Top 5 Plotlines Dropped from Revenge Season 2

Since Revenge is sure to be brewing some complicated plots in the coming weeks, let’s take a moment to check out some of the stories that…didn’t turn out so well. Whether the audience just couldn’t connect with a character or the show had too many things going on at once, these convoluted plots are best left forgotten.

1. Nolan’s Love Life (or lack thereof)

After having an ill-fated affair with psycho hustler Tyler in season one, Nolan’s love life heated up in the second season — if you count a pair of lukewarm romances with two milquetoast characters, both of whom were CFO of his company at one time or another. Padma, Nolan’s second CFO, wasn’t exactly a good match for our lovably snarky fop, since most viewers wanted to see the bisexual Nolan with a guy, and because her already dull characterization thinned out with each episode. The writers seemed to agree, so Padma (and her never-seen father!) ended up murdered by the Initiative. Then there was Marco, Nolan’s first love (and first CFO), a sweet, geeky guy who knew Nolan as a charming computer geek before he had his Hamptonite makeover. Marco declared his intention to win Nolan back from the boring Padma, but quickly faded into oblivion. This year, Nolan’s gotten a new lease on life, so hopefully he’ll find someone worthy.

2. Ashley and Conrad, sitting in a tree…

After several vague scenes in the first season, in which the shady Conrad made eyes at Victoria’s exotic event planner/personal assistant, the internet was abuzz with theories about Ashley bedding the big bad Grayson. Adding fuel to the fire was an early exchange in season two when Daniel, now dating Ashley, told Conrad that unlike Emily she was “faithful.” “Is she now?” Conrad sneered. A few episodes later, Emily sent a video of the two having office desk sex to Victoria and things hit the fan. After that… not much happened. Ashley became Conrad’s unenthusiastic, eye-roll-happy political campaign manager and the two acted like they barely knew each other. Show creator Mike Kelley later acknowledged that their “affair” was only conceived after he read chatter on the internet about the potential pairing. Now that Ashley has left the Hamptons, this story’s got the proverbial red pen.

3. Crazy Mama Drama: Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Kara Wallace

The Season 1 finale ended with the boffo bombshell that Emily’s mother, long thought dead, was still alive. The following months were filled with speculation and rumors about who would play the coveted role of Kara Wallace Clarke, and when the role went to the talented Jennifer Jason Leigh, famous for her psycho role in Single White Female, fans were excited to see what Emily’s mother had in store for the Hamptons. Unfortunately, the character didn’t live up to the hype, with Leigh’s portrayal of the dangerous, mentally unstable Kara coming off more confused and disinterested than anything else. After a few episodes, Kara was written out—without ever discovering Emily’s true identity. While the door’s still open for Emily’s mom to return, nobody seems too eager to see it happen.

4. Daniel is an Alcoholic. Occasionally.

An early thread from the beginning of the series was that of Daniel’s hard-partying lifestyle. When we met Daniel, he was trying to be sober and responsible after causing a car accident the summer before that resulted in his waitress girlfriend being permanently paralyzed. After breaking up with Emily and having a drink with Ashley (to her credit, she asked him if drinking was really a good idea), the second season opened with Daniel casually having an after-work drink with everyone from coworkers to his mom. And even Emily, who he’s once again engaged to, doesn’t seem to raise an eyebrow when he pours himself a stiff one. Shouldn’t Emily be using that to her advantage?

5. The Initiative. ’Nuff said!

Does anyone have any idea what exactly the main storyline of Season 2 was about? Or understand the point of it? All season long, characters yammered on about the shady, cartoonish corporate crime organization and how dangerous they were. We even met some of the Initiative cronies, like Helen Crowley, who found herself on the wrong end of Victoria’s gun, and Fisk, who Aiden killed in a fit of rage upon seeing Padma’s corpse. But aside from Manhattan having a night-long power outage, courtesy of Nolan’s stolen software “Carrion” (which also made no sense), Conrad told Victoria that he was the Initiative and that it was all a big lie. Um, what? This story had more holes than Tyler’s body after the Fire and Ice Ball! We’re glad it’s over, and apparently so is the show, since they resolved the lingering threads with two sentences in the Season 3 premiere.

Which stories would you like to see revisited this season? Is it time for Nolan to find true love? Can ANYONE make sense of the Initiative? Sound off in the comments section below.

Check out Lee Meyer’s Hamptons Revenge Recap every week on DansPapers.com! And read his review of the Schooled in Revenge novel.