Soapy Saturday – Revenge and Nashville

Revenge – “Secrecy”

OK I’ll admit, the Lydia reveal this week on Revenge didn’t surprise me as much as it should have because I’d actually forgotten she was supposed to be dead.

One of the pitfalls of the show going off the rails for a while was that I lost track of the details. That said, this should be interesting – and I’m glad that French girl finally has a purpose.

What I really love about this season is how intense it’s been. Emily’s deadline really amped up the drama, but with the impending wedding to Daniel occurring mid-season, how will the show keep going? We have to assume Emily will fail to frame Victoria for murder, and won’t run away to live happily ever after with Aiden – and that kills the suspense a little. My fear is that Revenge was a show with a limited lifespan – if Emily’s plan doesn’t wrap up soon, the show will return to the murky place it was last season.

Everything so far has suggested that Daniel would wise up and not marry Emily because, well, they’re miserable. So Ems’ fake pregnancy was the perfect play – after all, in theory she only would need to keep that charade going for two weeks.

Is the wedding episode this week? If so, I can’t wait.

Nashville – “Hanky Panky Woman”
I have a feeling that whether you’re enjoying this season of Nashville depends a lot on how you feel about Scarlett. Tying her life up with Rayna’s has meant a lot more screen time for her, which is just fine with me. I’m enjoying watching her navigate being a star on the rise, and this week was great in particular. She bombed, then she killed it, then she wondered if she’s really cut out for this at all. It was a good progression for the character.

Having Scarlett, Gunnar, Luke James and Rayna all on tour together, with Deacon around to support his niece at her first big show, it was the perfect combination. Unfortunately it made a couple of the other storylines look really weak in comparison. Peggy finally faked that miscarriage, but I’m so sick of her and Teddy that all I practically wanted to fast-forward through their scenes. And Juliette’s interactions with the rich couple wanting a threesome haven’t been the character’s greatest material.