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We've flashed forward to December and are already nearing the end of Daniel's trial. It's probably better that way since this should pretty much be an open-and-shut case by all stretches of the imagination. Declan is set to be the final witness for the prosecution, and everything hinges on whether he'll recant his statement about seeing a hoodied figure on the beach the night of Tyler's murder. While still unsuccessfully following a cold Amily trail, Jack finds out this is what's going on back home, and decides to return to Montauk to advise his brother to come clean so he'll avoid throwing away his future for perjury. You know... basic brotherly advice.
Jack returning home poses a few problems for Emanda. One, she has to make sure Victoria doesn't try to pin the murder on him. And two, Daniel begins to suspect she's cheating with Jack while she tries diverting him. Daniel is driven mad by being close enough to see suspicious meetings with Jack at Casa Emily, but being unable to get closer because of his house arrest monitor. He goes into a drunken, jealous rage and confronts Emanda at Casa Emily, breaking his house arrest. As he comes to the realization he's made a mistake, he's arrested and sent back to Rikers Island. It's just been that kind of year for, Dan.
Declan's big court date finally comes. He chooses to stick with his lie to protect Jack and testifies he saw no one on the beach. Daniel seems doomed, but Emanda finds out Jack has the bloody hoodie still, so she breaks into his place and snatches it. She plants it on Victoria's goon who has been trying to intimidate a juror on Victoria's behalf to acquit Daniel. Goon is arrested on suspicion of Tyler's murder and vows to expose the Graysons, so Conrad steps in and has him murdered in jail with a fake suicide note pinned to him, confessing to Tyler's murder. But, hey, it's not all evildoing from Conrad as far as we're concerned. Conrad also banished the awkward painter affair storyline for us by threatening Dominick. So... there's that.
Emanda had been closely monitoring the Graysons during all of this with audio bugs, and comes to realize that Conrad murdering Goon is history repeating itself. Her father wasn't arbitrarily killed in prison. Conrad had him killed. Oh, it's on now.
-- 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!It's a grey day at City Hall. A subtitle reads "Trial of Daniel Grayson: Day 15," then, "December 16" as the Grayson clan climbs the stairs outside the front of the building. Emanda voice-over: "Clarence Darrow one of history's greatest lawyers once noted, 'There's no such thing as justice in or out of court.'" In the courtroom, we pan over evidence exhibits of blood splatters and 3D renderings of the crime scene as the prosecutor presents her case in barely audible, muted tones. A painfully deliberate slo-mo actor reenactment of the murder, complete with white tuxedo coats goes down in front of the jury box. VO: "Perhaps because justice is a flawed concept that ultimately comes down to the decision of 12 people..." Daniel looks on as the reenactment reaches its conclusion. VO continued: "...People with their own experience, prejudices, feelings about what defines right and wrong." Brooks takes notice of a particular female juror who looks over at Daniel with judgment in her eyes and makes a note. VO: "Which is why when the system fails us. We must go out and seek our own justice." Dan looks back at Ems nervously like he wants to say, "This is all happening so fast... but in slow-motion. I'm so confused. Can we still go to Paris?"
Cut to Ash being interviewed by press at the head of the main City Hall steps. If you can believe it, she's actually improved her public speaking, artfully sidestepping entrapping questions and cheerfully declaring the Graysons can't wait for their defense's side of the story. She's asked about the prosecution's decision to slate Declan as their last witness. Ash deftly calls Dec an unreliable witness without saying it outright. Brooks takes notice of this as he walks out of the courtroom and gives her a subtle, approving nod. She returns the favor and ends her press conference.
