Episode Report Card Kelsea Stahler: A | 71 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Jack Attack
By Kelsea Stahler | Season 3 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.20.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.As it turns out, flying through the window of a flaming Ferrari doesn't kill you. Well, it doesn't kill you immediately. Father Paul is rolled into the hospital – very much alive – right alongside Conrad only to die off screen. But more importantly: he dies in time to dissolve Conrad's urge to turn to the good side and confess his sins. Instead, he's ready to lie to the police and say that the late Father Paul was driving the Ferrari so he can ensure that he's not tried for manslaughter. Classic Conrad.
The problem is that Emily was also on the scene, so she'll have to testify. She agrees to lie for Conrad and Daniel makes sure she never even has to utter her own words to do it when he pays off the detective. Em's had enough of his coddling and takes revenge by telling Daniel's bio writer about his DUI – a detail which makes it into print in the first issue of Voulez, where Daniel is introduced as the publisher. He's furious and when Emily tells him why she did it, he takes up temporary residence at the South Fork Inn – an unflattering fact that makes it into the ears of both Victoria and Charlotte, a.k.a. Team Axe Emily. It's only a few cut scenes before Daniel questions his marriage to Emily altogether.
Meanwhile, Victoria's got more pressing matters to worry about. Now that she's broke, she's looking to take a job – but not just any job. She asks her friend Sheila, who owns the biggest gallery in the Hamptons, for a job as a dealer. Sheila agrees on the condition that she's able to humiliate Victoria with a "party" to "celebrate" the hire. Patrick, who's proving to be quite the riddle (and potentially a great new boyfriend for Nolan – or at least a great make-out buddy), helps Victoria hatch a plan to make Sheila hand over the entire gallery. He "steals" one of Victoria's paintings and convinces Sheila to illegally sell it to one of Victoria's friends so that Victoria can catch Sheila red-handed. Just like that, Victoria has earned herself her very own prestigious living in the Hamptons.
Her victory doesn't last long though. Conrad quickly completes his transformation from martyr to psychopathic power demon when he gets a call: he's been misdiagnosed as a Huntington's patient and it turns out that Huntington's medication is what triggered the symptoms. He's wresting control of Grayson Manor again and he's fully convinced he's God. And unfortunately for Em, that means no confession and no end to her revenge plan.
But she's got more problems. Jack now wants in; he finally sees that she's got a pretty good point in wanting to take Conrad down. He finds evidence that Conrad had the airbag from his car removed to keep him from a conviction and in the process finds out that someone tampered with Conrad's brakes – the crash couldn't have been Conrad's fault. Jack's upset, but when he realizes Emily plans to take down the Graysons at her wedding, he's determined to help. She won't let him, but he's starting to feel things again, and there's no way he's staying out this time.
And while that tenacity looks good on him, it's about to get him in trouble. Aidan finds out that Emily told Jack her true identity and his green-eyed monster comes out in full force. In one fell swoop, he secures a way to keep Conrad from kicking him out of his temporary residence in the pool house and a way to keep Jack away from Emily: he tells Conrad that someone tampered with his brakes and that Jack wants him dead. And just like that, the infamous love rhombus returns in a flashy, flaming display.
Now this is what a season of Revenge looks like.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!So, as it turns out, flying through the window of a flaming Ferrari doesn't kill you. Well, it doesn't kill you immediately. Father Paul doesn’t die with his face on the pavement; instead the episode opens with both Paul and Conrad on gurneys in the Emergency Room. It seems all is not lost, but while Conrad gloats that he cheated death in his cozy hospital room, Emily tearfully learns Paul’s grim fate (as well as the fate of Conrad’s nascent confession). It’s over, but Emily is determined to make Conrad feel the cold grip of mortality once more and keep his confession on track.
In Conrad’s room, Em enters just in time for all hell to break loose. Charlotte won’t visit Conrad and Victoria takes that notion as the perfect inspiration to tell Daniel that Conrad plans to confess his sins before Huntington’s Disease takes his life. Daniel is quick to turn down the idea and Victoria goes for double: Conrad could be convicted of manslaughter because Father Paul was killed in the accident. Conrad, who’s been slowly brought on over to Emily’s side over the past few episodes, turns to his future daughter-in-law for help. She remembered seeing him come from the passenger’s side of the car, right? Father Paul was the one driving, so Conrad can’t go to jail, right? She agrees, but she sees the beginnings of Conrad’s budding God complex. She is so screwed.
She’s also completely riddled with guilt. Em pays Aidan a sneaky visit after the hospital and tells him she’s afraid it’s her fault Father Paul is dead -- Conrad’s poison meds probably caused another episode. She may have ruined her own plan, but she’s got a way to keep it back on track: Aidan swaps out his Huntington’s meds to help Conrad feel sicker and thus more likely to confess. But even before we got to the end of this episode, it was obvious this plan was severely flawed; the meds don’t garner a confession.
Meanwhile, Charlotte is still hiding from her family and Conrad at the Stowaway. She’s accepted the invitation to be Emily’s maid of honor since she figures Emily and Daniel’s union is inevitable (oh, if only she knew what trouble lies in paradise), and she does her bridesmaid duty by giving Jack an invitation to Emily’s wedding. Jack says he can’t go and that he needs a break from Emily, something that gives Charlotte a small piece of satisfaction.
But the littler Grayson isn’t the only one slummin’ it. Victoria ventures outside of the Manor to get a job -- you know, that thing where a business exchanges money for services? She gets the idea from Patrick, who says she’s still Vicky Harper (her pre-Grayson name), and that Vicky was the young woman who reinvented herself to become the queen of the Hamptons. She can do it again. He originally tries to get her to sell all her paintings and leave the Hamptons, but she gets another idea.