New Fall Shows: Revenge

Revenge is a modern re-telling of The Count of Monte Cristo (!) starring Emily VanCamp (!) and taking place in the Hamptons (!).

"Emily Thorne (Emily Van Camp) is new to the Hamptons. She's met some of her wealthy neighbors, has made a few new friends and seemingly blends into the town. But something is a little odd about a young girl living in a wealthy town all on her own, and the truth is that Emily isn't exactly new to the neighborhood. In fact, this was once her old neighborhood, until something bad happened that ruined her family and their reputation. Now Emily is back, and she's returned to right some of those wrongs in the best way she knows how – with a vengeance." -ABC.com

I loved The Count of Monte Cristo when I read it, I’ve admired Emily VanCamp since her early Everwood days, and while I’ve never been to the Hamptons, I don’t think there is anyone on the planet who would deny that it is a beautiful place. And probably the perfect setting for a story that involves the rich and glamorous lying, keeping secrets, and backstabbing, to save themselves and make even more money (Here’s a tip: if you can afford a mansion roughly the size of a department store, on the beach, in the Hamptons…you can stop…you are rich enough. No need to embezzle any more millions).

But Amanda, a.k.a Emily Thorne, comes onto the scene to seek revenge…dum, dum, dum.

 

And let me tell you something, I would not want to get on her bad side. She pulls off the “sweet, new girl on the beach” act flawlessly (probably because she was that person once), but it becomes very clear that she is cunning, smart, definitely not messing around, and has no problem with crushing a grown man’s wind-pipe. You go girl. Go Amanda for the whole wind-pipe-crushing thing, and Emily VanCamp for pulling off the character wonderfully.

But I also wouldn’t want to mess with Victoria, “The Queen of the Hamptons”. She seriously gives me the heebie-jeebies. And she just happens to be Amanda’s main target.

She looks like she is ready to cut someone with her crystal champagne glass!

Let the war of women’s wits begin. Will desperation (Victoria) or vengeance (Amanda) win? Dum, dum, dum…(Are you getting tired of that yet? Cause I’m not!)

I’m interested to see where this show goes, especially since we got a small taste of what happens in the future in the first few minutes of the premiere. It appears that the producers of Revenge are planning on making the whole, or at least most, of the season a flashback of what happened during the five months prior to the opening scene. And within that flashback are more flashbacks of what happened to get Amanda to this point of seeking revenge against these particular Hamptonites. Flashforwards and flashbacks and present- time all together…are we sure that someone from LOST isn’t a part of this show?

 

While this made everything slightly confusing at first, I think it was a wise move since it shows the audience what they can expect, which will hopefully make the viewing audience stick around for more than just a few episodes.

Catch up online and then start watching Wednesday nights at 10:00 on ABC so I don’t have to be the only one drooling over all of the Hampton boys-- I mean, beaches.

Dum, dum, dum…

Tomorrow: Charlie's Angels!

All photos courtesy of ABC.com