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The simultaneous death of Frank and awakening of Lydia from her coma sends the Graysons into complete disarray. Conrad and Victoria are entirely suspicious of each other, Victoria thinking Conrad had Frank murdered and Conrad thinking Victoria bringing Lydia to stay at Grayson Manor is a calculated move against him. Daniel renounces allegiance to his mother when he finds out about her surveillance of Emanda through detectives investigating Frank's murder. Charlotte is so distraught to learn Conrad has been kicked out of the house and she'll be alone with her mother that it creates a little speed bump in her romance with Declan. The only good thing that happens for the Graysons is Daniel quits his job at the Stowaway and resumes his apprenticeship at Grayson Global under his father -- much to Tyler's chagrin, but screw Tyler.
Emanda dumps Stripper Emily Thorne on Nolan while she covers her tracks in case Lydia remembers the photograph with a young Emanda in the background. This "Nolan as a babysitter" move proves to be a bad one. He quickly figures out Emily murdered Frank, and while he's figuring this out Jack comes looking for him at his house and runs into a bikini-clad stripper. The good guy is immediately intrigued by the bad girl. The beginnings of a fling and the sentimentality of the Amanda Clarke alias she's kept for years factor into Emily's decision to ignore a plane ticket and new identity Emanda puts together for her. She plans to stick around the Hamptons and generally make Emanda's revenge plot a living hell.
A lot hinges on what Lydia remembers after waking up and... well, she doesn't remember much of anything that's happened in the last few weeks. She does happen to have her memory jogged about the photograph of Emanda, but it's not until Emanda has managed to have Nolan Photoshop it and sneak it back into Lydia's boxes of possessions which have been moved to Grayson Manor. Expect Lydia to make some noise soon, though, because she overhears an argument between Victoria and Conrad where he very clearly implicates Victoria as the one who ordered Frank to have Lydia killed. She is now a viper waiting in the landscaped grass of Grayson Manor.
Off on the Island of Misfit Psycho Underappreciated Hamptonites, Tyler and Ashley's middle class rebellion begins to crystallize a bit. They admit to each other that they've been harboring deep resentment toward their supposed best friends, Daniel and Emanda respectively. Is it too much to hope that the two most obnoxious characters might actually do something cool?
-- Pablo G. is some guy who lives in San Antonio, Texas. He co-hosts TWoP's original "Trailers Without Pity" with his brother Omar G. Check him out at Unp0ssible and Pablog and follow him @PendejoJoe on Twitter.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Emanda and Amily (formerly Stripper Emily) speed down a country road in Emanda's Lexus late at night. Emanda voice-over: "There's an old saying about those who cannot remember the past being condemned to repeat it. But those of us who refuse to forget the past are condemned to relive it."Amily defends her decision to murder Frank because she senses Emanda is mad at her, and also probably because Emanda scolds her for not handling the situation in a way other than killing the guy. Amily is no slouch, though. She weathers the admonishment and shoots back that she was expecting gratitude from Emanda. FLASHBACK: Another brawl between teenage Amanda and Emily. This time it's in the correctional facility's cafeteria and in front of a crowd of cheering peers. Amanda decidedly wins again, but this time Emily has learned enough to taunt her for fighting dirty like Amanda's father probably would. /FLASHBACK. Emanda suddenly softens up and apologizes to Amily, thanking her for trying to look out for her.
It's now morning and Emanda is banging on Nolan's front door. Big Ed is on duty to protect his frail millionaire, but Nolan comes downstairs in his silk robe to wave him off. To what does he owe the pleasure of a morning visit from the revengess herself? Before Emanda can rudely dump her problem on Nolan as per usual, Amily even more rudely makes herself at home. Emanda tells Nolan to watch over the stripper and leaves. Most lonely guys would not be annoyed by this, but Nolan is about a three on the Kinsey scale.
