Revenge: Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 21, 2011
  • Season #: 1 , 2
Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
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  1. Salon
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    Sep 22, 2011
    60
    Revenge might sound enjoyably soapy in the abstract, but its execution is problematic.
  2. Zap2it (Inside the Box)
    Reviewed by: Mikey O'Connell
    Sep 21, 2011
    90
    The ABC drama is one of the best new series to hit TV this fall.
  3. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Dorothy Rabinowitz
    Oct 14, 2011
    80
    The arrival of one pure and unadulterated drama about a passion as old as man is something to celebrate. That's particularly true when that drama is as spellbinding in its satisfyingly gaudy way, as Revenge turns out to be.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Melissa Maerz
    Sep 19, 2011
    83
    Until we find out what happened long ago, we'll just enjoy watching all the beautiful, golden-tanned people say awesomely ridiculous things like: "These guys really put the suck in seersucker."
  5. RedEye
    Reviewed by: Curt Wagner
    Sep 21, 2011
    75
    They say Revenge is a dish best served cold, and here it's downright delicious.
  6. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    Sep 21, 2011
    80
    It's a stylish, elegantly plotted tale of a young woman's sociopathic thirst for vengeance.
  7. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    Sep 21, 2011
    80
    Intriguing and genuinely fun.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    Sep 20, 2011
    75
    Revenge has enough meaty characters and plot possibilities to keep it going for years. And it just may last long enough to explore them all.
  9. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    Sep 20, 2011
    70
    It's Gossip Girl tailored to this economy, with just enough campy suspense to be enjoyable.
  10. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Emily Nussbaum
    Dec 8, 2011
    70
    Revenge is too juicy to write off as junk. It's got strong performances, from actors who don't condescend to their flamboyant dialogue.
  11. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    Sep 21, 2011
    63
    For fans of soaps, there is reason for hope. The show looks great, and it often sounds good, particularly when Emily is delivering a line we know is nasty but her victim doesn't.
  12. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Lori Rackl
    Sep 21, 2011
    63
    There's plenty of guilty pleasure to be had in watching she-wolves in Chanel and their sugar daddies go down week after week. But be prepared to put up with cheesy dialogue and spotty acting along the way.
  13. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    Sep 21, 2011
    70
    What gives Revenge the potential to last as an ongoing series (after all, doesn't Emily have to run out of victims?) is the well-drawn characters and the sense that Emily does have a conscience beyond the desire for payback.
  14. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Sep 21, 2011
    40
    Some are embracing this as a juicy guilty pleasure, a return to Dynasty times by way of The Count of Monte Cristo. I found it all a bit predictable and thick, like I was choking on Crisco.
  15. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    Sep 19, 2011
    60
    If Revenge can curb its more outlandish tendencies, this soap could become a welcome guilty pleasure.
  16. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    Sep 16, 2011
    83
    This is a classic guilty pleasure, with campy twists and a fabulously diva-esque performance by Stowe.
  17. Philadelphia Daily News
    Reviewed by: Ellen Gray
    Sep 21, 2011
    60
    Way over the top but potentially a guilty pleasure for those with the time to pursue it.
  18. The Huffington Post (formerly AOL TV)
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    Sep 21, 2011
    50
    It seems like it could be a fun, if cheesy, soap opera about skulduggery and backstabbing in high society. But Revenge makes the fatal mistakes of wanting to be taken seriously and yet not making its characters worthy of any kind of serious consideration.
  19. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Sep 21, 2011
    60
    The show is asking viewers, then, to invest some time and not expect a clean resolution of some black-and-white drama each week. That's a gamble and a risk. Revenge seems confident it can be taken and won.
  20. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    Sep 21, 2011
    50
    As is often the case with melodrama, I find Revenge essentially unconvincing and also quite likable.
  21. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Brent McKnight
    Sep 21, 2011
    40
    The story is silly, but not trashy enough to make it your latest guilty pleasure.
  22. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Sep 21, 2011
    58
    There are guilty pleasures and then there are ones for which you just feel guilty about sacrificing your valuable time. Revenge is the latter.
  23. Uncle Barky
    Reviewed by: Ed Bark
    Sep 20, 2011
    58
    Sometimes you just want a single serving, with the table cleared by episode's end. This one keeps passing its spinning plates while re-stating the obvious.
