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It's the year 2002. We're at war. The Tim Duncan-lead Spurs and Kobe Bryant-lead Lakers are NBA title contenders. Spider-Man is hitting theaters. It's crazy! Also, a certain revenge plot hasn't formed just yet. At this point, Emanda is completely self-destructive and aimless. Nolan finds her belligerently drunk and violent at a nightclub, once again inviting her to find out who her father really was. She returns to the Hamptons and finds Jack as he's just moving into the Stowaway with Dec and his father. That seems to be a dead-end, though, because Jack's involved with the cute bartender. Ouch.
The Graysons are nearly ten years removed from what they did to David Clarke, so it's surprising when they receive a threatening card in the mail that simply says "Shame" from David Clarke with blood splatters. Conrad decides they should invite everyone who was involved in David's framing, or who knew about it, to a New Year's Eve party at Grayson Manor so Frank can do some investigating into who's responsible.
Emanda hangs around the Stowaway some more and has the infamous catering job at the New Year's party fall into her lap when Jack's girlfriend can't do it. At the party, everyone Emanda has taken down in the present day is there. There's Bill Harmon, Tom Kingsly, Dr. Michelle Banks, Lydia Davis and Mason Treadwell. They all mingle inconsequentially, except this is the night that Conrad and Lydia's secret affair began. As Ems pretends to serve guests, she makes note of who's in attendance and eavesdrops on conversations until she bumps into Grayson Global Senior Accountant Roger Halstead. He's a complete paranoid and drunken mess because he's the guy Nolan's aunt was working with to expose Conrad. His cynicism catches Emanda's attention. He sneaks her advice that she's barking up a path of conspiracy. That is, until he's murdered by Frank in the pool house bathroom!
Emanda stumbles upon the body and realizes Nolan was right about there being more to what happened to her father than she thought. She vows to take down every single person responsible.
Flash forward to New Year's Eve 2012. Daniel comes home to find Emanda ready to go with him to this year's New Year's party at Grayson Manor. That's so perfect. The universe must be in on this revenge plot, too.
-- 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!50 Cent's "In da Club" plays and we all check to make sure we're on the right channel. An overhead shot of busy traffic at night informs us we're in New York City. The subtitle reads "December 28, 2002." Inside a packed nightclub, Emanda is twenty-something with straight, brown hair in a really tight dress, dancing up against some guy. He starts getting touchy-feely with her, but she insists she just wants to dance. Guy grabs her ass and she shoves him back, heading away from him over to the bar. Emanda orders a vodka tonic without the tonic while the guy heads immediately over to another girl to tell her he's been eyeing her all night. She instantly agrees to head to the men's room with him. That's the magic pick-up line? "Eyeing you all night"? I've been using the wrong verb. Ems downs her drink and pursues the couple despite her blurry vision. She bursts into the restroom, interrupting their make-out session and proceeds to beat the guy relentlessly. Just as she's ripped off a toilet seat to smash the guy's head in, a man comes running into the room to pry Emanda away. He appears to be a bouncer, but then he leads her outside to an SUV with Nolan waiting inside. Ems isn't too pleased to see Nolan, but he insists she come have dinner with him. The bouncer guy piles her into the vehicle.
At a small Chinese food restaurant, Nolan suggests Ems should drink some tea to stem the hangover. "I don't like thinking that far ahead," she replies. Oh, it's gonna be one of those flashback episodes. What -- Nolan bemoaning loud fashion statements? Emanda is still resistant to Nolan's offers of help. It's been six months since Nolan was waiting for her outside her juvenile correctional facility on her release day. He reminds her that he gave her half his company, but he's not interested in getting his money back. Emanda notes it's in her DNA to use the money for self-destruction. This tips Nolan off that she never read any of her father's journals. He insists that she do so and she leaves. At least she thanks him for giving her a ride.
Grayson Global. Frank (Flashback, remember? He's not a zombie) meets with Conrad in his office to discuss invitations to the Graysons' New Year's party that have been sent out to anyone who knew about the David Clarke cover-up. Victoria arrives angry she's been summoned away from Le Bernardin for this situation. The reason invitations are being expedited to all these people is because they received an ominous card in the mail. It simply reads, "Shame," signed David Clarke with blood splatters. Since David's been dead for eight months, it's probably not from him. The idea is to corral all the suspects at the party and let Frank investigate to find out who's making the threat. Victoria wants no part of it, but Conrad insists this is something they must do to avoid life in prison. They should start like a swear jar for every time they have to do something to avoid life in prison.
