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When last we left off, Daniel had been sent to maximum security prison without bail for the murder of Tyler, and Takeda had run off with Amily, leaving Emanda a vengeful mess. The Graysons are still trying to remain united during this crisis to devise any sort of defense they can on Daniel's behalf. The original plan to pin things on Amily won't really fly because she's nowhere to be found, so Victoria wants to paint Jack as a suspect. Emanda, continuing to be an active participant in the Grayson camp, suggests they reach out to Mason Treadwell to do all the legwork since he surely wants to get back at Amily for burning down his house. This puts the ball mostly in Ems' court as far as trying to protect Jack from this witch hunt.
Emanda's not the only one scheming, though. Victoria contacts her go-to thug and pays him to have some inmates beat her son so he can come home under house arrest for medical reasons. That plan works a little too well, and Daniel straight-up gets his ass handed to him. When Victoria meets up with her thug again to pay him and yell at him for hurting Daniel too much, she runs into an old fling named Dominick Wright. He's a failed painter, so that means they get to have steamy sex in his clichéd loft apartment packed with shitty oversized paintings. We find out Victoria spurned this guy to run off with Conrad, but that doesn't stop Dominick from giving Victoria the lovin' she so desperately needs right now.
When Mason comes snooping around the Stowaway asking questions of Jack, Declan overhears his brother's plight. He intercepts Mason and offers up what he thinks he knows about Jack protecting Amily and inadvertently throws Charlotte under the bus as an unreliable witness since she was high the night of the party. Mason publishes that information on a blog set up by the Graysons with the intention of taking the heat off Daniel, instead completely destroying their defense case and turning Charlotte fully against Dec. Victoria tries to threaten Mason with retribution, but he's come to the realization that Queen Victoria's threats don't mean as much these days. Her empire's crumbling.
Emanda's plans pretty much work themselves out this time around, so she spends her time spying on Victoria a bit, which leads her to the thug. Ems pretends to hit on him at a bar so she can record him talking about all the dark secrets he has about the Graysons. She then leads him behind the bar and beats the living shit out of him since she knows he's the one who attacked Jack and carried out the much lesser offense of having Dan beaten in prison.
Everyone is left with doubt (hey, that's the name of the episode!). Dec isn't sure what to think about his brother, who is off to Montreal on Nolan's suggestion to find Amily. Charlotte thinks her boyfriend sold her out. Conrad's very aware Victoria is having an affair and Dan might be suspecting Emanda's up to something similar since he fails to get in contact with her the night he returns home. The only certainty is Emanda is refocused.
-- 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!We begin in Daniel's dark cell block at Rikers Island. Daniel lies on his cold, lonely bunk staring at a photo of his fiancé. Emanda voice-over: "Doubt is a disease. It infects the mind, creating a mistrust of people's motives and of one's own perceptions." Dan rolls over, pulls out a blank piece of paper and begins writing a letter to Emanda. Fade to the Stowaway where Dec stares at his brother's back with suspicion from across the bar while they clean up. Ems VO: "Doubt has the ability to call into question everything you've ever believed about someone..." At Grayson Manor, Victoria reaches the foot of the main staircase and pauses to look at Conrad who's on his phone in the study. VO continued: "...and reinforce the darkest suspicions of our inner circles."
