Series / Revenge (2011)

aka: Revenge

"This is not a story about forgiveness."

— Emily Thorne

Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) is new to the Hamptons. She's met some of her wealthy neighbors, has made a few new friends and seemingly blends into the town. But something is a little odd about a young girl living in a wealthy town all on her own, and the truth is that Emily isn't exactly new to the neighborhood. In fact, this was once her old neighborhood, until something bad happened that ruined her family and their reputation. Now Emily is back, and she's returned to right some of those wrongs in the best way she knows how — with a vengeance.

A Prime Time Soap that aired on ABC from 2011 to 2015, Revenge is a modern-day retelling of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo (which does get mentioned in season four).

The series has a Turkish Foreign Remake called Intikam.

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Revenge contains examples of:

• Aborted Arc: Several, such as Emily's mother's resurgence, Conrad's governorship and Victoria becoming the new series narrator and protagonist in Season 4.
• Action Girl: Emily is very proficient at beating people up with her bare hands. She's also very comfortable with guns.
• The Alcoholic: Most of the Graysons and Stevie particularly.
• A Friend in Need: Nolan is the only friend of Amanda's father who does not abandon him. When Amanda turns 18 he comes to her and tells her of her father's innocence and gives her her father's 49% worth of shares of Nolan's company (worth billions of dollars) since her father was Nolan's first investor and Nolan believes he would not have succeeded without him.
  • He also is determined to help Emily in her quest for vengeance, even when she doesn't want him to.
• Alpha Bitch: Victoria rules the Hamptons with an iron fist.
• Amoral Attorney: Ryan Huntley, Victoria's lawyer, who's willing to fake documents in order to help Victoria nullify her prenup and extort more out of Conrad in their divorce.
  • As it turns out, he's actually been working for Emily. Take that as you will.
  • Also Senator Tom Kingsley, who was bribed to lead the prosecution against David Clarke in the trial which started it all. Emily forces him to retire from politics and releases a sex-tape of him and his now-pregnant mistress to the public as payback.
• And the Adventure Continues: At the end of "Two Graves," Nolan is approached by a young man whose mother has been wrongly convicted of embezzlement and murder.
• Annoying Younger Sibling:
  • Declan Porter, probably just as much for the viewers as for his brother Jack.
  • Averted with Charlotte, who gets along great with Daniel and even has Big Brother Worship.
  • Charlotte is also now becoming really close and caring to Faux!Amanda.
• Anti-Hero: Emily's a Type IV; she goes after unsympathetic victims but isn't exactly concerned about the innocent people who get hurt along the way, like the employees of an investment firm that she bankrupts.
• Anyone Can Die:
  • In a series called Revenge, a few deaths are to be expected, but Amanda's death is still surprising.
  • With the Season 2 Finale, this has been thoroughly cemented with Declan's death.
  • With season three finale we got Aiden murdered by Victoria and Conrad murdered by a not so dead David Clarke.
  • Season 4 mid-finale has Daniel Grayson, who was trying to save Emily and shot by Kate Taylor, a FBI agent who is actually daughter of the new Big Bad, Malcolm Black.
  • The series opens with the quote "He who seeks Revenge must dig two graves," by Confucius, the final episode is titled "Two Graves," and Emily mentions the quote in her final monologue.
  • By the series finale, the only main characters still alive are Emily/Amanda, Nolan, Charlotte, and Jack. Everyone else is dead (except for Margaux, who ends up going to jail and Louise who after being swayed by Victoria so much gets a Heel–Face Turn).
• Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: While we're never given a definitive number on the size of Nolan's fortune, we are told that the combined wealth of the Hampton's elite is worth approximately the same as a week's worth of interest on his money. It's big enough that he can buy Emily's house out from under Victoria, and then give it away. Since Emily owns the other 49% of Nolan's company it seems safe to say that she has this as well and definitely shown in season 4 by buying the Grayson Manor, or in her words to Victoria, "paying your mortgage." In "Damage", it's revealed that Emily's fortune is worth 500 million dollars.
  • In the show's graphic novel, "Revenge: The Secret Origin of Emily Thorne", it is said that Nolan's company is worth over a billion dollars, so Emily inherits hundreds of millions.
• Arch-Enemy: Victoria Grayson and Emily Thorne. Though the former did not know it initially, later on they eventually spent their time mutually despising each other. In Season 4, even worse, since Victoria wants to get revenge on Emily and knows about Emily's true identity.
• Artifact Title: Following David Clarke's exoneration and Conrad's incarceration (and subsequent murder) in the Season 3 finale, the show transitions into more of a postscript for Emily's revenge than a story about it. Although Season 4 initially sets up the possibility of Victoria's revenge, this plotline is quickly dropped when David is reintroduced into her and Emily's lives.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Tyler becomes even more unhinged when he stops taking his medication. He stabs Nolan and threatens the people at Daniel's party with a gun.
  • The real Emily Thorne.
  • Kara Clarke, who tried to drown her daughter and was institutionalized for nearly 20 years.
  • Season 4 has Louise Ellis, Victoria's roommate when she was institutionalized, who seems to have an obsession with Victoria and also tries to kill Margaux by locking her in a steam room. Although it's revealed that her family's been drugging her by compounding her Xanax with Lariam which causes her craziness in order to get control of her inheritance.
• The Atoner:
  • Daniel, at least initially he wants to do what's right.
    • After spiraling into Grayson villainy in Season 3, Season 4 sees Daniel pulling back, reconciling with Emily and trying to be a good father to his unborn child with Margaux. This culminates in Daniel taking two bullets for Emily, the woman he shot twice a year ago, and dying in her arms.
  • Mason Treadwell, towards the end.
  • Paul Whitley, one of the main reasons so many people turned against David in the first place, turned around and became a priest in order to redeem himself for his transgressions against David Clarke. His quest for redemption and his work to do good even made Emily feel guilty for falsely framing him in her revenge. He even helps Emily to get Conrad to confess to the framing of David Clarke and she said that she would clear his name in return. When Conrad was going to confess, Paul was even finally willing to confess his part in the conspiracy no matter the punishment he might face.
  • Victoria, of all people, starts coming off as this in the last few episodes of the 1st season, as she dedicates herself to taking down Conrad for what happened to David Clarke, no matter the cost. Though there is at least some question as to whether this is because of a genuine desire to atone or because the whole affair is a convenient weapon to use against Conrad (Victoria was careful to secure immunity for herself and separate her assets from his before she said anything.)
  • By the end of the 3rd season Dr. Michelle Banks decides to help Emily in institutionalizing Victoria after the latter had killed her lover Aiden Mathis.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Victoria and Conrad have their moments. In a spiteful and mutually-destructive way.
• Back for the Finale: Charlotte, the only Grayson to survive the series, attends Emily and Jack's wedding.
• Back from the Dead: David Clarke.
• Baby Trap: Apparently Victoria got Conrad to marry her by faking a pregnancy. After the wedding she had a fake Convenient Miscarriage.
  • And in season 3, Emily fakes a pregnancy to reel in Daniel, who is wavering and looking to get back with his ex-girlfriend.
• Batman Gambit: Emily has studied her targets and knows which character flaws of theirs to exploit to bring them down
  • The crooked hedge fund manager is a gambler and built his fortune on insider trading so Emily presents him with an irresistible chance to gamble on a 'surefire' stock tip.
  • Emily's plan to frame Victoria on her wedding night, although it was interestingly subverted when her targets deviated from her predictions causing the plan to fail.
  • Emily's takedowns of both Conrad and Victoria at the end of Season 3, with Emily predicting that Charlotte will confront Conrad while bugged with a camera and that Victoria will follow Emily to the graveyard after being tipped off by Charlotte.
• The Beard:
  • Nolan fake marries Louise to make sure Louise's Beloved Smother doesn't control her inheritance and become her conservator, instead of her mother.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: During the middle seasons (2 and 3), we had Emily the Beauty (attractive, charming), Nolan is the Brains (Techno Wizard, cunning) and Aiden is the Brawn (physically imposing, action-oriented) as a Power Trio. } After Aiden dies in Season 3, Jack takes his role (being a new police officer).
• Bed Trick: In "Contact", Louise attempts to sleep with Daniel by impersonating his girlfriend Margaux, leaving him a note inviting him for some Shower of Love in his room, but when he gets into the shower, a naked Louise embraces him from behind and attempts to seduce him while he doesn't notice who she is. But he soon does, and is extremely freaked out by her actions, to the point of dropping her as a client.
• Best Served Cold: Emily cites this in her closing narration of the pilot episode.
• Beta Couple: Declan and Charlotte, Tyler and Ashley.
• Betty and Veronica: Jack's Betty and Daniel's Veronica to Emily's Archie as the main Love Triangle. Aiden can be considered as the Cheryl.
• Big Bad: Conrad and Victoria hold this position for most of season 1 by default of being at the center of the conspiracy to frame David Clarke. However, by the end of the season, the Americon Initiative are established as the Eviler than Thou Greater-Scope Villain, and seem to be pushing the Graysons out of the position in season 2.
  • Actually, by this point it seems to be more of a Big Bad Ensemble, with the Graysons and the Initiative plotting against each other.
  • And Conrad is fully back in place as Big Bad by the end of season two, knocking Victoria out of the spot.
  • The Season 4 premiere, being told from Victoria's perspective, positions Emily as this.
  • Malcolm Black is the new one after the season 4 mid-finale.
  • Margaux is this after Daniel's death.
