'Revenge': What's the deal with the dog?

By Sara Vilkomerson
Published on October 12, 2011 08:51PM EDT
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Photo: Antony Platt/ABC

Like many of us here in the EW offices, I’m completely and unashamedly hooked on Revenge. The ABC drama — starring Emily VanCamp as a young woman bent on avenging her father’s ruin — is full of fun twists, fancy rich people doing fun, fancy, rich people things, and, perhaps most importantly, displays the utter awesomeness that is Madeleine Stowe. But! There is a small nagging issue that has been driving me more and more crazy with every viewing: What is the deal with that dog, Sam?

Okay, so, Sam is an adorable yellow Labrador that our avenging angel Amanda/Emily received as a birthday gift as a cherub-faced kid. Things happened: Fathers were framed and men in scary black op outfits stormed the beach house and nabbed young Amanda, beginning the trauma that will lead her to-yes!-revenge. According to the show’s website, this dramatic act took place when Amanda was nine years old and 17 years have since passed. And yet! We’ve been led to believe that the (very healthy) Lab who now lives with the handsome, sure-to-be-a-romantic-entanglement townie, is the very same “Sam.” We know this because the dog recognizes that this Emily Thorne is his former owner, the once young and innocent Amanda Clark, and so tends to just tail-wag himself over to her house at all hours. Now, according to the experts, the average life span for a Labrador is 11-13 years and yet this miraculous dog is not only looking remarkably alive for being at least 17, he’s really pretty spry as he jumps on and off that (rather fancy) sailboat.

So, what should we believe? Is Sam magic? Or is this a reference to Homer’s The Odyssey, when Odysseus’ dog, Argos, recognizes his former master in disguise even after 20 years have passed? (Hey, why not, the show is supposedly a modern take on Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo. Anything is possible.)Or maybe the writers, like me, just hate doing math.

Either way, it won’t stop me from watching Revenge tonight (look out, therapist, you’re donezo!) but I am curious if anyone else noticed this discrepancy. And do you guys have any nagging questions from your favorite shows?

Read more:

‘Revenge’: What’s happened so far, and a sneak peek at the season ahead — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

‘Revenge’ recap: Senatorial shenanigans

Ken Tucker’s review: ‘Revenge’