Episode Report Card Kelsea Stahler: A- | 70 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Pieces of Me
By Kelsea Stahler | Season 3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.27.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Revenge is barreling towards a wedding, but the way things have been going, the nuptials are looking less and less possible. In the fifth episode of the season, Emily figures out a way to make it work, but not without losing a piece of herself and her rock hard armor.
Victoria is determined to take Emily's relationship down and she'd almost be successful without even trying if it wasn't for some prime advice from Emily's number-one bestie, Nolan. When Victoria sends Em after Jack with the tip that Conrad blames Mr. Porter for the Ferrari accident, Emily runs right to Jack and away from Daniel's big launch party for Voulez. It's the final straw for Em's puppy of a fiancé and Daniel calls the whole thing off.
And this is where Nolan comes in. He tells Emily she has to give Daniel a piece of herself or he'll never come back. Daniel's evolved and he's no longer a young, stupid kid in a great suit following her around blindly. It requires the loss of some control, but with everything on the line, Em gives in. She tells Daniel a warped version of her childhood, mixing her own David Clarke stories with pictures of Amanda's family, but it produces very real tears and a convincing speech about real love and abandonment. Just like that, the puppy is back in Emily's arms and the plan is back in motion.
But it's not just Daniel who Em stood to lose this week. After Conrad sends Aidan after Jack and Jack decides he needs to send baby Carl away for safety, Emily chastises Aidan and says he's simply jealous. Meanwhile poor Aidan is a rubber band, being stretched in different directions by the Graysons – Victoria wants him to foster the connection between Jack and Emily so it breaks up Daniel and Em and Conrad wants Aidan to make sure Jack goes to prison. Eventually, Emily makes it all (sort of) worth it when she says Aidan is everything to her and kisses him in their typical secret location that appears absolutely conspicuous to the rest of us.
This moment comes right after Aidan finally gets something right: he finds that Patrick is the one who tampered with Conrad's car and brings the information to Victoria. Knowing that Charlotte looks somewhat guilty and that Conrad is desperate for her love, Victoria has Charlotte falsely confess to keep Conrad from finding out Patrick did it. Charlotte only does the deed to keep Conrad from going after Jack, but that doesn't mean she's not starting to look like a mini-Victoria. Em and Victoria are both happy with this result because it eliminates all the possible complications with this totally useless plotline – and Victoria holding this bone to chew on for now makes things easier for Em and Team Revenge.
While Jack should be distraught over the ridiculous twists his life has just taken thanks to Aidan's threat, he finds room to be taken with Margaux. After her father refused to come to the Voulez party and sent her copy of American Voulez with harsh notes all over it, Victoria tells Margaux to be a woman who controls powerful men. Her first stop is the Stowaway, where she plans to chastise Jack for ignoring her invitation to the party. He tells her about his trouble with an intruder (a.k.a. Aidan, Conrad's sort-of henchman) and the fact that he has to send Carl away. Naturally, Margaux makes out with him for his troubles. Apparently, when the baby's away, Jack will most certainly play – even if Conrad's trying to kill him.
In the midst of all this, Nolan is just trying to get himself a boyfriend he can trust. Fat chance, buddy. The problem is that by visiting Patrick's ex-wife, he destroyed the trust between himself and Victoria's offspring. He makes a heartfelt plea for Patrick to give him another shot, Patrick considers, and later returns to Nolan's to reconcile with a little shirtless poolside foolery. The problem is, now that we know he tried to kill Conrad, it's completely possible that his intentions with Nolan are a little more Victoria-esque than we'd like.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!It’s obvious in the first few moments of "Control" that Emily is losing her grip. While she’s snooping in Conrad’s garage to try and figure out who tampered with his brakes, she runs into Aidan, who’s concerned she’s doing "his job." (You know, that thing he doesn’t actually get paid for). She agrees, but Aidan’s sinister look doesn’t bode well – he’s out to make Jack look guilty if we remember the last minutes of "Mercy" correctly.
At the Stowaway, Jack is safe (and shirtless, so we remember he’s a significant love interest again). Margaux drops by to play her role ("the complication") and invites him to the Voulez launch party. He’s hesitant because of his aversion to the Graysons and Daniel, but his friendly smirk apparently serves as a "yes."
Over at Grayson Manor, Conrad has taken Aidan’s suggestion that Jack is guilty very seriously, but because he hates Aidan, he’s hired his own P.I. to prove it. This isn’t exactly what our dashing Brit had in mind so he dangles something he definitely can’t offer -- Charlotte -- before Conrad’s nose in exchange for Conrad making Aidan his detective. Aidan’s solution is a self-serving offer that aims to destroy Jack (and thus remove him from Emily’s path), which would in turn displace the jobless Charlotte and force her to move home. Still, it won’t make Charlotte care about her father again. Naturally, this won’t work. Aidan’s already messed up when he let his feelings get in the way once before.
While at the Manor to see his mother (literally just to see her, he barely says two words to the woman he’s supposedly waiting for) Daniel apologizes to Patrick for his "unfair" and "misdirected" harsh commentary. Just them, Emily shows up to take Victoria and Charlotte shopping for wedding outfits -- which is incredibly awkward considering her partner in temporary separation is standing there when she waltzes in. Daniel still won’t talk to Em, even when she asks to have a chat later that night. And with that embarrassing exchange, Victoria and Emily recycle their barbs from last week: Victoria is poor, Emily is about to lose her fiancé again. Yeah, yeah. Move it along, ladies.
When Victoria and Charlotte are trying on dresses, suddenly Charlotte has flip-flopped back to Emily’s side. Emily leaves the room and Victoria says it’s fine that she hates Charlotte’s gown because there won’t actually be a wedding day, to which Charlotte replies with a plea to understand what Emily did that was so terrible. Victoria says Emily had a "tryst" (a.k.a. the stolen kiss) with Jack and that’s why Daniel and Emily’s first engagement broke off. Charlotte seems shocked, but she suggests that Jack is happy with Margaux, so it’s not an issue. Right, little one, but that doesn’t mean mommy dearest isn’t going to do her best to make it an issue.