  • By the end of the series, Victoria is back to being the Big Bad as Margaux becomes The Atoner and turns against her own assassin.
• Big Brother Worship: Charlotte seems to adore Daniel, turning to him rather than her parents when she gets in trouble.
• Big Fancy House: The Grayson Manor, which is now owned by Emily since season 4. It later gets blown up. The house is 20,000 square feet as stated by quote below:
  Mason: (to Victoria) I’ve always been amazed by how you can make 20,000 square feet feel warm and inviting.
• Big "NO!": Daniel when Malcolm Black's daughter Kate tries to bump off Emily. Instead, Kate and Daniel end up shot and killed at the hands of Jack and Kate respectively.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Graysons, although not a big family, otherwise fit the definition pretty well.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: As the series goes along, the relatively sweet-tempered Ashley is revealed to be something of a naked opportunist who views with contempt the rich people she works for/befriends
• Bittersweet Ending: "Execution," the season 3 finale. Emily has her revenge – her father's name cleared, Conrad in jail (unknown to her, he's been smuggled out only to be stabbed by a Back from the Dead David Clarke), Victoria in the psych ward – but the men in her life are having it rough: Aiden is dead, Jack's under suspicion for Charlotte's kidnapping, and Nolan's realizing his partnership with Gideon LeMarchal may not be a good thing.
  • "Two Graves", the series finale. Emily pleads herself as guilty for Victoria's murder to escape from prison, Victoria's fake corpse turns out to be her mother's, Victoria reveals herself to Louise (who later betrays her) and is dead for real, thanks to David shooting her while she and Emily get into a confrontation, where Emily later gets shot back by her and comes back to life (unknown to her, her heart is apparently damaged, so she supposedly has Victoria's transplanted to her, and Charlotte keeps it as a secret and seems quite nonchalant about her mom dying.^note Actually, we don't know if it was just a dream or an actual flashback and it was kept vague; so it may or may not have happened. Of course, one wouldn't necessarily put it past Charlotte to do that as a last act of doing something to spite Victoria — wherein she chooses to let Victoria die in the hospital and save Emily/Amanda instead (afterall, Emily/Amanda had saved her life before, so it was the least she could do to return the favor) by donating the former's organs, and it is implied that Victoria — who may or may not have been a voluntary organ donor — probably would not have approved; and even if she was an organ donor, of all people why would she want Amanda to have her organs? ), David is dead due to his lymphoma, Jack is stabbed by White Gold and turns out okay, Emily and Jack finally get married, Nolan has a new revenge client.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: Emily isn't exactly the most morally upstanding of protagonists, and she goes to extreme lengths for her goals without much concern for collateral damage, but her victims are usually despicable and unsympathetic.
• Blackmail: Happens all the time.
• Bodyguard Crush: Between Victoria and Frank, the Graysons' chief of security.
• Book Ends: The explosion of an airplane in season 1.
  • Victoria being institutionalized in the same asylum where Emily's mother was, and in the same way that Victoria had Amanda institutionalized as a little girl.
  • Season 4 sees Victoria becoming the new revenge-seeker and the tagline from Season 1- "What goes around, comes around"- being reused.
  • The series ends with Emily and Jack getting married for real, mirroring their pretend marriage as children. They adopt a new puppy and set sail on a new boat. David is dead for real, just as he was presumed to be at the beginning.
• Break the Cutie: Done to little Amanda in the extreme. She's drowned by her mentally ill mother, told that her mother has died, her father is framed for terrorism, she's institutionalized, gaslighted into hating her father, sent to an abusive foster home, framed for burning said home down, sent to juvie, her father is killed in prison and, upon her release, learns of her father's innocence through witnessing his best friend's murder. It's enough to transform her from a playful young girl into the steely and vindictive Emily she is today.
  • Also done to Jack, who loses his father, dog, wife and brother within the space of a year and goes from friendly sailor to attempted governor-assassin.
  • Charlotte may well qualify by Season 3's premiere, where on top of discovering she's David Clarke's daughter, losing her sister, and her boyfriend and now she lost the baby.
  • Margaux wants to get revenge on Emily, whose actions cause deaths to her father and especially, Daniel.
  • Louise, thanks to Nolan for "cheating" on her with a social worker (even though their marriage is fake), not wanting to start a family with her, and lying to her about Emily. She later teams up with Victoria and Margaux to destroy Emily.
• Breather Episode: "Legacy" in the first series, though exciting and dramatic, as ever, is one of the more relaxed and calm episodes of the series, leading into the finale.
• Broken Aesop: A lot of dialogue is expended across the series explaining in excruciating detail that the protagonist are morally superior for not simply killing their targets, and how murder would be crossing a terrible line. However, leaving people alive while intentionally making them fear for their lives and welfare consistently kills people in much greater than a 1:1 ratio of deaths to targets, and often the deaths caused are innocents. So the moral that's shown to the viewer is usually Just Shoot Him.
• Broken Pedestal: Louise sees Victoria as a wonderful woman hurt by life and looks up to her immensely. She sees Victoria as a friend and even mother figure and wants to be just like her. When Victoria seems to have killed herself, Louise goes to see Charlotte who rants on how horrible a woman her mother was and Louise thrown by this. In the series finale, Louise discovers Victoria faked her death as a plot to set up Emily and rants on how it's deserved. Louise finally realizes what a twisted and evil woman Victoria is and betrays her.
• Buy Them Off: The Graysons started the Victims United charity for the purposes of easing Victoria's guilty conscience about the victims of the plane crash.
  • On a smaller scale, Conrad tries to gain Victoria's forgiveness for his affair with Lydia by buying her a sports car. Victoria, in turn, gives the car to Charlotte in hopes of buying Charlotte's forgiveness.
  • Emily accidentally crashes a woman's car while driving, so she invites her to the Memorial Day party where she will also give her a check to cover the damage. Emily takes it even further by helping the woman getting revenge on a man who turns out to be responsible for killing her fiancé after listening to her story.
• Byronic Hero: Emily.
• Call-Back: Nolan greets Emily when she's let out of juvie in the pilot, and he's there when she breaks out of prison in the finale. He even lampshades it by mentioning a sense of deja vu.
• Cassandra Truth: At the end of the third season, Victoria figures out that Emily's Amanda. Before she can tell anyone, Emily manages to have her committed, making her accusations seem like the ravings of a madwoman.
• Cast Full of Rich People: The show is set in the Hamptons (an affluent summer destination for wealthy New Yorkers), and focuses on Emily Thorne as she tries to get revenge on the rich and powerful Graysons. Many of the supporting characters (including the Graysons' associates and Emily's friends) tend towards the wealthy end of the spectrum as well. Emily Thorne herself is rich as well, thanks to inheriting 49% share of Nolan's tech company, in which her father had invested.
• Character Death:
  • Frank.
  • Tyler.
  • Lydia dies in the plane explosion in the season 1 finale.
    • Or so we thought until the end of season 3...
  • Season 2 kills off Nate Ryan and Amanda in an explosion aboard the Amanda.
  • Two episodes before the Season 2 Finale has Aiden kill Takeda. The Season 2 Finale kills off Declan.
  • Father Paul.
  • Pascal.
  • The Season 3 finale gives us a double whammy of killing off both Aiden and Conrad.
  • Season 4 mid-finale has Daniel and Kate Taylor (the one who shoots Daniel).
  • Malcolm Black, even though he's only been in 3 episodes.
  • Lyman Ellis, whom Louise accidentally pushed down to the cliff.
  • Shockingly a mere three episodes before the Season 4 finale- Victoria Grayson, who commits suicide by turning on the gas, sitting in her throne and blowing up Grayson manor. She faked her death and is actually still alive.
  • Ben.
  • In the series finale "Two Graves"- David and, for real this time, Victoria.
• Chekhov's Gun: Since the show is a mystery/thriller, this trope is used a lot.
  • There is a literal case in the third episode when Daniel spots Emily's gun at her house, the same gun used in the pilot's teaser that will allegedly murder him.
  • Another literal case is the pearl handle pistol Conrad gives Victoria as a wedding gift in Season 2 "to protect her when he can't". In the Season 4 finale, when Conrad is long dead, Victoria finally uses the gun to try and kill Emily in her dying breath.
• Chekhov's Hobby: Emily's passion for swimming, which we see in the pilot allows her to swim in freezing ocean water with ease. This later offers some explanation as to how Emily is able to tread water, swim to a buoy and stow away on a fishing boat after being shot twice in the abdomen by Daniel.
• The Chessmaster: Emily is certainly this, given the way she played Lydia and Bill like fiddles to ruin them. This is how she enacts the majority of her revenge plans. She seems to have learned everything she knows from the warden of the juvenile hall she was incarcerated, as well as from her mentor, Satoshi Takeda.
• Childhood Friends: Emily/Amanda and Jack were this. We're not given details, but they were close enough that he later names his boat after her and now takes care of her former dog Sammy.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Jack has fallen for Emily without even realizing that she and Amanda are one and the same. She seems to return the feelings but refuses to act on them due to her revenge plot and relationship with Daniel.
  • To make things more complicated, he and the real Emily (who is impersonating Amanda for Amanda) seem to have a thing for each other.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Seemingly everyone, though Ashley stands out as one who legitimately switches sides on multiple occasions. Aiden appears to be this, but is closer to Double Reverse Quadruple Agent.
• Classical Mythology: Sammy - and his odd longevity - may be a reference to Odysseus's dog Argos, who recognized his master after 20 years of separation.
• Cliffhanger: The season finales are good at this.
