Revenge: Season 1 (2011-2012)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 31
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 6
A campy, trashy nighttime soap, Revenge is pretty contrived stuff, but it's thoroughly entertaining, thanks to twisty plotting, strong visuals, and a host of interesting characters.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 2
A campy, trashy nighttime soap, Revenge is pretty contrived stuff, but it's thoroughly entertaining, thanks to twisty plotting, strong visuals, and a host of interesting characters.
Season Info
In the first season of this mystery, Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) returns to the Hamptons, where she vacationed as a child, with a new name and a plan to make people pay for the damage they inflicted on her family. She begins by setting her sights on the wealthy and powerful Grayson family, led by Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) and Conrad (Henry Czerny), and gets into their inner circle by becoming romantically involved with their son, Daniel (Joshua Bowman). But she also develops feelings for her
Network: ABC
Cast
-
Emily VanCamp
Emily Thorne -
Madeleine Stowe
Victoria Grayson -
Gabriel Mann
Nolan Ross -
Henry Czerny
Conrad Grayson -
Ashley Madekwe
Ashley Davenport -
Nick Wechsler
Jack Porter -
Josh Bowman
Daniel Grayson -
Christa B. Allen
Charlotte Grayson -
Connor Paolo
Declan Porter -
James Purefoy
Dominik Wright -
William Devane
"Grandpa" Grayson -
-
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Amber Valletta
Lydia Davis -
-
Cynthia McFadden
Herself -
James Tupper
David Clarke -
Veronica Cartwright
Judge Elizabeth Hawt... -
-
Emily Alyn Lind
Young Amanda -
Merrin Dungey
Barbara Snow -
Brian Goodman
Carl Porter -
James McCaffrey
Ryan Huntley -
Derek Ray
Lee -
Christina Chang
Karrie -
Maya Hazen
Hikar -
Roger Bart
Mason Treadwell -
Max Martini
Frank Stevens -
Amy Landecker
Dr. Michelle Banks -
Michael Reilly Burke
John McGowen -
Morgan Hewitt
Sofie Arnault -
Matthew Glave
Bill Harmon -
Lindsey Garrett
Melissa -
-
-
Ed Corbin
Bull -
Bodie Newcomb
Fisherman -
Ciara Hanna
Cute Blonde -
James Morrison
White Haired Man -
Leslie Stevens
Miriam -
-
Greg Perrow
Malcolm -
Robbie Amell
Adam -
CCH Pounder
Warden Stiles -
-
Hiroyuki Sanada
Satoshi Takeda -
-
Ashton Holmes
Tyler Barrol -
R. Keith Harris
Doug Reid -
Diane Mizota
Anchor -
Carly Thomas Smith
Everly -
Marcus Giamatti
Dr. Ray Clemons -
Gary Kraus
Teddy -
-
-
-
-
Margarita Levieva
Amanda Clarke -
Candace Kita
Rosemary -
-
-
Elena Evangelo
Valerie -
Amy Parrish
Realtor -
-
-
Jamal Duff
Big Ed -
Rachel DiPillo
Jaime -
Alicia Coppola
Melissa Andetson -
Cassius Willis
Det. Gunther -
-
-
-
Tracey Rooney
Nurse -
Judy Echavez
Reporter -
Kati Sharp
Kim -
-
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Episodes
Pilot
Emily Thorne rents the Southampton home she once shared with her father and sets her plan in motion.
Trust
Emily gets to work on her next target, a former family friend who testified against her father; Victoria tries to find more information on Emily.
Betrayal
With help from her new ally, Emily seeks to destroy the district attorney who convicted her father; grieving Victoria tries to confirm her suspicions about Emily's past.
Duplicity
Recent scandals leave the Graysons on edge; Emily targets the psychiatrist responsible for institutionalizing her as a child; Declan and Jack face a tough decision.
Guilt
Victoria's vulnerabilities are exposed when feelings of guilt and a fight with her daughter becomes too much to bear; a vindictive Lydia returns.
Intrigue
When an incriminating surveillance video surfaces, the Graysons begin to distrust their head of security; the tension between Emily and Tyler comes to a head; the Porter boys make their moves.
Charade
A high-profile newspaper story interrupts the Graysons' wishes to lay low on their 25th wedding anniversary; Frank digs into Emily's past in hope of proving his loyalty to Victoria.
Treachery
Emily's plot continues to unravel; tensions escalate in Victoria's relationship with her family; Lydia's memory raises concerns with the Graysons; a friend starts to play dirty.
Suspicion
Realizing she has lost a valuable ally, Emily reaches out to her mentor; Victoria finds herself all alone; Tyler's influence continues to be a threat.
Loyalty
After discovering a secret, Emily questions Nolan's loyalty; Amanda settles into life in the Hamptons; as Victoria regains some power, things between her and Conrad take a turn for the worse.
Duress
An unstable visitor crashes Daniel's intimate birthday celebration; Conrad and Victoria use Charlotte as a pawn in their bitter divorce battle; Emily's plan starts to unravel.
