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Emily Thorne is starting to look a lot more like a villain in this Hamptons scheme, while even Conrad is seeing the light. Perhaps that bullet-riddled wedding flashback wasn't some trick; perhaps Revenge is looking to kill our image of the impeccably-dressed heroine.
After all, Aidan, the eternally beguiling Brit, was quick to call out Emily for "betrayal" and team up with Victoria. Aidan has already given Victoria the intel that Nolan stole the Grayson's millions and by episode's end, he's got his hands on the deed to Nolan's new digs, which actually belong to Emily. Just like that, he's tied his former true love to the missing millions. Looks like there are more mimosa brunches on yachts in Aidan's future.
And while Nolan owes the roof over his head to Emily, he's starting to question his bestie's motives. When Em brings out the trusty old red marker and starts taking down the player on her revenge roster, a priest named Father Paul, Nolan presents one of David Clarke's journals. Emily's father wanted her to find peace and forgiveness, but apparently, she no longer cares what her father actually wanted. Em has gone too far, she quickly threatens to ditch Nolan if he continues to question her, heightening her quest to become the villain of her own show.
Charlotte is the one to turn on Emily, telling her soon-to-be sister-in-law (and also actual half-sister) that she knows she betrayed her trust. Charlotte only told Emily about Victoria's affair and somehow Ashley found out. True, it wouldn't have been that hard for Ashley to figure it out, but Charlotte's right; her buddy has betrayed her.
But Charlotte's misfortunes aren't limited to her brother's fiancé. She's been taking care of Conrad, alarmed by his clear depression and proclivity for early morning scotch. However, Charlotte's also been taking care of Jack and Carl in the wake of Declan's death. When she tells Jack that she blames herself for Declan's death, he tells her the truth about Conrad's hand in the explosion that killed Declan. Just like that, Charlotte leaves her fake father completely alone.
Still, it's not that no one tried to reach out to Conrad. After Emily and Daniel enlist Father Paul as their wedding officiant, the former Grayson Global employee visits Conrad to offer his soul-cleansing services. It turns out that Paul isn't as evil as Emily thinks; he's since changed his ways and he's actually a good person. But that doesn't stop her from luring him to a shady apartment, hitting him over the head, and posing photos that make it look like he slept with a prostitute. See what I mean? Villain territory.
And that's not all. After pouring "sugar" on old wounds, Em convinces Victoria to bring Patrick back into the family. It only opens up a world of pain for Victoria because when Patrick strikes to defend himself from the verbal onslaughts of Daniel and Conrad (who believe Patrick is just some golddigger), the truth about Victoria sending a thug after Patrick to keep him away from the family comes out. The final straw comes when Emily's second dose of poison sends Conrad into another fit. Suddenly, you almost start to feel bad for these people.
Daniel sure does. He's the only one who still seems to be good. When Margot offers him the job as the publisher of Voulet magazine, she also offers up her semi-naked body. Daniel returns her dress, goes home to Emily, considers not taking the job, and then eventually takes it as long as he gets some serious control over the magazine. He wants the headquarters to be in the Hamptons so he can stay close to his father and Emily, business sense be damned. If only some of Daniel's goodness would rub off on Emily.
She does see some sort of light while talking to Father Paul about the wedding. He touches on the fact that she's missing her parents and the unconditional love they were never able to give her, then takes her to a soup kitchen where she can see the simple beauty of humans helping other humans. Unfortunately, her change of heart comes too late and her photo scheme gets Paul fired.
Her second dose of emotional reality comes when she encounters Conrad at the church, looking to take Father Paul up on his offer only to find that his last potential confidant is gone. Rather than seeing that even Conrad is capable of seeking forgiveness, Emily sees one shining revenge possibility: if she finds Father Paul, he can get Conrad to confess everything.
So, she's not exactly reformed. But hey, at least she made up with Nolan by episode's end, right?
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open week two with Victoria indulging in mid-day booze and sunbathing while Aidan does his best to convince her of his allegiance. Why does this have to be done on a boat where Victoria is scantily clad? Privacy, duh. No one can catch them scheming on a boat, they definitely won’t have to disembark from that boat on a dock, where people can see them. Anyway, Victoria is no dummy (about other things). She figures out that Aidan is in love with Emily and that his vengeance comes from scorn. He tries to steer her away from that conclusion by spilling some seriously heavy beans: Emily and Nolan are the reason Victoria’s broke. Cool, except for the fact that he’s the third musketeer in this treacherous equation. He acts as if he was cast out of the plan before it happened, allowing him to choose to team up with Victoria. She wisely decides to get proof before shaking hands on any deals.