  • The first season ends with Emily calling off her engagement to Daniel only to find her chances with Jack ruined by Amanda revealing she's pregnant, the plane carrying Victoria (and all the evidence that could exonerate David Clarke) exploding, Charlotte overdosing, and Emily learning that her mother is still alive.
  • The second season ends with Declan dying, Nolan in jail for his involvement in the creation of the Carrion program, Victoria's long lost son Patrick showing up on her doorstep, Conrad's ascension to Governor, the implication that Daniel shot and killed Aiden, and lastly, Emily finally telling Jack who she really is.
  • The third season finale ends with Victoria finally deducing Emily's true identity and smothering Aiden to death as retribution for Pascal's murder, Emily tricking Conrad into confessing to his role in the Flight 197 scandal, sending him to prison, David Clarke being officially exonerated, Jack being arrested for Charlotte's abduction, Nolan conspiring with Gideon to blackmail Daniel, Emily having Victoria institutionalized for her "delusions" that Emily is Amanda Clarke, and Conrad escaping prison only to be murdered by none other than David Clarke himself.
• Cool Boat:
  • Jack's (now Nolan's) boat is this, a hand-restored sailboat that looks nothing short of fantastic. Then it explodes.
  • The Grayson luxury yacht where Emily is shot.
• Con Man: Tyler. Unfortunately for him, Nolan is better.
  Nolan: You can't con a con.
• Convenient Terminal Illness: In the Grand Finale, Emily is framed for murder by Victoria and forced to flee the police. After Victoria sics her henchman on Emily's lover Jack, Emily becomes determined to end their cycle of retribution by killing Victoria once and for all. She corners Victoria in her hiding place and is about to pull the trigger, despite the presence of cameras that will incriminate her for real. However, her father David sacrifices himself by killing Victoria instead, as he is already dying from terminal lymphoma. He ends up getting compassionate release on account of this and gets to die as a free man.
• Convenient Miscarriage: Victoria had a fake one after she married Conrad. She was never pregnant and used a Baby Trap to get him to marry her.
  • Charlotte is revealed to have had one in the third season premiere, out of guilt over Declan's death, conveniently removing the need to retread another pregnancy storyline after Fauxmanda's.
• Conveniently an Orphan: The show is centered around this trope. Amanda/Emily's whole purpose is to avenge her father, who was framed for aiding terrorists and later died; her mother passed away when she was a small child.
• Corporate Conspiracy: The Americon Initiative serves as one in the series. Initially thought to be an independent Western Terrorists cell, they are eventually revealed to just be a cadre of savvy businesspersons who profit off of society's fear. They carry out acts of terrorism and then profit off the reconstruction that follows afterward by investing in the right companies beforehand. They then proceed to pin the blame on various patsies.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive:
  • The Americon Initiative is composed entirely of these — the terrorist bit is just a cover for them manipulating the stock market via disasters.
• Crapsaccharine World: The Hamptons might seem like a sunny world of parties and pretty, rich people but underneath it is built on lies and betrayal.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Mason Treadwell. He comes off, at first, as a smug dandy, who enjoys the fruits of his betrayal to Emily and David. After Emily burns down his house, however, we see him destroy Victoria's chance at defending Daniel and said he would take her down. When threatened with his corruption being exposed, he merely stated that it would be a small price to pay for restoring his soul. His reappearance in Forgiveness shows him being able to match wits with nearly every character he has screen time with, including Victoria.
• Daddy's Girl:
  • Amanda was definitely this, before he was arrested for treason. After discovering his innocence, she's now this again.
  • Charlotte Grayson is considerably closer to her father than her mother, but it's zigzagged since she learned he's not her real father, David Clarke was. As of "Impetus," it's safe to say Charlotte's pretty well done with Conrad.
• Dark Secret: Framing David Clarke is the Graysons', and they will protect it at any cost.
• Dead Person Impersonation Technically the case as Amanda Clarke goes by Emily Thorne after the real Emily died, but the two had swapped identities well before Emily's death.
• Deal with the Devil:
  • Many of the people who helped convict David Clarke did so because the Graysons bribed them.
  • Conrad Grayson framed David Clarke in order to cover up the deal he made with a terrorist group.
• Death of the Hypotenuse: By the series finale, the only rival love interest for Jack and Emily/Amanda's relationship that's still alive is Margaux, who willingly ends up going to jail. Everyone else is dead, including Daniel Grayson, who had no shot with Emily after Season 2 (which is when he lost any interest he once had anyway), and Ben Hunter, a Third-Option Love Interest introduced in the final season after Aiden died and Daniel was no longer any competition for Emily's heart.
• Defeat Means Friendship: When Amanda first met the real Emily in juvie, they got into a brief but brutal fight; now, they seem rather close, enough for Emily being willing to switch identities.
• Department of Child Disservices: The child psychologist in charge of Amanda's case tried to break her spirit and brainwash her into thinking her father was a despicable human being. She is the reason why Amanda spent most of her childhood in a juvenile detention facility. Victoria bribed her to do so.
  • As it happens, the owner of the foster care home Amanda stayed at was absolutely no better.
• Depraved Bisexual: Tyler and, depending on your point of view, Nolan
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Emily Thorne has one where she goes off on Aiden for mentioning her lack of empathy.
  Aiden: I'm sorry if I'm not as cold and calculated as you. I can't just turn my feelings on and off like the flick of a switch.
  Emily: Is that what you think? That I don't feel? That I don't miss my father every single day? That I don't mourn the life that I could've had? But that's why people like you and me fight. Because it gives us something to live for when everything else has been taken away. I thought you understood that. I thought we shared that.
• Distaff Counterpart: Emily is basically a female Edmund Dantes living in the 21st century.
• Distressed Dude: Throughout the first two seasons Emily looks out for and protects Jack, saving his life on several occasions, keeping him out of prison, beating up a thug who assaulted him and luring him out of harm's way. After Jack learns the truth about Emily's identity in the Season 2 finale the power dynamic between the two is somewhat evened, with Jack in turn rescuing Emily on several occasions.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • Emily to the majority of her victims, who were responsible for her life going to hell and/or her father being disgraced.
  • Mason's second appearance has shades of this — Victoria recruits his help in proving Daniel's innocence, but when he's led to believe that she's been deceiving him, he goes in the exact opposite direction, more or less destroying the defense's case. Interestingly enough, Mason manages to do this yet again in the final season, except the other way around, helping Victoria frame Emily for her faked murder.
  • Lydia attempts to capitalize on Victoria being the prime suspect in Emily's attempted murder by parading around her mansion and defacing her favorite chair. This backfires spectacularly when Victoria convinces Conrad to pin the shooting on her instead.
  • Michelle Banks, the psychiatrist who institutionalized Amanda under Victoria's orders, completely switches teams and does the same to Victoria when placed under duress by Emily. It is implied that she is at least vaguely disgusted by the lengths Victoria is willing to go to for revenge.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Declan towards Charlotte.
• Dope Slap: Everybody to everybody else.
• Doomed by Canon: This looks to be where Daniel is headed given the How We Got Here set up in the beginning of the pilot. Subverted: Daniel's death was a Red Herring — it was Tyler who was shot, not him.
• Downer Ending: the Season one finale.
  • Season two certainly did not favor any better.
  • Neither did season three.
• The Dragon:
  • Nolan is more or less this to Emily. Whether she likes it or not.
    • Though in season 2, he seems to be sharing the role with Aiden.
  • Frank, to the Graysons — though not anymore...
• Dramatic Drop: Ashley shatters a wine glass when she walks in on Tyler kissing Nolan.
• Dramatic Irony: "Her past will forever define her future" the therapist in the first season.
• Driven to Suicide: Charlotte, although she is not successful.
  • Daniel's ex-girlfriend Sara, after he got married to Emily. Again, not successful, given her roommate's keyword "tried."
• Easy Amnesia: Due to her injuries Lydia cannot remember what happened shortly before her accident and thus cannot tell the police that Frank pushed her
  • In the season 3 promo, we see Emily with a case of this after Daniel shot her.
• Emotionless Girl: Emily tries to be this saying her feelings are irrelevant, but when it comes to Jack getting beat up...
  • Aiden manages to break down her walls after much prodding in season two.
• Enemies List: Emily has a photograph of a Grayson Global executive retreat that she uses to identify the people responsible for framing her father. As she exposes some wrongdoing of each one, she draws an X over their face with a red Sharpie.
• Engineered Public Confession: After Emily kidnaps Charlotte and plants a seed of doubt in her mind about her parents' role in the Flight 187 bombing, David Clarke's framing, and Amanda and Declan's deaths, Jack plants a camera on her and lets her go free. She immediately goes to Conrad, confronting him about everything, and the camera catches his rant that yes, he did all that, and got away with it which is how he'll get away with killing her, too.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The one redeeming quality both Conrad and Victoria have is that they genuinely love their children.
  • Conrad also seems to genuinely love Lydia and is visibly upset when he realizes she's turned on him.
  • The White Haired Man/Gordon Murphy also seemed to actually love Kara.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The Graysons are Rich Bitch Corrupt Corporate Executives, but they're still horrified and sickened by the Initiative's terrorist actions.
  • Until it turns out that Conrad has been with the initiative all along, ever since Flight 197. Though admittedly, Victoria is still even more appalled at this revelation.
  • Conrad, despite his open villainy, still seems to draw the line at outright domestic abuse, offering Emily a hotel room to stay in after Daniel physically assaults her and objecting whenever Victoria slaps one of their children.
