Episode Report Card Pablo G: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Feast or Famine
By Pablo G | Season 1 | Episode 14 | Aired on 02.08.2012
Uncharacteristically forceful 3-D title card and commercials
Fortress of Solitude. Emanda paces, irritated that Jack somehow found the tape. She and Nolan go back and forth about how it might've been possible until Nolan volunteers to get the tape back. He's happy to do it since he doesn't want to see Jack get hurt. Emanda takes exception to the implication she's indifferent to Jack's feelings. That doesn't stop Nolan from digging at her for looking too far down the line and ignoring the "mere mortals" involved. Nolan really knows how to give backhanded compliments.
Cut to a large family photo of the Graysons. This portrait is on the wall at the head of the main staircase of Grayson Manor. Victoria stares at it in a malaise. Ashley comes up to her to ask an unimportant question, which gets completely ignored by Victoria. Instead, she asks Ash if she was close to her family and goes on to confide she regrets not really knowing her father. They walk together downstairs to where the photo shoot is well underway. Victoria heads straight for Charlotte, who lounges in a chair. The conversation with Ashley has Victoria longing for some familial connection. She invites herself to maybe have lunch with her daughter and Declan, knowing that offering up some interest in Charlotte's boyfriend might give her an in. Charlotte remains a fortress against her mother's feeble attempts at having a mother-daughter connection. To exit the conversation, Charlotte jumps at the opportunity to be the next family member photographed. Daniel replaces her in conversation with Victoria, and advises his mom to tell Charlotte the truth since he would hope he'd be told the truth if it were him in this situation.
Daniel goes back to where Emanda is being photographed and tells her about grandpa showing up. Daniel admits that he never knows what to do when he's being photographed. The photographer suggests they both just think back to the moment they first saw each other. FLASHBACK: Dan drunkenly tries to pick up a girl at a bar with a William Blake poem. Wearing glasses and a beanie that totally signifies she's college-aged, Amanda watches and takes notes. /FLASHBACK. According to the photographer, the photos come out great. When asked, Emanda says she was thinking about the moment she knew Dan was the one. Conrad enters the scene, which gets a rise out of Charlotte because she can't wait to take a photo with her daddy. Poor Charlotte gets brushed aside by Conrad, so she lashes out by inviting her mom to lunch. Way to rebel, Charlie. The reason Conrad was too focused to pay attention to his daughter is because he needs to take Victoria aside privately to reprimand her for involving his father in their divorce. Realizing she has gained some power back, Victoria uses it to threaten she'll show Conrad's father just how dysfunctional the family has become unless Conrad promises not to reveal the truth to Charlotte and remain a loving father. Check and mate.