Revenge: Pilot (1.1)

There's an art to creating strong primetime soap operas. You can go so far into left-field that there's no break from the zany absurdity, and wind up with a Titans or the depressing later years of Nip/Tuck. Or you can get stuck playing things straight, making potentially juicy scenarios pretty weak. You then wind up with Ringer. Judging from the extensive ad campaign ABC launched for its newest night-time soap Revenge, I assumed that executive producer Mike Kelley had hit that tricky spot between both camps. Based on this pilot, he totally succeeded with it. As a result, we get some straight moral ambiguity, as well as a bad girl in a bad wig lacing soup with poison. Revenge is a sudsy guilty pleasure that has an irresistible hook and some ridiculously strong lead characters.

Any good soap opera needs a whip-smart, morally questionable character at its heart, like an Amanda Woodward or an Alexis Carrington. Revenge has two: the vengeance-driven potential wingnut Emily Thorne, and the Hamptons ice queen Victoria Grayson. Emily's journey is fuelled by her desire for revenge against the wealthy socialites who framed her recently deceased father on terrorism charges (!) There's a great moment at the end when, in flashback, we see Emily reading a letter from her father, asking her to forgive the men and women that betrayed him. But being so damaged and nutty, Emily ignores her father's wish, and pursues her own form of vigilante justice. She's a great central character, somebody doing what she thinks is right, while we have to debate the morality of it all.

Madeleine Stowe, looking like she's arrived from a time machine out of 1995, works wonders with the potentially scenery-chewing part of Victoria, a hard-as-nails rich bitch who gets royally screwed over in the pilot. She's shrewd and mean, but her romantic hardships make her vulnerable, and I loved her subtle dismissal of love rival Lydia at the party.

I'm already bored by the romance between the gay kid from Gossip Girl and Not!Sofia Vergara, and while it's nice to see Nick Weschler escape from the Roswell wasteland, he's been saddled with one of those annoying do-gooder rich dudes, which is just no fun. Gabriel Mann, always reliable as potentially-creepy James Spader-lite characters, makes for an interesting nemesis/romantic interest for Emily, and I'm eager to see where that story goes. Ashley Madekwe, similarly annoying on the short-lived Models Inc. knock-off The Beautiful Life, is totally Basil Exposition. Gah.

Of the rest, I'm not sure the flashback at the beginning was entirely necessary (especially when it's so far into the future), but the two leads and the general concept of the show left me really intrigued. And it's nice to see that Dawson's Creek-ish North Carolina locale once again. I love a strong night-time soap, and of the many premiering this season Revenge already feels like the one to beat. B+

Credits
Guest stars Amber Valletta (Lydia Davis); Emily Alyn Lind (Amanda Clarke); Brian Goodman (Carl Porter); Christina Chang (Karrie); James Tupper (David Clarke)
Writer Mike Kelley Director Phillip Noyce