Casa Emily. Emanda sits at her breakfast table, reading Daniel's letter over coffee. Daniel voice-over: "Emily, I need you to know that I'm not guilty of what they're accusing me. Something happened on the beach that night that I don't yet fully understand. I only hope you'll still be by my side when the truth finally comes to light." Emanda contemplates this and her own guilt until there's a knock at the door. She's not too happy to see it's Nolan. "What do you want?" Emanda asks. "World peace," Nolan innocently responds, "But I'll start small. Croissan'wich?" He cheerfully holds up a paper sack. And in that sack there was not really a croissan'wich, but all our hearts. Ems has no time to eat or sleep because she's stressing over Daniel's trial and Victoria's insistence on tracking down Amily. Nolan figures that if Amily resurfaces, the jig will be up for Emanda, but she's confident Takeda has her secure. But what if Takeda realizes Emanda's going to take him on? "Takeda might just release the Kraken," Nolan suggests. He notices the letter from Daniel and muses to himself that it's déjà vu, obviously referring to the fact Emanda's had two important men in her life in prison. Nolan: "I wonder what kind of box he'll make you in woodshop." Ignoring the awesomeness of Nolan, Emanda instead admits Takeda was right about her losing focus and becoming too emotionally involved. Nolan's phone goes off with a text. He breathes a deep sigh before showing the screen to Emanda: "Come to the bar ASAP -- Jack" Nolan gets up and leaves. (He leaves the croissan'wich.)
Grayson Manor. A criminal sketch artist shows Charlotte a photo of a hoodied figure with nothing but white space where the face should be. George Zimmerman, is that you? Charlotte deadpans, "That's the guy; you nailed it." She's so exasperated with Victoria constantly badgering her to think hard about what she saw the night of Tyler's murder and now her mother's trying to twist her memory into possibly remembering the hoodied figure could've been a woman. Charlotte sees through this and points out there's no way she could really tell if it was her half-sister because the two weren't exactly close growing up. Ouch. Declan walks in dressed up, he announces, for today's school orientation. This as a cue for Charlotte to blow up at her mother and exit with Dec. Her boyfriend's excited for their first day of school, but Charlotte has other plans already because of her new fuckall attitude on life. She wants to blow off orientation and go to the beach today.
Victoria walks over to the kitchen breakfast nook where family lawyer Benjamin Brooks and Conrad are hanging around in their homemade war room. She asks if there's any progress finding Amily, which of course there hasn't because we'd be the first ones to know that. Brooks wants to explore other avenues of creating reasonable doubt, but that's not good enough for Victoria. She has every reason to think Amily is behind everything that led to her son being on trial for murder. Conrad and Brooks insist they should try and find another viable suspect, prompting Victoria to suggest Jack. After all, he did storm into their home and accuse them of being responsible for destroying David Clarke. "Maybe Charlotte did see a man on the beach," Victoria schemes.
As if we need to be reminded who Jack is, we cut to him being his boring self at the Stowaway until Nolan enters and they begin talking about Amily. Jack admits he can't stop thinking about that bank receipt. He wants Nolan to find out for him if Amily was on the receiving end of the transaction. This isn't like Jack, Nolan tells his pseudo best buddy. And he thinks Jack needs to move on -- pretty much the last thing Jack ever wants to hear. He blows up about how none of the pieces of this massive puzzle of blood and lying make sense. Jack insists he can't put it all behind him so easily and storms off.
Grayson Manor. Emanda enters the war room/kitchen to find everyone standing around as if they're waiting for something important to happen. She asks Ashley what's up. Ash says they're waiting to hear Daniel's court date, and we see Brooks is on the phone. He announces to the room that the trial will be the first week of December and barring any life-threatening condition, Dan will remain incarcerated for the duration. Ems suggests they focus on looking for Amily in the meantime. Victoria explains they're now after someone else. She hands over the suspect sketch to Ash and it now has the blank white space filled in with a likeness of Jack. Ash says the obvious, "This looks like Jack Porter." Ems raises her glance into a menacing glare at the side of Victoria's face.
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Victoria and Emanda are still hanging around the war kitchen. The Queen asks Ems how well she knows Jack. Emanda thinks it's not as important as how well everyone else knows him. Jack is well-liked in Montauk. Conrad comes over to join the conversation and agrees with Emanda that a lowly bartender won't be very compelling in this day of wanting to persecute the 1%. Conrad's repeated paranoia about people being out to get the 1% is pretty hilarious. Ems suggests Mason Treadwell could help shape people's perception of him to their liking. Since Victoria's lost contact with him after his house burned down, Ems volunteers to go get the ball rolling. Conrad turns to Victoria and suggests Emanda might just be Grayson material, after all.