Jack's in Boston at a motel he thinks Amanda stayed at. The receptionist he's talking with about Amily is preoccupied with her computer. That's because Brenda -- as we learn what her name is from her instant messenger window -- is chatting with Nolan, informing him that Jack is there looking for Amily. She asks what she should tell him. Nolan advises she should tell Jack that Amily went upstate. She masterfully lies about partying with Amily and barely being able to keep up with her drinking. Brenda tells Jack she vaguely remembers hearing something about Amily heading to Buffalo or some other animal-named town. Jack's defeated. He turns to leave and takes notice of the lobby TV where Ashley's press conference is being aired. She's talking about Dec taking the stand, which shocks Jack. He pulls out his phone and places an angry call to Nolan. He demands to know why Nolan didn't tell him Declan had been subpoenaed. Jack declares he's coming home despite his search for Amily being incomplete because he has to take care of his brother. Strange how potentially homicidal former strippers can come between brothers.
Grayson Manor. The entire Grayson camp plus Emanda and Brooks stand around the parlor discussing Declan's anticipated testimony that will debunk their case. Brooks figures they should be focused on what they can control. He wants to put Emanda on the stand to paint Daniel as a sympathetic figure. Victoria's knee-jerk response is to declare Emanda isn't even family yet. And the "Future Mother-in-Law of the Year Award" goes to... Brooks insists he's right because Emanda is supporting Dan by choice, not obligation. He wants to build an emotional connection between the jury and Dan since all the physical evidence is against them. When Victoria accuses Brooks of assuming the jurors have already made up their mind about Daniel, he walks over to a poster board on an easel with 8 X 10 photos of all the jurors. He pulls out a marker and marks the photo of the female juror he was eyeing in the opening montage before explaining that he could tell by her body language that she would already convict Daniel if deliberations were today. Conrad suggests they revisit a plea deal offered by the prosecution, but it's off the table now according to Brooks. He reiterates that the case is in the hands of the jury, as Victoria watches her worried son and begins scheming on how she can use this information to save him.
Casa Emily. Emanda sits at her breakfast table as she watches an old TV news broadcast on her laptop about a juror that disappeared during her father's trial with foul play suspected. It's become sort of a revolving door at Casa Emily for Nolan because he just walks into the house and gives Emanda an "Evening, Countess," before walking over to join her at the table. He announces Jack's on his way back to Montauk and is understandably worried the Graysons will try to pin the murder on him. Emanda isn't too concerned because she's in the process of gaining some leverage. She has Victoria's right-hand Goon bugged. Ems pulls up a photo of him [Nolan notes that he is "Mini Frank" (heh)] and audio of a meeting he's having with Victoria right now. They're discussing threatening Juror #3 to get her to either cause a hung jury or an acquittal. The plan is to kidnap or harm her son. Shamu the Whale Web Cam makes an appearance from Nolan's inventory at Emanda's request. Nolan asks if she realizes that if the Graysons get caught for juror tampering, Dan will go away to prison forever. Emanda: "I came here for one reason. Nothing's going to get in my way."
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Jack's back home at the Stowaway. He unpacks his bag, pausing upon his bloodied hoodie, which is wrapped in plastic a la Laura Palmer. He quickly hides it when he hears Declan -- who is dec'd out in his prep school uniform -- enter the room. They make awkward small talk about Jack pretty much abandoning his little brother until Declan spots the hoodie and flips out that Jack hasn't disposed of it. Jack explains that he wants to hang onto it as protection for Amily if she re-emerges. The conversation turns to Declan taking the witness stand. Jack doesn't want Dec throwing away his future to protect him. According to Dec, it's a little late for Jack to be looking out for his family after his recent obsession with protecting Amily. It happened very gradually, but when the hell did Declan start making way more sense than Jack?