• Everyone Is Related: The show borders on this, particularly in later seasons with reveals such as Conrad's ex-wife being Jack's biological mother and Victoria's stepmother-in-law being Conrad's ex-mistress.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Sammy does not like real-Emily. At first, anyway; he seems to warm up to her quickly.
• Evil Genius: As of Illumination, The Falcon is this for the Graysons - a master hacker who has their finances guarded enough to protect it from Carrion (which prevents Emily and Nolan from completely bankrupting them in one fell swoop), and also played a role in the framing of David Clarke.
• Evil Matriarch: "Queen" Victoria Grayson.
  • And her attitude was heavily influenced by her own mother.
• Failure Knight: Aiden Mathis. Lampshaded by Nolan, that for someone so dedicated to taking down the Initiative, he really sucks at it.
• Fake Pregnancy: It is revealed that Victoria got Conrad to marry her by faking a pregnancy as part of a Baby Trap. After the wedding she faked a miscarriage. In the present Emily uses the same tactic when it looks like Daniel is going to back out of their upcoming marriage. She was planning to fake her own death right after the wedding but her plan backfired and an outraged Daniel shot her.
• Family Business: The bar Jack works at: owned by his Dad, run by the two of them plus his brother.
  • Grayson Global was founded by Conrad's father and he is still chairman of the board while Conrad's the CEO. Daniel is being groomed to be the CEO when Conrad retires.
• Fanservice: Pretty much the entire cast experiences some, along with the below mentioned Amanda and Louise, you have Emily who while usually conservatively clothed enjoys the activity of swimming in a bathing suit that shows off her curves and legs, Daniel would constantly find himself exiting a bathroom with only a towel, Charlotte was shown in a rather skimpy bikini top, Jack developed the habit of holding his baby while shirtless and so on and so on. This led to the cast being featured in a particularly awesome bloody pillow fight photo shoot
• Fashion Show: In one episode, Nolan buys Tony new clothes at a runway show.
• Faux Affably Evil: Virtually every villain on the show, along with Emily herself. After all, how else would esteemed socialites war than with painted-on smiles on their faces? Perfectly encapsulating this is the show's long-running tradition of characters warmly hugging while giving icy, over-the-shoulder glares into the distance.
  Victoria Grayson: Understand something Lydia: Every time I smile at you across the room or we run into each other at a luncheon or I welcome you into my home? Let that smile be a reminder of just how much I despise you. And every time I hug you? The warmth you feel is my hatred burning through.
• Flexibility Equals Sex Ability: Daniel comments on this as he sees his Emily climb out of an elevator.
  "If I knew you were that flexible, things might have worked out."
• Foreign Remake: Disney has produced İntikam, a Turkish-language remake of the show for Kanal D.
• Foreshadowing: In "Surender", Victoria says that "With [Daniel's] heart pining for another woman, he'll end Emily himself." The next episode, after Daniel and Emily's wedding, Daniel shoots Emily.
• Fostering for Profit: Experienced by Emily/Amanda at the hands of her physically abusive foster mother, Merideth Hayward, who pocketed donations for her own use while depriving children of food and water for days. Amanda and her foster brother Eli eventually get revenge on her as adults by congregating the mistreated children of Hayward House at a press conference (under the guise of giving her another donation) and revealing her on live television.
• Gambit Pileup: Most of Emily's plans involve manipulating people into manipulating each other.
  • A memorable example is the culmination of Emily's wedding day, where Lydia's plan to expose Emily collides with Victoria's plan to get rid of Emily, which collides with Emily's plan to frame Victoria, which finally collides with Daniel's plan to help Sara. The result? Emily shot and left for dead in the ocean.
• Gender Flip: Edmond is now Emily.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Victoria is the poster girl for this trope.
• Gold Digger:
  • The reason Victoria married Conrad, though she also claims it was because she genuinely thought she was in love with him.
  • Victoria assumes this about Emily and her interest in Daniel. Emily is actually rich on her own, but lets Victoria find evidence that suggests she's right because Victoria learning her real secret would be even more damaging.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Emily & co, the Graysons, and the Americon Initiative, respectively.
• Hair-Contrast Duo: Emily and Victoria. The show plays with the above archetypes—Emily's blondness contributes to her Girl Next Door facade, whereas brunette Victoria's villainy is far more apparent.
• Have You Told Anyone Else?: In "Charade", Frank tracks down the real Emily Thorne and discovers that she's going by the alias Amanda Clarke (the real name of the woman using Emily Thorne as her alias). She asks if anyone else knows he's found her, he says, "Not yet." Out in the parking lot, Frank has just enough time to call Victoria and tell her, "Emily Thorne [real Amanda] is not who she claims to..." before Emily/"Amanda" bashes his head with a tire iron.
• Helicopter Blender: Conrad pushes Pascal into a landed helicopter's propellers.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Victoria tries to buy Declan off to get him to break up with Charlotte. He responds by faking breaking up with her in order to get the money, then putting that money towards getting his own place where he and Charlotte can go. And then the two of them have sex. Great parenting there, Victoria.
• Honey Trap: Emily is actively working on seducing Daniel Grayson (and judging by the opening flashforward, she'll succeed), although her exact plans are unknown.
  • It's implied that Emily also set one for Mike Davis by introducing him to the woman who later became his mistress.
• How We Got Here: The pilot opens five months after Emily moves in to provide a tease of how far Emily will go to get her revenge, before we go back to her moving in and wait to get back there.
  • Later season premieres have opened the same way, with teasers for Season 3 suggesting that Emily would get shot in the first five minutes. As of episode 3-6, it now appears that Emily plans to fake her death and frame Victoria for her murder.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Graysons since season 4.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All the episodes have one word abstract noun titles, with the exception of the Series Finale ("Two Graves").
• Impoverished Patrician: The Graysons, by the beginning of season 4. Daniel, who now lives in a hotel, has to sell his stuff just to maintain his lavish lifestyle. He also has to sell his car to pay Charlotte's rent (which later she spends on drugs). They later get financially helped by Margaux and Victoria also later successfully inherits her former father-in-law's fortune.
  • The Graysons also go through this during the beginning of Season 3 after Carrion bankrupts them and Grayson Global is destroyed. Victoria is forced to auction off her paintings and take a job at an art gallery in order to support herself. This quickly ends when Emily promptly returns their fortune so her plan can progress.
• Intimate Lotion Application:
  • In "Secrecy", when Original Emily/Fake Amanda meets Daniel by the pool and becomes interested in him, she seizes the moment by casually throwing him a bottle of sunblock, and flirtatiously telling him to "make yourself useful".
  • In "Meteor", Louise is trying to seduce Daniel while he works on her portfolio by the poolside. They get into a flirtatious business discussion that evolves with her undoing her bikini top, handing him a sunscreen bottle, and telling him she "needs to know you have my back". The scene ends with him starting to rub the sunscreen on her back as she smiles triumphantly.
• Ironic Echo:
  • Lydia entered the Hamptons upper-crust thanks to her betraying David Clarke - and Emily's revenge gets her kicked out.
  • Dr. Banks made sure Amanda was locked in a small, dark room without any hope of escape - and Emily locked her in a box of her own.
  • Bill got involved in the conspiracy because of his gambling debts and insider trading - and loses everything when Emily tricks him into betting big on an insider tip.
  • Tom Kingsley espoused family values as a conservative politician - and is undone by a leaked scandal where he knocks up his mistress and sends her money for an abortion.
  • Mason Treadwell took away the only opportunity David Clarke had to get his story out there - and Emily burned the only copy of his new book as well as his collection of rare first edition books. Also, after reading his first book's lies as a child, Emily burned a treasured photo of her dad.
  • Judge Barnes beat and dominated his wife - and is publicly exposed for jury tampering in the David Clarke trial by none other than his wife herself.
  • Meredith Hayward abused the children in her care, including Amanda and Eli, by locking them in a metal coal bin. Guess where she ends up after Eli is done interrogating her?
  • Edith Lee - aka the Falcon- used computer hacking to ruin David Clarke - and is ruined by her own computer being hacked.
  • Father Paul sweet-talked Grayson Global employees into betraying David Clarke- and is sweet-talked by Emily into making Conrad confess.
  • Bizzy Preston leveraged the personal scandals of her clients everyday - and is blackmailed by Nolan over her own infidelity.
  • Luke Gilliam poisoned defenseless townspeople with his eco-unfriendly gas company - and is publicly poisoned by the very same water they were.
  • Conrad threatened Charlotte to remain silent and not to expose him to the world - and ends up exposing himself to the world with those very same words.
  • Victoria coerced Dr. Banks into institutionalizing Amanda as a young girl - and has the same done to her by an adult Amanda.
  • Emily herself attempts to frame Victoria for her faked murder on her wedding night - and is successfully framed for the fake murder of Victoria in the final stretch of episodes.
• Irony: During the buildup to Emily and Daniel's wedding, Daniel realizes just how alike Emily and Victoria are, which puts him off Emily. What does Emily do to regain his affection? The same thing Victoria did to get Conrad to marry her: pretend to be pregnant.
• Ivy League for Everyone: Daniel and Tyler were Harvard roommates. Justified since they're legacies.
• Jerkass: Tyler. His motives for trying to break Daniel and Emily up and appear like he's protecting Daniel to his family aren't clear, but his methods certainly are asshole-ish.
  • Apparently he was merely doing it for the evulz... until his psychotic break, that is.
• Karma Houdini: Emily makes sure of it that no one who has crossed her or her father gets away with it. Except for Mason, who successfully frames Emily for Victoria's (faked) death and slips out of sight.