  24. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Sep 19, 2011
    60
    Even if there are traces of "Desperate Housewives" in "Revenge's" DNA, ABC's latest serial feels oh-so-last decade, which, particularly in the Hamptons, is about as thematically stylish as wearing white after Labor Day.
  25. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Sep 16, 2011
    67
    A solid prime-time soap with a burnt-crisp soul.
  26. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    Sep 16, 2011
    75
    VanCamp goes about her business with a purse-lipped Jodie Foster earnestness that makes her hard to root for. But Stowe coos, scowls, flirts and thunders. She roils Revenge. [26 sep 2011, p.56]
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 197 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 60
  3. Negative: 3 out of 60
  1. JennetP
    5
    "The Count of Monte Cristo" it ain't, but "Revenge" has its virtues. First, TV hasn't yet exhausted its theme, though AMC's new "Hell on Wheels" and the current season of "Spartacus" also turn on vengeance. Second, "Revenge" plays on our love-hate relationship with great wealth, as characters with vast new fortunes take down characters with vast old fortunes. Third, the show announces a serious moral purpose right up front (Confucius say "dig two graves") then treats it like the surgeon general's warning on a pack of cigarettes. The assurance of righteousness without pesky ethical nuisances! "Hamlet" without soliloquies! So why isn't "Revenge" a 10? First, every character is a caricature. From the dissolute scion to the geeky bazillionaire who can't buy a friend, each is familiar and flat, a chess (make that a checker) piece, not a human being. For another, our avenger has the affect of a tree stump. When she topples a mark--which she does far too easily--she exhibits the satisfaction most people do after successfully boiling water. Yes, I know: she must conceal her smoldering rage, but, even when completely alone, she rarely does more than smirk (for more detail, see lunafromage's excellent description). This is the sort of woman who draws horns, scars, and eye-patches on pictures of her enemies, not the sort who masterminds the fall of giants, even the one-dimensional giants on this show. UPDATE: The first season is almost over, and America loves "Revenge," as witnessed here on Metacritic, where my review was labeled "not helpful" by 6 of 8 users. Woo hoo! Given that the most "helpful" review says, "um . . . like I can't hardly think why, but . . . um . . . like, I really, really l-u-u-u-r-v-e this show," I'm happy to be considered "unhelpful." Anyway, after 14 episodes, the series remains a bit of a head-scratcher. Much has happened in a short time, yet most of the characters seem oddly untouched, as though their souls, like their faces, were subject to regular injections of botox. Despite success beyond the wildest dreams of Edmond Dantès, as well as some shocking collateral damage, our avenger cannot manage to summon an emotion or arrange her features to simulate one. And it's not as though she lacks opportunity. At least five times an episode, she embraces her fiance and the camera zooms in for a close-up of her face. Her head lies against his neck, so he can't see her expression; nor can anyone else, as the couple is alone. Now is the time for Emily-Amanda's mask to slip, just for a moment. Does she loathe the man who holds her so tightly, or is she falling for him despite her carefully-laid plans? Is her vengeance driven by sorrow or rage or perhaps guilt that she, too, believed her father a traitor? Surely, her face will give us a hint. But, no, Emily VanCamp's expression is just mildly puzzled, as though she is wondering whether the groundhog will see its shadow this year or whether to order the low-fat vegetable stroganoff for lunch. The Golden Lab who plays "Sam" has ten times the range of expression, as do one or two other cast members. Madeleine Stowe clearly relishes playing the show's dragon lady and has mastered the menacing purr of the society psychopath. Even she, however, is two-dimensional, so far unconvincing as a woman Emily-Amanda's paragon of a father could have loved. But perhaps she'll get there; the show certainly looks as though it will be around for a long, long time.… Full Review »
  2. frodoantonov
    10
    Best new show on TV! Every episode gets you more and more intrigued in its characters and in the story. Stowe and VanCamp are amazing! Wends nights do not come fast enough for me. REVENGE!!!!… Full Review »
  3. Megs
    10
    One of the few shows that seem very well thought out & written. Sometimes I think shows are planned week to week, but this one feels different & unpredictable. I have no clue how the story line can go past a season or two, but will be pleased to see how everything unfolds. Best show I have seen in a LONG TIME!!… Full Review »
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