Yep, you read that right: Victoria Grayson, queen of The Hamptons on ABC’s Revenge, the one caught up in the messy divorce, will have a new love interest toward the end of February. James Purefoy will be joining the cast to sweep Victoria off her feet. Far more interesting than the casting announcement (although Purefoy is clearly the perfect charmer to match wits with Victoria), is how Victoria having a love interest could effect the storylines on Revenge.
Victoria’s an interesting character, and Conrad has hinted that she wasn’t always the belle of the ball, giving me the impression that her roots are less than Hampton royalty. But she’s a tough cookie; just when I want to feel sympathy for her (and I do think she truly loves her children), she does something so deplorable that I hate her again. During the last episode, “Commitment,” I was disgusted at the way Conrad rejected Charlotte and used her as a bargaining tool in the divorce. I’ve been sympathizing with Victoria, imagining how hard it must have been to frame David and keep her mouth shut all these years. Then, she leads Daniel into thinking that David raped her … unacceptable! I’m not sure if I want to see Victoria find happiness or if I want her screwed over tenfold!
So, will Purefoy play a love interest to confuse and befuddle queen Victoria, appealing to her softer side and catching her off-guard? I’d like to see him be working for Emily, since Victoria has now fired the lawyer who believes in David’s innocence and was helping Emily. You know Emily’s capable of something that devious, and that would make for a compelling twist. Then, maybe Purefoy’s character would actually start to fall for Victoria … oh, the tangled web! But I am getting ahead of myself!
I can actually see Emily and Victoria coming to some understanding and working together to bring the truth to light. Maybe the love of a new man is the perfect catalyst for the story to twist this way. …
What do you think? How would you like to see Purefoy’s character effect the storylines on Revenge?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 22, 2012 @ 19:20 EST5EDT
I may be misremembering the scene, but in one of their arguments about past crimes, Conrad tells Victoria not to forget that the frame job was her idea in the first place. It’s not like she’s been suffering to remain silent either, what with her stratospheric wealth, status, influence, and accompaniment of both her children who weren’t committed to mental institutions for no good reason. To me they are both equally reprehensible, and I can’t sympathize with one over the other. Even Daniel risks losing goodwill as he becomes more tightly enmeshed in his parents’ divorce schemings. As to Charlotte, Conrad hasn’t cut her completely out of his life (and chose not to dissolve her trust fund), and still has the chance to reconcile with her once he’s processed this new revelation of her parentage. Victoria’s had 17-18 years to do so, and still can not love her daughter as completely and openly as she does her son.
However, for Emily, it was Victoria’s betrayal of both her father, whom it seems she actually loved, and herself that was most heinous and most personal, and that had made the older woman the central fixation of her revenge. It’s not toward Conrad that her most hateful looks are directed after all, even those his hands are just as stained. I can’t see Emily and Victoria coming to any kind of understanding or partnership until long after the conspiracy is revealed and her vengeance has been satiated (save perhaps temporary enemy-of-my-enemy alignments such as against Tyler, without revealing Emily’s true identity). The takedown of Victoria should be saved for the final act of the show for as long as Emily is the principal character.
Purefoy’s character ideally should make things more difficult and painful for both women (as Tyler did, but less annoying than him) in order to intensify the drama. Bonus points if he affords the possibility of new character interactions for the supporting cast, such as Jack, Charlotte, and Ashley.
*POST AUTHOR*
I didn’t mean to say that Victoria wasn’t horrible, just that she isn’t one-dimensional, that Stowe and the writers have done a fine job in giving her some sympathetic qualities as well. I couldn’t choose who was more reprehensible, Conrad or Victoria, but the fact that both characters are given some depth is making this show far better than a guilty pleasure.
I agree that it’s impressive that the show’s shown both Conrad and Victoria to actually be capable of loving other (very few, very specific) people, then turn around and commit the most horrific acts with their next breath. It could be argued that they’ve been painted as more human even than Emily herself, a woman who is so damaged, guarded, and controlled that we can’t even know if she’s capable of love any longer.
Polly Walker would be a masterstroke, and IMDb doesn’t list her as attached to any current projects. Although I remember her from Caprica and Sanctuary, I’d completely forgotten I first saw her as Jane Fairfax in Emma.
Oh! Can we somehow get Polly Walker on the show too? Because a conniving diva showdown between her and Victoria would be teh awesome.