We're close up on Lydia's eyes having a flashlight aimed at them as she sits up in her hospital bed. She's awake and coherent as Conrad stands by. Victoria walks in and almost immediately asks if Lydia knows who she is. Lydia does, but has no memory of what's happened or why any of them would be there. The Graysons follow the attending doctor out of the room and start mining her for information. Is there a possibility Lydia's memory could come back fully? The doctor suggests it is indeed possible, especially if they surround Lydia with their friendship. This doctor doesn't seem to know that being friends with the Graysons would drive anyone to do anything they could to erase their memory. Conrad suggests to Victoria when the doctor has left them alone that they get their story straight about why Frank attacked Lydia.
At Poor Porter Bar, Charlotte has woken up panicked because she forgot to make up a lie for her parents to cover up her overnight stay with Declan. She has no time for the breakfast in bed Dec made for her and hurries down the stairs past Jack. He awkwardly tries to breach the topic with Dec, who brazenly admits he slept with her... literal sleep. Jack starts being the guardian and warns that he needs to be careful, like, safe-sex careful. It's a normal enough concern, but in this case it's even more important because of the power her family would have in the event of an accidental pregnancy or whatever. Jack steps down from his soapbox and tells his little brother to carry on. They crack small smiles at each other
A fully suited Tyler enters the Grayson Manor pool house to talk to Daniel. He drops some insidiously heavy news on Daniel about Conrad moving his home office to the Southfork Inn. Emanda enters at the tail end of the conversation. Tyler is cordial, having been... uh... placated by Nolan. Tyler leaves pleasantly enough. Now alone, the couple gets a little lovey-dovey before Daniel reveals he's planning on quitting his bartending gig at the Stowaway in favor of helping out his dad. Emanda thinks it's a good idea. Suddenly, Ashley is in the room. Emanda and Dan laugh at her because she's apparently in the middle of a walk of shame after spending the night with Tyler. Ew. Ash hopes to sneak out without being spotted by Victoria. Sucks for her because in the house proper, Victoria enters and calls out immediately to Ashley for help, Lydia trailing her in a wheelchair. Ashley will need to make accommodations for Lydia because she will be staying with the Graysons during her recovery. Charlotte sneaks into the scene and tries to hurry by, quickly saying her hellos to everyone. Victoria turns to Ashley and says, "It seems like you're not the only one flaunting last night's dress." Me-ow. Lydia stares at Emanda, scrunching her face because she can't place her. She apologizes for not remembering her at all, but Emanda's all smiles.
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In a guest bedroom at Grayson Manor, Lydia lies in bed with Victoria attending and scheduling appointments for her. Conrad walks by prompting Victoria to fly after him and remind him he's been kicked out. Conrad thinks things changed the instant Victoria decided to house Lydia, and implies he suspects this could be some sort of power play against him. He defiantly walks off and remains in the house.
Poor Porter Bar. Behind the counter, Jack and Declan are tending bar when Dec asks off-handedly if he can borrow "The Amanda" tonight. That damn boat. Jack reminds him for the umpteen millionth time that he no longer owns it. And for the umpteen billionth time this is something related to Declan wanting to set up something romantic for Charlotte. The difference here is Dec is shamelessly admitting he wants to "seal the deal" with her. Daniel walks in and catches Jack advising Dec to use protection. The brothers play it off as their discussion not being about Dan's sister's vagingo and Declan walks off. Dan wastes no time leveling with Jack about this whole bartending thing just not working out, and Jack wastes no time being smug about Daniel's failings along with the differences they've had. Dan offers to work his shift tonight, but Jack says that won't be necessary. Both men shake on it and are all too happy to part ways.