• Kill It with Fire: How Emily dealt with the corrupt biographer.
  • Specifically, the biographer's house, which contained his research and manuscript.
  • David Clarke does this to Malcolm Black.
  • Charlotte does this to the Stowaway and, unsuccessfully, Emily.
  • Victoria does this to Grayson Manor and herself while sitting on her throne there.
• Lampshade Hanging: When old age finally catches up to Sammy, Jack says he was beginning to think he'd live forever. (Sammy, at this point, is in his late teens, which is really, really old for a dog.)
• Like Brother and Sister: According to the actors, Emily and Nolan are supposed to be like this.
• Living with the Villain: The show greatly plays into this, with Emily Thorne dating, moving in with and becoming engaged to Daniel Grayson, the son of her arch nemesis Victoria, all while none of the Graysons are aware of her true identity as Amanda Clarke. In addition to regularly attending family events hosted by the Graysons as Daniel's girlfriend/fiance, Emily's beach house is overlooked by Victoria's manor balcony allowing the latter to spy on her.
  • In Season 3 Emily and Daniel marry, resulting in Emily briefly moving into Grayson manor. Due to her ulterior motives being partially revealed on her wedding night, the Graysons come to the mistaken belief that Emily is a gold-digging grifter and Emily in turn blackmails them with the identity of her shooter. Unsurprisingly, their living situation becomes extremely tense.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Nolan is this, a problem he attempts to solve by bribing Jack into hanging out with him.
  • On the other hand, he apparently has enough company at the mansion to have a collection of "house bikinis" onhand.
    • Except they didn't get much use, as "Amanda" discovered during her first visit to Casa Nolan. They still had the tags on.
• Loser Son of Loser Dad: Both the real Amanda Clarke and fake Amanda Clarke experience this. After David Clarke was framed for funding terrorists by the Graysons and sent to prison, due to the public vitriol generated (including a book further libeling David written by Mason Treadwell), Amanda was treated hardly any better than her father, with no one questioning why she was institutionalized for no apparent reason. The real Emily Thorne also uses Amanda's father as an insult against her during a prison fight; she (ironically) later takes on the persona of Amanda Clarke herself after they switch identities, and faces much the same prejudice as an adult, with Daniel treating her coldly and generally acting like terrorism is hereditary.
• Love Dodecahedron: It started out as a nice, simple Love Triangle: Daniel and Jack are both in love with Emily, who has romantic feelings for Jack but has to stay with Daniel (for whom she may or may not also have feelings) because it's part of her plan. Then things got complicated: First, there's Tyler, who's in love with (or at least obsessed with) Daniel, but is dating Ashley while having an affair with Nolan. Then, there is "Amanda" who is dating Jack while pretending to be his childhood friend and you've got a web that should keep everyone tangled up for several seasons. And that isn't even getting into the older generation...
  • Season 2 makes this slightly more elaborate, adding a little more to the current generation as well as throwing more notches into the older one. Jack and "Amanda" are married with a son partway through the season, effectively keeping Jack from getting involved with Emily out of his love for "Amanda" until her death. Jack's place in the triangle is taken up by Emily's New Old Flame Aiden. Daniel becomes involved with Ashley after Emily calls off their initial engagement. Ashley does the impossible by linking the dodecahedron to the older generation by mixing it up with Conrad. Victoria uses this information to blackmail Ashley into prostitution which then causes Daniel to break up with her when he finds out. Daniel then returns to Emily, who breaks up with Aiden for the sake of infiltrating the Grayson family yet again, though Emily is still involved with Aiden behind-the-scenes, because unlike Jack or Daniel, Aiden is fully aware of Emily's plans and thus will readjust images and affections for the sake of whatever Emily's planning. After half a season of being a jerk to Emily for Amanda's death, Jack returns to Emily when he finds out that Emily called off the first engagement for him. So by the end of the season, three men are vying for Emily's attention. We had to ask!
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Stevie Grayson, Conrad's ex-wife, drops the bombshell on Jack that she is his biological mother. In a somewhat literal twist this also makes Conrad, Jack's arch-nemesis who he previously tried to assassinate, his ex-stepfather.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Lydia's near death; it didn't go the way Frank planned, but he was probably making it look like suicide even if she hadn't fallen off her balcony.
  • Which he clearly did a great job of given that he physically confronted her before throwing her off the roof...aren't signs of struggle the first indicator of non-suicide?
• Mama Bear: Victoria Grayson is an interesting example, given that she has no problem manipulating either of her children in schemes against Conrad. But if an outside force threatens Daniel or Charlotte, she will destroy them with extreme, ruthless prejudice. Helen Crawley found this out after threatening Daniel. When Victoria held her at gun-point, Helen calmly pointed out that Victoria spent twenty years regretting what she'd done to David Clarke, and that she couldn't possibly be capable of cold-blooded murder. Victoria responded by smiling politely, and shooting Helen without another word.
  • Stevie Grayson plays this trope straight in Season 4, fiercely defending Jack in court against a trumped up DUI and even going as far as to furiously confront Emily when she believes Jack is being taken advantage of.
• The Man Behind the Man: Takeda is more or less this to Emily, as he taught her everything she knows about the art of revenge, and moves in and out of the story whenever it's necessary for him to aid her, even when she doesn't want it, including killing Tyler and framing Daniel for it in order to keep her scheme on track. And it turns out he was just using her to carry out his own revenge scheme on the Initiative.
  • The Americon Initiative, represented by the White Haired Man, is this to Conrad and the Graysons.
• Manipulative Bastard: Tyler so very much.
  • Emily is also this, which combined with above Chessmaster traits make her another sort of bastard altogether.
• Marrying the Mark: Emily begins to date and then agrees to marry the son her own age of the family who killed her father in order to get close to them and enact her revenge.
• Meaningful Name: Emily Thorne, which is lampshaded by Nolan.
  • Also Emily is the feminine form of 'Emil' or 'Aemillius' which comes from the latin word 'aemulus' meaning rival and Amanda is latin for 'lovable' or 'worthy of love'.
    • Both names fit perfectly. Amanda who was loved by her father and the name she adopts Emily, as she takes on those who destroyed her family.
    • Word of God has confirmed both these names and meanings were intentional.
  • The Porters, who are the poorest characters on the show.
  • The Graysons.
    • "Grayson" may also qualify as an Ironic Name, given that the original meaning of the name was "son of a servant".
  • Malcolm Black.
• Magical Asian: Satoshi Takeda is Emily's mysterious Japanese mentor.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Emily was a Little Miss Bad Ass in juvie, but now using her brains to get revenge in the Hamptons. And she's trained in the Japanese martial arts.
• Mouth of Sauron: Gordon Murphy, Helen Crowley (after his death), and Mr. Trask (after her death) serve as the Americon Initiative's representatives.
• Ms Fan Service:
  • Original Emily/Fake Amanda is an attractive woman who's far more sexual than anyone in the cast. Working as a stripper/lapdancer in her first episode (and first non-flashback appearance), going for a swim at Nolan's place in a very skimpy bikini in her second while getting a Sexy Surfacing Shot, sunning herself on Amanda in her third, kissing girls in the bar, and perpetually rocking the denim cutoffs.
  • Louise Ellis from Season 4 is a gorgeous Southern Belle who often gets scenes that play up her good looks and sex appeal, with her fondness for snug dresses and outfits that emphasize her curves, eye-catching bikinis and lingerie. Characters even note this In-Universe, and Daniel can't help but be attracted to her despite knowing she's bad news.
  Margaux: [staring at Louise's picture] Quite the little sexpot, isn't she?
• My God, What Have I Done?: Nolan has this reaction after watching the video of Frank attack Lydia, an event that he inadvertently helped set in motion.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Emily ultimately decides not to kill the White Haired Man (the man who killed her father), because she knows her father wouldn't want her to be a killer — but since he's still alive, he's able to blow up the plane carrying Victoria and all the evidence that could incriminate Conrad and clear David's name.
• No Party Given:
  • In the later half of the second season, Conrad runs for office, but it's never elaborated on what party he belongs to.
  • It's never revealed which party Louise's brother, Lyman Ellis, who's running for Congress, belongs to.
• No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: A writer keeps all copies of the manuscript for his new book and all his research material in his home. Emily sets fire to the house
  • Inverted in the case of the psychologist who was not supposed to record her sessions and keep copies of the recordings.
  • Hand waved with the flash drive containing evidence of all Emily's wrongdoing. Victoria tries to make copies of it and finds that Nolan's encryption software conveniently prevents it from being reproduced.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: Nolan is always there for Emily. From giving her half his fortune and getting her out of juvie, to being there whenever she needs him pretty much from day one of her revengenda, whenever Emily needs someone, Nolan is her backup. But we see a nice reversal of this when Nolan's girlfriend dies. Emily's reaction is to wrap him in a big hug (very uncharacteristic of her, Emily usually doesn't hug anyone), calmly accept the (mostly true) accusation that she is partially to blame, and to tell him that she is not leaving him. Most of the time Emily is too focused on the machinations of her revenge plan to worry about feelings, but in that moment she's willing to drop everything to be there for Nolan.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: The episode "Doubt" is about 90% this. The rest is What the Hell, Hero?, with a dash of My God, What Have I Done?.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Used in Masquerade, when Victoria makes eye contact with the boy she gave up, all grown up.
• Once an Episode: Emily destroys the life of someone related to her father's conviction. Hinted at during a news report she was watching in the second episode that described the person testifying as "one of many" former friends now testifying. Looks like she has her work cut out for her. This gets dropped after a few episodes, though.