At Cliché Art Loft, Dominik cheerfully paints while Victoria watches from his bed. She asks if he's heard from any galleries and he actually has. They're apparently lined up for his work now. Victoria gets up to come take a closer look at his work and we see that she's wearing one of his dress shirts as a nightgown. Victoria with no pants or an awkwardly restricting dress? Get outta here. Dominik has completed impressionistic paintings that are all of nude, passionate couples. Wonder where that inspiration suddenly came from. Victoria's proud of her beefcake for breaking through his creative block and finishing these paintings. He directs her attention over to the unfinished painting of Victoria. They wonder about the woman in the painting. Her path is not yet chosen, they obnoxiously muse together. Dominik suggests maybe it's time for Victoria to step out from the shadows, obviously meaning that maybe they could be together and she could leave behind her troubled past. Victoria asserts that she wants to, but it'll have to wait until Daniel's acquitted. She explains that all the darkness around her is much worse than Dominik thinks and that she lied when she told him long ago that she could never love anyone. She was afraid that if she got close to him he might "burn [her] and [she'd] turn to ash." Wouldn't the Ice Queen just turn to water? The course of events could've been completely altered if Victoria had understood the properties of fire versus ice in her formative years. She goes on to explain she married Conrad out of convenience, but always missed Dominik until she fell in love. She cautiously reveals she loved David Clarke. Dominik is taken aback.
It's snowing outside Casa Emily. December, remember? Jack's waiting out on the porch for Emanda as she arrives home. She invites him inside to get warmed up. Cut to Daniel watching from Queen Victoria's balcony. We see the silent view from Daniel's perspective of Emanda leading another man into her home. This would be a rather careless thing for Emanda to do even if her bored fiancée weren't house arrested door with a balcony overlooking her entire home. Inside, Jack and Emanda light her fireplace and sit in front of it to discuss his lack of luck in finding Amily. Emanda offers retrained advice to Jack about continuing with his instinct to seek out the truth if he feels Amily might be in trouble. Jack comes to the realization he's been pretty selfish this whole conversation when Emanda's fiancée is on trial for murder with Jack's brother prepared to testify against him. He tells Emanda to lean over to him for a hug. Aw... there's the Jack we all remember. Back outside, Victoria notices her son is standing out in the freezing cold. Her snapping him out of his jealous silence leads to a raging diatribe about how he's doomed if his fate is left up to a jury of his peers. Very recently he's been cited for drunk driving, nearly paralyzing his last girlfriend and shooting his best friend. Victoria tries to calm him down by assuring him Emanda will back him up with her testimony in court. This gives Daniel an opening to finally hint to his mother what's really on his mind. He explains that he just saw Jack enter Emanda's home to "make a fire and God knows what else." He walks off. Victoria steps out to the balcony (awesome detail here -- Madeleine Stowe gives a slight gasp/shiver as she steps out into the cold) to confirm her son's story, sees Jack walk out of Casa Emily and places a call to Brooks. She informs him Jack is back in town and they should subpoena him as a hostile witness.
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Alone in her bedroom, Charlotte plays with her bottomless pill bottle in contemplation. Victoria suddenly enters and Charlie hides the bottle. The Queen explains she understands tomorrow will be tough for her daughter with Declan testifying. Charlotte suggests she should just be allowed to testify against him, but Victoria brushes off the idea, instead advising Charlotte try changing Dec's mind. She all but tells her daughter to go slut it up when she pays her the gross compliment that she's a "resourceful girl." Victoria leaves Charlotte to think about being asked to use her vagina for evil. Charlie reaches for her pill bottle.
Knock at a hotel door. Room service! Juror #3 looks through her peep hole at what appears to be a room service attendant. She opens the door and there's Goon standing there with a silver food tray. He barges into the room. We see Juror #3's frightened reaction on Emanda's laptop and then Shamu sitting on a dresser in the juror's hotel room with its red light on. Nolan and Emanda watch emotionless from the comfort of Casa Emily. Goon pulls out his cell phone and brings up a photo of Juror #3's son, Matthew. Now it's creepy story time. He tells Juror #3 that Matthew walked home from school with him today because he's a very trusting little boy. If there isn't a hung jury or acquittal or if Juror #3 tells anyone about this, Goon's will be the last face Matthew ever sees. Nolan expresses fear for Matthew. Emanda's certain it won't come down to that since Juror #3's maternal instinct will concede. Always playing "devil's easy way out advocate" Nolan asks Ems if they'll just turn in this video recording to police and have the Graysons arrested. Emanda has other plans -- nothing so simple. For now, she just wants Nolan to convince Dec to go forward with his testimony against Charlotte's account. She isn't going to allow Jack to sacrifice himself for Amily.
