Episode Report Card Pablo G: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Sour Grapes
By Pablo G | Season 2 | Episode 11 | Aired on 01.13.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The conceit this week is Emanda has an upcoming wine auction fundraiser she's throwing, which serves as an opportunity to get Helen of the Initiative out in the open. It's also an opportunity for Conrad's business rival, Jason Prosser, to show up on the scene and try his hand at wooing Victoria while simultaneously competing with the new CEO of the company, Daniel. At the event, it appears that Ems catches Aiden having his secret counsel with Helen, but in reality they have set up Helen for a fake hostile kidnapping. Emanda and Nolan gas Aiden and Helen in an elevator, and then allow Aiden to free himself, shoot a masked Emanda with squibs and then escape with Helen, making her believe that her machinations won't go unimpeded.
Daniel continues his overly facehuggerish courting of Emanda, much to the discontent of that butthurt British guy Aiden. Almost like clockwork, Aiden shows up at Casa Emily despite being fully aware Ems wants to be left alone to a romantic meeting with Daniel. Aiden pretends he's there to pick up his things from his faux ex-girlfriend's house, but the message is sent that he's not comfortable with Ems getting close to Daniel again. It seems like Emanda didn't learn her lesson when she lost her chance with Jack because of all this revenge business. It's a lonely vengeful road we walk.
Speaking of Jack, he's still in jail, which means that the fate of the Stowaway is left in the awesome brain trust of Amily, Declan and Charlotte. You're doomed, bar. Doomed! In fairness, Amily decides she's had enough of the Ryan brothers and tries to go thug life on them, having bought an unregistered gun on the streets. But before Ams can make one of her patented regrettable mistakes, Conrad bails out Jack and pledges his allegiance to helping out with the Porters' situation because it will look good for his new political career. That whole idea of Conrad's? Ashley's idea. She's now back in Conrad's employ as a political advisor. She's like a bad penny.
At Nolcorp, the unrequited love continues between Marco and Nolan, and it doesn't help that Padma has returned. She asks Nolan to be let back into the company under whatever terms he deems, which he readily accepts. As if that's not bad enough for Marco, Padma seemingly unwittingly tips off Nolan that Marco has been feeding Daniel information about Nolcorp's early R&D on the Carrion malicious code. Marco invites Nolan to check records of his emails to prove that's not true, but they do in fact turn up correspondence about Carrion. The reaction Marco has to this discovery suggests that he's been set up, but Nolan is too blinded by Marco's past betrayal and Padma's seeming purity to do anything but dismiss him. We find out that Padma is in league with Helen and the Initiative with the aim of acquiring Carrion, which is hardly ideal.
-- 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 out their webcomic Space Monkeys! and follow Pablo's writing at Pablog. Follow him @PendejoJoe on Twitter.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We zoom out from the eye of a dead body that happens to be the only thing not covered by black clothing. This unlucky person was wearing a ski mask at the time of murder. Emanda voiceover: "They say the best-laid plans often go awry..." Fade cut to Aiden moving about cautiously in a suit with his gun draw. He is Boring. James Boring. VO continued: "...because no matter how detailed the preparation, the plan will always have a weak point." A set of high-heeled feet walks past the blood pooling from the corpse, followed closely by a man's feed. We're to presume this is Ems and Aiden. VO: "And there will always be those looking to exploit... to doom a plan to failure and the perpetrator along with it." We pan down to see an Infinity X Infinity tattoo on the wrist of the deceased.
Two days earlier. Morning at Casa Emily. Coming downstairs to start the revenge day bright and early, Ems is met with a cold non-response when she greets Aiden. He's full of butt-hurt from witnessing last night's kiss between Emanda and Daniel. Aiden's apparently been gone ever since so he could do some thinking. Ems goes straight to the "It didn't mean anything" card, which never works. Luckily, Emanda has a "We're enacting sociopathic espionage on most of the people in our life" card that so few of us can resort to. She reminds Aiden that they need to trust each other and she needs to be able to count on him not disappearing when things get uncomfortable. Aiden returns the favor of discomfort, revealing he met with Helen recently. He fills Ems in on the possibility that his sister is still alive and that the Initiative expects his compliance. There's no reason to believe that they are telling the truth, and the trail has gone cold when it comes to the method of contacting Helen. "Then we need to draw her out," Emanda plots.
Grayson Global. Daniel very closely looks over some research and development reports of the last decade from Nolcorp. There's mention of the abandoned Carrion project that Nolan is so guarded about. Dan's interrupted by the arrival of Emanda for a scheduled meeting. When she enters, Dan goes straight for her lips. It actually startles her how aggressively he eats her face. Her reaction draws out awkward stammering. Did Daniel simply dream that they kissed last night? Ems suggests they just take it slowly. She's really there to take Daniel at his word that he wants to guide Grayson Global toward charitable efforts. Emanda says she's been heading up a charity about foster care since 2008, and would like Dan to direct his top investors to it. Just then, Dan's assistant comes in the room with an urgent package from Helen. It's a prospectus of a company called Stonehaven and Helen is holding on line two. Dan tells Ems that he needs to take the call. As she leaves, Ems smoothly asks Daniel's assistant if it's OK to place a call on the reception phone while the assistant runs off to grab Emanda a list of investors. Instead, Ems taps into Daniel's phone line on mute to listen in on his conversation with Helen. Stonehaven is a company that is about to really increase its revenue, according to Helen. She gives Daniel insider trading tips to acquire it before that happens and Dan reports that he found some gaps in Nolcorp's R&D. When Daniel's assistant returns with a list for Ems, she pretends to be ending a phone call with a florist. She then picks up the phone again and calls Victoria to tell her that she has some new information. They have orchids!