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That secret Victoria's been keeping about an illegitimate son totally needs to be exposed, but so far the Queen has done a pretty good job covering her tracks with the help of the Falcon. Emanda deduces that it must be the Falcon's handiwork that facilitated Victoria forging hospital documents in such a short time to make it seem as though she aborted her pregnancy. But the really clever thing that Ems and Nolan decide is that the Falcon's weakness is pride. They anonymously send Victoria a copy of her hospital document from when she was pregnant, indicating it's an obvious forgery so that the Queen will predictably contact the Falcon to complain about such shoddy work. The Graysons will be featured on Nightline for a profile on Conrad's run for the governorship, and Victoria can't have such loose ends around with them in the high-profile spotlight. Emanda's plan works. The Falcon reaches out to Nolan, agreeing to meet face-to-face by challenging him to defend his Street Fighter II high score at a local arcade. Where has this offbeat awesomeness been all season, show writers?
Ignoring the obvious plot hole that an arcade from the Street Fighter II heyday probably would not have survived to the present day, it's the perfect scenario for Nolan to regain his mojo. He enters the arcade to find an attractive, snarky Asian chick instead of a crusty old hacker man. Nolan asks for help scrubbing skeletons from his closet from anywhere the authorities might be looking now that he's a suspect in Padma's murder, but the Falcon offers only resistance/disinterest. Nolan appeals to her gamesmanship by challenging her to a single match of Street Fighter -- he wins, she helps. She wins... well, she won't, Nolan boasts. Under the unforgiving scrutiny of the most balanced technical fighting videogame ever, Nolan takes her down in a classic matchup of Ryu vs. Chun-li. (I would've taken Nolan for a Guile or Blanka man.) Falcon honors her debt of defeat and agrees to help Nolan.
All of this is positioning Ems and Nolan to drive a wedge between the Graysons since Conrad has been led by Victoria to believe that she was nothing but a helpless victim when it came to her teenage pregnancy and that there was no child. When it's time for the live interview with Juju Chang, Emanda goes to support Daniel, and gets dragged onto his portion of the segment. It's an opportunity for the media to prod about their rekindled romance, and an opportunity for Daniel to sandbag Emanda over any possible wedding plans. She gives as diplomatic an answer as possible, but it still sounds entirely like she's on her way to becoming a Grayson. That's great for her revenge plans, but it's the absolute worst thing when it comes to the hanging thread that is her current relationship with Jack. Oh... and probably also that Aiden guy. Jack washes his ends of Ems, telling her he no longer wants her to be Carl's godmother, and Aiden grudgingly gives Emanda her blessing to marry Dan if it means finally taking down the Graysons from within.
All of that romantic nonsense proves worth it, however, because Nolan manages to access the Falcon's computer through the flash drive he gave her for that scrubbing assignment, and forwards hospital documents to the Nightline crew while the interview is in progress. Juju Chang blindsides Victoria with the accusation that she abandoned her six-month old son to accept a scholarship to art school in Paris. Victoria has no choice but to admit it, remove her microphone and walks off the set. Meanwhile, the Falcon calls Nolan because she knows that her machine is the only place where that information is stored. Nolan smugly informs the Falcon of how he outsmarted her and that he's also plastered her real identity all over the web. He says this to her as he watches a surveillance feed of her favorite hacking spot -- a coffee shop currently being raided by the FBI. Nolan has defeated the Falcon in mortal (k)ombat. Fatality.
Some smaller items of note: At the request of Daniel, Takeda returns to the U.S. for a meeting about Aiden. Dan wants to know Aiden's business past. Luckily, Aiden happens to barge in on their meeting and gets the opportunity to meet with Takeda before Daniel can pry any further. Unfortunately, Takeda is still very much at odds with how Aiden and Emanda are carrying out their paths to revenge. Not that it really matters, but Aiden is still very sore about the loss of his sister and Padma. He thinks the path Takeda has put him and Ems on is one that just ends in emptiness. There's no resolution here. They appear to be on a collision course.
Jack continues his slow, but sure descent into the world of sabotage, trying to gain leverage against Conrad with the help of Ashley. They do some spying and catch Conrad having a clandestine meeting with the current governor's wife. Jack manages to snap some pics, which Ashley uses to convince a defeated Conrad after his failed Nightline appearance that he needs her guarding him. Conrad brings Ash back into his employ for the millionth time.