Back on land, Charlotte is still playing dutiful daughter, trying to keep Conrad from moping in the dark away from prying paparazzi who aim to catch him in a downward spiral. She’s so concerned about her non-father, she’s actually considering moving back in to keep him from drinking. Conrad is actually touched by this gesture and it turns out he might have a shred of a functioning heart after all.
Nolan still has a heart, but he’s nursing it back to health by sleeping around – a practice Emily says could get them into some deep trouble. (Do Tyler and Padma ring a bell?) Clearly not too concerned with Nolan’s sexual leniency, Emily reveals her return to her red marker and revenge roster. on the list: Paul, a smooth-talking former Grayson Global employee who helped condemn David Clarke. There’s just this tiny issue wherein Paul has become a priest and has completely renounced his former life. But Emily continues her plot anyway.
This is where she starts to look more like a villain than a hero. After she and Daniel enlist Father Paul to officiate their wedding, we find that Father Paul quit the firm because he wanted to cleanse his soul and the souls of others. He knows he upset the Graysons by leaving the company and he holds a particularly low opinion of them. He’s basically the best person ever.
That good person-hood continues when Father Paul delivers the news about his role in Daniel’s wedding to Victoria and Conrad. They greet him coldly, though he sees the wedding as opportunity to make things right. Conrad tries to make him leave, reminding Paul of the hefty silence severance package he received, but Paul is simply there to help bring Conrad to peace. After all, confessing his sins made Paul an honest soul and perhaps Conrad could do the same. He says he’ll always be there for Conrad, even as the former governor practically kicks him out of his home. See: absolute best person ever.
Meanwhile, Daniel is finally looking into getting a job. It’s a freaking miracle. Of course, he wants a job as Voulez Magazine’s publisher, which is the magazine Margaux is running. Margaux’s off to a rocky start again, insulting Emily’s life choices immediately and for a second obnoxious time. Daniel is too much of a puppy to notice and instead launches into his business plan while Emily gives the pair some space and unexpectedly finds Charlotte at the bar.
Charlotte was hoping to surprise Margaux and Daniel (a totally appropriate thing to do during a business meeting ) but stopped when she saw that Emily, Daniel’s attached-at-the-hip fiancé, was there too. Charlotte thinks that Emily shared Charlotte’s claim that Victoria was having an affair with Ashley, and while she’s wrong about the spreading of that information, she’s right about the level of treachery. Charlotte cuts Emily off just like that; she once trusted her and held her dear, but she’s starting to see what a deceitful person Emily is. And I hate to say it, but Charlotte’s not too far off base.
Even Nolan knows that Em’s going a little too dark for his tastes. While baking the most wholesome treat known to man, blueberry muffins (a special prison recipe), Nolan suggests that Father Paul is a good man and perhaps Em should let up. Emily’s childish response is that her father was a better man. (Nanny-nanny-boo-boo, indeed). Yeah, still not a reason to ruin a priest, girl. Nolan says she needs to learn to forgive in order to be forgiven – a piece of advice he later reveals came directly from David Clarke’s journals to Emily. Still, Emily doesn’t care. She’s made up her mind and she’s going full on evil, and possibly without Nolan, who she commands to stay out of her way. First Jack, then Charlotte, now potentially Nolan? Ems is in a bad way, and big time.
If losing Jack once wasn’t enough, Emily tries to chat with him in the park where they first re-met in Season 1. Jack is playing with puppy versions of his deceased dog Sammy and Em tries to make it a bonding moment. Wrong choice. Instead, Jack points out that her lies are leaving Charlotte without the sister she needs and that he doesn’t understand how she grew up to be someone doling out punches instead of helping those in need. Revenge was fun at first, but now it’s hard not to land on Jack’s side of things. Emily’s leaning a little too evil.
That evil streak continues when she visits the Graysons to light a little fire under Victoria. Em explains her choice of Father Paul as the officiant as her way of mending Grayson fences, adding that she also took the liberty of including Patrick in the celebration because Victoria looked so happy when he was around. Victoria is furious and says she wants to keep her illegitimate son separate, but it gives her an idea. She swaps out the painting Conrad is auctioning off to pay their bills for another one – one that would entice Patrick to pay her a visit so she can invite him to a very uncomfortable dinner with her family. But more on that sure-fire shit show in a moment.
