Episode Report Card Pablo G: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT 2002
By Pablo G | Season 1 | Episode 20 | Aired on 05.09.2012
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's the year 2002. We're at war. The Tim Duncan-lead Spurs and Kobe Bryant-lead Lakers are NBA title contenders. Spider-Man is hitting theaters. It's crazy! Also, a certain revenge plot hasn't formed just yet. At this point, Emanda is completely self-destructive and aimless. Nolan finds her belligerently drunk and violent at a nightclub, once again inviting her to find out who her father really was. She returns to the Hamptons and finds Jack as he's just moving into the Stowaway with Dec and his father. That seems to be a dead-end, though, because Jack's involved with the cute bartender. Ouch.
The Graysons are nearly ten years removed from what they did to David Clarke, so it's surprising when they receive a threatening card in the mail that simply says "Shame" from David Clarke with blood splatters. Conrad decides they should invite everyone who was involved in David's framing, or who knew about it, to a New Year's Eve party at Grayson Manor so Frank can do some investigating into who's responsible.
Emanda hangs around the Stowaway some more and has the infamous catering job at the New Year's party fall into her lap when Jack's girlfriend can't do it. At the party, everyone Emanda has taken down in the present day is there. There's Bill Harmon, Tom Kingsly, Dr. Michelle Banks, Lydia Davis and Mason Treadwell. They all mingle inconsequentially, except this is the night that Conrad and Lydia's secret affair began. As Ems pretends to serve guests, she makes note of who's in attendance and eavesdrops on conversations until she bumps into Grayson Global Senior Accountant Roger Halstead. He's a complete paranoid and drunken mess because he's the guy Nolan's aunt was working with to expose Conrad. His cynicism catches Emanda's attention. He sneaks her advice that she's barking up a path of conspiracy. That is, until he's murdered by Frank in the pool house bathroom!
Emanda stumbles upon the body and realizes Nolan was right about there being more to what happened to her father than she thought. She vows to take down every single person responsible.
Flash forward to New Year's Eve 2012. Daniel comes home to find Emanda ready to go with him to this year's New Year's party at Grayson Manor. That's so perfect. The universe must be in on this revenge plot, too.
-- Pablo G. is some guy who lives in Austin, Texas. He co-hosts TWoP's original "Trailers Without Pity" with his brother Omar G. Check him out at The YES and NO and Pablog and follow him @PendejoJoe on Twitter.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!50 Cent's "In da Club" plays and we all check to make sure we're on the right channel. An overhead shot of busy traffic at night informs us we're in New York City. The subtitle reads "December 28, 2002." Inside a packed nightclub, Emanda is twenty-something with straight, brown hair in a really tight dress, dancing up against some guy. He starts getting touchy-feely with her, but she insists she just wants to dance. Guy grabs her ass and she shoves him back, heading away from him over to the bar. Emanda orders a vodka tonic without the tonic while the guy heads immediately over to another girl to tell her he's been eyeing her all night. She instantly agrees to head to the men's room with him. That's the magic pick-up line? "Eyeing you all night"? I've been using the wrong verb. Ems downs her drink and pursues the couple despite her blurry vision. She bursts into the restroom, interrupting their make-out session and proceeds to beat the guy relentlessly. Just as she's ripped off a toilet seat to smash the guy's head in, a man comes running into the room to pry Emanda away. He appears to be a bouncer, but then he leads her outside to an SUV with Nolan waiting inside. Ems isn't too pleased to see Nolan, but he insists she come have dinner with him. The bouncer guy piles her into the vehicle.
At a small Chinese food restaurant, Nolan suggests Ems should drink some tea to stem the hangover. "I don't like thinking that far ahead," she replies. Oh, it's gonna be one of those flashback episodes. What next -- Nolan bemoaning loud fashion statements? Emanda is still resistant to Nolan's offers of help. It's been six months since Nolan was waiting for her outside her juvenile correctional facility on her release day. He reminds her that he gave her half his company, but he's not interested in getting his money back. Emanda notes it's in her DNA to use the money for self-destruction. This tips Nolan off that she never read any of her father's journals. He insists that she do so and she leaves. At least she thanks him for giving her a ride.
Grayson Global. Frank (Flashback, remember? He's not a zombie) meets with Conrad in his office to discuss invitations to the Graysons' New Year's party that have been sent out to anyone who knew about the David Clarke cover-up. Victoria arrives angry she's been summoned away from Le Bernardin for this situation. The reason invitations are being expedited to all these people is because they received an ominous card in the mail. It simply reads, "Shame," signed David Clarke with blood splatters. Since David's been dead for eight months, it's probably not from him. The idea is to corral all the suspects at the party and let Frank investigate to find out who's making the threat. Victoria wants no part of it, but Conrad insists this is something they must do to avoid life in prison. They should start like a swear jar for every time they have to do something to avoid life in prison.