Summary
- Jack and Emily finally got together after a slow-burn romance, but this was a mistake as it undermined the show's overarching story of revenge.
- Killing off Emily's other love interests, Aiden and Daniel, to make her relationship with Jack work doesn't enhance the story.
- Jack should have been written out of Revenge earlier, as his character dragged down the overall storyline and felt like the cheap way out.
For four seasons, ABC’s Revenge followed the devious, manipulative, and beguiling Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) as she sought revenge against those who wrongfully framed her father for terrorism — namely, Conrad (Henry Czerny) and Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe). With a fake identity, an ally in Nolan Ross (Gabriel Macht), and vengeance to enact, Emily started her new life in the Hamptons as she secretly began to use everything she had learned to plot against and take down the Grayson family and their co-conspirators in the crime that stole her father, David Clarke (James Tupper), away from her. However, one tie to her childhood as Amanda Clarke (played in flashbacks by Emily Alyn Lind) remained: Jack Porter (Nick Wechsler), whom she had lingering feelings for and (eventually) married. But, pursuing this romance between Jack and Emily was a mistake.
An emotionally troubled young woman sets out to exact revenge against the people who wronged her father.
- Cast
- Madeleine Stowe, Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann, Henry Czerny, Ashley Madekwe, Nick Wechsler, Josh Bowman, Connor Paolo, Christa B. Allen, Barry Sloane, James Tupper, Karine Vanasse, Elena Satine
- Seasons
- 4
After Nearly Four ‘Revenge’ Seasons, Emily and Jack Finally Got Together
Toward the end of Revenge, and long after Jack learns the truth about Emily’s identity, Emily and Jack finally get together after a slow-burn romance that began in the pilot episode. After building this star-crossed romance for the entirety of the show, despite their other love interests, the two allowed themselves to embrace their feelings for one another that they’d kept tucked away off and on throughout the show. Shortly thereafter, they got married and sailed away for their honeymoon, beginning their happily ever after. But, truthfully, this slow-burn romance should have never come to fruition.
Putting Jack and Emily Together Undermined the Story
So much of what drove Emily toward completing her revenge was the life that the Graysons, and others involved, had taken away from her. Yes, she wanted vengeance for what they'd done to David Clarke and to prove their role in the deaths of so many others that David took the blame for, but Emily never recovered from the life she had stolen away. She was supposed to stay in the Hamptons throughout her childhood with her father, properly fall in love with Jack, and have a long, happy life. Thus, this made her taste for vengeance stronger. Emily and Jack ending up together is a happy ending, sure, but this show was never supposed to be about the happily ever after. This was a story of revenge, and the happiness at the series’ end should have been tempered after everything that had been lost to enact it (even more so than it already was).
That said, this romantic reunion doesn’t do Jack any favors either. Emily’s time as a beautiful vigilante cost him just about everything. He would never have married Fauxmanda, who was the real Emily Thorne masquerading as Amanda Clarke (Margarita Levieva), and had his child, Carl, without Emily, but his wife also wouldn’t have died — as Emily was responsible for bringing her into their lives, to begin with. More importantly, Jack’s brother Declan (Connor Paolo), who was his entire world, wouldn’t have died if not for Emily’s vendetta. Emily’s mission tore Jack’s life to pieces, something that she never intended, but that should have driven a wedge between them for good. Jack and Emily’s relationship hanging in the balance always felt so forced, like a desperate way to make sure that Emily was still considered “good” in light of her morally grey actions. As such, it paled in comparison to her other romances.
‘Revenge’ Had To Kill Aiden To Make Emily and Jack’s Romance Work
Additionally, while it was bad enough to see Revenge gloss over what Emily had inadvertently done to Jack along the way to put them together, it remains infuriating that they killed both of her other major love interests to do so. First introduced in Revenge Season 2, Aiden Mathis (Barry Sloane) joined the series as someone tied to Emily’s past. We later learn that they trained together for their missions with instructor Satoshi Takeda (Hiroyuki Sanada). It’s revealed that both Aiden and Takeda lost someone due to what the Graysons and their co-conspirators did, which is why they were both so eager to help Emily enact her revenge. Along the way, Emily and Aiden fall in love, understanding each other in a way that nobody else could as they both lost their fathers because of this.
While Emily took her fake relationship with Daniel (Joshua Bowman) and her plan to take down the Graysons to the next level in Revenge Season 3, she was engaged to Aiden in the shadows. They planned to take off after the mission succeeded, spending the rest of their lives together. However, in “Execution” (Season 3, Episode 22), Victoria kills Aiden as her own way of revenge for Emily’s role in her lover Pascal’s (Olivier Martinez) death. Thus, the makeshift future that wasn’t her happily ever after, but would’ve left her just happy enough after everything that had been lost, was taken from her.
Daniel Grayson Would Have Been a Better Option for Emily and ‘Revenge’
Likewise, though nowhere near the same in importance to Aiden, Revenge killed off Daniel Grayson in Season 4. Though these two had a checkered history, especially after he shot her, there was always fan interest in this couple. As VanCamp and Bowman were dating at the time and are now married with a child, their chemistry was almost palpable in their scenes, even when the characters hated one another. In addition to their chemistry, the story between them was arguably more engaging than with Aiden.
As a modern-day Romeo and Juliet, it was so interesting to see Emily actually begin to fall for the son of her greatest enemies throughout the first season. Though the series tried to cut this off by having Daniel follow in his father’s footsteps, the potential of these two actually reuniting and making a life for themselves after Emily’s revenge ended was always enticing. The feelings they shared were very real, and it would have made the story all the more interesting if Emily had ended up with Daniel. Alas, Daniel died in Season 4's “Atonement” episode while protecting Emily, showing that he still cared for her even after learning the truth of her identity and what she'd done to his family — and creating more ill-will between Emily and Victoria.
Jack Should Have Been Written Out Long Before the End of ‘Revenge’
Truthfully, Jack should’ve left Revenge after Season 1. Aside from the lone connection to Emily’s childhood as Amanda, he offered nothing to the show. He was a giant weight that kept dragging it down. His financial woes with his bar in the first few seasons, especially in Season 2 with his baby on the way, were always the weakest aspect of the show. This time spent in Montauk rudely took us away from the lavish and luxurious world of Emily Thorne, Victoria Grayson, and the Hamptons. Perhaps as an attempt to keep the show grounded amidst the warfare between the elite, Jack was truly the odd man out for the series’ run. If he'd been killed off instead of Daniel and Aiden, it could have improved the story tenfold. After all, so much of Revenge discussed how much Emily was willing to give up to get the vengeance she craved. Losing her childhood love, the boy she was “supposed” to end up with, would have showcased how much she was sacrificing while emphasizing the importance for her to achieve her goal. Jack’s role in Revenge was vastly overblown and overrated, becoming an anchor that dragged the show down. Emily and Jack ending up together, despite the story that unfolded, will always feel like a cheap way out. The last thing this story needed was a happily ever after, as it tonally goes against everything we had learned about what seeking revenge would cost a person.
Revenge is streaming exclusively on Hulu.
Your comment has not been saved