  • Emily's opening and closing narrations, on the other hand, are still used - but they're dropped in season four (until "Two Graves," when they come Back for the Finale).
• One-Word Title: Revenge, named for Emily's goal.
• Only Sane Man: Nolan, occasionally. Although he's usually on board with Emily's complicated schemes, every now and then he takes a step back and comments on the ridiculousness of what everyone else is up to. For instance, during Daniel's trial for murder, Victoria decides to try getting an acquittal by sending a thug to threaten the young son of one of the jurors; while she is busy trying to get away with her crimes, and Emily is feverishly attempting to prove that the Graysons are jury-tampering, Nolan is the only person to express sadness and concern for the four-year-old whose life is being threatened here.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Elena Satine makes a halfhearted attempt at a Southern accent as Louise Ellis.
• Pac Man Fever: Nolan says in 1988 he got the world high score on Street Fighter. He may have meant the first one, but when he fights The Falcon they play the second one.
• Parental Abandonment: Jack and Declan Porter's mother abandoned her family when the boys were very young and they were raised by their father.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password to Emily's laptop is "infinity", a word with extreme significance to her due to her father's use of it (he said that the amount he loved her was infinity times infinity). It takes Amanda (and later, Jack) about three seconds to deduce this while looking at the symbol.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Emily's schemes always fit the wrongs her targets have committed against her and/or her father.
• Pet the Dog: White Haired Man/Gordon's interactions with Kara in her flashbacks.
• Pet Positive Identification: Amanda Clarke's old dog Sammy remembers her when she returns to the Hamptons as Emily Thorne, but doesn't like the woman Amanda/Emily switched identities with
• Playing Cyrano: At one point Emily feeds lined to Fauxmanda to interrogate Mason with through an earpiece. Nolan immediately lampshades it by calling her Cyrano.
  • Tyler to Daniel.
• Promotion to Parent: When their father dies from a heart attack, the adult Jack becomes Declan's guardian.
• Psycho Supporter: Nolan is an inversion of this: while he is fanatically loyal to Emily/Amanda and assists her in her revenge scheme, he also frequently points out that she would probably be happier if she just dropped the whole thing and went off somewhere to enjoy her wealth.
• Put on a Bus: Tyler, and later Ashley.
  • The former comes Back for the Dead.
  • Charlotte. She reappears in "Plea".
• Rage Breaking Point: At one point, Emily is considering taking a break from her quest for vengeance due to fallout from her latest power play to destroy the Grayson's divorce proceedings, and even considers leaving Daniel. Then, she learns instead of admitting that she had affair, Victoria claims that Emily's father raped her, she smiles, and instantly recommits to annihilating Victoria, all thoughts of collateral damage and remorse forgotten. The last shot of the episode is of her staring at Victoria in the distance with cold, chilling rage.
  • In Season 3, after being shot by Daniel, suffering amnesia and almost dying, Emily decides to throw in the towel on her quest for revenge and even considers leaving to start a family. Then she learns, directly from the mouth of Victoria herself, that her gunshot wounds have left her barren. It's enough of a jolt for Emily to entirely drop her facade with Victoria, tell her to "get out", throw a tray of food against the wall and entirely recommit to her plan for vengeance.
• Reality Has No Subtitles: There are episodes in Season 1 where Emily speaks languages including French and Spanish without translation (though these aren't relevant besides telling us she's multilingual) and in one episode, where she repeatedly converses with another character in fluent Japanese, she then lies about what was said, and there is no captioning.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Emily gave Tyler a major one in episode 11 that also counts as Kick The Son Of A Bitch for framing him for Frank's murder which he didn't commit, but he deserved it though.
  • Emily and Victoria double-team Ashley with one in the Season 3 premiere, right before blackmailing her straight out of the country.
  • Mason Treadwell delivers one to Emily at the end of "Burn", about how her obsession with revenge will eventually bring her down.
    "Which I suppose is just now starting to become apparent, standing there alone on the tarmac, realizing that while you hid behind your mission of revenge, everyone else around you evolved. Did you really think they'd wait forever, sacrificing everything and getting nothing in return? Did you honestly believe that you'd get your 'happily ever after' after so many lies to so many different people... until all you had left were enemies? Like the little pyromaniac that you are, you started a fire and convinced yourself that you could contain it. But I know your dirty little secret. You can't exist without revenge. The endless cycle of hate, it's your addiction. And like all tales of compulsion, this will end the same way. First, you will crash. And then you will burn."
• Revenge Myopia:
  • All of Emily's revenge victims who come for payback. Especially Victoria in season 4, who wants retribution against Emily for what happened to her family, actual or perceived. Thing is, after what Emily went through, and how much of it was Victoria's fault, Victoria had it coming, especially given that her season 3 finale fate of being committed to an asylum was exactly what she did years ago to young Emily.
  • Also, Fa1c0n frames Nolan as payback for exposing her, which was done in the first place for all her sins.
• Redemption Equals Death: Daniel dies attempting to atone for his villainous actions by taking two bullets for Emily, saving her life.
• The Reveal: Several episodes have flashbacks revealing how Emily managed to ruin her target's life.
• Revenge: Emily's quest for revenge against Conrad and Victoria Grayson is the main focus of the series.
• Revenge Romance: Part of Emily's revenge plan involves her seducing, dating, and then getting engaged to Daniel, the son of her sworn enemies Conrad and Victoria Grayson.
• The Rich Have White Stuff: In the promotional images, the only person not dressed in white is Jack, the only character considered to be of the working class.
• Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor:
  • Charlotte, Victoria's daughter, has both - Declan Porter as the poor, and her ex-boyfriend Adam as the rich.
  • Emily herself has Jack and Daniel.
  • Daniel has socialite fiance Emily and baker ex-girlfriend Sara in Season 3.
• Sadistic Choice: Emily knows that Daniel is innocent of murdering Tyler... but she also knows Jack was the other guy on the beach. Any steps she takes to protect Jack will hurt Daniel and vice versa. She manages to Take a Third Option by having Lee Moran, a Grayson thug framed.
• Samus Is a Girl: The hacker responsible for forging the evidence against David Clarke, the Fa1c0n, is a girl who wiped her identity from the grid years ago.
• Sarcastic Confession: Emily: "Because that's exactly what I wanted. My most embarrassing confessions about [Daniel] broadcast for all the world to see."
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: The Grayson family has for years used their fortune to make their problems go away and avoid any legal consequences for anything illegal they get involved in.
• Sexy Surfacing Shot:
  • In "Secrecy", Original Emily/Fake Amanda is swimming in Nolan's backyard pool when Daniel comes in and meets her, with her taking the chance to climb out of the pool in her tiny red bikini. He gets so Distracted by the Sexy that it takes in a while to realize she asked him a question.
  • In "Meteor", Daniel is working on Louise's portfolio by the poolside while she swimming, and just so happens to look at her while she's slowly climbing out of the pool in her bikini, with the camera centering on her as she does. She even flirtatiously calls him out.
  Louise: You still checking out... my portfolio?
• Secret-Keeper: Nolan and Jack (since season 3) are the only ones aware of Emily's real identity and goals.
• Secret Test of Character: Emily is in the habit of arranging these for her targets. It's left unclear whether she'd actually let someone off the hook if they passed one, but it's a moot point since they invariably fail.
  • Explored in Season 3 with Father Paul, who passes his test by not calling the police - out of generosity - after being mugged by Emily, and by devoting his life to charity. Emily still doesn't relent but feels enough guilt over ruining his life to strike a deal with him.
  • Victoria also does this by seeing what Emily does to Luke Gilliam, one of the people responsible for framing her father.
• See You in Hell: The last exchange between Conrad and Victoria in the season finale:
  Conrad: If you get on that plane, it's the last thing you'll ever do.
  Victoria: Then I guess I'll see you in Hell!
• Sauna of Death: In "Ambush", Louise attempts to kill Margaux by locking her in a sauna and turning up the heat. Margaux is able to break out of there, and realizes it wasn't an accident, though she's not certain if it was Louise that did it.
• Sequel Hook: The series ends with Emily/Amanda sending a guy whose mother was set up and sent to jail to Nolan for help.
• Setting Update: It is the modern retelling of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo set in the Hamptons. Lamsphaded in "Exposure" when Louise said that the news were calling Emily (after exposing herself as Amanda) as this.
• Ship Sinking:
  • From the start of the third season, it became obvious Daniel/Emily was doomed. Emily could barely stand to look at Daniel, even for the sake of her plan which required marrying him, and Daniel began to drift back to his ex-girlfriend. Emily faked a pregnancy to get Daniel's attention back, and Daniel learned it was faked just as the honeymoon was starting. So he shot her. (She survived.) The two stayed in a rather unhappy marriage for a few episodes until Emily decided it had outlived its usefulness.
  • Margaux's friendship with Daniel never sat well with Jack; the last straw for Jack/Margaux came when Margaux and Daniel stole a project away from Nolan.
• Shipper on Deck: Nolan seems to be shipping Jack/Emily, although his motives remain unclear. It's possible he just wants to anchor her to her happy past and not lose herself in the revenge. The two are also the closest things he has to actual friends/relationships.
  • And Sammy, the suspiciously long living Labrador.
• Shout-Out:
  • One neighborhood fixture is the South Fork Inn, quite appropriate for a soapy revenge tale.
  • Emily's therapist has a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo on her bookshelf.