Charlotte shows up at the Stowaway in a nice dress and heels covered by a fur coat. For a teenager, she's way beyond her years in dressing for grifting. Declan almost jumps out of his seat when he sees her. He's endeared himself so much as a character lately that it's not too annoying when he notes it's been exactly 58 days since he last spoke to Charlotte (31 if we count her telling him to get lost in the school cafeteria). Charlie gets right to business. She says she knows her parents believe Jack was the man on the beach in the hoodie, but she tries to convince Dec they're not saying Jack did anything wrong, just that placing Jack on the beach gives her brother a fighting chance in court. Charlotte starts laying on the sex appeal and dangles the possibility of reconciliation. She's got Declan snared when Nolan knocks on the door frame and interrupts. Before leaving, Charlotte asks Dec to think about what she said. Nolan knows exactly what she said, so he doesn't delay in asking Dec why he wants to lie on the stand. Dec's just not sure what will happen if he tells the truth. Placing his brother on that beach could have any number of consequences and no matter what he does, he probably won't win Charlotte back anyway. Nolan points out that despite what anyone thinks, the Graysons are ruthless and will pin this on Jack. Don't make it any easier for them, Nolan advises Declan.
Outside City Hall. A reporter sets the scene for their telecast, declaring they're about to call the final witness inside. Inside, Juror #3 watches nervously as the prosecutor lays out what she expects the defense's case will be. Brooks raises an objection on the grounds the prosecutor is providing testimony, which the judge sustains. Declan's already on the stand, so the prosecutor turns her attention to him. She asks for his account of the night of Tyler's murder. It leads up to the inevitable question of whether he saw anyone else on the beach that night. Tense moment. "No." Jack's head drops in disappointment. Follow-up question: Why should the jury believe Declan's word against Charlotte's? He testifies Charlotte was drunk and high and he's never done drugs in his life. Dec interrupts the prosecutor's "No further questions" to yell that Charlie's a good person just looking out for her brother. It probably falls on deaf ears because Charlotte gets up and leaves, devastated. Daniel and Victoria look on helplessly.
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The Graysons arrive home and are livid about Dec's testimony even though it was mostly what they were expecting. Victoria makes a throwaway comment about never having trusted Dec, which prompts Dan to snipe about her inability to trust anyone. She fires back at her son with complete lack of compassion that he should be careful about who he trusts. Didn't he notice Emanda sitting to Jack in the courtroom? Daniel's speechless at the thought. He immediately pulls out his phone to call Emanda and yell at her before even really forming in his mind what he wants to accuse her of. Emanda is actually perplexed as Daniel demands to know what's going on, without actually mentioning Jack. He asks Emanda to come over to talk face-to-face since he's under house arrest, but Ems has to decline because she has lots of Brooks' notes to go over for her testimony tomorrow. Stumped by the situation, Daniel ham-fistedly declares he doesn't know how he can expect Emanda to convince a jury she loves him when he's not even sure himself. Emanda's left dumbfounded by the conversation. They hang up, Dan grabs a bottle of bourbon and starts drinking.
Stowaway. Jack's pacing back and forth as he gets Declan's voicemail. Nolan's there with Jack, unable to help his friend who's worried because his brother has disappeared after giving his testimony in court. To complicate matters, Jack's been subpoenaed by the defense. He can't just tell the truth now because it would expose Declan's perjury. He wants to just hand over the bloody hoodie and come clean. Nolan knows this is suicide, so he assures Jack he'll go outside to make some phone calls in hopes of getting some good legal counsel. Instead, he calls Emanda to inform her of Jack having bloody evidence. Emanda instructs Nolan to get Jack out of the Stowaway for a few hours and she'll take care of it. Nolan goes back inside and suggests they go looking for Dec.