Emanda walks into the Stowaway to find a cute, young brunette wiping down the counter. Ems orders her patented vodka tonic shot and gets a cheesy literary joke from the bartender along with it. She's unimpressed for all of a minute before the Porters walk into the room carrying boxes. There's Dad Porter, little kid Declan and then... Jack in all his latent '90s fashion glory. He's clean-shaven with long hair flowing out from a backwards baseball cap. His smile completely stuns Emanda from across the bar and she watches in slow-mo wonder. It fades when Jack walks straight over to the bartender and lays a kiss on her. In the time it takes for Jack to beam about moving into a bar and his girlfriend to sarcastically exult with him, Ems disappears leaving behind only cash for her drink.
It's nighttime at the docks outside what will become Casa Emily. Ems breaks into the house and looks around at the emptiness with a flashlight. She stops at the foot of the staircase. FLASHBACK: David comes downstairs cheerfully in a tuxedo. He asks Little Amanda how he looks. The sharp little girl points out that his tie is crooked. We see on the TV that the babysitter is watching that it's New Year's Eve 1991. David tells Amanda he doesn't have to go out tonight and he feels bad missing their tradition of watching the Times Square ball drop together. Bill Harmon shows up to give Amanda a late Christmas present (a Little Mermaid Ariel doll) and to drag David to the party. As they're leaving, David stops to ask Amanda if she knows how much he loves her. "Infinity times infinity," she replies. Bill and David fade away as they reach the door and we pan across an empty kitchen table until the room goes dim. /FLASHBACK. Emanda sits on the floor with the infinity X infinity box and begins going through her father's journals. The snippets are read in voiceover and they're all passages we've heard before of her father exposing all the people who were complicit in framing him. The voice-overs all begin to jumble. Emanda heads door to spy through the window of Grayson Manor. She spots Victoria. FLASHBACK: Snippets of every time Little Amanda saw Victoria sneaking around Casa Emily. /FLASHBACK. Victoria pours herself a drink and heads upstairs. Emanda gets brave and is about to break into the house, but she trips a motion sensor, turning on a spot light. Frank notices and comes out to check the perimeter. He spots Emanda's footprints in the snow.
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Grayson Manor. Lydia and Michael Davis arrive and are greeted happily by Victoria. They mention they're in the market for a house in the Hamptons. Michael makes the type of prophetic comment only capable in flashback about the housing market bubble bursting one day. Victoria doesn't care for market discussion, she just wants her best friend living as close as possible. About that... Lydia has looked into making an offer on David Clarke's house door. The beaming smile on Victoria's face dials back a notch. She tries to hold the smile while Michael talks about the government seizing the house and selling it to some dummy corporation that isn't entertaining offers. Mr. and Mrs. Grayson remain tightlipped and ask the maid to show the Davises to their room.
Stowaway. Jack's girlfriend Kyla reads Who Moved My Cheese? on the job. Emanda walks in and is immediately recognized by Ky. Jack's dad comes in and butts into their conversation, so she goes over to ask if she can have the night off to work a catering job she scored at Grayson Manor. Ems overhears her getting sternly denied. Jack comes in and overhears this too and starts an argument with his girlfriend about her starfucker tendencies and desire to get out of Montauk. Defeated, Ky goes over to Ems to apologize for the drama. Emanda offers to take over the catering job for her since she needs cash too. Kyla asks Emanda for her name. She says she's Mandy.
Outside, Emanda runs into Sammy the Time-Travelling Dog. She stops to say hello and Nolan appears from out of the shadows like some lanky sex offender. In the snow, it's not been too hard for Nolan to track Ems. She asks if he doesn't have friends and family of his own he could be bothering right now. The question cuts him in a way she won't come to understand for another decade. Jack comes out to call Sammy inside and does a bit of advertising for the bar that they'll be having a two-for-one shot night for New Year's. Nolan asks if Ems is interested, but she says she's busy learning who her father was. That's a start.
Conrad stares out a window at Grayson Manor. Frank enters the room to clarify that Lydia and Michael have arrived. There's no reason to suspect them of anything, Conrad says. Frank thinks everyone's a suspect -- even Conrad. He asks Frank if that makes Victoria a suspect too. Frank silently walks away.