As for Charlotte and Declan, Charlie inexplicably befriends the girl she recently punched in the face, and gets influenced into ditching out on both school and Declan to go party. We should be used to it now that just when you think Charlotte's going to set the example the rest of her family should follow, she does something bizarre like standing up Dec and going to have a make-out session with her mean girls nemesis at a New York nightclub in front of the paparazzi. Some things never change.
-- 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!Nude after a hot morning shower, Ems wipes away condensation from her fogged up bathroom mirror and stares at her own reflection. Ems voice-over: "A person's true identity can often be difficult to discern... even to themselves, causing one to question their character, their calling, their very existence. For most, time provides clarity. But for others these questions remain unanswered.... for an identity cannot be fully defined when it is a guarded secret." A clothed Emanda breezes into her bedroom and reaches for her keys on the nightstand, but she's startled by Daniel's hand suddenly snatching her wrist from the bed. He's still in good spirits about Ems' tendency to sneak off. She blames her early rise on being unable to sleep, knowing Nolan was being questioned by police all night in connection with Padma's murder. Emanda deftly blows off proposed lunch plans with Daniel, because she wants to go check on Nolan, and then completes the terrible, shady girlfriend hat trick by convincing Daniel she should go alone. Just think of the media circus from the murder trial acquittal, Ems reminds Dan. She kisses him goodbye and heads off to the police station, leaving the rusty gears turning in Daniel's head. "Did I just get terrible girlfriend hat tricked?" he asks his brain. "Naw, bro. This isn't basketball," it replies.
Grayson Manor. Conrad and Victoria are in the middle of one of their famous heated exchanges while storming through the parlor. It's obvious to Conrad that someone has targeted Victoria in light of recent events. He wants to be sure that what Victoria has told him about her pregnancy being terminated is true so that his campaign won't be blindsided by the media. Victoria hands over medical records as proof. As Conrad explains that he wants to stay ahead of reporters on this potentially disastrous news item (specifically, Nightline reporters, who they'll be doing an interview with tonight), Emanda creeps up the hallway and starts eavesdropping. Conrad seems at ease about the potential to spin the story if it comes up, using the rare opportunity to actually tell -- what Conrad perceives to be -- the truth. Victoria is entirely the victim in the story she's fed her husband about being sexually assaulted as a teen. Still, Victoria is entirely against the idea of having her personal misery used for Conrad's political gain. They agree to disagree. In other words, Victoria ends the scene by literally telling Conrad to go to hell.
Ashley surprises Jack with coffee at the Stowaway early in the morning. She even brought Carl a cup of hot chocolate because... well, she's ditzy Ashley whose moral compass and likability rating need to be trending positive for us if she's going to be Jack's ally. Ash is there to present Jack with Conrad's upcoming itinerary. The election is only a week away and Jack hasn't made much headway in exposing what Conrad did to Amily. Ashley offers the insight that some tax board meetings on the schedule must be totally bogus because she was a part of the last of those meetings last month. They must be a smokescreen for something else. Ash can't investigate without drawing suspicion, so Jack volunteers to do some sleuthing himself. He better hurry, Ashley says, motioning to the television, which is airing a local news broadcast about Conrad's campaign gaining momentum. The story shifts to Nolan being released from custody after being questioned in the death of Padma.
Outside the police station, Nolan fights off reporters on his way to hop into the passenger seat of Emanda's car. Cut to Nolan and Ems entering Casa Emily where Nolan goes straight for the cabinets in search of a bottle of liquor, which he finds. He laments being questioned for 20 hours straight, with pictures of Padma's body shoved in his face. Ems understands the pain he's going through and wants to help by taking down the Falcon, who's responsible for both Padma's and David's deaths. Emanda knows the Falcon must be around because the medical records Victoria gave Conrad today had to have been altered within a matter of hours. Only someone as tech savvy as the Falcon could've done that. That's great to know, but Nolan's still having self-esteem issues. There seems to be no convincing Nolan that he can go head-to-head with the Falcon, but Ems insists. This might be their last chance to take on the Falcon. Nolan: "Then let's take the bastard down."