Daniel's perched on the ledge of Queen Victoria's balcony with his bottle of liquor. He stares at Emanda's front door with spite when, to his amazement, she actually walks out of it. He pulls out his phone to dial her and watches as she stops in her tracks, side-buttons him and continues walking. Daniel lets out a tiny offended gasp. He angrily takes another swig from his bottle.
Charlotte's Distrust Fund Ex-Boyfriend, Adam, (Remember him?) appears in her bedroom, led in by a maid. He notes how much things have changed if Victoria's allowing him up into Charlotte's room. Charlotte corrects him that Victoria simply doesn't know about it, then turns to the maid and dangles a wad of bills in front of her face. She then orders Adam to close the door and show her his goods. Don't worry... she's just restocking her pill supply. Adam tells Charlotte it's going to cost her and he doesn't mean money. No problem. Charlotte's self-destruction now adds trading sex for goods to the list. What comes after that? Murdering a hobo?
Cliché Art Loft. Dominik mills about his artwork as we hear his elevator lift reach his apartment. He tells whoever it is that his showing isn't ready and is surprised to see it's Conrad, who explains he called all the galleries and told them Dominik's work was spoken for. Dominik notes Conrad must've had Victoria followed, which Conrad admits, but he's also had Dominik investigated. It turns out a painting Victoria brokered to him when they first met was a worthless forgery by Dominik and he's certain he's not the only one he and Victoria conned. Conrad threatens to have Victoria arrested if Dominik doesn't clear out of the city. Defeated, all Dominik can muster is, "You probably should leave... before I break every one of the 14 bones in your face." Conrad smirks and walks away.
Jack's room at the Stowaway. Ems rifles through Jack's things until she finds the bloody hoodie, which she stuffs in her purse. She thinks for a moment and then begins toppling things over and breaking lamps to make it appear like a burglary. In the middle of this all, she gets another phone call from Daniel and side-buttons again before leaving. She comes home to find a drunken Daniel waiting for her in the dark. She's completely caught by surprise and has to toss her bloody-hoodie-containing purse across the floor before addressing the issue. Daniel insists he's not leaving until she explains what she's been doing with Jack. He's convinced she's been sneaking around with him this whole time. Emanda tries to get close to Daniel to reassure him and he shoves her back. He instantly realizes what he's done and snaps out of his drunkenness briefly. His eyes go wide with recognition. As he goes to apologize for pushing Emanda, a bright spotlight floods through the windows. Police burst into the house and place Daniel under arrest. Ems painfully looks down at the bloody hoodie in her purse while they cuff him.
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Victoria is already on the phone with Brooks, demanding to know when Daniel can come home. Naturally, Brooks is already on his way to Rikers. Victoria wonders aloud what could've prompted Daniel to break house arrest. Emanda appears behind Victoria to answer her question. She admits Daniel thought she was having an affair with Jack. Her explanation is that she was getting closer to Jack to find out what he knew about Amily's whereabouts. Ems tells Victoria she turned up nothing in a search of the Stowaway. Victoria seems convinced, advising Emanda that their only hope now is for her to give the performance of her life on the witness stand tomorrow.
Jack comes home to find Dec on the phone with the police about the Stowaway being robbed. As Dec stand there on hold with the police department, Jack notices nothing of value is missing. Then it hits him. He rushes out of the room to check to see if the hoodie has been taken. Dec has no idea what's going on and why Jack's suddenly telling him to hang up the phone. The hoodie is gone.
Goon walks out of his favorite bar and gets ambushed by a couple police cars before he even reaches his own. They're there on an Amber Alert tip. They check out his car and spot the bloody hoodie on his passenger seat. He insists it's not his, but they cuff Goon and take him away.
