While "Guilt" is probably the strongest Revenge so far, I have to question an evident plotting problem. The series began in future with Emily's fiance Daniel being killed, before going back to the present and beginning the story of how that got there. Already, I was wondering how well the decision to show that would turn out, as it could have been a potent twist down the line. We almost certainly knew for a fact that Daniel will die, likely in the season finale. But there was always the possibility that how the events eventually played out wouldn't be what we expected. Emily may not have been involved at all as we were led to believe.
However, "Guilt" begins with Lydia dying, much like Daniel did. We are inclined to believe that Emily planned it, because she's been the one causing trouble. In a way it sucks the energy from the later twist of Lydia discovering Emily in an old photo since we can easily reason that because Lydia dies she won't reveal the secret, and indeed that's what happens. Then, there's a twist to Lydia dying, that it was not Emily who did it but Victoria's security guy Frank. So now, if the writers want to play a trick with Daniel's death, the audience will have already seen the Lydia trick. I'm hoping they pull out something really exciting, but it seems like the writers have put themselves into a box.
But other than that, a very solid, satisfying episode with plenty of Victoria vs. Lydia action and all the attitude that comes with it. It's also the first time we've seen cracks in Emily's plan. She's not exactly a ghost, as the picture shows. Who knows where else she'll show up next.
Score: 9.1/10