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Still at Casa Emily, Ems now sits with Aiden in front of her iPad which is playing an old news clip of the Graysons being interviewed about David Clarke. Conrad recounts how they realized they'd been "betrayed" by David through the paper trail on his machine. Ems notes that all of that was forged by the Falcon. Playing devil's advocate, Aiden wonders if it's such a good idea for Emanda to sic Nolan on the Falcon. Nolan needs this, she says just before he enters the room. The contrast in his demeanor since the last scene proves Emanda's statement. Nolan has a slight hop in his step and that sly stilting of his cadence he gets when he's stoked about something diabolical. It's because he's tracked down the hospital document with Falcon's hacking signature. Hackers like the Falcon take high-profile jobs like this to prove they're the best, Nolan says, which prompts Ems to note ego must be the Falcon's weakness. They can draw him out if they relay to Victoria that she's receiving shoddy work from her prized hacker, knowing that she'd likely contact the Falcon directly. Nolan thinks he knows exactly how to proceed.
Looking emotionally exhausted, Victoria takes a seat at her vanity upstairs at Grayson Manor. She looks down at framed photos of Daniel and Charlotte. FLASHBACK: Teenaged Victoria sits on a park bench with a stroller and her baby Patrick. A random bearded man in a tweed blazer strolls up and comments on a nearby painter whom Victoria's been watching. Instead of screaming, "Stranger danger!" she fires back some art knowledge, which impresses the man. That's good because he happens to be the dean of admissions at the New York Artist Academy. He makes a comment about Patrick having Victoria's eyes, which she shrugs off because she claims to just be his au pair. Then, the dean mentions available scholarships. /FLASHBACK. Victoria's brought back to reality by the ping of her iPad. She opens up the anonymous email notification and her forged medical document pops up with "FORGERY" stamped over it. Cut to Victoria angry on the phone with the Falcon, who says it's impossible that the doc could've been found out. The Falcon's voice is obviously altered, but Victoria mentions that it is -- just in case we couldn't tell -- saying that despite that, she's well aware of the Falcon's real identity. She orders him to find the source of the leak and permanently seal it as we watch the Falcon's screen run a trace on the source of Nolan's email.
Stowaway. Jack's sort of walking around upstairs with his phone aimlessly, doing whatever it is Jacks do. There's a knock at the door. It's Ems. Jack's posture immediately hardens, despite Emanda being relatively cheerful. She says she's there to relay news that Nolan's doing OK, which Jack thinks Ems didn't need to come tell him in person. Emanda says in that case she's there to see her godson, but that just sends Jack into a rant about him not needing her checking in on them. He puts on his coat, saying he has somewhere to be. Then, Ashley comes walking in holding Carl. This all goes down like Emanda's meeting an ex-boyfriend's new wife. Jack: "Like I said, Emily... we're OK."
At Collins Prep, Charlotte excitedly talks Declan's ear off as they walk to class about wanting him to come to Harvard with her. All he needs is to ace the SATs, write a killer essay and tone down the grease a little bit. Dec takes all of this in with trepidation. He was thinking more along the lines of NYU and even then he hasn't even written the first sentence of an admissions essay. Charlie says that's not a problem. She'll come over tonight to help him knock out the essay. He thanks her and leaves Charlotte to go to an admissions meeting. Just as she's about to walk in, she's stopped by Regina -- the girl who she socked in the face at the masquerade ball. Charlotte's understandably guarded about Regina's odd compliments, trying a couple times to walk off, but finally Charlie's defense folds when Regina asks about Charlotte's near-overdose. It turns out Regina's brother killed himself that way. She oddly segues into asking if Charlie wants to ditch class. Cue after school special dilemma.
Casa Emily. Nolan reminisces a little about Padma while Ems brings him a mug of coffee. He's really tortured over her death. It's heartbreaking to hear him admit that he still finds himself accidentally sending Padma instant messages. Ems thinks taking action will help him cope. The idea sends Nolan into a shame spiral because he should've taken action to stop the Falcon back when David was still alive. Ems asks him not to do that to himself. Luckily, Emanda's laptop chimes with a notice that the Falcon has just accessed Victoria's medical records. Nolan has installed a trigger for when the Falcon encounters a rewrite in the code. When it happens, a hilarious little animation clip of an oversized headshot of Nolan on a tiny cartoon body shooting down a falcon with a bow and arrow plays. Nolan: "A little too on the nose?" The Falcon immediately sends an instant message to ask what Nolan wants. He asks to meet. Without hesitation, the Falcon sends a challenge. He wants to meet Nolan at Teddy's Arcade, adding "DYT" or "defend your title." Nolan explains to Emanda that he set the world record high score for Street Fighter back in 1988. Of course Nolan did. He accepts the Falcon's geek challenge. Things are about to get down, right + fierce.
