Episode Report Card Kelsea Stahler: B- | 57 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Cheaters Never Prosper
By Kelsea Stahler | Season 3 | Episode 8 | Aired on 11.17.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The way things have been looking for the past few Revenge episodes, Emily's goose may be cooked when it comes to Daniel. If he wasn't doing a good enough job of ogling Sarah like she's the Ark of the Covenant, we've now got Victoria stoking his romantic fire. If Sarah's interest was one-sided, Emily's counter-attack would be a cinch, but now Ems is fighting very real emotions that cause Daniel to fantasize about romping in the surf with Sarah in his own personal remake of From Here to Eternity. And when Emily offers shower sex (sexy, dreamy shower sex), she gets a firm "eh, no thanks." That wedding isn't looking so possible for our favorite psychopath.
But it gets worse. After Emily practically begs for lunch with Daniel, he turns her down saying he's "busy," but escapes the office to visit Sarah at the farmer's market. She tells him they need to stop, but Danny charms her right up until Emily shows up and accuses her of being the other woman while she breaks down in tears. Sarah's a sweet girl who buys strawberries from local merchants on a weekday (and changes wedding cake flavors without asking the bride first), so she feels bad and promises to back off.
That would be fine and dandy, but Victoria is hell-bent on destruction so she tells Sarah, with tears just as false as Emily's, that Daniel's fiancé is only looking for social connections and money (which is why she stayed with him when the Graysons were broke too, right?). Sarah believes V and agrees to tempt Daniel at the wedding shower.
But in order to make sure nothing goes amiss, Vicky has a second surprise: a shower game in which she introduces friends from the bride and groom's past. Helluva party game, Vic. What's next, estimating the number of Jordan almonds in your 12,000 vase? She brings in Emily's first husband (the story was true, apparently). He's a wealthy immigrant named Rohan, and while Daniel almost loses his mind, Emily explains that it was a green card marriage so Rohan could be with his boyfriend. It's true, but it makes Daniel think Emily is just like his mother. It also makes Sarah renege on the whole break-up plan because, clearly, Victoria is evil.
In the end, Victoria gets her wish, as Daniel can no longer see himself marrying Emily. Sarah visits – supposedly because she wants to quit the wedding cake job (right) – but after a quick speech from Daniel, she kisses him and asks that they wait to do anything until Daniel tells Emily. However, later that night, Victoria gives Ems the number to Conrad's "wife-proof" Grayson cheating suite, where the butler offers the information that Daniel is "settling in with his lady friend." Emily knows she's lost his heart, so does the only thing that can secure his conscience: the crazy girlfriend I'm-pregnant-don't-leave-me card. And it works on Danny like a Beggin' Strip on a new puppy.
While Emily is busy with all that, Jack is finally facing off against Aidan, whom he doesn't trust. When Aidan helps Charlotte get her phone back from an extortionist, he beats the thug to a pulp in front of the Stowaway, causing Jack to raise the alarm with Ems. As it turns out, Aidan's got a few extracurricular activities going on, so Jack may be the catalyst in a soon-to-be-ruptured romance.
And if that doesn't start fireworks, Margaux's own Deepthroat certainly will. After losing Conrad's book deal and being fed a pacifying line from Nolan, Margaux finds her way to a source with nothing to lose: Lydia Davis, who's back from the dead (finally) because apparently, the Revenge writers just now got all of our desperate tweets from a year and a half ago. Better late than never, yes?
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Emily may have let her hubris get the best of her last week on Revenge, but this week, she’s pulling out every trick in the book to rectify her mistake, even when Daniel’s pesky emotions get in the way.
And they are very much in the way. The episode opens with a flashback to Daniel rolling around in the surf with his ex Sarah, pretending they’re the romantic leads in From Here to Eternity. As it turns out, Daniel has only a few minutes (and not an eternity) to remember this moment in the shower before Emily comes in and unconvincingly offers a little shower time hanky-panky. Daniel can’t be bothered because he has to go into the office early. He also turns down her offer for lunch, which means Emily’s going to have to work a little bit harder.
Still, it’s not too hard to assume that Daniel has plans to woo his ex at lunch, so Emily follows him to the farmer’s market, where Sarah looks as innocent as a Disney princess, wandering the stalls for cartoonishly beautiful fresh fruits and breathing as if life is so beautiful she can’t stand it. This is where Daniel finds her and convinces her they can be friends, even though Sarah feels awful about the almost-kiss and thinks this is a terrible idea. Just as a smile creeps onto the fair maiden’s face and Daniel drives away, her poison apple arrives in the form of a very distraught Emily. Putting on a perfect show, Ems accepts Sarah’s insistence that nothing happened between her and Daniel right before breaking down in tears. She says she’s losing it over the wedding planning and her suspicion that Victoria is trying to break them up. Sarah realizes she cannot be friends with Daniel and stops returning his texts, but little does she know, that will only make her involvement with Daniel more complicated.
Meanwhile, Jack is worrying himself up a storm. Conrad has pulled the book deal he offered Margaux because he got a better offer (or rather, used her generous offer to get a stupidly generous offer), but that only makes her more interested in uncovering the truth. As Jack knows, her investigation could lead to details about Nolan, Emily, and himself. He begs Nolan to throw her off the scent, and Nolan tries, but it is clear Margaux isn’t going down easily. Nolan is a terrible liar to boot, and Margaux seems to be the only one who notices.
But Jack’s also still worried about Aidan, who he confronts when the beefcake tries to apologize for separating Jack and Carl. But that doesn’t seem to be all Jack is upset about. He suggests that Aidan is jealous over Jack’s past with Emily -- ding, ding, ding! Step right up and claim your prize! . Jack doesn’t seem to realize that this little tiff is making it very obvious that he’s jealous, too… over Aidan being with a woman Jack still has deeply buried feelings for.