    • In episodes "Legacy" and "Addiction", characters (Bill and Pascal respectively) mention Montecristo cigars.
    • In the aftermath of Emily coming out to the world as Amanda Clarke, Emily is referred to as the "Modern Day Count of Monte Cristo" in a news report.
  • Nolan refers to Emily as his "girl with the infinity tattoo," recognizing her similarity with Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo.
  • In "Power," Conrad Grayson greets an acquaintance as "Fazzio," as in story editor (and writer of that particular episode) Joe Fazzio.
  • In "Penance," a character named Marco asks someone, "Are you insane?!"
  • In "Reckoning", Emily addresses the white-haired man with "You and I have unfinished business," which another woman out for revenge used to call out her targets.
  • In "Disgrace", Emily and the Graysons attend a performance of Pagliacci, an opera which ends with a scorned husband murdering his traitorous wife, mirroring Daniel's attempted murder of Emily.
  • In "Meteor", writer Ted Sullivan's name is mentioned in a TV news report.
  • In "Burn", Mason Treadwell names his Emily Thorne biography "The Secret Origin of Emily Thorne", the same name as the show's real life graphic novel.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Victoria tells Emily that she will have to answer for everything she has done and that her father would not accept what she has become, Emily angrily retorts by reminding her that she had her committed as a little child and convinced her father was a criminal.
  • And proving that it runs in the family, David shows up and tells a few of her revenge targets who wanted payback that they deserved it.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Emily definitely views Daniel as fair game in her revenge schemes, despite the fact that he would have been in elementary school at the time her father was betrayed. Though she has stated that while Daniel is part of the plan, he is not a target.
  • She was reconsidering this — until Daniel learned the truth and chose to follow the Grayson party line.
• Smug Snake: The entire Grayson family embodies this trope in all it's finery. In fact nearly anybody who isn't Emily, Nolan or Aiden is pretty much a smug snake.
• Spanner in the Works: Lydia tries to be one, and is thrown off a roof for her trouble.
  • She tries again, and is framed for attempted murder and forced into hiding.
  • "Amanda" (the real Emily) is threatening to become one as well.
  • Tyler's been steadily increasing as one since he first showed up. And it gets him killed.
  • Mason is one now that he knows that "Amanda" is a fake.
  • Jack told Emily to leave otherwise he'll tell her secret.
  • Sara becomes this unintentionally when she causes Daniel to second-guess his wedding. And then intentionally when she becomes Daniel's mistress in bid to antagonize Emily.
• Snow Means Death: The wintry deaths of Sammy and David at the beach house.
• Sparing Them the Dirty Work: The series finale has Emily Thorne ready to kill Victoria Grayson after having set her up earlier. Victoria at this point considers death but a mere formality, and expects Emily to go down for killing her for real as a final insult. What neither of them expect is the former's father, David Clarke, showing up and doing the deed for her, sparing his daughter the punishment, which, as he is dying from lymphoma, is short for him, as he is given compassionate release.
• Spinoff Hook: In the series finale, Nolan asks Emily what will become of him after revenge, which to the audience sounds almost like a breaking of the fourth wall. The final scene then has him approached by a young man with a similar situation to Emily's, saying she'd referred him to him, setting off speculation as to the answer to what will become of Nolan Ross after Revenge.
• Spiritual Successor: New Blood And Oil has drawn several comparisons to Revenge due to their similarities, such as a villainous power couple (consisting of Amber Valetta aka Lydia herself) being pitted against a cunning younger protagonist. Other similarities include decadent settings, Sunday timeslots, and very similar posters.
  • The pitched show Kingmakers was specifically intended to be this, featuring a strikingly similar storyline to Revenge and having a showrunner who was formerly a Revenge writer. However, the pilot was passed on by ABC.
• Start of Darkness: The flashback episode "Legacy" is this for Emily.
• Stepford Smiler: Victoria Grayson rarely stops smiling, even as it becomes clear that she loathes many of the other characters (her husband, Emily, Lydia...). Invoked by Victoria during a particularly vicious spiel to Lydia:
  "Understand something, Lydia. Every time I smile at you across a room or we run into each other at a luncheon or I welcome you into my home? Let that smile be a reminder of just how much I despise you. And that every time I hug you? The warmth you feel is my hatred burning through."
  • Emily herself is something of a heroic version of this, as she appears sunny and nice but is in actuality motivated by making those who hurt her father suffer.
• Suspiciously Clean Criminal Record: Emily is noted by the Graysons to be "squeaky clean" without a single morally questionable thing on her record.
• Sympathetic Murder Backstory: Victoria, although she is not the one who killed her mother's lover, is forced to shoot him post-mortem and take the blame for his death.
• Sympathy for the Devil: It's hard not to feel a little sympathy for the corrupt biographer whose house Emily burns to the ground, especially if you're a writer yourself (he only had one copy of his manuscript - and she used it as kindling). His complete BSOD - falling to the ground sobbing is what makes it work.
  • His subsequent actions somewhat redeem him too.
  • Victoria and Conrad often have scenes where it is hard to not feel sympathy for them. Many of the horrible things they do are meant to protect their children.
• Take a Third Option: Due to Takeda's manipulations, Emily is stuck with choosing either Daniel or Jack to be framed for Tyler's murder. Instead, she frames one of Victoria's goons, thus protecting both boys.
• Taking the Bullet: Daniel physically shields Emily from an attack by Kate/Kathrine, and is shot in the abdomen, later dying in Emily's arms
• Taking You with Me: Victoria seems determined to do this to the Initiative in season 2, rather than simply let them use her and Conrad and then dispose of them.
  "You and I are already doomed. Let them think we're laying down and when the time comes, I say we drag them to Hell with us."
  • After Nate is shot, he blows up the Amanda, killing himself and Amanda in the process.
  • Not to mention Mason Treadwell's price he's willing to pay for regaining his soul back in season 1. (By telling all the secrets of the Graysons through media opportunity's they gave him).
  • After being exposed for his role in the David Clarke conspiracy by Emily, Conrad wants her to do the same to Victoria and wishes her godspeed.
  • Towards the end of Season 4, Victoria finally decides she's had enough of her war with Emily and commits suicide by blowing up Grayson Manor. But not without first leaving behind evidence that frames Emily for her murder. Turns out she staged the whole thing by using her deceased mother's corpse as a decoy to frame her archnemesis.
    • This is however invoked once again by Victoria in the series finale when, after being shot and left for dead by David, Victoria manages to fire off one last shot into Emily with her dying breath. Emily survives but still, points for effort.
• Tangled Family Tree: The Clarkes, Graysons, Porters, and Emily Thorne are all tied together in a hopeless web of remarriages, infidelities, and swapped identities.
• That Man Is Dead: Emily declares Amanda to be no more in the pilot.
  • Which isn't entirely accurate — she swapped identities with the real Emily Thorne (her cellmate), so Amanda Clarke still "exists", it's just someone else's identity now.
  • Emily has given Amanda (the fake one) a new identity now, although she doesn't seem to want to take it.
• Title Drop: Emily's narration at the beginning of each episode always includes the episode title.
• The Unfavorite: Charlotte for Victoria. Victoria does love her daughter, but it's obvious Daniel is the golden boy. Though, one would think it should be the other way around, considering that Charlotte is the only child she had with a man she genuinely loved, while Daniel is the child she had with a man she despises.
• This Means War!: Though Emily never said this out loud, her appearances and reappearance in the Hamptons are essentially her non-verbal ways of stating this.
  • Season 2 has Jack joining in on the revenge train, with the deaths of Amanda and Declan being the final breaking points for him.
  • "Allegiance" has Nolan explicitly saying this to Daniel and Charlotte.
• Token Minority: Ashley.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Tyler purposely is this to Daniel.
• Tranquil Fury: Emily often displays this. Of course, this typically is lost on everyone but Nolan.
• Trash the Set: In the season 2 finale, Grayson Global is blown to Kingdom Come by the Initiative... and Conrad was in on it.
  • Also the Amanda, where a good deal of Jack's scenes took place, gets blown up by Nate Ryan mid-Season 2, killing him and Amanda.
  • The Stowaway burns down at the start of Season 4 when Charlotte tries to kill Emily by burning her alive inside, conveniently allowing Jack to commit to the police force full-time.
  • In the lead-up to the Season 4 finale Grayson Manor is spectacularly detonated along with Victoria, who fills the entire place with gas and flicks a lighter while atop her throne. Or rather, she used her mother's corpse to fake her death.
• True Companions:
  • Despite Amanda's manipulations, and her constantly keeping Emily in the dark and getting her in a lot of dangerous situations, it's clear that she really does love her like a sister, and will follow her to Hell itself.
  • Eli James was this to Amanda when she was in foster care, to the point that neither of them wanted to be adopted without the other. This is deconstructed when it's revealed that Eli was the one who set the fire that got Amanda sent to juvie - to try and keep them together.
  • Ashley was this to Emily before they both cottoned on to each other's ulterior motives.
• True Love's Kiss: In "Homecoming," Jack kissing Emily on the forehead is what snaps her out of her amnesia.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Justified, considering the setting.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Jack and the real Amanda, for the entire course of the show. They finally make love in the series finale and get married six months later.
• Unwitting Pawn: Just about everyone is this to Emily, except for her mentors, Aidan, and Nolan (who's more of a witting pawn than anything else)
• Uptown Girl: Charlotte to Declan and Margaux to Jack in Season 3.
• Villainous Breakdown: Between running out of his medication and losing all his blackmail material, Tyler has a rather impressive one.
