Image Credit: Colleen Hayes/ABC
Each episode of Revenge is so full of juicy delicious mystery that it’s easy to forget that the show opened with a murderous flash-forward. I don’t know about you, but most of what happened — or will happen — during that Labor Day weekend engagement party went completely over my head. I remember there were a lot of rich-looking, beautiful people at a party… and that someone died.
After last night’s episode, which furthered the Emily/Daniel/Jack love triangle, it all came crashing back. Wait a minute, Daniel is going to die! I decided to re-watch the pilot to scan for clues, now that I can distinguish the Baldwins and the Bettys from each other. Read on to see some of my retrospective theories — and post your own in the comments below.
Daniel is a dead man. The engagement party in question is hosted by Daniel and Emily. But while she’s at the party looking pretty, he’s lying face down in the sand with three bullets in his back. In an overtly secretive move, Emily brushes sand off the back of her hand but then admits to have just gotten back from the beach where she and Daniel were arguing. About what? The “same thing” they had argued about before. The fact that their relationship reaches an engagement would suggest that her feelings for Daniel are sincere, or at least become sincere, which could mean she comes clean to Daniel. Was their argument of the “my fiance is out to destroy my family” variety? I doubt it. Emily is too calculating to let human emotion disrupt her plan, and while I don’t think she is intentionally endangering Charlotte and Daniel, it doesn’t make sense that she would truly want to marry the children of her father’s betrayers.
But who kills him? They would have us believe that true-love Jack was the perpetrator. We see him dragging a lifeless body into the bushes and running away when discovered. There’s still plenty of time before Labor Day for Jack to realize that Emily is his long-lost Amanda, and last night’s episode certainly set up some tension between the two alpha males. But in a show like this, the obvious man never does the deed. When the murder is discovered, Emily and Nolan share a glance that speaks volumes. Is he the shooter? His character favors non-physical acts of retribution, and besides trying to create a happy-ever-after ending for Jack and Emily, his involvement so far has been to just sit back and enjoy the show. Maybe Tyler’s friend Jack, who has proven himself to be a calculating class-A dirtbag and who is noticeably absent from the party proceedings, will be the mystery killer? Or someone else. Whoever pulled the trigger, Jack still has some explaining to do.
I’m putting my money down on Tyler being the shooter. We don’t know what it is yet, but he clearly has an objective. Then again, Emily’s actions have all sorts of collateral damage and anyone could have a chip on their shoulder by summer’s end. When you’re dealing with rich, secretive people, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, or causing some eggs to break each other.
Declan catches a break. Little Porter has had the hots for Little Grayson (Charlotte) since the pilot, but there’s always been the one-two punch of an ex-boyfriend with rage issues and the caste society they live in standing in his way. At some point before Labor Day, however, it looks like his luck will change. At the engagement party, we see Declan and Charlotte dancing together and joking about how good he looks in a white tuxedo. As if that wasn’t good enough, the two go scampering off to the beach at Charlotte’s insistence for some clothing-optional sexytime. Sadly for Declan, they’re interrupted by his brother lurking in the shadows. Nothing quite kills the mood like stumbling upon the body of your dead brother.
Emily and Nolan on the outs? Nolan as the incessant thorn in Emily’s side is a staple of any good Revenge episode, but their exchange at the engagement party seems more heated than usual. “Nice night for it,” he says with a smug look on his face, “celebrating.” Emily tells him he “shouldn’t be here,” to which he replies, “That makes two of us.” Since it’s her engagement party, he’s obviously alluding to something else. Was she supposed to leave the Hamptons, but her love for Daniel made her stay? Maybe, but since Mr. and Mrs. Grayson are still standing, her full plan has not yet been realized, and it can’t be time for her to call it quits. Did she kill Daniel in a fit of passion and should be halfway to Mexico by now? Probably not. She seems just as concerned as Victoria, wondering where Daniel has gotten himself off to and even calls his phone looking for him.
Victoria approves of Emily? During her toast of the young couple’s nuptials, Victoria seems to be offering legitimate approval of the upcoming union between her son and the “lovely and beguiling” Emily Thorne. Was Emily somehow able to throw Victoria and her hired goon off her track? Then again, Victoria has a way of playing nice, and I’m inclined to distrust every word that comes out of her mouth. A moment later when Victoria asks, “Where the hell is my son?”, there’s more than just a dash of contempt in her voice.
