Revenge 1.1-1.2

[meganbmoore]

Revenge is being referred to as a gender swapped Count of Monte Cristo, but it's really more like "if Dantes had a daughter and Mercedes was the final villain," with a young woman whose father was destroyed by his business partners when she was a child returning to the Hamptons (of course they lived in a rich and trendy place) to get revenge.

So far it's fun, but I think I was hoping for it to be a bit cheesier or melodramatic? It takes itself a bit seriously for me and this kind of plot, and I suspect it'll be one best viewed in chunks.  Also, I'm kind of bugged by how Amanda/Emily only thinks about her father in the past.  I mean, I'm assuming her mother died when she was just a few years old, so it's more of a metanarrative "hero/ines have father figures as a driving force, not mother figures" thing than a "but Amanda/Emily, what about your mom?" thing, but still.

There's some potential for narrative fail in the future (largely in that I suspect it's going to skirt on women's sexuality largely being a weakness and/or used for evil deeds) but hasn't actually crossed that line yet for me.  But it's entertaining and lots of Bechdel passing and women smiling swtly at each other while doubleplotting and hatching schemes in their heads.

The Official Romance appears to be the rich, mysterious woman with a dark past seeking revenge and the nice poor boy from her hometown who still carries a torch.  So far their interactions are "hem" to me and I'm kind of already tired of how badly he, his father and his younger brother (naturally crushing on the rich girl who has a douche boyfriend) have it, but the gender reversal of the typical revenge romance setup (and the setup of many a kdrama) has potential to at least interest me.

Though, i'm pretty sure the writers are secretly shipping Amanda/Emily with Victoria, the Final Villain.  Their houses are on the beach and just in sight of each other, and every ten minutes there's a scene of them staring at the other's house just barely able to see each other as they plot.  Usually, they're also talking on the phone to each other being fake!sweet.

Comments

[havocthecat]

Revenge is being referred to as a gender swapped Count of Monte Cristo, but it's really more like "if Dantes had a daughter and Mercedes was the final villain,"

You know, that makes me kind of sad, because I really loved Mercedes.

[meganbmoore]

Mercedes is my favorite, so I was REALLY worried when I realized that her equivalent in the show was the nemesis, but so far I've actually been happy with what they're doing with her. She's being portrayed much more sympathetically than I was expecting, andthe show seems to view her as the only one who's Emily/Amanda's equal.