Cut to Victoria entering a dark and empty Casa Emily. She looks around briefly until she happens upon a single photo of David on the hardwood floor. FLASHBACK: At the 1991 New Year's Party Victoria spots David for the first time from across the room. She heads over to strike up a conversation. They introduce each other through Bill Harmon. Conrad happens over into the conversation and mentions David has moved into the beach house door. Victoria doesn't really try to hide her pleasure at this news, obviously smitten with the newcomer. Conrad excuses himself and Victoria to go check on something and when Victoria doesn't immediately follow, he calls after her. /FLASHBACK. Conrad's voice from the flashback carries over into the present because he's followed Victoria and is wondering what she's doing. She shows Conrad the photograph she found as an indication someone's been in the house recently. This prompts Conrad to suggest they let go of this house once and for all. He wants to sell it. Victoria protests, but Conrad cuts her off, citing that she's still in love with him. He walks out. Victoria hurries after him and the camera pulls back to reveal Emanda has been pressed up against the opposite wall of the staircase, listening in. It must be really awkward to happen upon such a conversation when you've been ten years removed from such a complex situation.
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Guests are still arriving at Grayson Manor. Victoria greets Mason Treadwell, who smugly comes downstairs with his trademark cigarette holder. He notes there's no ashtray in his room. Victoria calls out, "Young lady!" to Emanda and orders her to get Mason an ashtray so she can set up a place for him to smoke... outside. Emanda turns around and instantly recognizes Mason. "Leo Treadwell?" she lets slip. FLASHBACK: Leo promises Little Amanda he'll free her father. /FLASHBACK. Mason pompously presumes Emanda's just another fan. She sticks around within earshot to hear Mason mention that Victoria must've been affected by David's death. He pulls out the prison photo from the day David died. Apparently, Mason acquired it from a prison guard who fancied himself a photographer. Mason says he's sure David would've wanted Victoria to have it.
With the dining area almost empty, Emanda makes her way through the table settings mostly unnoticed. She's tasked with setting places at the tables. She stops when she pulls a name card for Bill Harmon. FLASHBACK: Bill has his late night meeting with David to tell him he's in trouble with the S.E.C. while Little Amanda listens in from the couch. /FLASHBACK. , Emanda pulls up Tom Kingsly's card. FLASHBACK: Kingsly gives a press conference after David's conviction -- which he prosecuted -- praising the decision. /FLASHBACK. A nervous, disheveled-looking man picks up his place card and meekly gets Emanda's attention. He asks to be seated away from "them." He just wants to sit in a corner unnoticed. The man adds he is staying in the pool house and slips Emanda some cash to bring him a bottle of bourbon out there. Frank comes downstairs at this moment and notices the exchange. Emanda looks down at the place card the man handed her. Roger Halsted. FLASHBACK: A close-up of David's journal shows the words "TRUE FRIEND" under Roger's name. /FLASHBACK. Frank comes over to Emanda to ask what Roger wanted. She explains he just wanted to switch tables. Nobody ever wants to sit to the bathroom.
Stowaway. Nolan awkwardly enters, looking for Emanda. Kyla's there hanging up decorations for their New Year's thing, so he tells her he's looking for a girl. Naturally, she thinks he's just looking for any girl. Nolan takes this as the one cue he'll get in his life to flirt, so he asks who she'll be with tonight. Her eyes glance over to Jack, who clears his throat. He comes over to Nolan to say she's spoken for. Nolan's embarrassed and instead of excusing himself, he gleefully introduces himself to Jack. This looks like the start of a beautiful, one-sided friendship.
Roger Halsted sits in the Grayson pool house emptying his glass down his throat. Emanda comes in with a bottle of whiskey she swiped from Conrad's personal collection. Stealing from Conrad doesn't bother Roger since Conrad's made a habit of it himself. Emanda stands around waiting for something to happen, prompting Roger to assume she's waiting for money. She explains she doesn't want his money. She wants to know about her father. Roger freezes when she reveals her father is David Clarke and that he mentioned in his journals that Roger knew he was innocent. So what if he was? What would Emanda do with that information? She says she would make sure everyone found out and that the people responsible paid for it. She has the guest list and knows that most of the people responsible are on it. Roger thinks she should just drop it. Like he did? Just drink away the problem? Emanda's not afraid of these people, she says, and he shouldn't be either. Roger says he has nothing else to say on the matter and leaves.
