Death and Revenge
Revenge S04 spoilers below but I guess nobody cares about that...
So I watched the episode where Daniel dies last night and I just... I was really upset. Not so much upset at Daniel dying because this show is like GoT in the Hamptons, but because it seems such a terrible decision. (OH WOW A DEATH ON A TV SHOW IS A TERRIBLE DECISION, SHOCKER) To be fair, I don’t know what happens next so it might be setting up for something important to come (no spoilers for future episodes please!) but the more I think about it the more I fundamentally disagree with it.
Daniel has always been an interesting character with actual shades of grey in him. He’s always been redeemable and often trying to be a better person and rise above his family while still being weak and making bad decision after bad decision. Finally in this episode, he seems to be taking control of his life and deciding to do what is right and begin a family with Margaux. Here is an actual opportunity for a Greyson to defy his fate! I’d love an ending to the show that is a bit more nuanced than “all the Greysons get what’s coming to them”. What a fantastic message of hope it would have been to see Daniel, Margaux and their baby actually start afresh and prove that people can change and rise above their circumstances. Instead the writers tease this idea and then violently destroy it in the most bitter fashion ever. Also, him dying for Emily? I GET THE SYMBOLISM. It’s really not clever or original. How much more poignant for him to live, move on, build a healthy and friendly relationship with her and talk through their difficult, shared history?
I just don’t see the point. We’ve already had Emily deal with Aidan’s death, why kill another one of her men? What is the point? The hardest thing in life, as Buffy reminds us, is to live in it. What is the virtue of continually killing off characters? The odd well-chosen death when a character has exceeded their shelf-life I get. Conrad was getting tedious by the end of S03. He had nothing new to bring to the situation whereas his death has moved things on nicely. Daniel had a lot going for him that could be interesting. This just seems really stupid and annoying.
Firstly, his death is clearly going to send Charlotte spiralling. BUT SHE’S ALREADY SPIRALLING and also out of the scene. All hope of Greyson redemption rests on her shoulders now and once that would have been a good prospect but she’s been so unremittingly awful this season that I really wouldn’t have minded if she’d died instead. Good riddance, honestly.
In terms of the other characters, the only useful thing I can see is forcing Emily, Victoria and Margaux to work together to bring down Malcolm Black which would be an interesting twist and seems to be hinted in places. Typical final season stunt - reset the goal posts so the hero has to work with the big bad to defeat the final boss. However, I’m afraid Victoria and Margaux will instead blame Emily and it will just exacerbate tensions. Margaux goes to the dark side or something. EVERYONE IS ALREADY ON THE DARK SIDE. Jeez.