It's a sunny afternoon outside of Nolan's Fortress of Solitude. He sits poolside at a table with Amily with a nice spread for lunch and starts prying for info. When he asks how she knows Emanda, Amily gets up from the table and starts slowly shedding clothes on her way to the swimming pool. Nolan stops her to offer a house bikini. Amily, common exotic dancer she is, giggles at the idea of a house bikini and heads off to the pool house to change. As soon as she's out of earshot, Nolan quickly dials Emanda to complain about his unwelcome houseguest. He wants to know more about what's going on, but Emanda insists she won't talk about Amily, and instead needs Nolan's help with a more pressing matter. Shockingly, Emanda is Photoshop-challenged. She needs Nolan to alter the old photo of Emanda spying on Victoria and Lydia in case the latter regains her memory. Nolan agrees and receives the photo in a message to his phone after they hang up. Amily comes back in a perfectly fitting red bikini and teases Nolan about the house bikini not getting much use. It still has the tags. She rips them off and tosses them at her pile of clothes, causing Nolan's eyes to follow and land on a very noticeable trace of blood. His eyes go wide. Nolan excuses himself, saying he has to go run errands for Emanda.
Conrad walks through Grayson Manor with Tyler sycophantically close behind like a personal assistant. Tyler boasts that he hopes to become indispensible to Conrad, to which Conrad concedes he is well on his way. Daniel appears in the doorway to Conrad's office, which surprises Tyler because Dan was supposed to be bartending, and asks if he can have a private word with his father. Naturally, Tyler hangs around just outside the door and eavesdrops as Daniel humbly asks his dad if he's welcome to come back to the family business. What self-important father would say no? Tyler's face hardens at the realization he has just been casually replaced. He flies into the room because the phone happens to ring at this moment. He answers for Conrad and is unable to screen the call because it's the police. Oh shit! Conrad worriedly takes the call.
We have an overhead view of Amily's graceful stripper body swimming underwater in Nolan's pool. We cut to Jack enjoying the view of the supple young woman. Even knowing Jack is a good guy, it's kind of creepy, what with the wispy goatee and all. Amily pulls herself out of the pool and walks straight up to Jack, getting flirtatiously close because he happens to be standing right on top of her towel. Jack's there because he's looking for Nolan so he can ask to borrow the boat on Declan's behalf. She explains Nolan's gone and tosses Jack a bottle of sunscreen, asking him to make himself useful. Hussy.
Victoria runs into Conrad at Grayson Manor, which I suppose would be kind of startling when you own a giant mansion. Say it with me: I hate rich people. Conrad was told by the police that Frank is dead and he relays this to his wife. The news shakes Victoria. Conrad probably doesn't help his wife's grief by adding that Frank was found in a ditch and they'll be cutting him open for the autopsy today. Always leave ditches and autopsies out of death news. Victoria is understandably freaked out, but Conrad actually sees the silver lining in all of this. Their secrets died with Frank. That's pretty pragmatic, man.
Amily has Jack completely enthralled at the little portable bar poolside at Nolan's. They're talking shop about bartending as she pours a couple of drinks into martini glasses. She calls her drink the "Black Dahlia." That's not foreboding at all. Jack's definitely impressed. He thinks the drink would go over really well with his new clientele at the Stowaway. Emanda enters the scene shocked to see Jack and Amily hitting it off. Jack is a bit startled, as any guy would be, to inexplicably see his crush while he flirts with someone new. He starts excusing himself from Amily and realizes he never asked for her name. Amily: "Probably for the best." Heh. There's an awkward moment between Jack and Emanda before he leaves. Amily's decidedly impressed with "the famous Jack Porter," who Emanda apparently told her stories about while they were in juvie together. Emanda tries asserting herself about this not being a game, but Amily reminds her she doesn't like being told what to do. Get ready to get usurped!
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Emanda types away at her laptop with Amily pensively hovering. She's trying to set up Amily with a new life so she'll never have to use "Amanda Clarke" as her alias again. She'll have a filled bank account and can stay at Emanda's apartment in Paris until they figure out where to go from there. Essentially, she'll be free and clear of everything that came with switching identities with Emanda. "But I like being Amanda Clarke," Amily admits. She hunches over Emanda's computer chair and longingly reaches to brush her fingertips through her namesake's hair. Creeeeeeper. She wants to know why Emanda wants to ship her off. Emanda just chalks it up to it not being safe for Amily there. They admit to each other that they're the closest thing they've ever had to sisterhood. FLASHBACK: Warden Stiles lectures young Amanda after the cafeteria fight with Emily. Amanda thinks she's got nothing to lose because her name will always be tied to David's horrific terrorism. The warden thinks Amanda's smart and that Emily is only looking for a friend. There are more efficient ways to defeat your enemies than violence, she advises. She suggests to Amanda that she gain Emily's trust and use it to get Emily working for her instead of against her. She asks with a smile if Amanda gets her meaning. /FLASHBACK.