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Grayson Manor. Emanda comes into the foreground of the shot to grab a tray of really tall flutes of champagne. She mentions to another catering girl that these people sure can drink. The girl suggests she cater a Puff Daddy party. Oh, 2002. The guests whose skeletons we've all come to know well are intermingling and sniping at each other. Harmon and Kingsly talk about Bill's desire to put a casino near a school. Bill can't understand why this is a problem for Tom. Not like it would be the first time he's backslid on his family values agenda. The continuous shot moves over to the conversation between Mason and Dr. Michelle Banks. She says she's fascinated with the write-up he did about the D.C. sniper in the New Yorker and asks if he'd like to know what she thinks. "No, but don't let that stop you," Mason snips. He adds that he read her recent book on attachment parenting and they could talk about that instead. Michelle is surprised -- maybe a bit flattered, but Mason was just teasing her. The final conversation in this continuous shot is Victoria and Lydia entering the room arm in arm. Time is passing very differently for the two women. Lydia feels the years are just flying by, while Victoria can't wait for this year to be over. Emanda comes over to offer champagne, but Victoria excuses herself because she needs a much stronger drink. She heads to the study. Lydia notices Emanda glaring after her and asks what she's coveting. The Dolce or what's underneath? Your trashiness is sorely missed, Lydia.
Victoria has closed the sliding doors to the study behind her and poured herself a drink. She takes a sip. The camera pans slightly past Victoria's shoulder. FLASHBACK: The doors to the room slide open, revealing David Clarke and the yellow tones of a memory from 1991. David awkwardly apologizes for finding Victoria alone in the room when he meant to thank Conrad for having him over. Victoria invites him into the room and offers him a drink. David declines because he wants to get home to Amanda. Victoria invites him over for brunch tomorrow so she can meet his whole family. David mentions it's just him and Amanda. Score! Victoria offers her sympathies for his wife having passed. /FLASHBACK. Victoria holds the Grayson Global company photo with guilty thoughts in her head.
Stowaway. Jack raises a toast to his father. Nolan asks why they're toasting the guy. Is he dead? You're ten years early, Nolan. Ten years early. Jack explains that his whole family now lives and works at the bar because his dad sold his house to some rich parasite who was buying up all the property where he lived. Nolan gets uncomfortable because he's most certainly the rich parasite Jack's talking about. He excuses himself.
Back at Grayson Manor, Frank takes Conrad aside to give him recon about their guests. Based on what's he observed so far, he figures it must be Roger they're after. Conrad thinks about it and realizes Roger always was pretty tight with David and he was pretty weak. Lydia interrupts their meeting, looking for the powder room and Frank excuses himself. Lydia mentions she's noticed Victoria seems a bit rattled. Conrad brushes off the notion and admits to Lydia he's half of the owning party of the house she wants. If it were up to him he'd bulldoze it because of Victoria's attachment to it. Lydia gets a little closer to Conrad and tells him she can sort of understand Victoria's motivations because she, herself, testified against David to protect Conrad. "Why?" Conrad asks. Lydia answers by kissing him. She immediately apologizes, but Conrad silently walks over to shut the bedroom door.
Treadwell walks into the parlor where all the important guests are seated to ask if anyone has any good New Year's resolutions. Everyone's generally resigned to the idea. Bill asks where the stupid idea came from. Naturally, Mason jumps on the opportunity to spew his knowledge. He explains its pagan roots and January being named for Janus the two-faced god. Roger interrupts from the doorway to say the two-face part is appropriate. Nobody wants to look back at the innocent people they've had to destroy so they can be where they are now. Mason scoffs at the tipsy cynic. Roger turns to Emanda and drunkenly stumbles into her. Frank sees this and comes over to escort Roger out of the party. Ems looks worried.
Stowaway. Nolan sneaks upstairs to speak privately with Jack's father. He introduces himself and the fact he's the one who bought their house. Nolan offers up that it's not too late for him to pull out of escrow. Dad Porter isn't keen on the idea because it turns out he couldn't afford to keep the house anyway. That's why he sold. That and the fact Jack's mom hit him up in the divorce for half of everything and had zero interest in being in the lives of her two sons. Dad Porter would have to come clean to them about that if they didn't restart their lives at the bar. Nolan understands. Kyla also understands because she's been in the hallway eavesdropping on the whole conversation.
Frank pours a drink for himself in front of Roger in the pool house. Condescendingly, Frank notes Roger was in rare form tonight. He gets nervous at social gatherings, he tells Frank. Is that why he requested to sit away from the Graysons? Roger says no one should suffer his company. Frank's done playing games. He flat out accuses Roger of being the one to send the card to the Graysons and of projecting his guilt. Before Roger can deny anything, there's a knock at the door. It's Emanda with a bottle of aspirin for Roger. Frank declines the offer since he has something way stronger for Roger or so he says. He suggests that Emanda go get champagne ready since it's almost midnight. Emanda walks away powerless and worried.