The goon who Victoria hired to recover Mason Treadwell's interview tapes and who inadvertently kicked the crap out of Jack in the process sits alone in a dirty bar. His phone rings with a call from Victoria. She asks if he's able to relay a message to an inmate at Rikers Island. Being an asshole, he suggests the post office. "Not that kind of message," is Victoria's ominous response.
Casa Emily. Nolan's asking Emanda for clarification of Victoria's plot to frame Jack for Tyler's murder. He can't believe Ems would let Jack get this mixed up in all of this. Emanda isn't worried because she still has her one trump card. Nolan thinks on this for a moment. Nolan: " 'Cause... you'd come clean to save Jack?" She stares back silently. This possible romantic gesture is delicious to Nolan. He perks up to do Emanda's bidding until she reveals she needs him to track down Mason Treadwell. Nolan reluctantly agrees to do it and then vents about Jack bugging him to find info about Amily's bank account. Emanda encourages Nolan to go ahead and do so since it'll get Jack out of town and away from the Graysons. It makes sense, too, since he'd go in search of his girlfriend. How can Emanda be so sure Jack will go to Canada for Amily? Because he loves her, she tells Nolan.
Rikers Island. Daniel takes a seat across from Emanda at the glass-partitioned visitor telephones. He picks up the receiver and they immediately do the cliché hands touching through glass. Ems gives Dan advice about not getting in trouble in there that basically amounts to keeping to himself and not putting risking being in a position to owe any other inmates anything. She reassures him she'll always be by his side and so will his family. Daniel smiles and notes that something good has come out of this. His fiancé and mother found common ground. Ems gives him a genuine smile.
Nolan meets with Mason Treadwell at a park near the docks. Mason has a six-pack of wine coolers seated to him on a bench because... well, he's Mason Treadwell: The Hack and he can't muster actual drunken inspiration like a real writer. Nolan assumes that this broken man is no longer interested in writing his biography and Mason confirms as much. His writing days are over thanks to his typewriter being reduced to ashes by Amily. Nolan slyly segues to explaining the Graysons' belief that Amily framed Daniel for murder, then coyly suggests it might make a good conclusion to Mason's book before sauntering off.
Cut to Mason at Grayson Manor that night in a meeting with Victoria, Emanda and Ash in the war kitchen. He recaps the story they want him to spin: Jack and Amily conspired to frame Daniel for the murder of Tyler. When the ladies confirm, he says he thinks it's a real stretch. Victoria assures Mason that his power with words is all that matters. That sways him and he figures he can knock out a book before the trial, but no. Emanda speaks up that this needs to happen now. Mason needs to get with the 21st century and blog this shit. He naturally has no idea what that means. That's OK because Ashley has set him up with a website and a laptop. All he has to do is write, says Emanda. He naturally smiles at the notion of being current/hip.
The showers at Rikers are busy with inmates while Daniel tries to mind his own business and get through his own shower. Someone whistles at Dan as he finishes up and I close my eyes. Suddenly everyone is gone. Daniel wraps himself in a towel and goes to investigate what's happening. Two men pop out from behind a pillar and begin beating Dan's ass without uttering a word. He splatters on the tiled floor along with his blood.
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Ems and Victoria rush through the halls of the prison. Brooks meets the ladies and informs them Daniel has a concussion, two cracked ribs and fracture to his orbital bone. Victoria immediately reminds Brooks that he mentioned the judge would consider the option of house arrest in the event of a life-threatening condition. Brooks has already discussed this with the judge and it appears likely now. He walks off, leaving an awkward silence between Victoria and Emanda, who is beginning to connect the dots. Victoria blurts out, "Who on Earth would do a thing like this to Daniel?" Emanda has no answers and instead offers Victoria a ride home. Victoria awkwardly makes an excuse before suspiciously receiving a text message. She claims she wants to just stay close to Daniel.