Grayson Manor. Victoria unpacks Lydia's things and comes across Lydia's hand bag from the night she was attacked. She opens it and pulls out a folded piece of paper as she turns to quiz Lydia about her memory. Lydia has no problem remembering long-term things like their overall friendship, but can't remember the last few weeks. Victoria asks if she remembers her affair with Conrad being uncovered. Lydia appears to be laboring emotionally and doesn't get to answer before Victoria hands her the speech Lydia had written to expose the Graysons at the Open Arms benefit that night. Lydia reads it aloud like it's new to her. She has no idea why she would write something like that. Victoria reassures her that she didn't go through with it and that's what's important.
Elsewhere in the mansion, Emanda finds Ashley moving heavy boxes of Lydia's things. She's completely disgruntled and embarrassed by her job and takes a swipe at Emanda when she obliviously says she thought this was Ashley's dream job. Ashley tells Emanda she doesn't expect her to understand and walks off in a huff, lugging a giant box. Emanda pulls out the Photoshopped picture from her purse and sneaks it into one of the boxes. She carries it into Lydia's guest bedroom and is all cheer and well wishes. Lydia is completely distraught at the sight of Emanda's semi-familiar face, and when she exits the room she turns to Victoria and immediately remembers the photograph with Emanda in it. She tells Victoria that if she can get her that photo she can prove that Emanda knew them years before they came to know her. Victoria is intrigued.
Pool house. Tyler walks in on Ashley pouring herself a glass of vodka. She starts lamenting Victoria before Tyler can even ask what's wrong. It turns into a pity party with Tyler adding his feelings of being snubbed upon Daniel's return to his rightful family business. Tyler suggest to Ashley that Emanda is actually the worst of all the snooty aristocrats because she hides her intentions behind her condescending smile. Ashley seems intrigued. They toast to realizing they've been playing too nice thus far.
Nolan sits in his dimly lit Fortress of Solitude in contemplation. Big Ed sees news of Frank being dead on his iPad and brings it over to Nolan. The news shocks him. He sits back and thinks for a minute and has a sudden realization. Meanwhile, Conrad and Victoria are also discussing Frank's death at Grayson Manor. According to the police, Frank's death is being considered a robbery carjacking, but this doesn't add up as far as Victoria is concerned. She reveals to Conrad Frank's last words to her about Emanda not being who she claims to be. Conrad thinks she's just being paranoid, but it doesn't deter her from picking up the phone and dialing the police, presumably with a tip about Emanda.
Back at the Fortress of Solitude, Nolan steps outside to the pool where Amily is sitting by herself, Big Ed trailing close behind. Nolan calls out that he wants to play "20 Questions." Amily can sense what's coming. First question: Who is Frank? Amily plays dumb, so Nolan gives her a hint -- Frank's dead. Nolan points out the blood on her clothes and then carefully pulls out an open wallet with Frank's driver's license displayed in it. Nolan turns to Amily and asks with contempt, "Who the hell are you?"
