Two of my favorite parallels between Revenge and The Count of Monte Cristo are the false identities and the time pre-revenge spent in secret warrior training, à la the Hero's Journey. In flashbacks, we see Emily escaping from underwater knots, readying herself for the long, demanding journey ahead. She's handy with a gun and has a samurai-like benefactor who warns her away from things such as feelings and emotions. It's gleeful to watch Emily navigate posh fundraisers and cocktail galas with the indifferent poise of an heiress, knowing all the while that she's planning nothing but the worst downfalls for those around her. One moment she's all smiles and pretty dresses and the next she's kicking someone's ass or bankrupting them with a false stock tip.

Revenge is an operatic guilty pleasure for our times, creating a reality full of paranoia, surveillance and terrorism. Planes are downed, corporations act as individuals, hidden cameras are everywhere, no bank account is safe from hackers, no text or email is private, no one is safe. You almost start to feel bad for the Graysons up on the hill, as they sense their every move is being watched, their fortress only partly able to protect them.

The New York Times calls Revenge,"Gossip Girl for this economy." And indeed it does seem that, while many of the rich bad guys of the real world have gone unpunished, the rich bad guys aren't having such an easy time of it in the fictional Hamptons. One by one, Emily finds them and exacts their fitting punishment, crossing their faces out of photos with her red pen once she has. As does Edmond, minus the red pen, plus a sword fight or two. Both, through their individual vendettas, are responding to the dark forces and villains of their respective eras.

In the pursuit of their single minded goals, both Emily and Edmond inevitably wreak some havoc on the innocent too. This collateral damage begins to bring into question the obsessiveness that is the danger of these thrills, but only momentarily. They pass beside happiness without seeing it. They reject the opportunities that forgiveness and a more whole life might offer them. As the Confucian epigraph in Season 1, Episode 1 reads, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." It's a dire warning for all involved, and one unheeded.

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How Revenge and The Count of Monte Cristo Capture Our Eternal Need for Closure