Mason strolls into the Stowaway and goes straight up to Jack at the bar to introduce himself. Jack remembers who he is, so Mason gets to the point. He pulls out the sketch of Jack and tells him the Graysons have two witnesses placing him at the beach the night of Tyler's murder. Declan steps out of his room upstairs and begins eavesdropping on the conversation. Mason says Jack will go down for the crime unless he fesses up that he's covering for Amily. Immediately angered at the idea of doing wrong by Amily, Jack kicks Mason out of the bar. Declan sneaks out and chases after Mason to find out what's going on. The scared teenager's definitely in a panic because he completely throws Charlotte under the bus. Dec tells Mason there was no man in a hoodie at the beach that night and he just went along with it for Charlotte. He offers up that she was high on pain killers that night and he can prove it. Poor, greasy Declan.
Victoria meets with her goon at his bar of choice. She tells him she paid for an assault not a rampage. Goon laughs to himself that he delivered the beatdown she asked for. Ems has followed Victoria here. She pulls out her phone and snaps photos as Victoria hands over a thick envelope of cash to Goon before he leaves. Victoria sits alone at the bar with her head in her hands until the bartender comes over with a drink and asks if she's Vicki Harper. She's shocked to hear the name and demands to know where he heard it. A guy across the bar bought her the drink. The bartender steps out of the way, revealing a scruffy man staring amorously at Victoria. She looks back longingly. Cut to the two out behind the bar making out. Cut again to the guy's apartment. They're making out until Mystery Guy roughly turns Victoria around and presses her up against the wall like his idea of love is a 12-pack of "her pleasure" condoms. Meanwhile, Emanda has broken into Grayson Manor and is sneaking into the office where Victoria keeps her safe. She punches in a code and opens it.
Elsewhere in the house, Charlotte enters her bedroom to find Mason Treadwell sitting in her chair reading a book. Gross! She's understandably angry and confused to find this random, eccentric man in her room, but Mason is calm in the face of her demands that he leave since he knows he already has leverage. He pulls out her bottle of pain killers. She denies they're hers, but Mason explains he knows she was on them the night of Tyler's murder. How could he know that? Mason simply says someone cares about Charlotte, implying Dec told him. Mason gives her advice that comes from someone who's admittedly selfish: She doesn't have to go down this path and end up like the rest of her family. He leaves her to think about this and also probably "Thank God that guy's gone."
The Stowaway. It's near closing time. Nolan enters in hopes of getting a drink, but Jack withholds it in anticipation of seeing if Nolan's there without any news on Amily. Nolan finally obliges and offers up that it was indeed Amily's bank account, though he doesn't know where the money came from, but he knows that as of three days ago she hasn't withdrawn anything. He thinks maybe Jack should stake out the bank in Montreal since he could get there before it opens on Monday. Jack's confused that suddenly Nolan has changed his tune about whether Jack should pursue this or not. Nolan does a good job of convincing by playing the angle that he just wants his friend back and that can't happen as long as Jack is consumed by all of this. Best case scenario, Jack finds Amily and it turns out to all be a big misunderstanding. Worst case scenario, Jack finds outs she's a grifter and murderer, but gets peace of mind.
Victoria walks around Mystery Guy's apartment wrapped in a blanket. It's entirely a cliché burnout artist's loft. She marvels at dozens of canvasses he's painted. While she tries to compliment, he degrades himself. The paintings are all unfinished. He goes over to a large painting of a brunette woman and turns it right-side-up to explain it's his favorite. It's pretty much a painting of Victoria when she was young in the style of "Whistler's Mother", with her sitting in a chair and looking away into the distance. He calls it the first in his series "Dominick Wright: Unfinished." Oh hey, that's his name. Dominick is somewhat drunk and surly. He reminds Victoria that a long time ago he met a woman that brought passion to his painting and that he was certain he loved her. Back then, she responded by saying she could never love and... ended up marrying Conrad Grayson. Awkward. Dominick is completely vulnerable at this admission so Victoria takes him in a passionate embrace.