What do you think PopWatchers? Are there any hidden clues you’ve noticed? Who do you think killed Daniel? And have you figured out that deal with the dog?
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Hey, ‘Revenge’: What’s the deal with the dog?
I think Sam killed Daniel in a fit of rage!! That dog wants Amanda for himself.
Sam does remind me of the Bush’s dog. And that dog does a lot of stuff with those retriever paws. LOL. Sam’s always lurking around, he totally pawed the trigger!
He better savour every moment he gets with Amanda. Sam is – what, about a hundred and twenty-five in human years? – so he better enjoy it while he can.
The title is lame. & the promo of Andie telling some blond bimbo she will “destroy” her is so 80′s=Dynasty.
This show will be not see season 2.
L&A SVU still the best!
Andie? Who’s Andie? And what blond bimbo? Are you talking about Madeline Stowe’s character, Victoria? Speaking to a BRUNETTE, who’s a psychologist and not a bimbo?
i always get Andie McDowel & Madeline Stowe mixed up too.
This show is so addictive. I think that Tyler may kill Daniel. I also think maybe Tyler has his own revenge planned against Daniel. Maybe he is friends with the girl Daniel injured the previous summer. Regardless I don’t think Jack killed Daniel. Maybe Jack was supposed to meet Emily but when she didn’t show he goes to the engagement party and happens upon the crime scene. I just hope he doesn’t get blamed for it and wrongly convicted just like her father.
I like the theory, but do we know for sure Daniel is dead?
I think I read on an article here that the first 13 episodes would focus on Amanda/Emily’s revenge and the next 13 would focus on Daniels death and murder trial.
I was convinced that they only thought Daniel was dead because the body was face down. Numerous episodes later they roll the body over and it’s not him. However, one of the producers admitted to EW that the second half of the season is a Who Killed Daniel? mystery. So, I guess I was wrong.
I was hoping for that too. Ugh. I didn’t want him to be dead. I was hoping it was Tyler.
I vote Daniel shot Tyler, who is the dead man.
I agree with you, its Tyler that is dead and not Daniel.
I agree that I am liking Tyler as the bad guy who kills Daniel. Also your writeup should list Tyler as Daniel’s “friend”, and not Jack’s. Can’t wait each week to enjoy every tasty morsel that they dish out on Revenge! Truly loving, this show.
I was going to say the same thing about ‘Jack’s friend’.
I like Tyler as the bad guy too, but I have a feeling he’s too obvious. He has an agenda, but I’m not sure it involves killing Daniel. When Emily called Daniel looking for him at the engagement party, the phone rings in the dead guy’s pocket. Declan reacted like it was Daniel, as did Charlotte. It’s possible it’s Tyler, but too much seems to point to the dead body being Daniel. And I am inclined to believe the killer is Nolan. Emily becoming engaged to Daniel, being accepted….to an extent….by the Grayson’s, perhaps backing down a bit from her revenge bulldozing, could set Nolan off. He has no problem toying with people’s emotions and manipulating things to cause tension. So I could see him snapping and killing Daniel….and blackmailing Jack to help him cover up the body.
The most recent episode really set up for the possibilty that it could be Tyler as the dead man with Daniel still alive somewhere.
1)Tyler took Daniels phone – this could explain why when Emily calls Daniel and it rings it is shown in the dead man’s pocket (that being Tyler).
2) Emily mistook Tyler for Daniel when she was seeing him from the back – the dead man was face down.
It could go either way.
@Ashley
I was just going to mention the phone thing! Yeah, we have a pre-established incident of Tyler taking Daniel’s phone and hiding it. And yeah, also Emily thinking Tyler was Daniel with his back turned. Noone ever actually confirmed it was Daniel in the pilot. Why all the mystery if it’s actually him? Plus, the article I read with the producer’s quote looked like the writer of the article inserted Daniel’s name in with [ ] and it actually only mentioned the trial for the murder.
Who says the dead body on the beach is Daniel?? We never see his face, do we?