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From his office at Grayson Global, Daniel tells Ems to relay to Nolan that he can take all the time he needs away from the office. Ems thanks Daniel, which gets an awesome grossed out face from Nolan, who's sitting on the couch hacking away on his laptop. Before she hangs up with Dan, Ems invites herself to come and watch Conrad's Nightline interview, and Daniel says he'd be happy to have her there. Nolan commends Emanda on the sneaky ingress, but it won't mean much if he can't best the Falcon. Nolan throws on a black and silver letterman jacket with a big, red lobster patch on the back because that's just the type of thing Nolan does. He and Emanda part ways.
Back at Grayson Global, Dan ushers in his two o'clock meeting -- Takeda. Daniel has summoned Takeda because he's grown concerned with Aiden's conduct, especially after he made the trades that angered the Initiative. He asks to see Takeda's personnel file on Aiden. Just as Takeda's about to answer, Aiden happens to burst into the room. He's shocked to see Takeda, immediately switching to Japanese so he can get on the same page with his mentor in front of Daniel. They excuse themselves to go have a business meeting over drinks, and Dan's none the wiser because he never is the wiser.
Regina has whisked Charlotte off to a random coffee shop downtown, which has captured Charlie's fickle sense of wonder. She's quickly taken a liking to Regina and her "fuck it" attitude. They come to an understanding: Regina doesn't care what anybody thinks and Charlotte doesn't capitalize on her Grayson name because her parents find out about every misstep she takes. Or maybe they don't come to an understanding on the latter because Regina invites Charlie to ditch Declan tonight and go cause some trouble. For whatever reason this has become a really tough decision for Charlotte over the course of half an afternoon, whereas she's spent the better part of this season walking a straight line. Whatever.
Nolan awkwardly steps into Teddy's Arcade, which must look very different these days from how it looked the last time he set foot in there. But the place has a Street Fighter II machine, and that's the only prerequisite for a decent arcade. Nolan plops down a roll of quarters on the second player joystick, sort of dismissing the young Asian woman in all black looking like she just stepped out of a Smashing Pumpkins concert who is currently playing the game as he scans the area for the Falcon. The woman invites Nolan to jump in, but he says he's waiting for someone. "A bird of prey, perhaps?" the woman asks. Nolan's brain briefly pulls up a 404 error at the thought of this being the Falcon. She ignores the incredulity, commending him on flushing her out through Victoria, but demanding to know what he wants. Nolan explains that he's currently under keystroke scrutiny because he's suspected of murdering Padma. He pulls out a flash drive and asks that the Falcon scrub all that data about him from the web because he doesn't want it to turn up in the investigation. He'll pay whatever. That offer insults the Falcon. She begins rattling off everything she knows about Nolan. His middle name is Leslie, his hacker handle was "Lord Zolton," and he visited David Clarke in prison. She declines the offer from someone who undoubtedly thinks she must've played a role in David's demise. As she's walking out, Nolan pulls a quarter from his pocket and challenges her to play for it. If Nolan wins a match of Street Fighter, she has to take the job. "And when I win?" Falcon asks. Nolan: "You won't."
In a dirty parking garage, Jack stalks Conrad while on the phone with Ashley. He posts up behind a concrete column and begins snapping photos of Conrad meeting with a blonde woman. Snapping pictures from behind a concrete column has such a high success rate. Jack sends the pics to Ashley, who identifies the woman as Alison Stoddard -- the governor's wife. Scandalous.
Back at the arcade, the battle is underway. It's already the third round and Nolan's getting his ass kicked as Ryu. (It's lame that the show's writers had the Falcon play as Chun-Li. Because she's a girl? Because she's Asian?) Unfortunately, there's a small editing goof here that makes it appear as though Nolan is about to lose the match, then suddenly his life bar has regenerated a bit in the shot of the game. As they play, the Falcon taunts Nolan for spending too much time in the real world, having become rusty. Nolan scoffs at the notion. "You're hiding in a world of ones and zeros, too afraid to make an emotional connection. Caring for someone doesn't make you weak, it makes you strong, which is why you... just... got... schooled!" Nolan scores a knockout, winning the match. He threatens game over for the Falcon's hacker reputation if she doesn't follow through on their agreement. She snatches the flash drive from Nolan's hand and storms off as Emanda snaps photos of her from around the corner -- unfortunately, not from behind a concrete column. That entire scene was relevant to my interests.
