position. As soon as Daniel was ensconced, we saw him being watched by a roomful of people via a camera hidden in a clock gifted by the Initiative (creepy!).

Jack had his hands full with his son’s Christening when one of his dad’s friends popped up and warned him off of his new business partners, with good reason, since he killed their dad way back when. We learned this in the flashback episode. Jack also finally asked Nolan for help in finding out more about his new partners after his dad’s friend was beaten and the brothers dropped off Papa Porter’s journal with the friend’s name crossed out. Now, why Jack didn’t ask Nolan to bail him out with the bar in the first place is beyond me.

Nolan was in his own pickle because his ex-BF/CFO resurfaced, holding the David Clarke investment, which Nolan had foolishly admitted to years ago as a $500 million trust fund for Amanda, over him. So far, his ex hasn’t spilled the what of the missing money, but give him time.

Also in the flashback, we learned that Victoria wasn’t born this way, she was shaped into her current warped state by a mother who flailed at men in desperation and then killed one of them and pinned it on Victoria, who did time in juvenile detention (something we now know that she and Emily and Amanda have in common).  Victoria reached out to Emily at the end of the episode, but cut short the point of her call when she realized Emily wasn’t alone. Not sure where that’s going, but we’ve had way too little of Victoria and Emily together this season, so I’m down with it.

Revenge returns on January 6th at 9 pm e/8 pm c on ABC and CityTV.

Photo courtesy of ABC.