By Pablo G
Everyone's waiting for Daniel to be fully cleared of charges after the abrupt "suicide" and "confession" from Grayson Goon, Lee. That is, except for Emanda, who is pretty wrapped up with finding out more about who was responsible for murdering her father in prison. She inadvertently stumbles upon some info when she goes to talk to Charlotte out of concern for her well-being. Since Charlotte has grown a bit obsessed herself with finding out about who her father was, she has a number of photos and news clippings strewn about her room. Emanda notices a photo of David in prison, dated the day he was murdered. In the photo, he is writing in a journal that was most certainly not delivered by Nolan. She confronts Nolan and finds out he's been hiding it from her (that rascal).
The reason behind hiding the journal turns out to be that it leads straight to an informant David had at Grayson Global... who turns out to be Nolan's aunt (!). He knew Emanda would track her down, and for him, protecting family is much bigger than Ems' revenge plot. Nolan's aunt had been working with another man to try and get David's name cleared, but the Graysons caught on and had the guy murdered, so she faked her own death. The only lead that comes out of this is for Emanda is that the guy who murdered David was a scary-looking white-haired man.
When Daniel is finally cleared of all murder charges, it becomes evident that he is nowhere near being cleared of the perception by the general public that he is a murderer. He agrees to do a televised interview to try and fix that. At the same time, Jack has grown so unsettled by what he knows of the circumstances of Daniel's exoneration not matching up with what he knows that he seeks out Daniel. He confesses about being on the beach that night to cast doubt on Lee's sudden confession, in hopes Dan will be cautious of bringing Emanda into a corrupt family. It raises enough questions in Daniel's head for him to confront his father, who has finally been taken down by Victoria's ace in the hole: her contact at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Conrad tells Daniel the entire story of David Clarke's framing while Emanda eavesdrops through her bug.
Just before Daniel's interview, Emanda gives him a slight pep talk to remind him that he doesn't need to protect the Grayson name, and he might have a chance to be his own man if he comes clean. She very clearly hopes he'll do the right thing and expose his family's crimes... but he doesn't. He endorses his father as a son and a business partner. Emanda is no longer on the fence about Daniel. He has revealed himself to be "one of them."
Speaking of family existential crises, Charlotte continues her terrorist-father-induced downward spiral. Declan, always trying to do the right thing the wrong way, tips off Collins Prep's headmaster about Charlie's drug problem. They search her locker and find her pills, suspending her. Victoria finds out about this and realizes her daughter is completely imploding. She takes her aside to finally explain what David meant to her and how much she sees of the man in Charlotte. It's a genuine bonding moment for two women on the verge of complete disintegration, and seems to be the start of an understanding.
In We Don't Care land, Ashley resigns from her post at Grayson Manor to take a job with Brooks as a media liaison. Just before she starts, Victoria realizes Ash was the one who leaked photos of Daniel to the media, and tips off Brooks, who subsequently retracts the job offer. Conrad overhears all of this and swoops in to offer Ashley a job at Grayson Global, anticipating the coming shit storm. It's not much of a happy ending, but at least we won't have to hear Ash complaining about her job for a while.
-- 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.