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Grayson Manor. Conrad raises a toast to the party alongside Victoria from the second-story banister overlooking the dining hall. He looks forward to the future because after ten years of Grayson Global being in the red due to the David Clarke incident, the company is now in the black. Also, as Lydia makes her way back to her husband's side after straightening herself up after sex with Conrad (shudder), Conrad announces he's "managed to broker a deal" with the brokers of the house Michael and Lydia wanted. Conrad gives Victoria a smug look as he says this. Michael thanks Conrad and offers a finding fee, but Conrad declines. It's now fifteen seconds until midnight. They all begin counting down.
Cut to the Stowaway where the real party is going on. It's packed and everyone's having a loud, great time. Nolan sits across from Kayla at the bar. She says that it's bad luck not to kiss anyone at midnight. Nolan's instantly uncomfortable, suggesting she find her boyfriend. She and Jack don't want the same things anymore, she says. She reaches across the counter, grabs Nolan by the shirt and lays a kiss on him. Jack sees this from across the bar. He comes over and punches Nolan out without letting him explain.
The party at Grayson Manor is dying down. Victoria finds Lydia sitting by herself at a table and asks if she can have a seat. Victoria admits she lied to Lydia about her and Conrad being the brokers of the house. She explains she held onto the house for reasons of her own, namely that it was all she had left of David. Victoria adds through tears that nothing would make her happier than having her closest friend as her closest neighbor. We'll see about that.
In the kitchen, Emanda notices there's a folded piece of paper stuck in her pocket. She pulls it out and unfolds it. FLASHBACK: Roger drunkenly falls on Emanda earlier in the night and slickly slips the paper in her pocket while she holds him upright. /FLASHBACK. As Ems reads from the note, she looks up to notice Frank and Conrad having a very serious discussion outside the window. She follows outside to the pool house. She enters and it's empty, but she hears water running in the restroom. Emanda investigates. She pulls back the shower curtain and finds Roger dead in the tub. Ems gasps, covers her mouth and immediately leaves.
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Roger's body is carted away from Grayson Manor as Victoria, Conrad and Frank look on. Victoria wonders why someone who sent them such a dramatic note wouldn't leave a suicide note. Frank insists he did a clean sweep of the room and found nothing. That's really convenient for them, Victoria grumbles. Frank and Conrad walk away. Mason appears and douches on about how he expects they'll all fall one by one like "Ten Little Indians." Victoria asks if he'll be using this as material for his writing. Treadwell isn't opposed to the idea. He leaves Victoria with the quote, "There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil." Victoria's ears perk at the mention of shame. She realizes Mason wrote the card. He's a writer, after all. He didn't intend for anyone to get hurt; he was just trying to drum up intrigue for his book. Of course he was. Victoria grabs Mason's head and hisses into his ear, "You are despicable." Mason: "Gee, thanks. High praise coming from you." He walks away.
Emanda calls Nolan. She's absolutely blubbering and in tears about her meeting Roger, him planning on helping her and that he's now dead. Nolan says more than wanting her to know the truth, David wanted Emanda to get past all of this. She's not listening. She's raw emotion right now. "One way or another these people are gonna pay. They're gonna pay for what they did!" Nolan insists Emanda won't ever get close enough to the Graysons to expose them. Emanda: "The hell I won't!" She slams her phone down against a wooden post on the porch of Casa Emily. She's a complete mess, crying out to her father that she's sorry and asking for help. She stops for a second and clears away the snow from the wooden post in front of her. She sees the infinity X infinity carving her father made one summer when she was a little girl. Emanda looks up at Queen Victoria's empty balcony where the lights are shutting off and runs her fingers along the carving.
Cut to Emanda in a tattoo parlor reading Roger's note while she gets her infinity X infinity tattoo on her wrist. I don't know about you, but when I uncover a decade-long plot to destroy my family, I go and get a tattoo to commemorate my newfound rage. Roger voice-over: "Emanda, forgive me my methods, but I had to get you this message before I lost my nerve. Writing this down is my way of committing to you. I'll tell you everything -- how your father was framed, who was involved and most importantly, how to expose them. I've never had the courage to do it myself, but I believe you do. Once we're on neutral ground, I'll help you. Until then, get as far away from these people as you can." Flash forward to 2012. Emanda finishes up reading this same letter as Daniel comes home to Casa Emily. She's all dressed up and has been waiting for him so they can go to this year's Grayson Global New Year's Eve party where he'll be the face of the company now. Before Dan heads upstairs to change clothes, he suggests they duck out early to do some celebrating on their own, since he figures the last thing she wants to do is spend the night talking with his parents' friends at a party. Emanda under her breath once he's out of earshot: "Actually, I'm looking forward to it."
-- 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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