Before dinner, Victoria drops off Emily’s passive aggressive muffins at Nolan’s to “welcome him to the neighborhood,” but really she’s just trying to figure out if Aidan was right in accusing Nolan and Emily of stealing her millions. Nolan possessing the painting she just sold at auction and a brand new house long before his assets could have been unfrozen following his prison sentence are all the confirmation she needs. And later, when Aidan finds her the deed to Nolan’s house with Emily’s name on it, she’ll be ready to form a real team with the British enigma. Somehow, with Emily’s recent behavior, it’s hard to feel all that sorry for her…even when Aidan’s betraying her.
At the Grayson family dinner, Charlotte is still cold to Emily and Daniel is distant because just hours before, Margaux offered him a job and her half-naked body. Dinner, which is something of a coming out party for Patrick, quickly descends into a snark-off in which Charlotte, Daniel, and Conrad take turns calling Victoria naïve and Patrick a gold-digger. While the truth that Victoria actually paid Frank to physically intimidate Patrick into staying away from his family comes out, Emily offers to make Conrad his drink, with just a dash of that handy poison of hers. (How or where she stored it in her skintight dress remains a mystery). Victoria vows to make it up to Patrick, but he’s clearly done with her and just as Emily’s poison begins to work, the rest of the family turns on Victoria for bringing about another Huntington’s fit from Conrad. Does Emily really need to keep torturing these people? Look how prone they are to skewer each other as it is.
Since her family is such a mess, it makes sense that Charlotte is spending a lot of time with Jack and Carl, who remind her of Declan and Amanda. Jack becomes increasingly concerned about her when she suggests that she’s the reason Declan died. Jack isn’t okay with taking revenge, but he knows Charlotte needs to know she’s not to blame for losing Declan, so he tells her that Conrad knew about the explosion and tried to lure Jack there. Unintentionally, Jack has just helped Emily wreak havoc on the Graysons once more by driving one final wedge between Conrad and the last family member who actually cared for him.
Despite Nolan’s protestations and the significant weight of Jack’s condemnation, Emily still goes after Father Paul. She lures him into a dank Manhattan apartment, knocks him out, takes photos of a prostitute gyrating on top of him, and drops them off in the church collection basket. Later, when she speaks to him, Father Paul says that he was mugged and robbed, but that he didn’t press charges because the criminal obviously needed his money more than he did. He is actually the best person to have ever appeared on this show.
And if that wasn’t enough to drive home Emily’s guilt, he then says the Graysons threw him out, then consoles her over the fact that her father won’t be able to walk her down the aisle, and helps find her a replacement for the unconditional love she missed as a child. While he’s walking her around the soup kitchen he helps run – because he’s actually a living saint – Emily’s dastardly deed comes to completion. She finds the will to stop it, but only just as another priest walks into the kitchen (you know, where all official priest business goes down) to fire Father Paul in front of everyone. Perhaps this mistake will help her learn? A little? A teeny, tiny smidge?
Hell, even Daniel is better than Emily these days. He’s fiercely dedicated to protecting his rotten family simply because they’re his family. He refuses to cheat on his fiancé even though it appears it could cost him a job. And he only takes that job (eventually) under the condition that he can relocate the business to the Hamptons so he can stay close to his family and his fiancé, actual business sense be damned – no major magazine could develop the relationships it needed when it’s that far outside of the city. Daniel is a sweet puppy of a guy, and it’s starting to feel like Emily doesn’t even deserve to be his fake fiancé.
Emily does her best to come back from the evil brink, using a Catholic church to ask her deceased father for forgiveness. She’s interrupted by Conrad, whose recent losses have convinced him to take Father Paul up on his soul-cleansing offer. When he realizes that Father Paul no longer works at the Parish, he’s deflated. Father Paul was his last hope and the last person he could really open up to. Not only did Emily do something terrible, she basically shot her own revenge plan in the foot when she got rid of Paul. Her plan? Find Father Paul. Not to get him his job back or make things right, but to use him as a pawn to get Conrad to confess all of his sins. Sure, it’s better than her raining fire from the sky, but it still proves that Emily might just be on a path to heartlessness.
On the bright side, she seems to have pulled back enough to get Nolan back in her good graces. So there’s a sliver of hope for her dark, twisted soul, right?