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Grayson Manor later that night. Victoria stops Charlotte at the foot of the stairs as her daughter tries to sneak out amid all the chaos of the upcoming interview. She accuses Charlie of avoiding her, but really it's just that she's been busy. "Punching classmates in the face?" Victoria prods. "Would you have approved if I had slapped her, instead?" Charlotte fires back eliciting a small smirk from her mother. She taught her daughter well. Victoria doesn't get to continue her line of questioning because Charlotte sneaks off when Conrad suddenly appears with a camera crew in tow. They point a light and camera in Victoria's face for Nightline's all-access tour, and it takes all of Victoria's restraint not to freak out on her husband. Conrad notices, so he asks for a slight break before Juju Chang shows up. With the crew gone, Conrad begs his wife to do this for him. It's getting really old that he keeps begging each week for some new concession from Victoria to help his campaign. Can we get Victoria running against him, please? Now that's what Season 2 should've been, a la Frisky Dingo. Victoria agrees to help propel her husband to the governorship. Sigh. Behind every great man is a great woman would could totally beat his ass head-to-head.
Takeda and Aiden sit together at a quiet bar. The master warns the apprentice that emotions have clouded Aiden's path to revenge. He warns that Daniel now wants to investigate Aiden's past. He should return to Japan, Takeda says, because Aiden's past is all laid out here since he never erased his identity. This was another emotional failing -- something Aiden did because he was holding out hope that his sister would contact him. Aiden's through taking advice from Takeda. He got his vengeance and he still felt no catharsis. He expects the same will happen for Ems. Aiden tells Takeda that he's going to end all of this with no more casualties and nothing can change his mind. He walks off. If there's one thing I've learned it's that you never mouth off to your sensei.
At the Stowaway, Ashley has pulled up the Wikipedia page on the Stoddards. None of the info therein gives them any clues as to why Conrad would be meeting with Alison. Jack doubts they're having an affair. "Is she even his type?" Jack wonders aloud. "She's a woman," Ash deadpans. The only way they can get any answers is if Ash could manage to get some alone time with Conrad. Ew. Not for that. She says he has a tell that gives him away when he's lying. Jack looks down at the candid photos on his phone of Conrad's rendezvous with Alison and thinks he has an idea of how Ashley can get that face time with her former boss.
Nolan comes home to Casa Emily, glowing from his victory. "Truth be told, you throw me a token and jump me in front of Street Fighter and I turn into Bruce frickin' Lee!" Nolan confides as he suddenly busts out a Fist of Fury pose. While Emanda hurries about her bedroom getting dressed to go to Conrad's interview, Nolan rattles on about how he's not so effective against flesh-and-blood enemies and about how clever the Falcon's "Victor Victoria" gag was for protecting her identity. That identity won't last much longer, Ems says. She'll be texting Nolan an IP address from the site of the interview just before they go live. The fireworks are about to start, y'all.
Sitting in a coffee shop, the Falcon grows frustrated fielding Victoria's concerns over the phone. She assures the Queen that there's no way anyone can prove that she had a baby -- not even the baby. The conversation sounds very much like any millennial answering computer questions from a parent. "Yes, mom, you can buy things on Amazon and they won't steal your money. Yes, I'm sure, mom." As she repeatedly insists there's nothing to worry about, the Falcon plugs in Nolan's flash drive and runs a virus check on it before mounting the drive. Just a nitpick, but I'm pretty sure the world's best hacker would never plug in a rival hacker's flash drive into their personal machine without using it on another machine first or setting up some safeguards.
Victoria hangs up the phone and jumps straight into a FLASHBACK: Teenaged Victoria is at the same park with the same dean of admissions. She's been given a two-year full scholarship to art school in Paris along with a plane ticket. There's only one ticket, she notices. Well, they're certainly not giving out scholarships and plane tickets to six-month-old bastard children, Vicki. The realization that she has a choice to make sinks in as the dean laughs and suggests the baby's parents can just find another nanny. /FLASHBACK.