I think Jack figures out the Emily/Amanda thing, and then they plot together to kill Daniel. This would be the the ultimate act of revenge toward Victoria: you love (or pretend to love) my dad and then take him from me, I pretend to love your son and then take him from you.
I definitely think Emily had something to do with it. I like this theory. LOVE REVENGE!!
-Emily definitely has something to do with the murder on the beach. I was rewatching the pilot and at her engagement party you can see that she’s brushing sand/salt off the back of her hand (1:27~1:28), just before Ashley approaches her.
-Whoever was killed was already unconscious and lying facedown on the sand before someone emptied bullets into their back. So I’m thinking Emily might not have been the shooter, but she could be responsible for incapacitating the victim in the first place.
Love that idea, this show is fantastic!!
I want to know how they’ll have a second season?????
I’ve read articles from producers and such that say there are more people in the Hamptons that seek revenge than just Emily.
I’m loving that EW is as obsessed with Revenge as I am – 3 or 4 articles today..whoop whoop!!
IKR! Lovin it!
I was thinking that the reason Nolan tells Emily that she shouldn’t be at the engagement party either is because he disapproves of the engagement and thinks Emily belongs with Jack. He’s certainly doing everything he can to get the two of them together.
My thoughts exactly! Nolan seems to genuinely want Emily/Amanda to be happy &, to him, that means Jack not Daniel. I thought his comment was a warning that she was carrying her revenge plot a step too far. Nolan’s definitely my favorite character though!
A couple things: I think Emily genuinely cares for Daniel, because he’s a good guy, but I don’t think she’s developed deep romantic feelings for him. She’s worked her whole adult life to get revenge, and if she’s going to have feelings for anyone, it will be Jack. I think the engagement is all part of the plot. I don’t think she killed him, however. it’s too obvious and so far her revenge plots haven’t caused anyone long-term physical harm.
Secondly, I think Jack pulled the body out of the water to try to save him, not because he did it. But I think Emily might know about the murder beforehand. I don’t think she called Daniel’s cell phone to check up on him, but rather to bring attention to the body.
I think that Emily will genuinely fall in love with Daniel throughout the course of the season, and that Season 2 will be her pursuing revenge against whomever killed him. After she is done exacting revenge for her father.
Who says Daniel is a good guy? I think we’re going to find out he’s not.
Interesting–I’d always assumed that killing Daniel was part of Emily’s end game–and plan to destroy Victoria–the whole time.
I don’t think she would cross the line into killing an innocent to get revenge. Her plans have more centered on destroying reputations & finances.
You’re probably right. Plus, it would be hard to have her continue as the protagonist if she became a killer.
Isn’t Dexter a killer protagonist just saying.
And Walter White is a murdering druglord. Of course, the key in both those instances are that they aren’t killing innocent bystanders (poisoning yes, killing no)! But it’s not a matter of whether you can turn your protagonist into a killer. It’s more that it simply would be completely out of character for her. If she’s that bloodthirsty she would have put poison in Conrad’s soup instead or left the psychiatrist to die in that storage container instead of tipping off the police/media to her whereabouts (and she obviously had the most personal hate for the doctor).
More likely her ultimate goal was to turn Victoria’s children against her & leave her with absolutely nothing…like her father was.
sammy was emily/amanda’s dog from when she was a child and jack took the dog when they took amanda away…..jack thinks emily is his amanda but is not sure yet and went the the party to talk to her saw daniel getting shot and saw people coming and panked and move the body
How about this for Nolan telling Emily that she shouldn’t be there…..She is SUPPOSED to have met Jack and sail off to Haiti with him and leave all the rest behind. That would explain him waiting for her by the water.
I still don’t think it was Daniel who was shot. All the interviews I have seen refer to the murder but Daniel’s name is always added in parenthesis. So the person writing the article made the assumption that Daniel was murdered. But that is not what the producer actually stated. I’m probably reading too much into this.
no your right i agree. they believe it was daniel because he is missing from the party but no one actually identifies him as the dead man
No, you’re totally right! The square brackets used mean that the interviewee didn’t actually say that particular thing, the writer added that in.
So it’s just an assumption that it’s Daniel. I really don’t think it is. There’s a reason they are setting it up to look like it really is him, but not showing his face or confirming it, and giving us clues like Tyler taking his phone.