The Lying Game Review: “The Revengers”

When it was first announced Charisma Carpenter (Rebecca) would be joining The Lying Game, it was pretty obvious based upon the genetic similarities she would wind up being the birth mother of Emma and Sutton. I was even excited at the possibilities. After all, we’re talking Cordelia Chase here. Any time an alum from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is back on television and a show I love, I’m all in! That was then.

With “The Revengers,” it’s apparent her angle is so ugly and transparent that I wish she’d never graced the stages of The Lying Game. I’ve not read the books, but I have heard Sutton died in the early stages. I found myself wishing early on she had taken that same dark path in the series. Instead, she and Rebecca will now embark upon a terrible reign of terror to tear apart a family. A family that Rebecca desperately wants while, ironically, Sutton wants nothing to do with. That’s what I’m finding really confusing as things stand at the end of this episode. Rotten to the core and morally reprehensible Rebecca has had this plan to rip Ted and Kristin apart so she can take Kristin’s place with both of her daughters and live the life she believes she was meant to have all along.

Unless I’m missing something, we still do not have confirmation Ted is the girls’ father, but I can understand Rebecca’s obsession with her high school crush. It’s been done enough that I don’t need a degree in neuroscience to understand her motivation. Sutton, however, hates Ted and Laurel AND her twin, Emma. I cannot for the life of me figure out why she’s going along with her mother’s plan to put this little freaky family together. I suppose it could be that she wanted her mother’s love so much she was willing to do anything, and I’ll have to live with that for now. Otherwise, it just makes no sense.

Emma and Laurel continue to share such a lovely relationship and I hate that they aren’t the sisters. I only hope Laurel is as understanding and accepting of Emma when she inevitably finds out the truth about Emma as Sutton’s friends have been. Because, really, their acceptance has been amazing. Am I right? You have to wonder why any of them were ever friends with Sutton in the first place, because they aren’t welcoming her nasty butt back into their lives with open arms now that they’ve seen her doppelganger with the loving and caring personality in her place. I love it!

When Jordan called Rebecca mom, I immediately started doing math and trying to figure out where he came from. It never occurred to me that he’s most likely a step son. He would appear to be older than Sutton and Emma, and since most of their group of friends have a good picture of her life up until their birth, I don’t think he could have come any sooner. I think he and Mads will be the newest couple in town, and I can only hope he doesn’t have a heart similar to Rebecca’s. Mads’ deserves more than any scheming relation to Rebecca might bring.

Even though I had my suspicions last season that Alec knew about Emma walking in Sutton’s shoes, to hear him admit it and even offer to help her shocked me. I cannot get a good read on him. One minute I consider him the ultimate bad guy and the next a trusted friend and good father. Surely he’s somewhere in between, and that’s what makes his character so interesting. I want him to rip the rug out from out under Rebecca and Sutton, to expose them and help Emma to become a part of the Mercer family. Hell, I seem to think he has super powers, because the stunts he pulls off are so outrageous. When the idea is Alec pitted against Rebecca, I want him to nail her ass to the ground.

Thayer is still there for Emma, and Emma and Sutton are both still vying for Ethan. I hate that Ethan continues to think about Sutton for even a moment, and it makes me wonder whether Emma should even consider him as a romantic interest any longer. But you can’t force love, and if she doesn’t feel anything other than friendship for Thayer, then I hope they don’t force her to be with him just because he’s the only other available guy in the cast. Not everyone needs a love interest, as much as we’d enjoy to see them have one.

I’m going to have a hard time watching Emma struggle against her blood bitch relatives as we veer into this second season. Will her new friends and allies help her find a way to save the Mercer family she has come to love and remain in their good graces? When will Emma discover Rebecca is her mother? What kind of wedge and warring campaign will that wage between the twins? The questions are endless and I’m betting the answers will be few. What are your hopes for the new season and what did you think of the premiere?