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Nolan bangs on Emanda's door. He has Amily with him and he's pissed that he's been unwittingly housing a murderer. What are they going to do when the cops come around? Emanda already has it all figured out. She has an alibi for herself and a plane ticket for Amily leaving to Paris tonight. All that's left is for Nolan to delete all the data off Frank's cell phone. Nolan will do it, but Nolan won't like it. He leaves. Amily gets emotional as soon as she sees the plane ticket, seemingly because this is all happening so fast. The passport Emanda gave her has a new identity for Amily -- Kara Wilkins -- which she questions since she's so fond of being Amanda Clarke. Emanda explains that Kara Wilkins was her mother's name, and she thought it appropriate. Amily is crying, but not at the beauty of this gesture, most likely out of sentimentality for the alias to which she's grown attached and terror at the thought of leaving the country for the first time. She asks Emanda to come with her, sounding like a child, but Emanda just says she wishes she could and hugs her with a look of slight annoyance on her face resting on Amily's shoulder.
Charlotte comes down to Conrad's office at Grayson Manor to say goodnight before going out. He stops her so he can tell her about the trouble between him and Victoria. Charlotte's biggest concern is being left alone with her mother for a long period of time while Conrad is out in the dog house. She thinks she really won't be able to handle it. Conrad tells her she can handle anything because she's a Grayson.
In the shortest scene ever, Lydia and Victoria look over the photo which has been altered to make Emanda's face fat and unrecognizable. Lydia swears she saw Emanda before, and asks Victoria if she's losing her mind. Victoria gives her friend a look to say, "Damn, girl, why you askin' me?"
Poor Porter Bar. Dec is upstairs fretting to Jack because Charlotte is thirty minutes late for their date. Jack apologizes for not getting the boat from Nolan, but hey, Dec has the night off, at least. (What a nice older brother/boss/guardian.) Charlotte finally appears and Jack excuses himself. It's obvious the night isn't going to go as Declan planned. Charlotte is still upset from her talk with her father and wants to just sit and talk with Dec. The condom in Declan's wallet lets out a frustrated groan.
Emanda is getting home late at night and talks to Nolan on the phone, who is strolling around his house, coolly holding his phone out in front of his face with Emanda on speakerphone. They're both pretty relieved to have Amily gone. Nolan has taken care of Frank's phone and left it hidden on Emanda's porch along with Frank's wallet. She checks for it and notices through the window Daniel standing in her kitchen with two detectives. She tells Nolan she has to go. She enters the house and is told by Daniel that he had come by to see her and found the detectives waiting outside, so he let them in. They want to ask Emanda some questions about Frank's murder. Questions about murders from police always spell doom and take us straight to...
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The detectives answer preliminary questions from Emanda about what happened to Frank and why they're there. Though Frank was murdered hundreds of miles away, his car was abandoned a half-mile down the road from Emanda (stupid Amily). The detectives reveal that Emanda is a person of interest because Victoria had Frank investigating her and they're aware that his last words were about Emanda. Daniel is frustrated to hear his mother was meddling, but Emanda speaks up that it was deserved. She admits in front of everyone that she was incarcerated when she was young. She explains her current charitable nature is atonement for her violent self-defense in the past. She is sure to drop the fact that the only time she ever met Frank face-to face was shortly after he was fired by Conrad (motive) when he threatened to expose her legal past to the Graysons. One of the detectives subtly implies that could be motive against Emanda and stares her down, but Emanda produces an alibi that's even better than Daniel's assertion that they were in bed together the night of Frank's death. Emanda claims she slipped out of bed very early in the morning to go to the fish market. She invites the detectives to check her fridge where they find a filet of fish with the receipt time-stamped during the timeframe in question. That's good enough for the detectives. They leave. Emanda apologizes to Daniel and they embrace, their brush with the law seemingly over.
Daniel storms home and finds his mother alone in the kitchen. He yells at her for leading the police to Emanda and demands to know why Frank was investigating her. When Victoria explains it out loud it sounds so much more paranoid and ridiculous. This girl came out of nowhere and showed an interest in her son, so she had a man follow her. Perfect parenting. It sounds even worse when Daniel explains away the nebulous parts of Emanda's past which paints her as a helpless victim. Dan's fed up with his mother's paranoia. He personally attacks her. What happened that caused her to feel so threatened all the time, or was she always just full of hate? Daniel orders his mother to stay away from Emanda and begins to walk out. He stops to add, "I was the last person in this house to defend you, mom. And now you've lost me, too." Victoria is oddly stoic through all of this.
