By Pablo G
It's time for that vote of no confidence that just won't ever seem to get here. This is finally possible because Nolan is forced to agree to terms with Grayson Global, lest Daniel sic his forensic accountants on the paper trail that leads straight to Emanda. Dan has former Nolcorp CFO, Marco Romero, and his cooperation to thank for the final bit of leverage needed to close the deal. Grayson Global now has a 51% stake in Nolcorp and Nolan must stay on as CEO, as per the contract. With this major move, Daniel has come through on his promise to investors. Now, only a vote stands between him and control of the company.
There's a man on the board named Salvador Grobet with considerable sway over the vote. Conrad and Victoria are in mid-schmooze, and appear primed to win Salvador over when Emanda unleashes the Kraken. She has surveillance footage of Conrad sleeping with Ashley. First of all... ew. Second of all, that's a sex tape that's going to do the opposite of what they normally do, and damage some careers. Only Victoria, Conrad and Ashley become aware of the video's existence, so there's no threat to Ashley's relationship with Daniel... except Victoria decides to use it as blackmail to whore Ash out to Salvador in hopes of securing his vote.
Aiden has long believed Ashley to be a viper in the grass, so this is a good opportunity for him and Ems to take her out. When Ash goes to Salvador's hotel room to "persuade" him, Aiden holds a meeting with Daniel there, offering up his intel that Ash is upstairs cheating on him. Daniel storms into Salvador's room, dumps Ash on the spot, snaps a photo of the two together, and threatens to send it to Salvador's wife unless he gets his vote. Check and mate.
Daniel wins the vote, which means the Initiative will now be knocking on his door and he is in grave danger. Either that, or he will just be very closely monitored in some bullshit, nebulous way while we get tiny glimpses of some supposedly sprawling evil operation at work. At the very least, things between him and Ashley are over, and an alliance between Victoria and Emanda to protect him appears to be on the horizon. Nolan, meanwhile, plans to bring down Grayson Global from within. Hopefully, all of this means we'll get back to Ems and Nolan getting their hands dirty like old times.
Out on the docks, the christening of baby Carl brings back some old faces and some bad blood. Matt, Carl Porter's old friend who shot Kenny Ryan's dad, comes back to town, and things very quickly escalate. The Ryan boys beat Matt nearly to death, and in what he probably thought were his dying breaths, Matt tells Jack the whole story about murdering Joe Ryan, with Carl covering for him. Jack now knows that Kenny and Nate are foes, not friends. So, I guess cancel the beer pong tournament?
-- Pablo G. is some guy who lives in Austin, Texas. He used to co-host 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.