Revenge is loosely - very, very, very loosely - based on The Count Of Monte Cristo, the classic French epic by Three Musketeers author Alexandre Dumas. The show swaps the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France for the Hamptons, but it retains the main theme of... well, revenge, this time on VanCamps part. As Edmond Dantès returned under the new name of the Count Of Monte Cristo after his false imprisonment, so too does Emily VanCamps Amanda Clarke return as Emily Thorne to exact vengeance upon those who framed her parents for treason when she was a little girl, sending them to jail for a crime they didnt commit. Those names are actually rather important outside of being a pseudonym/true identity, however. Even more so than in the Count Of Monte Cristo, in fact. The name Amanda means "she who is loved" while the name Emily means "rival", the old meanings of each name hinting at the changes the young Amanda went through in becoming Emily.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