The living room at Grayson Manor has been transformed into the set of an interview once again. Ems enters unnoticed and heads straight for Juju Chang's chair where the TV anchor's iPad is stashed. Again unnoticed, Emanda opens up the iPad and takes note of the device's IP address before replacing the tablet where she found it. Daniel finally spots his girlfriend and thanks her for coming, then quickly informs her that the Nightline producers want her to be part of his segment. Victoria instantly swoops into the conversation to make her best attempt at thwarting this, citing Emanda's notorious need for privacy, but Ems brushes that off. She says she'll do whatever is good for the Graysons. Conrad likes the sound of that. On the other side of the room, Ashley and Jack arrive and hang back in the shadows. Ash tells Jack that she'll corner Conrad after the interview.
Cut to Aiden watching the beginning of the interview at home on TV. Juju Chang sets up Daniel and Emanda's segment by recapping for the home audience what's happened in the last year for Dan. He was acquitted of murder, became CEO of Grayson Global and reunited with Emanda. She notes that Vanity Fair has gone as far as to call Ems and Dan "the new John-John and Carolyn." While they laugh that off, Juju locks and loads her first question. What's the deal with Dan staging a takeover of Grayson Global after pledging his support for his father last year? Gracefully, Daniel explains that his father stepped down to focus on his political career and he simply filled the void. Sometimes Daniel isn't dumb and it's astonishing. After just one hard-hitting question, Juju jumps to Dan and Emanda's relationship. American journalism, everyone. She asks about wedding bells, and says Daniel suggested in the pre-interview that they ask Emanda directly. It's every woman's nightmare surely, as it is, to be asked this question on national television, but to be asked this question when you are being watched by two men you'd rather be with than this guy, but you have to keep up the facade to further your vengeance agenda, this must really be in the category of lucid night terrors. Still, Emanda manages an amazingly diplomatic answer. "Well, one thing that I've learned is that you never can be certain what the future holds. That being said, I can't imagine an honor greater than joining the Grayson family." Everyone seems very pleased with the answer except for Jack, who locks eyes with Ems. Her glow from conquering the question immediately fades from her face.
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After the interview, Ems steps out into the courtyard to call Jack, who's driving home. He's not too happy to hear from her. She immediately launches into an apology and tries to explain that it's not what it seems, but Jack cuts her off. He can see that she's going to be a Grayson now, and he doesn't want anyone from that family coming near Carl. That means he doesn't want Emanda to be Carl's godmother anymore. He hangs up on her. Reeling from that loss, Ems gets a text from Nolan saying, "Signed, sealed and delivered. They're yours." She looks up to see Juju Chang extremely interested in a message she's just received on her tablet and her production crew busy on their phones.
Looking like the most bored man in the world, Dec sits by himself in front of his laptop at the Stowaway. He really does not even have a sentence written for his NYU admissions essay. I'm sorry, but I have zero sympathy for anyone who can't string together a couple of written sentences. You don't need to be going to NYU, Dec. He grabs his phone and dials. Cut to Charlotte laughing in the back of a taxi with Regina. It completely slipped her mind to even cancel on Declan. She concocts a lie about being locked up in the tower of Grayson Manor so she can't ruin her family's image during their interview, then quickly hangs up when Dec suggests he could come to her. She hops out of the cab and joins the line for a nightclub where Regina is struggling to get the bouncer's attention. Charlie raises her voice and declares, "It's under 'Grayson.'" A photog immediately notices Charlotte and asks for a pose from her and Regina. They laugh as he snaps pics. Then, Regina leans in and asks, "Feel like putting on a show?" I knew it!
Back at the interview, Conrad's droning on about family values and accountability and blah, blah, blah. It's the perfect segue into Juju's bombshell of a question. She starts to speak of Victoria's pregnancy and Conrad stops her to get his spin in on the story while his wife sits there frozen with dread. He says that Victoria was faced with an awful choice as a teenager and he's sure that if she had the choice again, she would choose life. Juju's baffled by this response. She turns to Victoria to ask if she's denying that she gave up her son Patrick at six months to go to art school in Paris. The air is sucked out of the room. Victoria looks over at Daniel then back at the camera. "The story is true," Victoria manages. She unclips her microphone and walks off the set defeated, leaving Conrad and everyone stunned. Cut to Nolan watching at home, breathless. "I really should watch more television." His phone rings, and I want to point out here that Nolan licks his lips before answering. It's the Falcon. She demands to know how Nolan managed to get information that only existed on her machine. The flash drive, of course. It ran a shadow program upon boot that gave him access to her machine. Even now he's watching her frantically type away on her laptop through a webcam feed at her favorite coffee shop. Nolan taunts her, saying he knows everything about her now. "Check your inbox, Edith." She pulls up an email with a candid photo shot by Ems at the arcade with TMZ-style overlaid text reading, "Fa1c0n EXPOSED." Nolan thinks it's a good picture and the FBI probably thinks so, too. Just as he finishes saying this, FBI agents converge on Edith. She screams at the camera, "You messed with the wrong person!" Nolan: "So did you." He sits back in his computer chair, arms folded and chuckling like he just lead a successful raid in World of Warcraft and got all the loot.
