‘Revenge’: It’s payback time in prime time

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Amanda Clarke (Emily Van Camp, left) takes on a new identity and infiltrates Hamptons high society to avenge those who ruined her father, including Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe), on ABC’s “Revenge.”

Updated: March 9, 2012 8:08AM

Revenge is a dish best served cold — and in big portions, apparently, because television viewers are eating it up this season.

Several freshman series are built around characters with axes to grind. The Evil Queen on “Once Upon a Time.” Sgt. Brody on “Homeland.” Carrie on “Unforgettable.”

The first season of the Starz series “Spartacus” was titled “Blood and Sand.” This season, it’s “Spartacus: Vengeance.”

So much for the days of “My Name Is Earl,” where a low-life lottery winner sets out to appease the karma gods and make up for past transgressions.

These days, everyone wants his pound of flesh. And no show celebrates the beauty of vendettas like ABC’s aptly titled hit, “Revenge.”

Based oh-so-loosely on Alexandre Dumas’ epic The Count of Monte Cristo, the addictive drama follows a young woman (Emily Van Camp, “Brothers & Sisters”) as she surreptitiously settles scores with denizens of the top tax bracket who destroyed her father and, by extension, her childhood.

“There’s a lot of wish fulfillment in this show,” said “Revenge” creator and executive producer Mike Kelley, who grew up in Winnetka.

“People don’t feel like they’re in control of their destinies,” he said. “There’s a handful of very rich, very powerful people who seem to be in charge of … whether we can be successful or achieve the American dream. People are suspicious of the 1 Percenters and of Washington. Timingwise, this seemed to hit a chord culturally that made a lot of sense.”

The series has averaged an impressive 10.5 million viewers during its 13 original episodes, which resume Wednesday. (“Revenge” has been in rerun mode for the past three weeks.)

For its time slot, it’s the No. 1 show with adults ages 18-34 and dominates in all of the key female demographics. Among high-income young adults, it’s the season’s second most watched new drama behind ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” another program where revenge and its sometimes sister, justice, factor heavily into the plot.

“When people are dealing with cutbacks or losing their jobs or their life savings — all these crazy things that have been happening over the last several years — there probably is an atmosphere where people want to see wrongs be righted,” said “Once Upon a Time” star Jennifer Morrison, who plays protagonist Emma Swan in the fairy-tale fantasy. “It makes sense to me that that would be reflected in the kind of media people are watching.”

“Revenge” certainly is fun to watch in a soapy, guilty pleasure kind of way.

Beautiful twentysomething Emily Thorne (whose real identity is Amanda Clarke) will stop at nothing to avenge the destruction of her dead father, David Clarke. He served as the fall guy for some rich folks who framed him for a crime in order to spare themselves.

One of those rich folks is icy cold Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe), a devious diva who smiles serenely while uttering delicious one-liners like, “Every time I hug you, that warmth you feel is my hatred burning through.”

Victoria’s illicit love affair with David didn’t stop her from chucking him under the bus many moons ago. That puts her at the top of a long list of conspirators targeted by Amanda, who takes on the persona of a stranger named Emily so she can infiltrate her enemies’ high-society circle and systematically crush them, one by one. In true melodramatic fashion, she uses a red Sharpie to “X” their photos when she’s done.

“People love to see the rich get taken down,” said Kelley, who set the eye-for-an-eye action in the gilded confines of — where else? — the Hamptons.

The setting may be East Coast, but there’s a little bit of Chicago’s North Shore in “Revenge,” too.

“The big parties and … some of the things I weaved into the lifestyle of the Hamptons were definitely inspired by some of the things I saw growing up on the lakeshore in those big mansions,” the New Trier grad said.

The series opened with one such party, a fire-and-ice-themed engagement ball. The Labor Day weekend soiree was meant to celebrate the impending nuptials of Emily and Victoria’s son, Daniel (Josh Bowman).

The pilot starts out literally with a bang as someone — we’re led to believe it’s Daniel — is shot on the beach outside the lavish party tent. Right after that explosive scene, “Revenge” rewinds to the start of the summer, when Emily arrives at the Hamptons to hatch her plan.

After 14 episodes, we’re finally catching up to that fateful night on the beach. On Feb. 15, Kelley says we’ll learn who was gunned down and who will wear the jacket for pulling the trigger.

“We’re going to be surprising a lot of people — at least I hope we will be,” Kelley said. “We’ll answer the questions we’ve already posed, and we’ll pose a few more to get us through the season.”

The show’s 22-episode season is slated to wrap during the May sweeps. That means plenty more opportunities for viewers to revel in schadenfreude as Emily exacts her revenge.

As fun as that might be to witness, the Confucius quote that ran at the beginning of the pilot would indicate that, ultimately, “Revenge” is a cautionary tale: “Before you embark on the journey of revenge, dig two graves.”