Grayson Manor. Mason types away for his blog on his laptop and gets an instant message from "Anonymous." What the hell? Guy didn't even know what blogging was earlier today and now he's instant messaging? Anonymous claims they didn't burn Mason's house down. He asks if he's talking to Amily, but the only response he gets is to check the drawer to him. He opens it and finds his interview tapes. Before ending the chat, Anonymous suggests Mason ask Victoria for answers since she stole his video tapes. We cut to the laptop on the other end of the conversation and pull back to see Emanda like it's some sort of surprise. Ems gives us her patented determined scowl.
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It's the morning, and Victoria still lies in bed with Dominick. They're about to go for another round when Victoria suddenly remembers she's part of another storyline. She asks what time it is. Cut to Conrad on the phone with Victoria wondering where the hell she is. Without her help, Daniel has posted $10 million bail and will now be under house arrest. Dan's on his way home right now in a police caravan, so Conrad tells Victoria to not even bother with trying to see him and hangs up. Victoria hurries to leave Dominick's place, apologizing for having to go, but he maintains his ridiculous "allure" by quipping that it's OK; it's what she does. He gives her a wink. Blargh.
Dan comes home with his face scraped and bruised. Always the cheeseball, he weakly utters, "Hi, honey, I'm home," when he sees Emanda. An officer interrupts their reunion to attach Daniel's ankle monitor and explain to him that if he leaves his allotted perimeter, the LED will flash red. If he allows it to flash red for more than 30 seconds, he's in violation of house arrest and will have to return to prison for the duration of the trial. That can't possible come into play later down the line.
Dec calls Charlotte to ask if she's coming to pick him up for school. Let's put a screeching halt to those plans. Charlotte is pissed because Mason has posted to his blog all the things Declan divulged about her pain pill habit and her lack of credibility in Daniel's murder case. Dec tries to defend himself, but there's really nothing he can say. In anger, Charlotte tells him he failed the entrance exam and is only enrolled because her grandpa bribed the dean. Charlotte: "You're just another puppet in the Grayson family play. And it's time for your exit." Is that how kids break up with each other these days? Extended metaphors? Whatever happened to breaking up by text message at Cici's Pizza? Charlotte hangs up and reaches for her pill bottle.
Victoria arrives home and is in such a rush to see her son that she hardly notices the solemn mood of everyone else in the kitchen. Brooks and Emanda explain Dec recanted his statement and now Charlotte's credibility has been ruined by Mason's blog. Victoria is straight-up confused. Her daughter doesn't do drugs. Ems speaks up that she saw Charlotte with pills at the party, and didn't say anything because she didn't want to throw out accusations. Brooks steps up the drama by announcing to everyone the hoodied man theory is now gone and so is Dan's defense.
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Charlotte's listening to music in her room (and is totally high). Victoria barges in and asks why she's not in school. She wants to hear from Charlotte directly that she's on pills. Charlie claims Dec's lying about everything in the blog post, but her delivery is so spacey that Victoria snatches her face and looks her straight in the eyes to gauge whether she's on drugs right now. Charlotte admits she is and says it shouldn't matter since her father's a terrorist and her half-sister's an arsonist. Victoria slaps her daughter across the face while Conrad looks in from the hallway horrified. Completely in a rage, Victoria tells Charlotte she may have just sent her brother to jail for life. The Queen storms out. I can't help but feel this whole strained mother/daughter relationship could've been helped if "The Joy Luck Club" had been part of Charlotte's required reading in her prep courses.
The Stowaway. Declan walks in to find Nolan prepping Jack to go to Montreal. Jack explains he's going after Amily. Dec's visibly pissed, but Jack's naturally oblivious. When Jack's gone, Nolan lowers his voice to level with Dec that he knows what he did with what he said in his Mason Treadwell interview, which Jack hadn't read. He tells Dec he's a good brother, but doesn't really know what to say when Declan declares that this makes him a bad boyfriend.