Nolan calls Ems after having witnessed this from nearby. He's impressed that Emanda was able to pin everything on Goon. Jack's DNA being on the hoodie will simply link him to having been hired by the Graysons to beat up Jack. Goon will then sell out the Graysons to protect himself from being charged with Tyler's murder. There's only one matter left unattended, which Emanda hopes Nolan can handle. Cut to Nolan explaining Goon's arrest to Jack and Dec inside the Stowaway. He presents the hypothesis that Goon broke in and took the hoodie for the Graysons and they double-crossed him. He thinks Brooks will have to pin the murder on Goon. When Nolan has the Porter boys convinced enough, he simply advises they count their blessing and don't dig any deeper.
Goon makes his one phone call from Rikers. He provides, "Your worst nightmare" when prompted by the operator for his name recording. Victoria hesitantly takes the collect call. Goon calmly explains what happened to him and then threatens to take Victoria down with him if she thinks she can get away with framing him. Conrad comes in and catches the end of Victoria firing back her own threat. When she hangs up, Conrad demands to know who she was speaking to. She simply wants to call Brooks, which tips Conrad off that something is very wrong. Conrad: "What on God's Earth have you done, Victoria?"
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Conrad has been caught up to speed on what Victoria's been up to with Goon. He now knows about Daniel being beaten up in prison on Victoria's order and Goon being hired to tamper with the juror. Conrad can't believe Victoria's been working with this guy who could've been working against them this whole time. Victoria's certain he's been set up -- maybe by Jack or Amily. This theory sends Conrad over the edge. He thinks Victoria's lost her mind and now Goon will probably start talking and lead everything back to the Graysons. Meanwhile, Emanda listens in on this conversation from her laptop. Conrad is exhausted of this and needs to think of what to do . He's already cleaned up one of Victoria's messes today, after all. Conrad cruelly suggests Victoria go get some comfort from Dominik, though he's probably long gone by now. Victoria's stern exterior melts away and she slaps at Conrad like a little girl. "You stay away from him!" Victoria cries before leaving Conrad, who picks up his phone and starts dialing.
Daniel sits in his jail cell and scribbles on a piece of paper. Daniel voice-over: "The last time I wrote you from this place, I told you I was innocent. That's not really the case. I may not have fired the shots that killed Tyler, but I did shoot him because he made me doubt you." Emanda, meanwhile, finishes burning a CD labeled "Graysons recordings" and pulls out a USB drive from Shamu labeled with Goon's name. VO continued: "Because he said you'd betray me, but I'm the one who betrayed you. And now I'm getting what I deserve." Emanda stares briefly at the photo she snapped of Goon with Victoria when they exchanged money. She places it with the rest of the evidence in the infinity x infinity box. VO continued: "Which is why I'm gonna do us both a favor and end this now. "
Brooks slow-mo walks through Dan's cell block intercut with Victoria slow-mo entering Dominik's flat. All that's in there is her unfinished painting in the center of the room and a bare mattress. Victoria sees it and breaks down in sobs. Brooks walks up to a cell and there are feet dangling in the foreground. The guards scramble to open the cell and we see it's not Daniel, but Goon who appears to have hung himself and left a suicide note. Daniel rouses from his bunk and spots Brooks. He asks what happened. Brooks says Goon confessed to killing Tyler in his suicide note. Brooks: "Still want to change your plea? I didn't think so. I'll get started on having your charges dropped." Brooks walks away, leaving Daniel to crumple up his break-up letter.
Emanda voice-over: "Justice, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Some see an innocent victim. Others see evil incarnate getting exactly what's deserved." Nolan enters Casa Emily while Ems watches an old newscast on her laptop about her father's death in prison. She appears shell-shocked. Without looking away from the screen to Nolan, she says, "I was wasting my time, gathering evidence on jury tampering when... the Graysons have so much more to pay for." Audio from Grayson Manor begins playing. It's Conrad having a phone conversation with the man he hired to have Goon killed in prison. He describes it as a "David Clarke-style situation." Ems is still wrapping her brain around this. She conducted so much research about the circumstances surrounding David's death in prison. Emanda turns to Nolan: "How did I not know this? The Graysons murdered my father."
-- 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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