Nolan shows up at the Stowaway. He takes notice of the new socialite clientele as he timidly walks up to the bar counter to talk to Jack because he heard Jack had come by looking for him. Jack explains he was trying to borrow the boat for Declan. Nolan awkwardly opines the boat never really was his and hands over the pink slip of ownership. He adds that Jack doesn't have to pretend to be his friend anymore and starts to walk away (aww), but Jack stops him to apologize for throwing him out of the bar and generally being an asshole. They agree to be cool with each other, and Nolan sits down at the bar. Jack pours him a Black Dahlia which segues into Jack asking if Amily is still around. Nolan perks up and emphatically declares she's gone forever. Jack thinks that's too bad because he thought there was something about her. No you didn't. Shut up, Jack.
Emanda sits in the dark at home alone with Frank's phone and deletes the mug shot of Amily from it. (Wasn't Nolan supposed to delete everything from the phone?) She hides the phone under a couch cushion when Daniel suddenly appears at her door carrying some luggage. He asks if it's okay for him to stay a while, which, of course, is perfectly fine. Emanda apologizes for coming between him and his family. Dan thinks she actually might've saved him from it. They hug it out as Amily stalks them from just outside the window.
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Conrad bangs on the door of Grayson Manor because Victoria has changed the locks on him. He thinks they should be projecting a united front in the face of this investigation, but they are anything but united. The locks have been changed because Victoria has every reason to believe Conrad might be Frank's murderer. The noise from this argument startles Lydia awake, who's in the adjacent room, and she overhears Conrad's mention of Frank attempting to kill her for Victoria. Conrad gets the door slammed in his face and Victoria realizes she better check to make sure Lydia didn't hear any of the incriminating stuff. She creeps into the guest bedroom to find a sleeping Lydia, but Lydia's eyes shoot open when Victoria exits the room. That's one way to have your amnesia cured.
It's still late at night, and Emanda wanders to the dock outside her house by herself. She holds the hard copy of the mug shot of Amily in her hand. FLASHBACK: Young adult Amanda shows up at Emily's release from juvie. Emily is ecstatic to see her since she's lived a life of broken promises, and didn't expect Amanda to be there for her. Amanda takes Emily aside to explain it's been a rough transition for her on the outside because she's not really as tough as she pretended to be when she was incarcerated. She hands Emily half a million dollars, and looks her in the eyes. "I have a favor to ask you." /FLASHBACK. Widowspeak's "Limbs" begins to play as Emanda sets fire to the mug shot... then inexplicably drops it into the ocean before it's done burning. Emanda voice-over: "The past is a tricky thing." At Grayson Manor, Victoria shreds Lydia's Open Arms speech while Tyler spies menacingly through the blinds. VO continued: "Sometimes it's etched in stone. And other times it's rendered in soft memories." Tyler pieces together the shredded speech and reads it to himself. Cut to a point-of-view shot sneaking outside through some bushes. Emanda has on skulking attire and activates the GPS on Frank's phone before placing it outside Grayson Manor. Later, she slips into bed with an already asleep Daniel. "But if you meddle too long in deep dark things, who knows what monsters you'll awaken." Daniel's eyes shoot open and stare daggers at the back of Emanda's head.
Amily shows up at the Stowaway long after hours and finds Jack who is still cleaning up. He pours some Black Dahlias and asks what happened to her transatlantic flight. Amily declares she's exactly where she's supposed to be right now and plans to stick around. They toast. (Amily says "Za schast'-ye." A little classy for a murdering stripper, no?) Stuttering slow-motion, lustful stare from Amily.
-- Pablo G. is some guy who lives in San Antonio, Texas. He co-hosts TWoP's original "Trailers Without Pity" with his brother Omar G. Check him out at Unp0ssible and Pablog and follow him @PendejoJoe on Twitter.
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