Many things happened this fall: there was a Superstorm, there was a Presidential election, and there was a CIA sex scandal. Perhaps most importantly, however, was the return of Revenge, that most guilty of TV pleasures that pulled off a near flawless freshman season. Ah yes: season 1. Those were the good days. Back then, Revenge was about steamy affairs, romantic duplicity, teenage goofiness, and campy slap-fights. Sure, the show tested its credibility when it introduced such silly conceits as Takeda, the shadowy mentor from the Far East. And sure, the stylized flashbacks were often a dreary bore that were entirely too serious for this nighttime soap. But hopefully the writers could see these weaknesses and course correct for the second season, right? Right?
Mmmmmmmnot so much. Season two of Revenge has fallen into the same trap that ensnared The OC, Desperate Housewives, and eventually Gossip Girl. It has introduced too many uninteresting characters, asked us to care about things that we never signed up for, and failed to make all the various subplots have any relevance to each other. If I never hear about The Initiative again, I’ll be happy. However, like Victoria Grayson enjoying a clambake, I know certain things just cannot happen.