Infamy
Emily targets an author with ties to the Graysons and the Clarkes; Conrad shows how dirty he is willing to get in the divorce; Jack lets his guard down with Amanda; a shocking revelation becomes a game changer.
Commitment
Daniel's romantic proposal may come with dire ramifications; Charlotte is forced to move back in with her mother; Jack's life is in jeopardy when a person he adores betrays him; Nolan makes Emily think cautiously about her actions.
Perception
In the excitement over Emily and Daniel's engagement party, things start to unravel for everyone; Victoria uses Conrad's father against him; Jack gets more involved; Charlotte and Emily both face problems.
Chaos
Emily's vendetta takes a dark turn at her and Daniel's engagement party, putting everyone in mortal danger; Jack decides to track down Amanda; Charlotte goes to extremes to relieve the pain of her family's betrayal.
Scandal
The Graysons unite in the face of recent scandal; Emily becomes increasingly anxious; Amanda's location is questioned.
Doubt
Daniel's imprisonment has an unexpected impact on Victoria; Jack's search for Amanda becomes more desperate.
Justice
When Emily finds out who was responsible for her father's murder, Victoria's pawns become entangled in an insidious cover-up; as Declan gives his testimony, his relationship with a self-destructive Charlotte unravels.
Absolution
The press becomes increasingly hostile as Daniel's release approaches; Emily discovers a photograph that leads to more clues about her father's death.
Legacy
Back in 2002, Amanda Clarke starts reading her father's journals and begins staking out the Grayson's home; as her anger and determination grow, she forms a plan to seek justice - as Emily Thorne.
Grief
A devastating loss brings Jack and Emily closer together; Victoria's new alliance could seal Conrad's fate; Charlotte goes after Declan.
Reckoning
Emily intends to finally follow through with her plan for revenge; the Graysons continue down a path of self-destruction; an explosive event changes everything.
Critic Reviews for Revenge: Season 1
What Kelley, VanCamp, and Stowe have collaborated on, successfully, is a rejuvenation of the nighttime soap in the grand tradition of Dallas and Dynasty.
This is a classic guilty pleasure, with campy twists.
Intriguing and genuinely fun.
A solid prime-time soap with a burnt-crisp soul.
Revenge isn't a good show, but it also isn't a satisfying guilty pleasure, because nobody's having nearly enough fun for viewers to catch the fever.
Viewers may get high on the tablecloth pornography but the people in those fancy kitchens aren't kidding around.
As is often the case with melodrama, I find Revenge essentially unconvincing and also quite likable.
Revenge has enough meaty characters and plot possibilities to keep it going for years.
The show looks great, and it often sounds good. It also boasts a decent cast.
Revenge is a dish that might leave you kind of cold.
There's just enough promise here that I don't want to write it off.
Even if there are traces of Desperate Housewives in Revenge's DNA, ABC's latest serial feels oh-so-last decade.
Revenge does offer a different take on female rivalry, an evolution that is in tune with bad times but that, symbolically at least, also reflects women's greater responsibility for the economy.
If you're willing to accept the series for what it is, Revenge may yield sufficiently guilty rewards.
Revenge gambles that we'll want to watch a good vengeance drama even when it turns out to be a grim process where in the end it doesn't seem like anybody is going to feel very good.
Way over the top but potentially a guilty pleasure for those with the time to pursue it.
Revenge's temperature runs more toward the lukewarm, feeling like an overwritten, contrived Lifetime potboiler.
Revenge makes the fatal mistakes of wanting to be taken seriously and yet not making its characters worthy of any kind of serious consideration.
It's terrifically trashy and a lot of fun.
If Revenge can curb its more outlandish tendencies, this soap could become a welcome guilty pleasure.
Revenge, probably savvily, hasn't sold itself as a class-conflict story or put that element up front - the central story is more an updated Count of Monte Cristo.
The series has potential for fun, especially if you've ever experienced the tiniest bit of schadenfreude.
Gender consciousness hasn't much to do with the reasons this polished prime-time soap opera succeeds as completely and deliciously as it does. It has everything to do with the subject itself.
It's rare that a new series is as "what you see is what you get" as this one, and though the audience for Revenge probably isn't very large, that audience is going to be well-served by what's on screen.
There's plenty of guilty pleasure to be had in watching she-wolves in Chanel and their sugar daddies go down week after week
The story is silly, but not trashy enough to make it your latest guilty pleasure.
Despite the somewhat incongruously grave tone, I found myself quietly entranced with this world.
Revenge may give me something I didn't realize I'd been missing: A glamorous drama with rich, beautiful people in a gorgeous setting looking to do one another harm.
Seeing Emily on the ropes could add a little more texture to this campy melodrama, so I say bring it on.
The opulence, the layered relationships, and not knowing the extent of how much vengeance will be enough for Emily make Revenge a captivating watch.
One of the best new series to hit TV this fall.
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