  • Conrad has a spectacular one when Charlotte rejects him as a father over what he did to David and threatens to call the police. It also proves to be his undoing when his entire rant is broadcast live on national TV courtesy of Emily.
• Villain-by-Proxy Fallacy: Victoria has a tendency to consider Emily the source of all her problems, despite the fact that the vast majority were directly caused by either Conrad, the Initiative, her mother or herself. Margaux later develops this mindset towards Emily as a means of coping with the sudden murder of Daniel at the hands of an untouchable crime boss.
  • The same can also be said for Emily. Her single-minded focus on Victoria as her primary target doesn't quite hold up when you remember that Conrad was the chief instigator in the framing and attempted murder of David. Victoria's role was negligible in comparison and, at times, barely complicit. Then again, Emily's fixation on Victoria isn't entirely unjustified, as Victoria was the one who had Emily committed to an asylum where she was basically mentally tortured by a psychiatrist on Victoria's payroll, the treatment of which eventually damaged her so badly that she landed in juvie.
• Villain Team-Up: Occasionally attempted by the Graysons and co-conspirators such as Lydia and Mason, who all share the common goals of covering themselves and ruining Emily. However their cooperation is usually so tenuous that these come off more as Gambit Pileups.
• Villain with Good Publicity: So far, all of Emily's victims.
  • Actually, there's a bit of logic behind this; if their life has been ruined already, there's no need for her to do so.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: In "Doubt" Emily beats the crap out of the guy Victoria hired to steal the tapes from Jack and who also arranged for Daniel to be beaten severely in prison so that he could be transferred to house arrest. "This is for Jack." "That was for Daniel!"
• Was It Really Worth It?: Towards the end of the season 1, Emily has a couple of break downs of this sort.
• Western Terrorists: The Americon Initiative, the terrorist who were responsible for blowing up Flight 197, the crime which David Clarke was framed for.
• Wham Episode: "Chaos". The person killed in the series-opening flashforward was Tyler, not Daniel, who appears to be the one who killed him.
  • The first season finale, "Reckoning". See Cliffhanger.
  • Season 2 has "Sacrifice". By the end, Jack's been shot, the Amanda's been blown up, and Amanda is dead.
  • Also from Season 2, "Engagement". Aiden kills Takeda when his mentor confronts him about interfering with Emily's mission, Charlotte reveals to Daniel that she's pregnant, and at the end, the entire city's power is cut, presumably by Carrion.
  • And Season 2's Grand Finale, "Truth" delivers in spades. To recap: Takeda's fiancée is revealed to have been on Flight 197, Grayson Global is blown up by the Initiative, who Conrad has been working with for the entire season (and Conrad attempts to capitalise on the explosion by having Jack killed in it, but fails), Declan dies, Aiden and then Nolan are arrested for the attack, Conrad wins the election, Aiden and Daniel fight over Emily, and it's implied that Daniel may have shot Aiden, Jack goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge of his own and attempts to assassinate Conrad, Victoria's long-lost son Patrick arrives on her doorstop, and to cap it all off? The final line of the season? Emily reveals her true identity to Jack. And they had the sheer audacity to leave all this on a cliffhanger.
  • The penultimate episode of season 3, "Impetus". Charlotte learns the truth about Conrad, Victoria learns that Charlotte and Carl are not related, and Conrad lands himself in jail via Engineered Public Confession.
  • Season 3's finale, "Execution". Charlotte learns that Jack was involved in her kidnapping and turns him in. Nolan and Margaux's brother Gideon team up against Daniel, though Nolan finds out by the end that he may have gotten into a less than pleasant situation. Victoria kills Aiden, confronts Emily on her true identity, and Emily arranges for her to be put into a psychiatric hospital in the same fashion she did to Emily when David had been arrested. David Clarke is still alive and kills Conrad, who was on his way escaping from the prison.
  • Season 4's "Ambush". Daniel learns that Emily is Amanda thanks to Charlotte and finally, so does David, after seeing Emily's double-infinity tattoo when Emily confronts him, just before Victoria gets electrocuted.
  • "Atonement". Kate learns that Emily is Amanda and is revealed to be new villain Malcolm Black's daughter. Meanwhile, David attempts to poison Victoria, which is interrupted when Victoria stops to confess her role in his downfall, and then by gunshots from Grayson Manor: Emily and Kate fought, Daniel intervened and was killed, and Jack killed Kate.
  • "Burn". David has lymphoma, Jack leaves the Hamptons to head west with his mother, Mason comes back, and Victoria kills herself blowing up Grayson Manor.
  • "Aftermath". Mason works with Victoria on her suicide, Victoria reveals to Emily that her suicide is an attempt to frame her through a video Victoria recorded before her suicide (which is later vanished), and Emily is arrested for murdering Victoria.
  • "Plea". David's lymphoma is terminal, Margaux was in on the Victoria conspiracy, Victoria's not dead, and when Ben finds Victoria, Margaux's assassin kills him.
• Wham Line: "When you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." The opening text of the pilot episode.
  • "Six months ago, Victoria gave birth to a baby girl. Her name is Charlotte. You want proof that I'm telling the truth? Ask her who the father is."
  • "So what is she (Victoria) saying, they killed my mother too?" "No... She's saying your mother's alive."
  • "I'm Amanda Clarke." The very last line of dialogue in Season Two.
  • "Jack, I'm your mother.'' - Stevie Grayson.
  • The opening lines of season 4, not for the lines themselves, but that the show's narration is now being done by Victoria rather than Emily, as she sets about getting her own revenge.
  • "I'm David Clarke's daughter. I am Amanda Clarke." - from "Clarity", when Emily finally reveals her true identity to the world.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Subverted. While Nolan does point out to Emily that her revenge is hurting innocent people, he himself doesn't seem too concerned about it. In fact, he almost seems impressed by her conviction. Until recently, anyway.
  • On the other hand, he does call her out when he finds out that the real Emily killed Frank, but it's somewhat unclear if he's upset about Frank's murder or just the fact that Emily got him involved.
  • He really lets her have it after her actions lead to Jack getting beat by one of Victoria's goons, and he hasn't stop calling her out on it since.
  • Even Aiden has begun to be disgusted by Emily's actions, though this is mainly due to the fact that as long as Emily puts up the front as Daniel's loving girlfriend/fiancee, she can't openly be with Aiden.
• Whole Episode Flashback: "Legacy" takes us back to late 2002 and the infamous Grayson New Year's Eve party of 2003.
  • Season 2's "Lineage" flashes back to Thanksgiving of 2006 when Emily first met Aiden.
• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Emily can seem really nice to people she wants to win over, but her real persona is very different. Also Tyler, who takes great pains to appear wholesome and impress the Graysons.
• Woman Scorned: When Victoria finds out about Lydia and Conrad's affair, she crushes Lydia, and effectively exiles her from the Hamptons.
  • Of course, then it's Lydia's turn to be scorned, and she threatens to expose the truth about David Clarke if Victoria doesn't take her back — Frank actually refers to her as this at one point (though he was referring to Emily's actions, which she had been framed for and which she was innocent of).
  • Emily takes on this role in regards to Daniel after he tries to murder her on their honeymoon, sterilizes her in the process and parades his mistress in front of her.
• Wrongful Accusation Insurance: In the series finale, Emily (falsely accused of killing the still alive Victoria) escapes jail and is only stopped from killing Victoria when David does it first. The episode ends months later, with no indication she faced charges.
• Xanatos Gambit: Emily manages to maneuver her way into one, after being shot by Daniel and left for dead in the ocean, by lying and publicly declaring Lydia as her shooter instead of Daniel. From here on if the Graysons try to force her out of their lives, she'll recant her testimony against Lydia and send Daniel to prison. If Daniel confesses to get rid of Emily, he'll go to prison. If Victoria confesses to protect Daniel, she'll go to prison. If the Graysons kill Emily to silence her, they- prime suspects in her high-profile shooting- will be found out and go to prison. If Lydia is caught by the police, she- an enemy of Emily- will go to prison and possibly rat out the Graysons for the David Clarke conspiracy. If Lydia isn't caught, she will be forced to spend the rest of her life on the run. And if the Graysons give into Emily's blackmail and let her stay, she will continue to dismantle their family from the inside out. The Graysons are only let out of their stalemate when Emily intentionally leaks medical records discrediting herself.
  • Victoria attempts to initiate one in the series finale by faking her death and framing Emily for her murder. When Emily escapes from prison and comes after her with a bloodlust Victoria installs security cameras in her hideout, forcing Emily to either go to prison for real or risk Victoria escaping justice once again. She doesn't foresee a terminally ill David taking a third option and shooting her himself, getting away with it via compassionate release. Her response to this is attempting to take Emily with her while her back is turned, but this also fails. However, given that Victoria had a death wish all along and Emily winds up tormented with the possibility of having Victoria's heart inside her, Victoria's gambit still counts.
• Yandere: The fake Amanda has shades of this in regards to the real one.
  • Natalie, Conrad's ex-mistress, has major streaks of this towards Conrad. She goes as far as to marry Conrad's father and starve him to death in order gain access to the Grayson name and fortune, enters Victoria's social circle in order to undermine Conrad's ex-wife, and attempts to frame David for domestic abuse as a way of posthumously avenging Conrad. As the cherry on top, she erratically declares Lydia- Conrad's other mistress- a "vile whore".
  • Louise is a classic example, stalking Daniel, attempting to get pregnant by him and locking his girlfriend Margaux in a sauna.

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"And always remember... what goes around, comes around."