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From his office at Nolcorp, Nolan fills Emanda in on who the Falcon was. It turns out she was a child prodigy at Grayson Global who was brought in just to do standard intranet work for the company. When they needed hacking skills to frame David, they turned to Edith out of convenience and thus the Falcon was born. Emanda never noticed her in the Grayson Global company photo because she was so young. It seemed like she was somebody's daughter. Nolan invites Ems to cross her out in the Grayson Global photo, but instead Emanda emails the picture to Nolan with the subject line "You do the honors..." This was Nolan's take-down. He crosses out Edith in honor of Padma and David.
Ems hangs up with Nolan because Daniel's at her door. He's in surprisingly good spirits after what was just revealed about his family and Emanda's in pretty good spirits after just being put on the spot on national television. Dan makes it abundantly clear that he wants to resume their engagement. He hands over Emanda's engagement ring and tells her that if she has it on the time he sees her, he'll know that it means yes. Well... I should hope so. Daniel leaves.
Conrad seeks out Victoria out on her balcony. "If you're thinking of jumping, allow me to assist you," he offers. Victoria's in no mood for this, but Conrad has every right to be angry right now. Now all they can do is wait for the media to track down Patrick.
At the Stowaway, Declan's still in mid-stood up. Somebody sends him an instant message with a link to a gossip site with a story about Charlotte making out with Regina at a club tonight. That must suck to find out you were lied to and cheated on like that. Jack walks in and can sense that his brother's not OK, but Declan doesn't reveal what's going on. He tries to change the subject to the Grayson interview. "The whole family's a train wreck, aren't they," he says. Jack responds, "Except for Charlotte." Ouch. Dec tries changing the subject again, asking about Ems. Jack says he's through with her and they need to be careful about who they trust from now on. Like Ashley? She's being used to Jack's advantage, he says.
Conrad broods in front of the fireplace at Grayson Manor. It's pretty much the perfect time for Ashley to pounce, which she does. She says that if she were still Conrad's director of communications, she would've never let him do a live interview. Ash hands over the photos of Conrad and Alison that Jack took, warning him that he needs to be careful. She does a good job of selling the idea that she feels a vested interest in his campaign since she put so much work into it before being fired. Ashley says she doesn't want to watch it go down in flame in its last week. Conrad hires her back on.
How is Nolan celebrating his victory? By sipping from a glass of scotch, drawing mustaches on that picture of Edith on his tablet. From off frame, Victoria greets Nolan. It's a shocking enough meeting to us, but for Nolan it causes him to simultaneously choke on his scotch and jump up, hiding his tablet's screen against his chest. He asks to what he owes the pleasure. Victoria wastes no time trying to recruit Nolan as her new hacker. She dangles the possibility of reinstating Nolan as the sole owner of Nolcorp. Yes, please! He needs his claws back! Please!! Nolan's interest is piqued. He asks what Victoria wants in return. And for the first time, I think, Victoria responds with something resembling humility. "Please help me find my firstborn son." Nolan's caught off-guard by this and softens up a bit.
Staring out into the snow from a window at Aiden's hideout, Emanda twirls her engagement ring between her fingers in deep thought. Aiden comes out from the bedroom to ask why she's not with Daniel. She explains that she's being pushed to define her relationship with Dan, setting the engagement ring down on a nearby table for Aiden to see. This is what Ems wanted, Aiden says -- rip the golden boy away from his family, then tear them apart from the inside. Aiden just wants to know what happens after that. Emanda says then she can be with him. That's all he needs to hear. Aiden picks up the ring, puts it on her finger and says, "Then marry the son-of-a-bitch and take them down, once and for all." They kiss passionately.
-- 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.
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