My Review of Revenge's 1x14: "Perception"

Written by Nikki Toscano And Sallie Patrick
Directed by Tim Hunter

Emily (to herself): “Truth is a battle of perception. People only see what they’re prepared to confront.”

And that’s not the only elements of perceptiveness that is imparted throughout this entire episode. Everyone seemed to be seeing a lot of things and reacting upon them and I don’t just mean the usual people as well.

Conrad was able to see past biology in this episode and realised that he still loved Charlotte, even if her real father was a man he thoroughly despised but even that wasn’t enough to stop him from breaking his promise about keeping Charlotte’s true lineage a secret and he managed to blurt it out in a typical open fashion thanks to Victoria’s continued determination for her own self preservation.

Of course, Conrad’s reasons for telling Charlotte who her father are something we can thank both Jack and Daniel for as well. Daniel had fallen for Victoria’s misinformation about David being a rapist and foolishly defended his mother’s honour, only to have Conrad snap and get the real truth out there.

As for Jack, he had finally seen a tape of Amanda’s session with Treadwell and decided that her honour also deserved to be defended. I kind of loved seeing Jack tear into Victoria in the manner that he did. After all, she has had it coming and it’s better that Charlotte knows the truth about her real father, at least from a viewing perspective if not from her own.

Ah, poor Charlotte – she really is one of the few innocent people on this show and her world was shattered with the way Conrad revealed her parentage. I liked that Declan played the supportive boyfriend in this episode but it’s going to take a lot more than that for Charlotte to get over it. From her perspective, she has no clue who David Clarke really is, so the idea that she’s the daughter of a terrorist is obviously going to be something that she’s not going to handle all that well.

Of course, Charlotte finding out about David being her real father was another of several things to go wrong for Emily this week. She asked Nolan to make sure that Jack wouldn’t see the video and he went behind her back and made sure that he did. Granted, Nolan was probably doing that with the best of intentions but it still caused the havoc that Emily hadn’t anticipated for.

Keeping with Emily’s disasters this week – has Amanda finally turned on her? She wasn’t best pleased with Emily wrecking her relationship with Jack this week and oddly enough, I can’t blame her. I mean, Emily really has pushed Amanda to quite some levels and it was always inevitable that she was going to turn on Emily and given that there’s an engagement party on the way, now was as good as any time for Amanda to shift gears and want to get away from Emily.

However, I don’t know if it was Amanda who actually broke into Emily’s house and stole the Infinity box though. I know with the emphasised invite that it looks pretty obvious but considering that Emily’s pissed off a certain someone more than she has Amanda, I wouldn’t be surprised if the person currently in possession of that box happens to be Tyler. He’s certainly far less tolerant of Emily than even Amanda is right about now.

Getting back to the perception of the episode though, it’s not too surprising that Emily had been stalking Daniel for a while before their first meeting in the opening episode. It does make sense though, given that back then Daniel was quoting poetry and commenting on perception in a bar where him and Emily actually did interact with each other briefly. Emily certainly did her homework on Daniel and now she’s close to it actually paying off.

Last but not least the arrival of Conrad’s father, Edward was another highlight of this episode. I found it interesting how he treated Victoria like the daughter he probably always wanted but at the same time, took a glee in pointing out Conrad’s collective failures. Now there’s a father/son dynamic I want to see much more of.

I’m also beginning to wonder if he’s also being set up as another potential obstacle for Emily or another element to her revenge scheme. I could easily buy into him having some involvement in David’s downfall as well. In fact, I think I’d almost be disappointed if he wasn’t because there’s certainly something sinister about him.

Also in “Perception”

Before the big reveal, Victoria and Charlotte were actually making some progress. Victoria even stepped out of her comfort zone to have a drink at Jack’s bar.

Nolan: “Fire and ice, subtle. Was fire and brimstone not available?”
Emily: “I didn’t check.”

It’s nice that we’ve gotten to a point now where Jack is actually considering Nolan as a friend. He didn’t really refuse the flat screen but he seemed touched by Nolan’s concern for him.

Conrad (to Daniel): “So fire and ice? It’s astonishing how your mother managed to model the theme of your engagement party on both sides of her personality.”

Jack (to Amanda): “I’m sick of being played. I deserve answers.”

Keeping with the perception theme of the episode, both Victoria and Ashley had some interesting comments on their paternal relationships and Conrad tried to turn Ashley against Victoria as well.

Daniel (re photo shoot): “Nothing about this is normal.”
Ashley: “Then try the other arm.”

Amanda: “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing? Why don’t we just tell Jack the truth?”
Emily: “That you’ve been pretending to be me this whole time? He’d never forgive you for that.”

I found it interesting the way Edward kept referring to Victoria as “Vicky” throughout the episode. Is there a deeper meaning or just affectionate pet name?

Emily: “Amanda!”
Amanda: “Stop calling me that! You want that tape so badly, get it from him.”

Edward: “I’ve loved a lot of women in my life. I’ve never figured out how to make it last.”
Victoria: “Well that’s because you love too many at the same time.”

Standout music: M83’s “Wait” towards the end of the episode.

Victoria (re Charlotte’s parentage): “I will never forgive you for this.”
Conrad: “And I’ll never forgive you for inviting that bastard into our bed.”

Emily (to herself): “And when different perceptions battle against one other, the truth has a way of getting lost and the monsters find a way of getting out.”

Chronology: A day or so after “Commitment”.

Well, that was certainly an episode high on “Perception” all over the place. We’re just a matter of days away from the engagement party of the year, Emily’s allies are not being helpful to her interests and the arrival of Edward means another interesting cog has been added into the mix. Now just bring on the fire and ice.

Rating: 8 out of 10