Victoria meets with Mason outside at a park and demands to know why he betrayed her and Daniel. She wants him to print a retraction. The Queen knows not of the power of the Internet. Mason doesn't respond to her threats since he thinks Victoria's empire is crumbling. With the knowledge that she had his interview tapes, he accuses her of burning down his house. She's shocked that the tapes that she thought were in her safe escaped. Mason threatens that if she tries to implicate Amily in anything, he'll make sure she's burned at the stake. Go Mason?
Goon watches Ash being interviewed on TV at a bar. A brunette-wigged Ems takes a seat to Goon and flirtatiously starts chatting him up about the Graysons' scandal since it's natural to strike up a conversation about what's on the television in a bar. Trying to impress the pretty girl, Goon boasts that he knows all sorts of secrets about the Graysons. Emanda sneaks her phone out of her purse and starts her voice recorder before challenging Goon to impress her.
It's night outside Grayson Manor. Victoria finds Dan standing alone out there unable to sleep. She asks her son if he's still in pain. He's more afraid than anything and is sorry for bringing all of this shame on his family. Victoria declines the apology and turns the conversation to her suspicion that something else is at play here. She asks if Daniel also thinks it's odd the bullets that killed Tyler came from Emanda's gun. How can they be so sure she wasn't on the beach? That little bit of doubt is enough to get Dan acquitted, Victoria says. Seeing what his mother is getting at, Dan threatens he'll swear responsibility for the murder if she so much as tries to implicate Emanda in any of this.
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Back at the bar. Shots are happening. Goon gives his opinion on Victoria's cold, calculated move to have her own son beaten to a pulp to bring him home. Guy's better off in the slammer, Goon thinks. Ems has all the info she needs now. She suggests they change scenery and go back to his place. Emanda voice-over: "Nature can be cruel. Predators are everywhere." Still hanging outside Grayson Manor, Dan tries calling Emanda and gets her voicemail. He hangs up and tests out the limits of his ankle monitor before retreating back within its limits. VO continued: "Those who don't need to be protected from outside sources often need to be protected from themselves." Jack is driving with focus. There's someone speaking in French on his radio, so he's either already in Canada or he's learning the language by audio book. Meanwhile, Dec tries calling Charlotte and gets her voicemail, too.
At Grayson Manor, Victoria sits in bed reading articles about Dominick's drunken spiral into artistic failure when her phone rings with a call from him. She's surprised to hear from him because she didn't give him her number. He starts to ask if he'll see her again when Conrad walks into the room. Victoria abruptly hangs up on Dominick, but it's not quick enough for Conrad to not take notice and put the puzzle pieces together. Victoria did come home late today in last night's clothes. Conrad warns her that if she's having an affair (Victoria points out it's not an affair if they're divorced), she should be discreet about it for Daniel's sake. Victoria's in no mood to be told what to do since she suspects Conrad must be the one who led Mason Treadwell to his interview tapes. There's no way Conrad could have any idea what Victoria's talking about, so he reaches deep inside for a burn. He blames her for being the reason their children are now in harm's way. That'll do nicely.
Emanda voice-over: "In society, women are referred to as 'the fairer sex.'" Victoria returns to Dominick's loft. She appears to be waiting naked in his loft's elevator when he opens it, but we'll never know since we only see her from the shoulders up. Without saying a word, they lock lips and presumably do the dirty yet again. What is that -- four times in two days? Not bad, Queen. Not bad.
VO continued: "But in the wild, the female species can be far more ferocious than their male counterparts." Goon leads Ems out to his car. She stops him before they get in to say she wants to give him something. "This is for Jack," Emanda whispers in Goon's ear before sucker punching him and beating him to the ground, then repeatedly kicking him while he's down. VO: "Defending the nest is both our oldest and strongest instinct." After Goon's unconscious, Emanda adds as an afterthought that those kicks were for Daniel. VO: "And sometimes it can also be the most gratifying." She clones his car key and walks off satisfied.
-- 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.
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